Macaque Attack by Gareth Powell
Gareth Powell , Sci-Fi , Solaris / January 3, 2015

Spoiler Alert! Macaque Attack is the third book in the Macaque trilogy so there is a bloomin’ good chance if you haven’t read books one and two, this review may contain the odd spoiler here and there. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Ack-Ack’s back – and this time he’s brought an army! He’s saved the world twice. Now, in the thrilling conclusion to the award-winning Macaque Trilogy, the dangerous but charismatic Ack-Ack Macaque finds himself leading a dimension-hopping troupe of angry Read more […]

Lowball edited by George R R Martin & Melinda M Snodgrass

Decades after an alien virus changed the course of history, the surviving population of Manhattan still struggles to understand the new world left in its wake. Natural humans share the rough city with those given extraordinary—and sometimes terrifying—traits. While most manage to coexist in an uneasy peace, not everyone is willing to adapt. Down in the seedy underbelly of Jokertown, residents are going missing. The authorities are unwilling to investigate, except for a fresh lieutenant looking Read more […]

Your Servants and Your People by David Towsey
David Towsey , Horror , Jo Fletcher Books / December 15, 2014

Your Servants and Your People is a direct sequel to Your Brother’s Blood. With that in mind it is entirely possible that this review may contain some minor spoilers if you haven’t read book one in the series. Warning done, onwards… Seven years after Thomas returned as a Walkin’, the McDermott family are looking for a new life and Thomas has set his heart on starting a farmstead near the remote outpost of Fort Wilson. But the teachings of J.S. Barkley are not so easily forsaken – there Read more […]

The Pariahs by Erik Hofstatter
Erik Hofstatter , Horror / December 10, 2014

Two disfigured siblings are torn from their beds at night by The Government and transported into an isolated stronghold, hidden in the deepest and most hostile parts of Siberia. Friendships will be formed and loyalties tested as the siblings struggle to locate one another, but tragedy lurks within the stronghold and blood relation does not always mean family. Last year I read Moribund Tales by Erik Hofstatter, and there were a couple of standout stories in the collection. When the opportunity Read more […]

The Wolves of London by Mark Morris
Fantasy , Horror , Mark Morris , Supernatural , Titan Books / December 5, 2014

Alex Locke is a reformed ex-con forced into London’s criminal underworld for one more job. He agrees to steal a priceless artefact – a human heart carved from the blackest obsidian – but when the burglary goes horribly wrong, Alex is plunged into the nightmarish world of the Wolves of London, unearthly assassins who will stop at nothing to reclaim the heart. As he races to unlock the secrets of the mysterious object, Alex must learn to wield its dark power – or be destroyed by it. I’m incredibly Read more […]

The Hammer of Dr Valentine by John Llewellyn Probert

Two years ago, a series of horrific murders shocked the city of Bristol. These were killings so in their planning, and so outrageous in their execution, that they made national headlines for weeks. Now the journalists who wrote the stories behind those headlines are beginning to die, in even more gruesome, even more flamboyant, and even more unbelievable than the murders they themselves wrote about at such length in the national dailies all those months ago. Dr Edward Valentine, brilliant surgeon Read more […]

Letters Between Gentlemen by Professor Elemental and Nimue Brown

In a break from tradition what follows is not a standard review but rather an open letter to Professor Elemental on the occasion of the publication of his Letters Between Gentlemen. But first a little background… Professor Elemental: Misunderstood and benevolent genius, evil killer; or slightly deluded idiot? Private investigator Algernon Spoon really isn’t sure, but as the bodies mount up, it looks like someone is bent on slaughter: But who? And Why? And is there going to be Battenburg? Dear Read more […]

Dirty Work by Chris Farnell
Anthology , Chris Farnell / November 21, 2014

“I don’t normally talk about work.” A call handler for an insurance company that offers out of this world cover, a broker of Faustian pacts, the best man at a doomed stag night, a PR consultant who’s way out of his depth, and a ninja: everyone has a job to do. Eight stories, eight people, eight jobs: some find their work takes them just beyond reality; for others, “beyond reality” is just another day at the office. A lot of us never quite manage to achieve our dreams when it comes to our Read more […]

Vowed by Liz de Jager
Fantasy , Liz de Jager , Tor Books , Young Adult / November 17, 2014

Please note Vowed is a direct sequel to Banished so it is entirely possible that this review may contain something akin to spoilers if you haven’t already read book one. Actually if you haven’t read Banished why are you here? Go read it and then come back and we’ll talk. A Blackhart can see the supernatural behind everyday crimes. But some crimes hide even greater evils . . . Kit Blackhart must investigate why children are disappearing from a London estate. Their parents, the police Read more […]

Reign of Evil by Weston Ochse
Fantasy , Horror , Thriller , Titan Books , Weston Ochse / November 14, 2014

Legend holds that when Britain is in its darkest hour, King Arthur will return to save the country, if not the world. That legend is dead wrong. When a Grove of Druids sacrifices the lives of a group of innocents, including the fiancée of a member of SEAL Team 666, the ancient king is brought back from the dead and sets his sights on subjugating humanity and cleansing his land of all who are not true Britons. Because of political sensitivities, Triple 6 is ordered to stand down, but that order Read more […]

The Pierced Heart by Lynn Shepherd
Crime , Delacorte Press , Historical , Lynn Shepherd / November 12, 2014

When an Austrian nobleman offers a substantial donation to the University of Oxford, Charles Maddox is called on to investigate the generous benefactor. It is a decidedly mundane task for the increasingly renowned criminal investigator, but Maddox welcomes the chance to trade London’s teeming streets for the comforts of a castle in the Viennese countryside. Comfort, however, is in short supply once Maddox steps onto foreign soil—and into the company of the mysterious Baron Von Reisenberg. A Read more […]

No One Gets Out Alive by Adam Nevill
Adam Nevill , Horror , Pan Macmillan / October 30, 2014

Darkness lives within . . . Cash-strapped, working for agencies and living in shared accommodation, Stephanie Booth feels she can fall no further. So when she takes a new room at the right price, she believes her luck has finally turned. But 82 Edgware Road is not what it appears to be. It’s not only the eerie atmosphere of the vast, neglected house, or the disturbing attitude of her new landlord, Knacker McGuire, that makes her uneasy – it’s the whispers behind the fireplace, the scratching beneath Read more […]

Horns by Joe Hill
Gollancz , Horror , Joe Hill / October 23, 2014

Time for a guest review from my partner in crime @MadNad. The sharp eyed amongst you may have spotted I’ve reviewed this title before, but it’s being re-released as a movie tie-in so I thought it may be high time for someone to revisit and offer their opinions. So without further ado over to @MadNad and Joseph Hillstrom King Once, Ig lived the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician, the younger brother of a rising late-night TV star. Ig had security and Read more […]