In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.
Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.
This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.
My Review: The story centers on Jamie Morton, a young boy whose childhood is profoundly impacted by the arrival of charismatic preacher Charles Jacobs. Jacobs is young and has an equally young family. He is interested in electricity, and when he is not preaching, he tinkers with his inventions. When a devastating tragedy leads Jacobs to question his faith, he is fired from his job at the church and moves away from town.
Decades later, Jamie Morton is an adult and addicted to heroin when he sees Jacobs again, this time at a county fair. Jacobs has progressed in his inventions and claims to be able to heal Jamie of his addiction. Using electric shock therapy, Jamie is healed. But his sobriety comes with a terrifying price.
I found Jamie Mortion to be a relatable protagonist, and the complex relationship he shares with Jacobs serves as the emotional core of the novel. King takes the time to meticulously develop their connection as their lives intertwine again and again. The narrative unfolds gradually, allowing the tension to build organically. This book is a very slow burn, but the ending was worth the wait. In fact, the ending had me simply terrified, and I haven’t been able to shake it since.
Although this book was published in 2014 (I am not usually a fan of King’s new books), Revival reminded me a lot of his older works.
Stats: As of the writing of this review (December 11, 2023), this book has only a 3.8 rating on Goodreads. While I would highly recommend this book, it is obvious that it has received mixed reviews. Some of the “negatives” that readers have mentioned are the slow pace and the ambiguous ending. To say a few words on these subjects, as I mentioned above, the book was definitely a slow burn, but I didn’t mind. King’s writing is great, and his storytelling is masterful. The ending was gut-wrenching. I didn’t find it that ambiguous.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: A young Native girl’s hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe’s reservation lead her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut.
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step–an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that’s intent on devouring her whole.
With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe’s past.
When Anna’s own little sister also disappears, she’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation–both ancient and new–are strong, and sometimes, it’s the stories that never get told that are the most important.
Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.
My Review: Anna Horn works hard at a local casino to help support her family, and she is also passionate about learning about her tribe’s history and culture.
However, Anna’s life is overshadowed by a series of disappearances. Several girls from her tribe have gone missing without a trace, and the authorities are no closer to finding them. In fact, they aren’t trying very hard to locate them, as they are believed to be runaways. Anna believes otherwise. She is haunted by a recurring nightmare, in which she sees a mythological decapitated head, that she believes has eaten these young missing women. This head is part of an old tale told to her by her uncle when she was small.
When Anna’s sister, Grace, goes missing, Anna starts to investigate her disappearance. As Anna gets closer to the truth, she puts herself in grave danger. She must confront not only the supernatural but also the very real threat of violence from those who want to keep the secrets of the reservation buried.
The power of Medina’s writing had me hooked from the beginning. I absolutely love the way that Medina masterfully weaves Native American mythology into the story. It adds an entirely new level of chill and suspense that I could not find in other books. Until the very end, I was unsure as to whether the decapitated head was real (and following Anna around — shudder), or whether there was only a human element involved. I won’t spoil it for you!
Medina’s book is even more terrifying because, while fiction, highlights a very real problem. Stories of missing Native American women are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. Medina’s writing brings one factoid to life: not all disappearances can be explained away by supernatural conspiracy theories and lore– some very human villains exist in our world today, too.
Stats: As of the time of writing this review (November 25, 2023), this book only has a 3.87 rating on Goodreads. I am honestly surprised, as I expected it to have a higher overall rating, especially since it is a Nominee for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in Horror. Some of the lower ratings discussed that while invested in the characters, the alternating timeline (before Grace went missing vs. after) was distracting and took away from the emotional resonance of the book. A second common complaint was that the designation of horror did the book a disservice because readers were not able to properly manage expectations. This book is less of a horror book and more of a thriller/mystery.
I can understand the above points, but I myself was not bothered by the alternating timelines, nor did I realize that the book was a horror book when I checked it out from the library. Even given the mixed reviews, I would still recommend this book.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: A shipwrecked man comes upon an apartment building located in the middle of the ocean. Inside, he finds the skulls of twelve residents, each one eager to tell their story. This is the final book of The Bedlam Bible.
