Books From The Backlog-One Second After

Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf.  You might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. Go to Carole's blog and add your blog post link in to join in the fun! Hosted by Carole at https://carolesrandomlife.blogspot.co.uk/

This seems like a fun feature and I have been planning to take part since Carole launched this so at last, here we go! I have a TON of unread books to choose from in various genres and I'm looking forward to sharing some of them with everybody. 

New York Times best-selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real ... a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages ... A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP). A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies.

Months before publication, One Second After has already been cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read, a book already being discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at a weapon and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. It is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warns could shatter America. In the tradition of On the Beach, Fail Safe, and Testament, this book, set in a typical American town, is a dire warning of what might be our future ... and our end.

This is one of the books that kind of fell through the cracks. The reason I keep forgetting about it is because I forgot to add it to Goodreads when I bought it so when I'm trawling through the site, planning my reads it is never there to choose! I think I bought this about two years ago and it gets a lot of great reviews. I did enjoy his terrorist novella Day of Wrath so I hope to get to this soon!

Chuckles Retro Reviews-Afraid by Jack Kilborn

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? YOU WILL BE . . .

Welcome to Safe Haven, Wisconsin. Miles from everything, with one road in and out, this peaceful town has never needed a full-time police force. Until now . . .

A helicopter has crashed near Safe Haven and unleashed something horrifying. Now this merciless force is about to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate. As residents begin dying in a storm of gory violence, Safe Haven's only chance for survival will rest with an aging county sheriff, a firefighter, and a single mom. And each will have this harrowing thought: Maybe death hasn't come to their town by accident . 

My Review:
A helicopter explodes one night in the town of Safe Haven, and a team of deadly modified assassins are searching the town for somebody called Warren-torturing and killing every citizen that they find. A handful of survivors are trying to find a safe place to hide, led by the town Sheriff but these assassins will not stop until the mission is complete and everyone is dead, and they find their target. Who is Warren and why do they want him so badly?

This is one of the best horror/thrillers that I've read in the genre. It is scary, gory, tension filled, brutal, exciting and full of well written characters that you are rooting for. The bad guys really are plain evil and you don't want them to win, but they seem to know everything about everyone in town and use that to their advantage in murdering the civilians. There are scenes of torture and violence and it is adult content. It is also one of these fast paced rollercoaster rides where you really don't know what is coming next or who might make it out alive.

We follow quite a few characters through the book. The Sheriff knows who they are looking for but is determined not to tell. Fran is frantic to escape from the diner and get home to her son Duncan and his beloved beagle Woof. Duncan and Woof are alone and afraid when the assassin comes after them. Erwin is trying to get to his girlfriend Jessie Lee, who is one of many to arrive at the school after hearing that each person in town is to receive a cheque for a lottery win. Jessie Lee is sure one of the men she sees is a well known serial killer. Josh is determined to get Fran and her family safely out of town. There are others in the book as well and although it seems like a lot of people, you don't get confused as they are in pairs or groups at different parts of town and the author jumps back and forward between them, keeping everything fast paced.

The assassins are a team of Red Ops-Bernie, Santiago, Taylor and Ajax, mind modified by Dr Ralph, who heads to the town with his monkey Mathison and a Green Beret team who want to find the team. The entire town is quarantined so the innocent survivors are finding themselves trapped and trying to evade the killers. It's funny how small the town feels when our survivors are trying to evade highly trained psychos!

I was so concerned about poor Woof and the trouble that was following him and Duncan! I always get very anxious about a dog in any kind of book like this and I admit that this was one of the most nerve jangling examples of dog worry that I've ever been through. I love Woof and he features heavily in the plot. Beagles are my favourite dog breed which makes it worse! I also loved the intelligent monkey Mathison, who also features heavily in the plot. That gave me a second animal to worry about, as if I needed that!

The events in the book take place over a short period of time of a day or so which keeps things moving fast throughout. There really are no dull moments in this book. People are having to keep moving to stay alive as there seems to be no safe place in town and the hunters are also moving constantly so you never know which group are going to run into a psycho at some point! It was a book that I didn't want to put down for a minute and I'll be very keen to look at other books by this author.

