Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup

I review everything I read, on my blog and on Goodreads. Most reviews are of a decent length but sometimes you don't have much to say about the book because of its length or you DNFed it or various other reasons. In cases like that it makes sense to write a few mini reviews in one post and clear them out your way! So lets catch up with some reviews from August and September!

1) Samie Sands-Lockdown 
With a prank online video, Leah hopes to catch the attention of Jake Colton, a cute, blond-haired, blue-eyed co-worker she’s had a crush on for months. But instead of sending it to Jake, she manages to forward the clip to her boss—who buys every gory second. When mass panic ensues, Leah learns the video is more than a staged act… The government is calling the virus AM13. As the outbreak spreads, citizens are forced to stay indoors while they assess the gravity of the illness. Most people are quarantined in their homes, but Leah, Jake, and Leah’s best friend Michelle are some of the unlucky few who are stuck at work when the Lockdown occurs. That’s where she first encounters one of the infected… 

Leah is a researcher for a local station, the only journalism job she could get. To impress a prankster co-worker, she finds a zombie video online but sends it to her boss Jamie by mistake. Soon her colleagues are all investigating the story which no longer seems to be a hoax. *sigh* I liked the idea of stumbling across a real outbreak when you think you are seeing a good fake up. That was pretty much all I liked. Leah is a total airhead. She doesn't like her job so instead of doing it, she spends her work time on Facebook and YouTube, gossiping with her colleague Michelle or drooling at Jake. Her desperation at trying to get his attention is cringeworthy and she is always whining on about something. Her hangover, her looks, not having Jake, her job, whether her colleagues are laughing at her, losing a job she hates...it's never-ending. She is vain, lazy, annoying and ditzy. She is also pretty dumb and you don't ever want to follow any of her plans. She drove me mad! 

The story is also really slow. We get all of Leah's woes about Jake, her job, the drunken night out, Jake, her insecurities, Jake, the prank going to Jamie so she fears losing her job and more Jake. It then goes on to Jamie quizzing her and then investigating the video, and getting everyone to look into proving it is not a hoax. Meanwhile Leah continues to fret over Jake and it is boring. The plot then goes on to the discovery that it is not a hoax, the planning of a strategy and the truth coming out but it just takes forever for something to happen. I was bored with it all and all I wanted was to see Leah being eaten but it didn't seem likely so I DNFed it.

Read September 2019
DNF 1 star.

2) Peter Tremayne-The Morgow Rises
While out to sea, aboard their ship, Ysolt IV, Billy and Jack have no choice but to explore further to find a decent haul. Suddenly, something hard seemed to smash into the underside of the boat. The waters around them seemed to erupt. Billy Scawen’s mouth dropped open in horror, the briar pipe falling to the boards and smashing to pieces. Then young Jack Scawen gave one long, piercing shriek of terror…  

A cornish fishing town is under attack from an ancient mythical monster, attacking both the people exploring the flooded caverns and fishermen out on the water. Claire is visiting her eccentric uncle who has become one of the missing and teams up with the local police and a flamboyant author living in the town. This should have been a good book. I was interested in the cornish setting and the legend of this morgow creature but the idea being good was as far as it went for me. The novelist character was so annoying that my eye-rolling reached new levels. He is supposed to be trying to get involved with Claire but he talks to her as if she is a dumb kid. He continually refers to her as 'child', lectures her pompously on food, cars, history and anything else he can think of and orders her food for her as he knows EVERYTHING about Cornish food, didn't you know? Ugh, he is so annoying.

The writing itself is really weird. I haven't met real people who talk the way these characters talk, using strange word choices  and flowery language. It was pretty long winded and dull, focusing on Claire and author boy's dull conversations and the obligatory weird old witch cackling and telling everyone that they are doomed. We also get a burst of cornish poetry from a searcher as the search party enters the tunnels which was a bit odd. The actual search is described in a couple of dull paragraphs but we get pages of Claire and her date discussing food and other things not relevant to the plot. There is just too much focus on the people in the town and not enough on the actual monster. Even the few attacks mentioned weren't tense or scary and there wasn't much detail. I wasn't impressed by the lack of depth in the plot, the dull characters, or the old fashioned and flowery language and writing. Not my thing at all and I won't try anything else by the author.

Read September 2019
2 stars. 

3) Shawn Underhill-Survive
Set against the backdrop of the isolated forests north of New Hampshire's White Mountains, while camping on family land, Tom and Lori Thornton (and their dog, Buck) find themselves in a sudden SHTF scenario. No cellular service. Dangerous roads. Limited supplies. And far more questions than answers. After the shocking murder of Tom's uncle by a band of looters, the couple's already faltering marriage reaches the breaking point amid the chaos. Trust and loyalties are challenged, old friendships are put to the test, and while immediate answers and solutions elude them, they must rely on raw instincts in order to survive. 

Tom and Lori are shocked when his dying uncle collapses outside their cabin, shot by his long term neighbours, one of which is Tom's childhood friend Warner. Tom hears rumours about a deadly virus causing utter panic but nobody in the area seems to know for sure what is going on, leaving Tom trying to deal with dangerous neighbours, his wife having a breakdown and finding out for himself what is going on. The plot sounded interesting but I wasn't quite as keen on the execution or the twists that occured later. A lot of focus is on Tom's wife Lori who seems like a harpy from hell who hates his cabin, his country pursuits, guns, his life and is critical of every little thing he says or does. It is later that we discover that she suffers from serious mental illness which causes these meltdowns. Problem is, by the time I found this out I already didn't like her. Knowing that going into the story would have had me more sympathetic towards her from the start. In saying that, as soon as Tom starts exploring the area, Lori isn't seen again, stuck back at the cabin and being guarded by Warner's wife. She hardly even gets a mention.