My Review: I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for letting me read this! I listened to this audiobook while on vacation in South Carolina. It was a pleasant mid-70’s to 80 degrees (F), and this book fueled my long walks on the Hilton Head beach. As always, Pauley’s work is macabre, inventive, bizarre, and just all-out fun. I can’t believe that this is the last book in the series. I only recently found this series (and this author), and having to say goodbye feels like a bad breakup. Don’t do this to us, Pauley! We need more! For a brief synopsis of each book, please see the below.
The First Life of Anikoy Marlon: A man wakes up on a life raft in the middle of the ocean with a corpse. The corpse’s skin is etched with a journal of sorts (I think it’s the Bedlam Bible), which the man reads. The man has no recollection as to how he arrived on the rowboat. When he finds a platform in the middle of the ocean, he leaps without thinking and gets knocked out. When he comes to, he is in the 8th block tower. The following stories are from residents of the 8th block tower seen in Anikon’s mind’s eye when he sticks his finger inside the eye socket of their skulls.
Heirs of the Abyss: Rita had always had weird, terrifying dreams of 8th block. Rita’s mom (who had an unexplored connection to 8th block) always said that “dreams won’t eat you except in 8th block, where they eat you alive.” Rita is not an 8th block resident at the beginning of the story but lives in a neighborhood nearby. She starts to date someone living in the 8th block. When she enters in the building for the first time, she is relieved to discover that it doesn’t live up to her nightmares. Until she moves in with Tony.
Trapdoor: A serial killer stalks the residents of 8th block. He’s taken 9 so far, including Kimmy, a friend of the story’s protagonist. Everyone knows the face of the man in the 8th block, but he has yet to be captured. In an effort to find her friend, the protagonist finds the killer on a dating app and decides to go on a date with him. Despite her preparation ahead of time, she falls under the killer’s supernatural spell and finds herself trapped, just like the others.
Killing Teddy: I have read and reviewed this story before as part of another one of Pauley’s anthologies. You can see the review by clicking here.
Bad Blood: The protagonist is a nurse at a hospital. She volunteers for the Chance Program, which is a program providing healthcare aid to lower-income patients. One such patient is a woman named Ellie, who is a resident of the 8th block tower. Ellie is under the delusion that she has “bad blood,” and that if she transfuses it with someone else’s blood, she will get better. It freaks out the nurse, and she is relieved to get out alive. Against her better judgment, she goes back to care for Ellie with dire consequences. This story is probably my favorite so far. It had the right creepiness factor. I wanted more of this story. While there was enough details about the nurse to start to get invested, it left me wanting more…more details about the relationships the nurse had with her family and her girlfriend, and I wanted to have more creepy interactions with Ellie.
The Plant People: The protagonist’s brother is missing, and their mother is taking it hard. The mother is one of those senior citizens who have been complaining that they are going to die soon (for the past few decades). The mother lives on the top floor of the 8th block tower, and the protagonist notices that plants are starting to grow through the floor of the apartment. Put a pin in that, we will come back to it in a second. Although the protagonist hasn’t seen her brother in a while, since they are estranged due to his drinking, she agrees, at the mother’s urging to check on the brother. Oddly, the brother is not at his apartment, and what is more odd, is that he hasn’t been living there for years. Where is the brother, and what are these pervasive flowers that keep pushing their way up into the mother’s apartment? Another favorite of mine in this anthology. It was creepy as hell and with an unexpected twisted ending.
The Burden of Lunar Ticking: Grandpa Grimace is not well, which is why his daughter lets him live with her and her kids. The protagonist is one of the children. When Grandpa first tells the protagonist that he can astro project, the protagonist just thinks it’s his crazy Grandpa telling tall tales again (like how the moon ticks because it’s fake). But soon certain events make it hold not to believe.
Cyber Solaris: There’s a room in the 8th block tower that holds cages full of starving people. It’s a prison. And there’s one prisoner, prisoner 11 (a.k.a. Rover), for which a strange sound plays. Cyber Solaris is an app on a phone that allows you to time travel. One of the other prisoners has this device on his person, and he offers it to Rover for a pack of cigarettes. Rover accepts it with strange consequences. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming and it was awesome.
Black Friday: The parents of the protagonist are addicted to clearance sales, and bought depression on sale for Black Friday, and gave it to the protagonist’s Aunt Nora. They gave the protagonist anorexia. This is a weird, short story that was really fun.