*NB* I heard that some survivors of his first three books Afraid, Trapped and Endurance appear again in the fourth book Haunted House in a fear experiment...now I'm quite excited at seeing someone from this book again!

Read July 2015
5 stars. 

Halloween Creatures Book Tag

Rules:
*Follow the Categories
*You Must Be Honest
*You Must Answer All Questions to the Best of Your Ability
*You Must Tag At Least 3 People
*Have Fun!
*Credit Would be Greatly Appreciated! 
https://keepreadingforward.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/halloween-creatures-book-tag/  

I saw this tag over at Barb's blog in 2017 near Halloween and I've seen it doing the rounds again this year so I'm putting this back up. I've added more to some of my answers just as a revamp. I tag anyone who wants to join in and feel free to use the free graphics from Pixabay that I used! 

Witches
A Book or Character that is Magical.
It kind of has to be Harry Potter doesn't it! The worldbuilding was wonderful, great characters, action and humour, magical creatures, inventive content, life lessons...it's just one of the best book series ever written in my opinion and I'll never get tired of reading it! Or listening to the Stephen Fry audio cds! I also loved the witches in Judith Post's Wolf's Bane series and the way magic was used in Witch Song by Amber Argyle and Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series. 

Mummies
A Book or Character You Can’t Wrap Your Mind Around.
 There were a few books that came to mind. If we are talking about hyped books I didn't get, Catch-22 is right up there along with the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I know both are popular but I disliked both from page one, hated the characters and the plot. I never took to Discworld books either though the writing was good enough-just not my thing. On the incomprehensible side, Wuthering Heights...couldn't make out a bloody thing one of the characters was saying and for that reason I'll add Trainspotting. I'm Scottish and I could barely understand the dialogue! Shakespeare was always a special challenge at school...

Vampires
A Book, Series, or Author You Can’t Live Without.
My all time favourites are Harry Potter and Stephen King's 'It'. Definitely desert island selections. For worldbuilding and characters add in the novels that inspired Game of Thrones and for all out action Michael Stephen Fuchs Arisen zombie series. I also always grab new books by Darrell Maloney in the apocalypse genre. I'm a big fan of Patricia Briggs werewolf series and Jack Kilborn, Rick Chesler, and Hunter Shea in the horror genre. Richard Laymon was always a must buy as well but sadly his passing deprived us of many more great books.

Werewolves
A Book Best Reading at the Middle of the Night.
I no longer read in the middle of the night-I'm getting too old for that! For me, every book is for reading whenever time allows and if I get my insomnia I just pick up whatever I am already reading. Sometimes, exciting apocalypse books for late night reading are not the best choices as I get too hyper and nervous for the characters! Last one I was up very late reading was A Storm of Swords part two. I wasn't going to bed until that was completed! The last 'read all night' and stopped at 6am was The Da Vinci Code. That was many years ago! 

Zombies
A Book You Picked Up for the 2nd Time or Continued after DNFing it.
No book gets a second chance with me. Once I have decided to DNF it, it goes to a charity shop and I never think of it again! DNF means 'I'm done with this' and I don't waste any more time with it. Too many others to read!

Ghosts
A Character You Saw Right Through or a Book You Easily Predicted a Twist or the Ending.
I get a lot of 'don't trust him/her!' moments in a book as I am naturally paranoid and suspicious! I see conspiracies that aren't even there at times! Greig Beck's Fathomless was an example of knowing who the traitor was even when the author tries to lead you in another direction. I latched on quickly to the coming twist in The Testing but still loved it. Shae in the Game of Thrones novels was a good example, as I never trusted her. Jeez there are too many examples to think about!

Frankenstein
A Book that Truly Shocked You.
I can't say that fiction books in general shock me but sometimes maybe a character death is a bit of a shock. The twist at the end of Harry Potter six did shock me the first time I read it as did the killing of a favourite in book seven. The Red Wedding in Game of Thrones-yeah that shocked plenty of people! Non fiction can be more shocking depending on the subject matter. I was shocked by the sheer scale of the cover up of the Hillsborough disaster. That was really terrible. Abuse books have the same effect which is why I had to stop reading them.

