Review: The Sorrows

The Sorrows by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In spite of or, perhaps, because of, its dark history, Castle Blackwood, on the remote, uninhabited island of the Sorrows, seems the perfect place for two Oscar-nominated composers to find inspiration for the musical score of a famed director's new horror movie. The duo arrange to spend a month on the island with their companions, cut off from all outside contact, and enter a dark and disturbing world where their baser instincts are brought to the surface, and echoes of the Sorrows' past take root in the present.

In The Sorrows, not all monsters are supernatural, and not all horrific acts can be blamed on the influence of what lurks within Castle Blackwood.

This is one of those rare stories that will keep you up at night. You HAVE to read "just one more chapter" before turning off the light... and when (if!) you do set it aside, your mind spins thinking about what you just read and what might happen next in Jonathan Janz's The Sorrows.

View all my reviews

Review: Stretch-Neck: A Veil Story

Stretch-Neck: A Veil Story by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Stretch-Neck: A Veil Story by Jonathan Janz is a fantastic short story, released as a limited edition chapbook, that provides background of one of the main characters in his ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ sci-fi/thriller/horror tale Veil.

Although connected, readers don't have to have read Veil to appreciate the suspense and action of Stretch-Neck

My review of Veil can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

View all my reviews

Review: Marla

Marla by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jonathan Janz makes a bold decision to begin Marla with quotes from two classic stories by two giants of horror: Carrie by Stephen King and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. If those quotes were meant to be aspirational, with hopes that MARLA would live up to those other tales, Janz, without question, succeeded.

Residents of King's Branch have long wondered about Marla Gorman and her mother Irene, who live by themselves on the outskirts of town. Rumors abound about the pair, and especially about Marla, who is rarely, if ever, seen by the people of the town. No one seems to know much about them for certain, and the Gormans rebuff all attempts to pry into their secrets.

When a number of unusual deaths occur in town, with victims that seem to have nothing in common other than a look of terror on their faces, Detectives Carl Lancaster and RJ Williams are assigned to investigate. With only vague, but disturbing suspicions that the deaths might be connected to the Gormans, Lancaster and Williams turn their attention to the pair, only to find much less, and far more, than they expected. And they realize that identifying the likely killer is one thing, surviving long enough to do anything about it is something else entirely.

Janz builds this ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ story like a multi-layer dessert, first spreading a base of uneasy suspicion, adding a large helping of fear, and then topping it all with a layer of absolute terror. As you sink your teeth into it, be warned that this is one of those rare stories that also sinks its teeth into you... and it doesn't let go, even after the last spoonful is consumed as the last page is turned.

Buy it. Read it. Thank me later.

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing for providing an eARC for review!

View all my reviews

Review: The Clearing of Travis Coble

The Clearing of Travis Coble by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Clearing of Travis Coble is a suspenseful ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ short horror story from what I can only assume is the very twisted 😁 mind of Jonathan Janz.

Twenty years ago Travis Coble was acquitted at trial of murdering his family, but there are still many who question his innocence. Struggling university professor Dick Myers sees an opportunity to help both Travis and himself by finding a way to clear his name and publishing an article about the case. He arranges to meet Travis at his remote Tennessee cabin for an interview... where things go sideways in a hurry!

Coming in at about 40 pages, The Clearing of Travis Coble is not a long tale, but Janz does a marvelous job of establishing an uncomfortable setting with his descriptions of the cabin and surrounding environment, and with the increasing tensions evident in the interactions between Myers and Coble. His excellent pacing carries us along as Myers and we realize that there is something very wrong here.

Very enjoyable!

View all my reviews

Review: Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers

Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My name is Will Burgess, and if you don’t believe what I’m about to tell you, congratulations, you’re in the majority.
-- Jonathan Janz, Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers

Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers is another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ action-packed horror/thriller by Jonathan Janz. This sequel to Children of the Dark continues the tale of Will Burgess, picking up a little more than a year after the murderous rampage of the monstrous Children, an ancient evil long rumored to inhabit the woods around his hometown of Shadeland.

For the last 13 months 16-year old Will has been confined to The Sunny Woods Rehabilitation Center, separated from his young sister Sophia (who prefers to be called Peach), and those few of his Shadeland friends who survived the original attacks. Locked away from all he knows and loves, he wants nothing more than to be reunited with Peach and to be able to live a normal life - but his government captors want to keep him imprisoned so that he can't cast doubt on their fabricated cover story of the previous summer's events... or on more recent attacks. The only problem with their plans is that the Children haven't gone away, and now winged creatures - the Night Flyers - are also on the hunt for Will.

in Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers Janz brings back some familiar characters and introduces some wonderful, and some wonderfully hateful, new ones as well. As this high-intensity, tension-packed tale story unfolds, Will and his allies find that The Children and the Night Flyers aren't the only monsters they have to contend with.

I found myself completely wrapped up in the story, racing through the book and reluctant to put it down. Janz's writing brings to life the love, fear, desperation, courage and determination of Will and his friends; the horrific terror and ravening violence of the Children and the Night Flyers; and the betrayal and hypocrisy of those who believe the ends always justify the means.