The Sinking Sanctuary: I was a little confused about what was happening in this story. It had to do with Old Joe Booth, the Bedlam Bible, and weird hallucinations. The astronaut from The Astronaut’s Dream Book also made an appearance.
A Mist of Light: Mr. Crum is on the 2nd day of his new job’s orientation. Even though he’s 50 years old, he has no idea what he wants to do with his life, except collect rocks, but that doesn’t pay the bills.
The Eden Room: A decade ago, tumors sprouted from Waylon Peterhearst’s forehead, and everyone calls them horns (like devil’s horns). One night Tom Stripper, a “dispatcher,” knocks on Waylon’s door, claiming that Waylon is dead. Tom is there to “dispatch” him into the next life. It is yet to be seen whether to Heaven or Hell. The path to the next life is filled with traps created by the bad deeds Waylon did during his lifetime. This was a fun story and an interesting premise.
Life is Beautiful in Spite of Everything: The protagonist, a resident of the 8th block tower, finds a camera. He is bitter and resentful about the other residents.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: “White Fuzz is a weird sort of love story between two deeply disturbed individuals, each a product of their isolated environment. It’s not an easy read. It’s shocking, gross, and horrifying. Manages to check off every trigger! You’ve been warned.”
Franklin feels alone in life. One fateful night, he gets a curious text from a stranger, Lynda, another resident of his apartment building. She convinces him to come over, against his better judgment, and surprisingly the night seems to be going great, despite a little awkwardness.
However, it’s clear that Lynda is living with demons that are in desperate need of exercising, as everything inside her apartment seems to trigger some dark memory buried deep within her psyche. In hopes of helping her escape the prison that is her home, he invites her over to his place, but the problems only get worse, to the point he fears she won’t make it through the night.
Just when he feels the night has reached peak insanity, he discovers her madness is rubbing off on him…
My Review:White Fuzz is the second book in the series The Bedlam Bible. As with many Pauley novels, this one is short, weird and wonderful. Franklin receives a mysterious text message from a stranger. Turns out, she is a neighbor in the Eighth Block Tower, and he goes over to her place. As they initiate a sort of romantic entanglement, weird (and gross) things start to happen. And when I say gross, I mean the description the author gave of the encounters were so vivid that I literally felt stomach sick.
A fun little read to listen to. Just make sure to wait to eat anything until afterward!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Title: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Author: Max Brooks
Book Length:342 pages
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Zombies, Post-Apocalyptic
Read Start Date: August 18, 2023
Read Finish Date: October 1, 2023
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
My Review:World War Z explores the global response to a zombie apocalypse. The book is presented as an oral history, with various individuals recounting their experiences during and after the outbreak, which occurred over a decade before the interviews took place. The novel begins with a brief introduction explaining the origins of the zombie virus, and how it quickly spreads worldwide, causing the dead to reanimate and hunger for human flesh. As the outbreak intensifies, governments and societies are unprepared, leading to chaos and widespread panic. The book then shifts to a series of first-person accounts from survivors, including soldiers, politicians, doctors, and everyday people from different countries and backgrounds.
I recently watched the movie adaptation of World War Z on Netflix (starring Brad Pitt) and I loved it so much, I watched it three times in a row. I remembered that I had World War Z on my bookshelf — a recent purchase from a used book store during my list trip to the US — and so began to read it. I was a little disappointed that the book was nothing like the movie. There was no Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator, who was recruited by the government to travel the world and find a way to stop the infection. Lane travels to South Korea, Israel, and Russia, where he learns more about the zombies and their weaknesses. eventually discovering a sort of cure. In the book, there was no singular story to focus on. Rather, each chapter is told by a different person and we only get to see snippets of the zombie apocalypse through each individual’s memory.
While the book was interesting, it wasn’t the action packed adventure that I was expecting. It was more slow paced and at times I struggled to get through certain stories. Ultimately, whether or not you enjoy World War Z will depend on your personal preferences. If you’re a fan of zombies, horror, or science fiction, then you might enjoy the novel and/or the film.
Stats: At the time of writing this blog post (October 10, 2023), this book has a rating of 4.02 on Goodreads. My rating of three stars falls a little below the average rating.
