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 reviews from this month so far.

1) RA Blalock-Devour
An infection is spreading. People are dying, but they don’t stay dead. St. Louis is falling to pieces. In the midst of rioting, a dangerous new disease has sprung up pushing an already dire situation over the edge. Those who are infected suddenly become extremely aggressive, attacking and even eating those around them. And Olivia Bennett is caught right in the middle of it. When Liv comes face to face with the infected, her hectic life grinds to a halt as the city around her begins to devour itself. Forced to flee from her car with nothing but her eighteen-month-old daughter, Elli, Liv must trek forty miles on foot across the feral infested suburbs of St. Louis to a safe haven that may not even be safe. Fight or die. What other hope does she have?  

I read and enjoyed the prequel which followed a police officer as the outbreak began so I was disappointed to see him relegated to small bit part in this book. Instead we follow Olivia and her 18 month old daughter as they flee a traffic jam when the zombies come. Liv is not the sharpest tool in the box. I can get her initially being scared to leave the car and in two minds for helping someone or fleeing, but really she needs to MOVE. She has a destination in mind, a farm outside of the city but it takes her ages to get moving towards it, spending too many days arsing about in the houses getting things ready for her next move. She should be preparing her stuff at night, ready to get going at first light and getting to the farm in a few days instead of taking forever. I was also wondering why she gave her 18 month old daughter a screwdriver to 'help' her with a DIY project she was doing. 

I was driven mad by Elli. Seriously, all she does is scream and cry on every page and my patience was wearing thin with it. Go into house, Elli cries, Liv calms her, Liv leaves room, Elli wails, Liv returns cooing about being 'sorry baby', Liv does something else, Elli screams, Liv says sorry. It was driving me up the bloody tree. The kid is like a spoiled brat that has tantrums every time Liv moves two steps away from her. She screams in her car seat, she screams when being carried, she screams in every room she goes into...ARRGGHH! Liv also drives me mad doing stupid stuff. She sees a man outside being pursued by zombies and decides to help him by distracting the zombies. She creates a loud diversion which scares the man into stopping and he gets eaten. Nice one Liv and it brings the zombie to your door where Elli is screaming again. *sigh* 

The story could have been a decent one if it didn't have the screaming kid freaking out on every page and Liv constantly saying 'sorry baby' every time she has to do something away from the kid. And I can't forgive Liv for not trying harder to persuade Papoose the dog to come with her or at least leaving the poor dog food and water if leaving it behind! This had potential but was way too annoying to continue.

Read June 2019
DNF 2 star.

2) Jeff Strand-Facial
Greg has just killed the man he hired to kill one of his wife’s many lovers. He’s now got a dead body in his office. Carlton, Greg’s brother, desperately needs a dead body. It’s kind of related to the lion corpse that he found in his basement. This is the normal part of the story.  

Greg hires Dirk to kill a lover of his wife who sent a message taunting him over his impotency issues. He then kills Dirk and is stuck with a body. Luckily, Carlton needs a dead body. He has just removed a dead lion from his basement floor and a face stuck in the floor asks him to feed it bodies, promising wealth if he does and death if he doesn't. On finding out what Greg is planning, Carlton requeststhe body.

I liked the idea of the face stuck in the floor in a ritual gone wrong and was somewhat amused by the lion but overall it was a somewhat dull tale. Two idiot brothers, one playing gangster, the other working for the face, who have one shared brain cell between them, bumbling around and getting into a mess. During the crisis they seem to insult each other and bicker all the time, which I assume was meant to amuse but I just found it annoying to the extent of frequent eyerolling. I found myself hoping that this face would get to eat everyone. It was just strange and lacked anything that interested me. The attempted humour and the way it was written just didn't appeal to me in any way, which was disappointing as I loved The Haunted Forest Tour. This just wasn't for me.

Read June 2019
DNF 1 star. 

3) Dean Clayton Edwards-The Hollow Places
Simon delivers live bodies to a psychic creature in the water. He has a natural ability for the work and is even beginning to think he might enjoy it, until the creature asks for the life of his sister. He has less than 24 hours to save both their lives. 

This is a story which I felt had real potential but failed to deliver on it. The actual story was interesting. Simon has agreed to be the servant of a psychic creature that lives in the waters nearby. When it wants someone as a sacrifice, it tells Simon and it assists him in abducting the person in question and he delivers each one over the cliff for the monster. This time he is told that it wants his sister Sarah and he decides to try and save her and find a way to defeat the monster which is easier said than done when it can get into his head and make him do things-and it has other minions who come looking for Simon and Sarah.

