I Am Not a Serial Killer

I Am Not a Serial Killer: John Cleaver, Book 1 by Dan Wells

After meeting somebody that knew they author, I decided to check out his first book. It is a book involving supernatural horror, which is usually something that I don't care much for. However, this is well grounded in reality and psychological exploration which makes it good. The protagonist, John Wayne Cleaver is obsessed with serial killers. He also has difficulty relating with people and has been diagnosed with psychological conditions. His family owns a mortuary in the small town, so they are familiar with deaths. After mysterious deaths take place in the town, he becomes intrigued. He chases things down and discovers that their peaceful next door neighbor is actually some sort of demon that can replace parts of his body with parts from other people. (The neighbor could also consume others in their entirety. However, he has fallen in love with his current wife and wants to continue it.) John regular does chores for the neighbors, and thus sees their peaceful existence. However, he also tracks down his activities to see the neighbor's demon behavior. Eventually, he helps to defeat the neighbor, but not after many people have died. It is an intriguing story as he finds out more about himself as he works to stop the crime.

They Bloom at Night

They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran

Life among the poor in Louisiana is hard enough. After a hurricane some deadly algae makes it even worse. The book us dark and forgettable.

The Corruption of Hollis Brown

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum

Hollis Brown gets beat up all the time. He doesn't have many friends. There are only a few girls that get along with him. He lives in a small town where people have little hope. There is a nearby "haunted" area, Rosetown. The kids go there. One bully beats up Hollis. Hollis leaves with a girl. Later the bully goes alone and comes out with man injuries. Hollis and the girl bring him to the hospital. The bully initially blamed Hollis. Hollis and many of the other kids are suspended. Hollis meets a homeless boy, Walt. Then Walt jumps into Hollis's body and they bury the old body. Hollis and Walt do things together. Hollis learns more about Walt. He had lived and "died" around a century earlier. He inhabits other people's bodies. Sometimes it work. Sometimes (like the previous one), they fight it and can't be together. Hollis and Walt have many internal conversations. Walt normally has control, but lets Hollis do things at time. Once Walt comes into the picture, Hollis starts to become more popular. Walt's friends eventually decide something is up. His friend from Nigeria knows some incantations and do things. Walt and Hollis learn to love each other, and find out details about what happened to Walt's family.

The narration and storytelling is horrible in this book. It has a disjointed storytelling style that feels like it is stutters fram scene to scene. Suddenly the narrative will jump and change to a new key point. The characters are mostly caricatures. Hollis and Walt are the ones that get the most development, but even they don't feel real. This book claims to be "young adult", but author says it should be 16+. The idea could have easily been carried out without the many "triggers". The book as a whole feels more like a TikTok feed than work of literature. 

Dead Voices

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden

The protagonist's father gets to bring people up to a new ski resort for a pre-opening. There is a bad snow storm, so they are the only ones to make it out there. The next day a "journalist" appears - though he is a ghost hunter. The place is haunted. Looking in mirrors can cause people to end up in the netherworld. They think they are stuck there. In the end, they find having something both in and out of the netherworld can free them. A fire helps get them out. Story is well written, but not up my tree.

Dracula: Starring David Suchet and Tom Hiddleston

A BBC adaptation of a play based on the original Dracula book seems as good way as any to get introduced to Dracula. I was surprised at how little I knew of the original story, but how much I understood of the characters. Many of the "vampire" themes are present in this original book. There is also a distinct "vampire romance" involved. No wonder Twilight and the like of gone so far on the romance. Dracula spreads vampire-dom on other unwittingly. Some people also have managed to discover some of the defenses. The "happy" ending only occurs after great challenge.

The Night Eternal: Strain Book 3

After reading the second Strain book, I was eagerly anticipating this one. However, I forced myself to read a few other books first. Alas, by the time I started reading, Night Eternal, I was disappointing. Troll Hunters essentially had the same story with a much lighter tone. This book is very dark. Many of the "good guys" die. People struggle against each other and themselves before finding a way to eliminate the vampires. In the end, the vampires are just nuked out of existence. You know it will happen, making some of the tension feel forced. There is a ton of mythological and religious background to explain things. However, most just serves to delay the outcome.

The Fall: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy

The Fall is the middle book in the Strain trilogy. New York is becoming invested with Vampires. We learn of the plan for world domination. A rich guy had been helping out with the plan with the hope of vampiric immortality. He uses his nuclear power plants to help prepare the world for vampires, but the vampires have no need for him. We do get clues as to ways the vampires can be stopped. However, this book is about the vampires wrecking mayhem. We see some key characters die, while others seem to be prolonged longer. Vampires don't really care for humans. The war is really a war of vmapires for domination, with humans as mere pawns. The vampires chose humans to befriend based on their needs, not on the desires of humans. The powers that be could have ended this pandemic early on. However, they were influenced by those that wanted destruction and did too little too late.

The Strain

The Strain starts with an airplane that lands in New York City and then just stops. All power goes out and there is no sign from anybody. They call in many government agents, including the CDC. Everyone appears dead - ecept for 4 people. They are taken to the hospital, and seem to have a full recovery, even though there body is showing some weird vital signs. The government tries to bury the news by having it released just before a total eclipse over Manhattan. An old man who knows about the vampire tries to talk to the CDC man. We learn that this has been a vampire infestation and part of a battle among vampires where humans are mere pawns. The dead passengers wake up and attempt to go to their homes, vampirizing everybody, including the UPS guys. They have plenty of vampire battles. We also have the human interest side. The CDC guy is trying (unsuccessfully) to get custody of his boy. He misses an important court date to attend to the plane. Later he warns his ex to get out of town with his son. However, her boyfriend doesn't want to go and they say. Eventually both die, but the son remains. (How convenient!) Our "heroes" also come really close to getting killed by vampires. However, they manage to always escape just in time. (Wouldn't it be interesting if the main guy died in a book and then it had to switch over.)
I was drawn in by the airplane. This does seem somehat similar to del Toro's Mimic.

So Cold the River

I fell victim to promotions and borrowed this book after hearing a preview at the end of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The first chapter seemed interesting. A failed filmmaker has a knack for identifying important things in people's life. After witnessing a funeral slide show he created, a woman hired him to do a project on her father-in-law's life in French Lick, Indiana.
The book continues with us learning more about his life. He is on the outs with his wife - mostly because he feels dejected for his failed film career. His anger seems to get the best of him.
Once in Indiana, he discovers that the namesake of the person he is researching had lived long ago and would now be well over 100. He also drank some of the mineral water from the area (Pluto Water). This caused him to have hallucinations where he felt he was experience events that occurred in the area. He discovered that his subject was notoriously evil. He also became "addicted" to the water, and would have serious withdrawal symptoms. He hooks up with another out of towner that is also doing research in the area (his family has connected with the black hotel economy of the area.) He does find that "original" water from an elderly widow helps relieve the cravings, while letting him experience situations from a distance. We also meet a Josiah Bradford, a good-for-nothing descendant of the research subject. He is the bad guy and eventually "becomes" the historical figure they are trying to research. There is a huge storm that comes through the area, with everything reaching a simultaneous climax before everyone lives happily ever after.
The book piqued my interest in the area of Indiana. (Apparently, the old hotels in the area inspired the author to write the book.) The book is fast moving and doesn't try to spend much time explaining why some of the supernatural things occur. Some of the key twists (like HAM radio) are fairly well broadcast, though there are some curve-balls. Amazon has it categorized as "horror", though contemporary fantasy may be a better categorization.