REVIEW: Michael Bray - The Island

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Severed Press

Publication Date: 4^th October 2015

Pages: 206

REVIEWED BY CHAD

A copy of The Island was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Michael Bray, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Severed Press.

In The Island, by Michael Bray, we see a society in which reality television has become a performance platform for violence and death. The island itself is a man-made land mass on which a competition has been resurrected to air for the first time as a television series.

Contestants are set loose on the island and only one can survive to the end. Their prize? Whatever it is they desire. All they have to do is make it from one side of the island to the other.

Oh, and they have to make it through an island packed full of dinosaurs.

The main character of the story, Chase Riley, decides to take part in the newly revamped show in order to save his daughter who is suffering from terminal cancer. Against the wishes of his wife, he enters into the show, hoping that a victory will bring in the money they lacked, in order to get their daughter, the treatment she needs.

Putting all my honesty down on the table, I have to admit that I was a little dubious of the concept of this book going into it. My concern was that this was going to just end up feeling like a modern reimagining of The Running Man, but with dinosaurs as an artificial attempt to add an extra element to an already successful story. Still, I was also intrigued by the idea and was willing to give it a go.

REVIEW: Kristal Stittle - Merciless

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Sinister Grin Press

Publication Date: 1^st June 2016

Pages: 129

REVIEWED BY CHAD

A copy of Merciless by Kristal Stittle was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publisher, Sinister Grin Press, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

There is a common and, in my opinion, misguided idea when it comes to writing that there are certain plots that one should steer clear from, that ground which has been treaded on one too many times can never be fertile and should be left to go barren. The thing is, as much as we all likely fancy ourselves as shining lights of ingenuity and creativity, there really are only so many stories that can be told. Sure, we can put some individual touches and color tones to the picture but in the end, it isn’t often that I read something or watch something and get at least a little touch of déjà vu or a feeling of “haven’t we been here before”?

Case in point would be the book Merciless, by Kristal Stittle. I found the book to be highly entertaining and delivered in a way that felt fresh and seemed clear that the author was invested in it. The story itself is simple enough. The protagonist, Mercy, is home alone while her boyfriend is off having a weekend with his friends. Mercy begins to receive phone calls that start as merely curious and quickly progress to creepy and disturbing. When she decides to try and get out of the house and spend some time at her parent’s house, the calls mysteriously follow her and soon she finds herself in the middle of an all-out home invasion.

REVIEW: Brett McBean - The Invasion

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Sinister Grin Press

Publication Date: 15^th May 2016

Pages: 368

REVIEWED BY CHAD

A copy of The Invasion by Brett McBean was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publishers, Sinister Grin Press via Hook of a Book Publicity in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

For only the second time ever, Confessions is posting a second review for the same book. We in the Confessional have decided that rather than only letting one reviewer pick up a book at a time, we would let anyone take whatever they wanted and if more than one person read the same book, then so be it, we would still post the review on the site.

The main reason for this is so that we can offer readers varying reviews of the same book so it doesn't always look to be biased. We are hoping that it will give you lot that read these reviews, a little bit of extra help in deciding what you want to buy. So on with Chad's review.

REVIEW: Rich Hawkins - King Carrion

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Sinister Horror Company

Publication Date: 17^th Sept 2016

Pages: 132

REVIEWED BY CHAD

A copy of King Carrion was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publishers, Sinister Horror Company in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

As a child of the eighties, I was born and raised on what I consider to be one of the golden ages of horror fiction. Franchises were born here, franchises that, to this day we find ourselves unable to escape from. And while there are any number of instances where we, as a culture have lost our way, there is one specific area which I particularly lament where we seem to have gone wrong.

I speak specifically of vampires.

A lot of this is likely going to seem directed at Twilight and to be sure, much of it for me came from that particular franchise. If that’s your thing, all the power to you but for me, it was way too far of a stone’s throw from the classic films I grew up with. Vampires used to be cool, they were dangerous and gritty. Vampires were a force to be reckoned with in the fictional landscape.

Then things began to change and it was almost like vampires started to become too precious. The intensity of the genre seemed to lessen and with the exception of a few standout films, vampire fiction seemed to become very bland and for a long time now, I have been waiting for a beam of light to show us the way through this long vampiric nightmare we seem to exist within.

Enter King Carrion, by Rich Hawkins, stage left.

REVIEW: Mercedes M. Yardley - Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing

Publication Date: 4^th March 2016

Pages: 121

REVIEWED BY CHAD

A copy of Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love by Mercedes M. Yardley was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publisher, Crystal Lake Publishing, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love by Mercedes M. Yardley is a fun take on several different genres and manages to take brush strokes from each in a brilliant effort to create a new, uniquely molded book.