Skeletons
A Book or Character that Chilled You to the Bone or got your Funny Bone.
(Expressions meaning being scared, or finding something really funny.)
The Weasley Twins kept me laughing right through the Harry Potter books as did some of Tyrion's stunts in Game of Thrones. Hodor makes me smile-well, so far in the books anyway. Myrnin from the Morganville vampires is really funny at times especially with those furry vampire bunny slippers, murderous moods and bad driving! Oberon in the Iron Druid is funny as is the vampire Leif trying to use modern slang and Owen's dreadful language! I get a lot of laughs at Murderbot's inner monologues and social anxieties!

Ghouls
A Book that Left You Hungry or a Recipe You Want to Try from a Book.
Reading about the Hogwarts feasts or that darn sweet shop always gets me hungry and I'd love to try a few things off the train trolley as well as Butterbeer! I don't cook many recipes though so I doubt I'll try any of them! Anyone eating cake, chocolate or pizza makes me hungry too.

Goblins
A Greedy Character or a Character that Loves Gold and Jewelry.
Kind of drawing a blank here for the jewellery. Oh wait, it has to be Gollum! My precciioouuss! Greedy characters...hmmm The Lannisters in Game of Thrones as they want to rule at all costs and will kill anyone that gets in their way. Every child at Hogwarts stuffing their faces during all those feasts! *jealousy*

Devil
A Dark, Evil Character.
So many to choose from! Voldemort, Bellatrix LeStrange, Cersei Lannister, Night King, Ramsay Bolton, Theon Greyjoy, Joffrey Baratheon, Sauron, Saruman, Wormtongue, The White Witch, Randall Flagg, Pennywise the clown, Henry Bowers, Annie Wilkes, Emperor Palpatine, The Gentlemen, Angelus, Bill Sikes, Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, The Umbrella Corporatrion in Resident Evil and anyone who tries to hurt poor Murderbot...

Grim Reaper
A Character You Loved or Hated that Died
 Spoiler alert for Harry Potter book 7!!! I will NEVER forgive JK Rowling for what she did in this book to poor Dobby! I was also a bit upset at the way Remus was discarded off the page and we only saw the body. He deserved a heroic ending dammit! As for Game of Thrones, there are constant shocks but I'm not listing them. I did love the writing for the Red and Purple Weddings and the Tyrion story cycle in book 3 which was very satisfying! Based on what we see in season 6, The Winds of Winter could have really sad scenes in it-if we ever get it! And I have to mention what happened at the end of book three in RL Naquin's Monster Haven...I SOBBED through that!

Scarecrows
A Book or Character that Scares You.
I have never been scared of a horror book. Ever! But I still wouldn't want to meet Voldemort or Dementors, the White Walkers, Randall Flagg, Pennywise or any kind of zombies ever! The thought of real zombies do kind of scare me (though I love the books), along with great mutant spiders, overgrown beasties and things like that. I'm way more fearful of Death in the Final Destination books and films as I'm freaked out by the way Death takes revenge on those who cheated Fate! If there is something in books that scares me I'd say an EMP apocalypse is it. The way society breaks down so quickly, leaving you defending your home and family from looters and trying to survive the food shortages and having no electricity ever. I've read books like that by Darrell Maloney, Boyd Craven and Franklin Horton and they did kind of frighten me!

I TAG YOU!!! 

Can't Wait Wednesday-Lemuria

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at http://www.wishfulendings.com/ to spotlight and discuss books we're excited about but haven't read, which may not even be released yet. 

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. 

Nick Dirkse is a workaholic software developer, and he's desperate to save his crumbling marriage and reconnect with his neglected children. So he takes them on what promises to be the ultimate vacation in a tropical paradise.

The island, newly built off the southwest coast of India, is named for the mythical land of Lemuria. And it's a world-class private resort to indulge the modern-day rich and famous.

But this seemingly luxurious wonderland hides a terrible secret, a nightmare so real and terrifying it will test the outer limits of Nick's courage and resolve if he is to save the ones he loves.