Highly recommended.

I recommend reading Janz's first book in this series, Children of the Dark, before beginning this sequel.My spoiler-free review of that book is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).

View all my reviews

Review: Children of the Dark

Children of the Dark by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Children of the Dark by Jonathan Janz is a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ action-packed, horror/thriller tale set in the small town of Shadeland where high-school student Will Burgess and his friends find themselves the targets of the town bullies, an escaped serial killer and a whispered ancient evil that may be more than just a legend.

The week I saw seventeen people die didn’t begin with carnage, monsters, or a sadistic serial killer. It all began with a baseball game.
-- Jonathan Janz, Children of the Dark

This is a fast-paced and riveting tale, with unexpected surprises and twists. Janz delivers realistic characters that I loved, and several that I loved to despise! He provides a realistic portrait of small town life, with all of its close friendships, small triumphs, unacknowledged prejudices and uncomfortable secrets, and adds multiple doses of violence and horrific, awakened evil.

Raised by his single, drug-addicted mother, Will does his best to care for his little sister Peach, do well in school and earn a place on the baseball team. Life is difficult, at best, and during this first week in June he also has to find a way to survive the horrors, both human and otherwise, that have their sights set on Shadeland. All this while dealing with the realization that the girl of his dreams, currently dating one of the town's worst bullies, might actually like him, too.

Janz's story reminded me in many ways of Stephen King's coming-of-age tale The Body (perhaps better known as Stand By Me, the film adaptation directed by the late Rob Reiner). Like the characters in King's story, Will and his friends are up against a world that doesn't care much about what happens to them; unlike King's characters who went out in search of death, in Janz's story death comes searching for them.

Highly recommended.


View all my reviews

Review: The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand

The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand by Christopher Golden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I recently finished THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: NEW TALES OF STEPHEN KING'S THE STAND and have to say that I really enjoyed the anthology. I liked some stories better than others but I wasn't disappointed by any of them. For me it was like sharing memories and stories with people I didn't know, even though they grew up in the same neighborhood I did, or went to the same school as me.

Each author delivers a story that contains familiar elements, but brings a unique perspective to the characters, events and aftermath that King first introduced in The Stand. Co-editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene did a masterful job of pulling these different voices together to create a compelling collection.

Some of my favorites from the book:
LENORA by Jonathan Janz - a wonderful story of loss, redemption and survival that breaks your heart before healing it.

MOVING DAY by Richard Chizmar - I absolutely LOVED the way he not only crafted a new story but also skillfully wove in details from Stephen King original tale.

MAKE YOUR OWN WAY by Alma Katsu - a tale of loss, discovery, resilience and hope, and is the perfect story to wrap up the first section.

GRAND JUNCTION by Chuck Wendig - a story of choices: love or fear; trust or betrayal; hope or despair.

HE'S A RIGHTEOUS MAN by Ronald Malfi - how do you survive when there seems to be no hope? The residents of one small town think they've found their answer, although not everyone agrees. I did not see the ending coming!

THE MOSQUE AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Usman T. Malik - one of several stories in the collection that doesn't take place in the United States. A fantastic tale of the aftermath of Captain Trips on other parts of the world, where local customs, legends and beliefs have their own power.

ABAGAIL'S GETHSEMANE by Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus - tells the story of the youthful Abagail Freemantle growing up in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, intermixed with the tale of her time spent "in the wilderness" of Colorado seeking repentance for her sins of pride and arrogance.

THE DEVIL'S CHILDREN by Sarah Langan - explores whether the superflu survivors have really learned any lessons from the experience, and offers an unexpected glimmer of hope for the world.

THE UNFORTUNATE CONVALESCENCE OF THE SUPERLAWYER by Nat Cassidy - a fun read with references/"Easter eggs" to other works by King (including the short story NIGHT SURF), and a possible explanation for the shelter provided to some of the characters in THE STAND.

View all my reviews

Review: Veil

Veil by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Veil by Jonathan Janz is Predator meets Falling Skies and The A-Team all rolled into one fantastic, wild ride!

What starts out as a simple story of John Calhoun, a father desperately trying to keep his family from falling apart, turns horrific as first his son, then his separated wife, and finally his daughter are abducted in the midst of nation-wide series of unexplained disappearances. Rumors spread that the abductions are part of an alien invasion as reports surface of people literally vanishing into thin-air. As the world around him devolves into chaos, John wants nothing more than to bring his family back together, and joins with a small group of misfits who have a risky and radical plan to find and battle the abductors and bring their loved ones home.

With Veil, Janz has crafted a tension-filled story that evolves into an action-packed thriller, with strong and interesting characters and skillfully applied echoes of government and citizen reactions to the 2020 pandemic.

I'll be looking for more books by Jonathan Janz.
Recommended!

Thanks to #NetGalley for the early review copy of #Veil

View all my reviews