...the Soul of Wit - Short Reviews

Alright, here are the short reviews of the last month or so. I have the feeling that I read a little less than usual, but I guess it was only a little less horror than usual and a whole lot more thrillers, most of which I didn't end up enjoying but maybe you like them? Have a look and see yourself!

ANTIFA SPLATTERPUNK ed. by Eric Raglin

From right-wing influences in the Swedish black metal scene, to hidden bodies of a dictatorial regime somewhere in Spain, to remnants of the Third Reich in Latin America, to systemic brutality, bullying and violence of the police institution, to white supremacy in the US today, to a young girl who sees confederate ghosts – Antifa Splatterpunk consists of short stories about fascism in its many facets and about people who are involved in it or who stand/try to stand against it, embedded into great horror.

Stories I most enjoyed were:

One of the Good Ones or: It's A Gas! by Gordon B. White is the very striking story of a gay policeman trying to fit in with his colleagues as they experiment a new kind of weapon on a punk kid.

In The Chad Show (written by Ana E. Robic) really all absurdities of right wing media are being spoofed and ultimately taken to the extreme. This is a very delightful piece of writing with a meaningful end.

J.V. Gachs' Ay, Carmela revolves around those anarchists that have disappeared under custody during the Franco dictatorship in Spain and they make a fabulous comeback!

Capture the Flag by Donyae Coles is about a little black girl who sees confederate ghosts - as upsetting as inspiring! 

I wish this were not an anthology but a regular magazine and they would publish stories like these weekly, I would totally read them regularly. 

Dead Silence by S. A. Barnes

If you are, like me, a great fan of the adventure/horror movies Ghost Ship (2002) and Event Horizon (1997), then there’s great news for you because librarian and author S.A. Barnes’ SF-horror debut Dead Silence reads exactly like a fusion of the two blockbusters!

Some twenty years ago a luxury-liner called Aurora vanished on its maiden tour somewhere in outer space, only to be re-discovered by Claire Kovalik and her crew who happened to be around on their repair mission. The prospect of saving the Aurora and, of course, of a reward, pushes the crew to throw aside all caution and enter the ancient cruise liner to investigate. By the time they realize that it’s not only grim and uncomfortable in there but very possibly mortal it just might be a little too late to save themselves…

Narrated in a dual timeline that oscillates between “now” and the time of the Aurora’s discovery, Dead Silence had me guessing the nature of the luxury liner and looking for possible ways out of there until the very end! If you’re not looking for scientific accuracy and just a little spook house fun in space I can guarantee you’ll have a lot of fun reading this - I sure did.

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

Every relevant book website is burning with the Empire of the Vampire fever, fangirls are screaming, vampirellas are hissing, fantasy nerds howling but me, dear friends, I'm just really, really disappointed in this one...

In all fairness I have to say that my mark for good fantasy is really high and is mostly based on good and original ideas. I struggled to find here anything more than a mishmash of common and cliche fantasy and vampire tropes loaned from other works, presented in a very confusing non-linear order. I will not read the second installment.

Thriller time!! Or not so thriller time with some of these books...

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Jess comes to Paris to visit her brother Ben who stays in the titular posh Paris apartment, but at the time she arrives he has disappeared without a trace. She soon discovers that each inhabitant of the building is weird in their own way and it turns out no one is what they pretend to be. 

Gosh, this book takes AGES to get going and when it does it is almost too late to care. Maybe a little less build up until the first twist would have done the pacing some good? Most characters were kind of annoying too. I have read another book by Lucy Foley, The Guest List, really breathlessly and was a little disappointed that this one didn't really hit that mark.

Beneath the Stairs by Jennifer Fawcett

As bold teenagers Clare and Abby enter the local haunted house, the Octagon House, but have a traumatic experience which never let Abby go in her later life. Now, twenty years later, she attempts suicide and Clare needs to return to her hometown to sort out the reason behind her childhood friend's actions. 

I really can't recommend Beneath the Stairs at all, nor do I have a good thing to say about it. It was boring, the constant time hopping was confusing, the characters uninteresting and bland, the story not something I consider very exciting... Honestly, I thought about dnfing this audiobook many times a day.

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

Wylie is a true crime writer who is going through a rough patch and hides in her family's remote and snowed-in cabin to sort out her life. All she wants is isolation but during a walk she finds an unconscious child and brings it back to her house. She soon stumbles upon the remains of a car accident and a woman she supposes is the child's mother. What is happening here and what does all this have to do with the house's sordid past?

 

Even though it was a little predictable at some point I thought that this was a perfectly good thriller I really enjoyed listening. The story starts in pieces which very slowly come together, in fact there are many story lines that come together in a, if not always coherent, but very suspenseful way and it sure keeps you engaged the whole time. Characters were likable too!

 

False Witness by Karin Slaughter

 

Leigh Collier has worked hard for her job as a defense attorney, she has a good family, a daughter and a great ex husband. But she's hiding the fact that in order to attain this life, she has done something unacceptable and that thing is now catching up with her in the shape of the defense case of a wealthy man accused of gruesome rape cases.  

 

It’s such a great joy when you read an author who has been around for a longer time, but you discover just now and think “why didn’t I read this author before?” I felt that joy with False Witness, my first Karin Slaughter novel! I was riveted from page one – I so rooted for the characters and felt that Slaughter gave the perfect amount of information about them without overdoing it. She also spins the reader in with a story line practically impossible to put down, perfect pacing and a detestable antagonist.
 

One special thing I enjoyed in this book is that it doesn’t ignore realities of life and acknowledges the pandemic we have been caught up in the last couple of years. I have been looking forward to this and wondering when the pandemic, face masks, what the wearer and non-wearer thereof represent, long COVID, and the other more or less scary elements of our reality would reach the fiction we are reading. I understand some readers can be put off by that but Slaughter does it well and gracefully here. I would without hesitating recommend this novel and I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.