Month: December 2011

The Broken Thing by Peter Swift

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The cover attracted me to this book. The minute I saw it I paused and thought, “Now, that looks interesting.” It promised weird things with its vivid colours and wacky looking character.

Fright Files is a series for younger readers. As I write for younger readers and actually enjoy reading books for this age group, I thought I’d give the book a go. And why not, it’s free!

Stevie and Angie are best friends. She’s fearless and looks for adventure and he goes along for the ride, even when his better judgement tells him not too. That’s not to say he doesn’t like the thrill of excitement … he just isn’t so thrilled about the twisted creature that come with it.

The book started out well but hit a bit of a slump where I found myself wondering when the action was going to start. However, don’t give up on it as it quickly picks up again and then it’s full steam ahead. Actually, from that point on it’s full of action, fear and creepy scenes that will have you looking over your shoulder and into the darkened corners of the room.

I’d recommend the book to the young and the young at heart. I believe the second book in the series is due out next week.

Jokers Club by Gregory Bastianelli

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The blurb for this book was intriguing. I liked the idea of a man seriously ill with a brain tumor returning to his hometown to revisit his past. The fact that the man was having trouble distinguishing from reality and imagination also grabbed my attention. Of course, when you put this mix together there has to be some disturbing scenes.

When people start dying the reader is caught within the mind of a man who has no idea what’s really happening. And it’s an interesting journey, for sure.

I liked the way the author wrote two stories to illustrate the yesteryear and the today. Flashbacks are frowned upon in writing but this was done extremely well. It certainly kept me interested and I wanted to know what happened next then … and what would happen next now.

The only thing that I didn’t like much was the descriptions. They did slow the pace down at times because they went into two much detail. However, that might just be a personal thing as I know some people want to know everything … I prefer to have some of it left to my imagination.

Although part of me felt I wasn’t going to enjoy this book, when I first picked it up, I did. It kept my interest and I read it pretty quickly and found myself wanting to sit and read it. These are excellent signs and all I can say is that I’m glad I read it. It was worth it.

This is a suspense horror story. If you like that kind of stuff then I would recommend this book.