The book has two main characters. As the story opens, Montessa is on her way home from work when she is fallen upon and abducted by serial killer, Lu. He figures out very quickly that Montessa isn’t like any other women he has killed before. She is captivating to him and surprisingly, as the story shifts over to Montessa’s point of view, we find that she is becoming just as taken with Lu. In each other, Montessa and Lu discover the holes in their lives they had never realized were there in the first place.

Soon, Montessa no longer travels along with Lu as his victim, but rather as his partner and his lover.

REVIEW: Jasper Bark - The Final Cut

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing

Publication Date: 27^th May 2016

Pages: 280

REVIEWED BY CHAD

A copy of The Final Cut by Jasper Bark was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the publishers, Crystal Lake Publishing in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

The Final Cut is a dark and twisted journey through the imaginings of the talented Jasper Bark. Every once in a while, you get a book that has the ability to take you within the folds of the dust jacket and like a Chinese finger puzzle will not let you go until you give in and realize that you have to let it happen.

The book is about a pair of indie film makers (Jimmy and Sam) who have gotten themselves into a bit of a financial dead end.

After borrowing money from the wrong person and making some poor choices with that money, they find themselves at the mercy of their one-time benefactor. As a way of demonstrating to them what could happen if he doesn’t get his money, the loan shark shows them a snuff film he has recently acquired, suggesting that the same could happen to them if they don’t provide the payment he expects.

Before the film ends however, an unknown party descends down on the room and kills everyone present, save for Jimmy and Sam. Realizing they have survived, the two decide to take the tape and use it somehow to create a sort of hybrid found-footage film. Their production gets off to a bizarre start right out of the gate as a mysterious actress shows up to audition for the film. She is perfect for the part but she has some unusual demands of her own, and her behavior is nothing short of eccentric as well.

REVIEW: Hunter Shea - I Kill In Peace

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Samhain Publishing Horror

Publication Date: 12^th April 2016

Pages: 115

REVIEWED BY CHAD

A copy of I Kill In Peace was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, Hunter Shea, via Hook of a Book Media and Publicity, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review.

I Kill In Peace, by Hunter Shea is a powerful book, one of the more effective explorations I have seen of the twisted and deteriorating sanity and perspective of a chilling character. I don’t say this very often but this really was a book that I had a hard time putting down so I’m glad I was able to read it fairly quickly. The narrative was that compelling, feeding my need with each page to find out what was happening.

The premise of the book is that of a character being driven to commit murder. After being let go from his job, Peter starts to receive text messages from an anonymous source, instructing him on who he is to kill, providing the weapon and the opportunity to do it. This starts simply enough as revenge against the opportunistic boss who fires him and from there it just gets more extreme.

One of the more effective parts of this book was how Shea demonstrated exactly how Peter is driven to committing acts that most of us would consider unconscionable. I’m not normally the biggest fan of the first person but in this case I think that it is essential to trace his state of mind and why he is doing the things he is doing. Ironically enough, even in the midst of committing unforgivable crimes, you can’t help but feel just a little bit sorry for him, like he was caught up in circumstances more than anything else.

ANNOUNCEMENT: WELCOME OUR NEW REVIEWERS!!

So, whenever I set Confessions up, in February 2015, I did it for something to do. I was told I was quite good at this reviewing lark and I should do it, so I did. It started off as somewhere to put my reviews and keep them tidy. It led from one thing to another, and here we are today.

Sixteen months on and I have several features running alongside the reviews. 330 posts published. 63,500 hits. 22 interviews. I could go on and on with the stats.

Again I can’t thank you all enough for keeping coming back and keeping me going. To all the authors and publishers and presses that give up their time and energy and books, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Without your generosity I would have no content.

REVIEW: Adrian W Lilly - The Moon In Your Eyes

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

Publication Date: 22^nd Jan 2016

Pages: 53

CHAD’S REVIEW:

A copy of The Moon in Your Eyes was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Adrian W. Lilly, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Amazon Digital Services

The Moon in Your Eyes is a great, fun, quickie of a read. I was looking forward to reading this as, save for Twilight and True Blood, I kind of felt like werewolves haven’t had a chance to have their time in the spotlight as of late. Maybe when Hollywood has their fill of witches and creepy dolls, we can get a good and proper werewolf phase.

I thought the book had a nice, nostalgic feel of a classic B horror film. Adrian W. Lilly did a great job crafting this narrative and pacing it out, leading up to an end that left me grinning.

The premise is simple enough, as I think works best for stories of this type. A group of disparate characters are brought together to go on a week-long camping trip, designed to leave your technological habits behind and take part in the glories of nature. All the characters have different motivations for being along for the trip and Lilly does a nice job presenting them all with little vignettes before the story gets underway.