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Book Reviews by Ray Wallace

Jimmy

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

In some ways, Jimmy Hawthorn is a lot like many other high school kids. He’s quiet. Kinda shy around girls. Gets pretty good grades. Likes to play video games. For a while there he had to deal with a bit of bullying until he hit a growth spurt and started lifting weights. He’s never found himself in any real trouble to speak of. No run-ins with the law. Gets along well with his parents and his brother. Yeah, just an average young man from an average family living in an average American town. There is one thing, though, that might not be considered quite so average about Jimmy Hawthorn.

Nightworld

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

It's the end of the world as we know it … Repairman Jack's world, that is. After fifteen books in F. Paul Wilson's popular and long running series, which began with The Tomb, we have finally reached the end with a revised edition of Nightworld. An extensively revised edition of Nightworld, according to a forward by the book's author. As I never read the original version, published in the early nineties, I have no idea as to the true extent of the changes the story has undergone.

Horror for Good: a Charitable Anthology Vol. 1

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

In the mood to read a good horror anthology? Like to see your money go toward a worthwhile cause? Then do yourself a favour and purchase a copy of Horror For Good. All profits go to amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research. If that's not reason enough, a quick glimpse through the table of contents should seal the deal. It includes stories from a number of authors with whom any fan of horror fiction is sure to be familiar: Joe R. Lansdale, Ramsey Campbell, F. Paul Wilson, Jack Ketchum, Ray Garton, and Laird Barron, just to name a few.

The Red Empire and Other Stories

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

A violent thunderstorm, a cop killer on the loose, and an army of genetically modified, giant fire ants; put them all together and what do you have? The Red Empire, the titular tale of Joe McKinney’s short story collection, The Red Empire and Other Stories. Here we follow a number of different characters including a recently widowed young mother and her daughter, the latter temporarily blinded after undergoing a cornea transplant. There’s the aforementioned cop killer who, while being transported to prison, is set free due to a set of very fortunate circumstances.

Zombie Bake-Off

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

Stephen Graham Jones is one of those writers I’ve been meaning to read for a while now but haven’t for one reason or another. I guess it comes back to that whole too many books (and authors), too little time thing. So when I was offered a chance to read his latest, Zombie Bake-Off, for review I jumped at it. Was this the book that would put Mr. Jones on my not-to-be-missed list? Only one way to find out...

Shining in Crimson by Robert S. Wilson

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

When reviewing a vampire novel, it would be all too easy—and rather tempting—to begin with a lengthy diatribe railing against the current state of vampire fiction, how that damned Stephenie Meyer and her sparkling blood suckers have dragged the genre down from the rather elevated status it once enjoyed. Fun, yes, but not entirely true. The genre had, in fact, found itself riddled with cliches long before The Twilight Saga came along.

Horns by Joe Hill

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

News flash! Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son. Yes, that Stephen King. Although, if you’re reading this review, chances are that this isn’t news to you. The secret has been out on Mr. Hill’s real identity for a while now. I guess you have to credit the guy for not coming out of the gate riding his immensely famous father’s coattails. Talk about an in! The truth is that he didn’t need to ride his father’s coattails, nor anybody else’s for that matter.

They Had Goat Heads by D. Harlan Wilson

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

Ah, the wonderful world of bizarro fiction. A place where anything is possible. Anything at all. Located in a universe where the laws of physics and the rules of logic have little if any influence. For the uninitiated, an intimidating and often overwhelming place, to be sure. A place where the inexperienced traveler would do well to follow the lead of a tested and sure footed guide. And who better to the lead the way through such a strange and, on occasion, inhospitable land than one who has been there many times before and has returned each time to tell the tale?

Vintage Soul

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

At a gathering of the city’s oldest and most powerful vampires, high within an ultra-secure skyscraper, a most unusual and terrible crime is perpetrated. An ancient and beautiful vampire named Vanessa is kidnapped from within the midst of the gathering, and the head of security hired to protect those assembled there is found brutally murdered. How such an act could have been committed is a mystery. There is an even bigger mystery concerning the person behind it. Who could possess the skill and cunning to do such a thing? And what is the point of such an act?

Benjamin's Parasite

reviewed by
Ray Wallace

Benjamin Wilson—husband, father, high school teacher—has his life turned upside down when one of his students goes berserk at home one evening and tries to murder his mother with a meat cleaver. The kid’s rampage is ended when he is shot to death by a neighbor. At the funeral, while gazing down into the casket, Benjamin notices something strange: the corpse’s lower lip is twitching. Leaning down for a closer look, he is hit in the face by a puff of air.

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