Simon was quite an interesting character and his missions were interesting, as was the effects the creature had on his mind. I wish I could say the same for Sarah. Simon has spent time trying to prepare Sarah for what might happen. He made her learn trigger words that he can use to alert her to runvwithout the monster knowing, he encouraged her to have an escape plan, to hide with a friend he knows nothing about, a system of telephone communication that allows her to know if he is under monster control or not. He was aware it could come to this and wanted to protect her. Despite Sarah knowing what Simon does for the creature, she barely paid attention, believing it would never happen so she manages to ignore the trigger words he keeps using and she pretty much screws up all of his careful plans and gives her address out to anyone who texts when she is meant to be hiding! She is dumb, stupid and frustrating. I wasn't keen on the minions of the story as they seemed underdeveloped and not really that interesting.

By the time I DNFed about halfway through, I was frustrated to still know nothing about the death of Simon's parents, how he came into contact with the creature, what the creature is, how and why it chooses the victims, what happens to the people thrown into the water...I want to get a bit of all that as we go along, not vague mentions here and there.Looking at reviews of the book, it seems we don't actually get answers to all the questions. I liked the author's idea and the writing wasn't bad but it needs more development.

Read June 2019
DNF 2 stars. 

4) Damon Hunter-Rot
A disease called the rot has spread to the United States, leading to a quarantine being imposed on most of California. Victims react in different ways. Most become like zombies, wandering about aimlessly unless they come across someone to bite and spread the disease. Others become aggressive and animal like. Rarer are those who seem to immune. Eric Vance of the newly formed Tactical Medical Response Team is one of the immune. He is trapped in San Francisco awaiting rescue after a doomed mission into the Quarantined California left him and two others stranded. He learns his ex wife, Donna and teenage daughter, Katelin are trapped in a newly quarantine part of Southern California. Knowing they are trouble he makes plans to leave his post and go help them.

Donna and Katelin are not waiting around for help. They fall in with a motley bunch of survivors and try to fight their way out, but the rot is much more pervasive and deadly than they could have anticipated. To complicate matters roaming the wasteland collecting the immune and processing them into samples to study is mad TMRT scientist Dr. Talbot. Even if Vance and his family can survive the rot Talbot has other sinister plans for them. 

I really don't have much to say about the book as I DNFed it quickly. There isn't anything wrong with the writing and the form the Rot takes and swiftness of people turning from it is quite interesting. I also liked the various stages the Rot victims go through, changing into ever more dangerous predators rather than just shambling zombies. I also liked that the soldiers didn't get the chance to kill all the zombie types because of a lack of ammunition, killing just the most deadly kind. I liked the realism of that. No, the problem for me came with not liking any of the characters at all. Ashley loves her 'great husband and family' so much but on this mission away, she is having sex with Eric. Eric's ex-wife seems a bitter and vindictive woman set on turning her daughter against Eric. Kaitlin is a spoiled sulky brat who whines that her dad should have dropped everything to say happy birthday to her despite being in the middle of a battle with zombies at the time. Then we have the teenage zombie hunters who are like something out of a bad zombie film. Eric himself has zero personality. 

This one didn't work for me from page one and I just DNFed it. It was more about my personal taste than anything wrong with the author or his plot though so don't let my review put you off if you want to read it.

Read June 2019
DNF 2 stars. 

5) Kealan Patrick Burke-Sour Candy
At first glance, Phil Pendleton and his son Adam are just an ordinary father and son, no different from any other. They take walks in the park together, visit county fairs, museums, and zoos, and eat together overlooking the lake. Some might say the father is a little too accommodating given the lack of discipline when the child loses his temper in public. Some might say he spoils his son by allowing him to set his own bedtimes and eat candy whenever he wants. Some might say that such leniency is starting to take its toll on the father, given how his health has declined. What no one knows is that Phil is a prisoner, and that up until a few weeks ago and a chance encounter at a grocery store, he had never seen the child before in his life.

Phil has a decent job, a great girlfriend and a comfortable home. All of that is ruined when he goes shopping for chocolate for Lori and witnesses a child having a tantrum beside his catatonic mother. After taking a piece of candy from the child, Phil is in a car crash, his car hit by the mother of the child, who then kills herself. Suddenlyhis life literally changes. The police tell him that Adam is his son and always has been, with photos around his home to prove Adam lives there. Lori is suddenly gone and is now his ex who claims he has been pestering her, his ex-wife claims she left him when she found out he had a child with someone else. His life has been turned upside down and he can't get anyone to believe him. 

I don't want to go any further into the plot but is was a smart little horror novel. Phil is on the phone to Lori when the crash happens but moments later is gone from her life and Adam is there in his place, like a sinister changeling. Phil is determined to find a way to get rid of the boy and get his old life back but it won't be that easy. I liked Phil as a character, a normal guy who is suddenly in a nightmare. The plot is clever and it keeps you guessing how it will all end. I liked Phil's plotting and his attempts to escape, and the ending was a nice twist and quite satisfying. I've read a couple of short stories by the author now and both plots have been clever, though I liked this one better. I certainly plan to read more by this author in the future.

Read June 2019
3 stars.