In the tradition of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Peter Benchley's Jaws, John Triptych's newest novel combines scientific horror with heart-stopping thrills. Don't miss it!

One look at the cover and I wanted to read this! How creepy is that! The blurb is a bit vague on what is on the island as are the reviews so I guess I'll have to take a chance on this. Released September 2018.

Book Review: Teeth Of The Sea by Tim Waggoner

They glide through dark waters, sleek and silent as death itself. Ancient predators with only two desires – to feed and reproduce. They’ve traveled to the resort island of Las Dagas to do both, and the guests make tempting meals. The humans are on land, though, out of reach. But the resort’s main feature is an intricate canal system . . .

. . . and it’s starting to rain. 

My Review: 
A perfect resort is built on an isolated island, linked by a series of canals that stretch through it and home to a luxury resort for rich people looking to get away from it all. Echo, the famous pop star is shooting footage there for her social media accounts with boyfriend and wannabe action star Shayne. Rich kids are enjoying a vacation and messing around beside the water. None of them know that a family of anceient beasts long thought to be extinct are staking a claim in the area, the island where the adults themselves were born and where their offspring manage to get into the canal system ready to feast on the unwary while their parents stalk the many pleasure boats just off shore...

When the monsters start to attack people, the resort manager hopes to keep it quiet and deal with the problem but video of the attacks is about to leak online. Now Lara and her scientist father arrive at the island, searching for the beasts similar to the one that killed her mother years ago. Joel's team of cryptid hunters are also there looking for their biggest break after chasing countless dead end stories and legends. But this is no shark, confined only to the water. They are beasts that can come out of the canal like deadly crocodiles in search of food and with the storm coming in, the water levels are rising and threatening to flood the streets of the resort. 

This is one of the best horror creature features that I've read this year. The action is non stop throughout the book, starting with the attacks on the guests-the death of faceless people doing dumb stuff is always a lot of fun for me! It's an 'ooh there's a deadly beast killing guests that go into the canal so let's lie on the bank and stick our heads in the water for a giggle like the idiots we are!' sort of thing. There is the hunt on boats in the canal system where the teams have no clue exactly what kind of danger they are in, the boats off the island being attacked by things from their worst nightmare and it all comes to a very dramatic showdown at the end as the resort begins to flood. It keeps the reader interested the whole time, and the body count was high enough which is why I enjoyed it so much!

My favourite character in the book was Tomas, the kickass get it done kind of guy who is head of security for the resort and in charge of hunting down the beasts. I also liked the Cryptid chasing team that work for The Hidden World tv show, who are tired of dead end stories and happy to be actually trying to find real monsters for a change. Joel, Ricky, Pam and Owen have no idea just how deadly the hunt is going to turn. Then there is the obsessed scientist and his daughter, looking for confirmation of the creatures and a bit of revenge, while nursing a grudge against the Cryptid team leader. We also get the viewpoints from the monsters themselves which divides opinions in the reviews but it gives an insight into the behaviour of this family group and how feeding on each other will come before any kind of family bond if the food gets scarce. I found it quite interesting. 

I also enjoyed the setting. I'm always a fan of the isolated island with deadly monsters kind of thing and this was one of the better ones. At first you're safe if you stay away from the water as security tells you to do but as the inevitable storm moves in, the rain starts to unleash on the resort and flooded streets prove to be the perfect environment for the creatures to start hunting those that were hunting them. I always like the storm causing things to go really wrong element in these books too. I think this plot might put you off this kind of holiday resort though! Don't get too attached to the characters as you never know what is coming next for each of them.

I had read and abandoned Necropolis by the author and hadn't enjoyed it at all but I can never resist a good sea monster horror offering which is why I tried it. I'm glad that I did and would certainly look at similar books by Waggoner in the future if he has other straightforward non weird creature features to enjoy. He just got on with the story with little fuss and just enough description to tell the reader what they needed to know. The attack scenes were tense and exciting, and there was enough gory death to make most people happy. This is very much the kind of film I'd like to see on the SF channel with mindless death filled entertainment and most fans of this kind of thing with dinosaur sea monsters should enjoy the book.

Read June 2018.
5 stars.