Recommended? Yes, but either read the book before the movie, or honestly skip the book all together and just watch the movie.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads:Since 1973, The Exorcist and its progeny have scared and inspired half a century of filmgoers. Now, on the 50th anniversary of the original movie release, this is the definitive, fascinating story of the scariest movie ever madeand its lasting impact as one of the most shocking, influential, and successful adventures in the history of film. Written by Nat Segaloff, an original publicist for the movie and the acclaimed biographer of its director, with a foreword from John Russo, author and cowriter of the seminal horror film Night of the Living Dead.
On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle.
The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film’s director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of movie, and its aftermath.
Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie’s enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty’s goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people “think about the concept of good and evil.” The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers’ deepest personal beliefs—and fears.
My Review: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The Exorcist Legacy is about the making and impact of the 1973 film The Exorcist. It is a comprehensive and well-researched work that draws on interviews with cast, crew, experts, personal papers, and other archival materials. It provides a unique and fascinating perspective on one of the most important and influential films ever made.
Segaloff begins by tracing the history of the film, from its origins in a real-life exorcism in 1949 to its publication as a novel by William Peter Blatty in 1971. He then goes on to discuss the making of the film, from its controversial casting and production to its groundbreaking special effects.
Segaloff also explores the film’s cultural impact, examining its influence on other horror films, its role in popularizing the concept of demonic possession, and its enduring appeal to audiences around the world.
The Exorcist is more than just a horror film; it is a complex and challenging work exploring themes such as faith, doubt, good and evil, and reality. Segaloff explores these themes in his book and argues that the film resonates with audiences today because it taps into our deepest fears and anxieties.
Whether you are a fan of The Exorcist, a horror film enthusiast, or simply interested in the history of cinema, The Exorcist Legacy is a must-read.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads:CHORIZO, NEVADA is filled with the grittiest of men and the filthiest of women—the perfect place for a man chockful of secrets to hide. But one fateful day, his past catches up to him…
A Japanese assassin, with a cue-ball for an eye, invades the town with an army of two-foot eyeless minions who thirst for human blood. This man has two things on his mind: Where is his purple television? And who is the dead man that stole it from him?
The Doom Magnetic Trilogy is a fast-paced sci-fi western, packed plum-full of sex, violence, cosmic voids, coliseum-style combat, genetically engineered mutants, breathy brain whispers, cigar smoke torture chambers, and a sea of electric television zombies.
This is the weirdest book you will ever read.
My Review: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Mungden has stolen The Purple Television (an object that has magical powers) from the Japanese Government, and Qoser, a Japanese assassin with a cue ball for an eye, has been tasked with its return due to his unique skillset (i.e., he can use the doom magnetic).
I have read many of Pauley’s books, and like the rest, this one is weird but oddly amazing. The description level given to the characters, actions, and scenes is always fantastic, and you can see the images in your head as you read.
The audiobook is masterfully narrated by Connor Brannigan. He has a wide range of character voices and is fantastic at building atmosphere with his tone. Pauley nailed using Brannigan as the narrator for his works.
The Doom Magnetic Trilogy is not for everyone. It is a violent and strange series that may not appeal to all readers. However, if you are a fan of dark and twisted science fiction, you should definitely check it out.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
My Review: I found this book at the local library. I had never heard of this book before, but it seemed like something that was right up my alley. I usually love horror novels from the 1970s and 80s (Worms was first published in 1979). I was expecting a creature feature similar in style to Jaws by Peter Benchley. However, Worms was more of a thriller with a flavor of worms.
James Hildebrand is not a good guy. In fact, he’s a murderer. Retiring to the Norfolk coast, he seeks peace and quiet, and for no one to suspect him of fowl play in the untimely death of his wife. Invasive in his daily life are the worms, and at first we do not know whether the worms are figurative — a metaphor for the guilt festering in his mind — or whether they are real.
As he begins to suspect that someone knows his secret, the infestation intensifies, leading to an expected conclusion.
I liked the book, but I didn’t love it. I’ve thought about it a lot and I do not know why this book didn’t do it for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was entertaining, and I’m glad I picked it off the shelf, but I also could have lived without ever reading this book. It was good, but not life altering.
Stats: As of August 29, 2023: 3.6 stars on Goodreads from 145 reviews.
Recommended? Yes, but I wouldn’t add it at the top of your list.
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday! Hosted by Socrates Book Reviews this is where you share the first paragraph of one of the books that you are currently reading.
“The first outbreak I saw was in a remote village that officially had no name.”