I don't like putting in spoilers but in this case I do need to say what it was so readers can choose whether or not to read it. This is not a pandemic apocalypse book as I thought. It is about government agents dressed up in advanced suits like the Predator in the films, killing all but the elderly and infirm as they are no threat. They are running around this rural area hunting people down. The vast majority of this story is a flashback to see the events of the past as they unfolded then it switches to current events and what the survivors are doing now. To be honest I did not like the way this played out. None of this is what I expected from the blurb of the book-government conspiracy, local rebel militia fighting back...I was looking for the typical apocalypse society breakdown thing but didn't get it. I'm not saying it was badly written or a poor plot choice-it just isn't the kind of thing I like and had I known, I wouldn't have bought it. That said, others will no doubt enjoy this being different. Not for me. I won't be reading on with the series.

Read September 2019
2 stars.

4) Joseph Zuko-Jim's First Day
On a day like any other, Jim Blackmore finds himself at ground zero of the zombie apocalypse. He is forced to run a blood-soaked gauntlet through a city overrun by an insurmountable horde of the dead in a desperate attempt to reach his wife and two small children. As he fights to get home he discovers that the living are just as dangerous as the dead. But does Jim have the strength of will to survive the perilous journey? 

I wasn't a great fan of Jim to be honest. He was a bit childish and behaves more like a teenager than a father. His insistance that hi-fives are superior to fist bumps and the fact he does a H5 after sex is something I don't need to know when zombies are attacking! He then gets turned on during the crisis by messing about with a fire extinguisher after telling the reader it has sexual connotations, zones out on the phone while customers are talking to him yet moans that his friend Sam gets more sales, inappropriate comments about strippers and breasts constantly, talking down to his new friend Devon. I get he is supposed to be funny but I just found him really irritating. Devon was a much more interesting character as was Sam but instead Jim gets the starring role. Still, I didn't hate him and it didn't stop me reading, which is a positive.

Putting aside Jim's stupidity, it's not a bad zombie book overall. The real problem with the book is that there is too much action crammed into the journey and every minute Jim meets a new disaster. Helicopter crash, fire at his work, escape from work, zombies kill his friends, multiple car crashes, mugged, held up at gunpoint, captured by religious zealots, chased by countless strippers/kids/old people, attacked by zombie cows, exploding bridges, trapped in various buildings, boat crash, car shot at, mad rapists, Jim's multiple injuries...all in the space of a couple of hours. I felt that too much was being crammed in with one crisis after another on every page, leaving the reader no chance to take it all in. I like action packed zombie books but even this was too much for me. It would've been nice to have a few tension build ups between each thing happening instead of a mad rollercoaster that is jammed on full speed. I lost count of how many car crashes there were. Maybe Jim should let someone else drive! I felt that character development was sacrificed for action but just went a bit too far. Had these events been spaced over days, it might work better. It's a decent enough book, inventive situations, some good zombie moments, good supporting characters. It just lacks a bit of tension and pacing. It was a decent read but not enough for me to read on with the series. 

Read September 2019
2.5/3 stars?

5) Michael Yowell-Sliggers
Mason Parker has returned home from college, but he is not the only recent arrival in the coastal town of Sweetboro. Savage, terrifying creatures from the deep are about to make their presence known. And the hungry monsters are growing bolder each night. Sheriff Jimmy Steele, his deputy, the local marine biologist, and Mason will soon be forced to face this nightmarish threat on a mission to infiltrate the creatures' lair and destroy them for good.  

The first thing I noticed about this book was the scary cover, which I love! The book itself turned out to be a decent read overall once it got into the plot. We do spend a lot of time focusing on the personal lives of the characters. Mason returns to town and is rocked with his mother's death, he's getting on the wrong side of the gang who bullied him at school and trying to date his childhood friend Eaver. His friend Danny lives with his bullying father Ricky, who is also secretly sleeping with the girl Danny has a crush on, Ricky wants Danny to quit school and get a job but won't give him one at his store. Danny is 20 and it is beyond me why he continues to be a doormat to a father who doesn't care about him. Why doesn't he move in with Mason? Eaver's mother puts pressure on her to work in the family business and not go to college. Yes, very supportive parents in this town!

Away from the family and love angst, people are starting to go missing around town from fishermen to courting couples. A local man insists that it is Sliggers, a mythical monster used in stories to scare previous generations of kids but this time the man is right. Sliggers are hitting town, attacking people in the water, the beaches and now in the town itself. The police join forces with a few concerned locals to try and find the lair of the creatues and destroy them before they destroy the town. I liked the whole idea of the Sliggers and the attacks on the people were nicely written and entertaining. Characters like Cinch-the cook who first sees the Sliggers, the police, the diving biologist...I very much liked the scenes they were in. While I liked our three MCs, I could do without their personal relationships, but it didn't destroy the main story either. The Sliggers and the investigation were interesting enough that the story didn't need the vendetta with Mal. Again though, I didn't hate it or anything.

It was a decent horror story and was well written. Characters were varied and mostly interesting. If you like a sea monster creature feature then this will keep you going for a few hours.I would read more by the author.

Read September 2019
3 stars.