WWW Wednesday (30/10/2013)

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? • What did you recently finish reading? • What do you think you’ll read next?

I have had a serious lull in reading this past week or, I just can’t seem to stick with anything. It happens sometimes. I don’t think it’s a reflection on the books, I’ve just not been in the mood. Hopefully, it won’t last long!

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Currently Reading: The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice. I’m still reading this and have barely even scratched the surface. Last week I didn’t get much reading time, and this week I just haven’t been feeling it. But it’s a NetGalley review so I will persevere. I also picked up City of Ashes which is a reread. I thought something light and familiar would help me get back in the mood…I’ll get back to you on that one.

Recently Finished: I finished Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes (Review here) and I didn’t finish Good Omens.

I was travelling at the weekend and you know what the worst thing EVER is? When you’re stuck on a 4 hour train journey with a book that you don’t want to read. Seriously, I think I have some hidden hatred for Neil Gaiman or something because I just CAN NOT READ HIS BOOKS. The only one I managed to get through without hating was Stardust. I tried really hard to get into Good Omens but it just sounded like the ramblings of two mad men to me and I gave up just past the 100 page mark.

Up Next: Hopefully I can get geared up for this ARC of Orbital Kin by James E. Parsons!

After an unusual disease breaks out and begins to threaten the country, a group of postgraduate students at a British university focus their research upon it, aiming to find out the cause and the cure.
The experimentations move out to space stations soon enough, in hope of a cure being produced while more mysterious events take place. The two graduate students find success, breakthroughs and the sudden spreading illness takes them in directions they never expected.
Can university graduates Steven and Alan save the country from the spread of the disease? Only time will tell… (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Leave a comment with your link and I’ll check them out!

Horror October: Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes

Human Remains is a deeply disturbing and powerful psychological thriller that will have you checking the locks on your doors and windows.

When Annabel, a police analyst, discovers her neighbour’s decomposing body in the house next door, she’s appalled to think that no one, including herself, noticed that anything was wrong.

Back at work, she feels compelled to investigate, despite her colleagues’ lack of interest, and finds data showing that such cases are common – too common – in her home town. As she’s drawn deeper into the mystery and becomes convinced she’s on the trail of a killer, she also must face her own demons and her own mortality. Would anyone notice if she just disappeared?

So, this is one of those books that’s really hard to review without giving away the whole shebang, so I’ll keep it brief.

I absolutely loved Haynes’ first book Into the Darkest Corner but somehow managed to miss the release of her second one. When I saw the synopsis for Human Remains (her 3rd) though I knew I had to read it, especially considering I was doing this Horror October thing.

I have to say, I started off being bit disappointed. The novel is written from the perspectives of Annabel, a woman who has somehow managed to isolate herself from everyone apart from her elderly mum and her cat, and Colin, an intelligent but clearly unhinged individual. I think the main reason that this started off so slowly for me was that it was clear from the start that Colin was going to be ‘the killer’.

At first, I thought it was just an obvious plot-line but as soon as it became clear that we’re supposed to know who he is I felt I was really able to get into it. There was one moment when something just clicked, the inciting incident if you want to be poncy about it, and from then on I was hooked. It just wished it had happened sooner.

Human Remains reminded me a little of the likes of the film Se7en, and to some extent the Hannibal books. Mainly because of Colin’s character. He’s intelligent, articulate and lives a somewhat normal life on the surface, but underneath he’s completely psychotic. And that’s the thing I love about these kind of thrillers. I’m totally fascinated by how serious criminals and serial killers’ minds work.

Colin was a great baddy, even if he didn’t feel that original to me. I guess certain things he did were though. The creepiest part wasn’t even his obsession with the bodies, it was his complete lack of remorse. There was no remorse, because he didn’t feel like he was doing anything wrong, and therefore he felt invincible.

I wish we learned more about ‘his method’ too, I was really intrigued by that – such a scary thought. If you weren’t wary of the likes of Derren Brown before, you will be after reading this!

Disclosure: None, I bought it!
Details: Paperback, 368 pages. Published February 14th 2013 by MYRIAD EDITIONS
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Unicorns
Is it a keeper? Probably, but only because I’ve kept Into the Darkest Corner.
If you liked this try: American Psycho

WWW Wednesday! (23/10/2013)

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? • What did you recently finish reading? • What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading: Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes, (I might have finished this by the time this post goes out – it’s been good!) and The Wolves of Midwinter (The Wolf Gift #2) by Anne Rice.

Recently Finished: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, which I loved. Read my review here.

Up Next: Probably Good Omens, which I’ve been meaning to read for AGES. I famously find it hard to ‘get into’ Neil Gaiman’s books even though I love the stories he tells, there’s something about his writing style that I don’t get on with. But I’m hoping this collaboration with Terry Pratchett will be different.

You can check out the other books I’m reading for Horror October Here.

Leave a comment with the link to your post, or your books this week and I’ll be sure to take a look!

WWW Wednesday (16/10/2013)

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading? • What did you recently finish reading? • What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading: As part of Horror October I’m reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. I’m almost finished…LOVING IT.

Recently Finished: Words Once Spoken by Carly Drake. This was a book of two halves for me! My review is here.

Up Next: Probably The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice OR Human Remains by Elizabeth Haynes

You can check out the other books I’m reading for Horror October Here.

Leave a comment with the link to your post, or your books this week and I’ll be sure to take a look!

The Eagle has Landed! Shiny New Reads

Got the BEST post a few days ago. Just having trouble finding a home for them! More shelves needed!

Most of these are for Horror October, can’t wait!

Doctor Sleep – Stephen King

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown – Holly Black

Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a wholly original story of rage and revenge, of guilt and horror, and of love and loathing from bestselling and acclaimed author Holly Black.