In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her? Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she’s not alone. For more than a decade she’s been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette’s worst fears are realized–someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece. But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up. How many times have you seen this at the end of a slasher movie? Survivor turns to face the future with…

Amid the worst storm in living memory, five Royal Marine reservists and a handful of civilians battle to survive. But mother nature and the heavily armed mercenaries hunting them are the least of their concerns. A seemingly unstoppable Pagan force has been unleashed from the darkest depths of our ancient past – a phenomenon that will stop at nothing to see humanity reduced to ashes. Low on ammo, no chance of rescue and surrounded by the unspeakable, it’s going to be 24 hours from hell. Let the hunt begin This reviewing lark can be hard work sometimes. My schedule is often set months in advance and much as I love reading, and I really do, it can grind me down. It’s at times like that where I crave something uncomplicated. A read that is nothing more than pure, unadulterated escapism. Chases, explosions, pithy one-liners, and wherever possible, undead spirits hell-bent on mass destruction is what I need. The elder book gods have taken pity upon me and provided exactly what I was looking for. This week I’m casting my beady eye over Wild Hunters by Stuart R Brogan. The premise is devilishly simple, a group of squaddies find themselves in…

I’m going to preface this review with a warning. The themes explored in Anna are likely going to act as a trigger for some readers. There are elements to the narrative that cover the trauma of physical and mental abuse.  Beaten. Branded. Defiant. Anna is a possession. She is owned by the man named Will, shielded from the world of struggles by his care. He loves her, protects her, and then breaks her. Anna is obedient, dutiful, and compliant. Anna does not know her place in the world. When she falls pregnant, Anna leaves her name behind, and finds the strength to run. But the past – and Will – catch up with her in an idyllic town with a dark secret, and this time, it’s not just Anna who is at risk. This week’s review is a dark, powerful story of survival. Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith is a near-future exploration of a world in decline viewed through the eyes of a young woman. The larger dystopian elements of the novel are subtly done. Society has collapsed in upon itself through a series of conflicts that have ravaged the world. In the aftermath, humanity has reverted to type. The…

A hunter hunted, the Devil gets married, a typewriter causes havoc for the new inhabitants of an old house, the Devil’s PR agent brings a killer to justice, and a glimpse at the true cost of real estate in Hell – 13 dark and twisted tales by author Joan De La Haye brought together in her second collection. Once again, all stories will provide thrills and chills – but are best read with the lights on. From time to time I like to step away from reading novels and indulge in some short fiction. I’m of the opinion that horror is one of the best genres when it comes to this style of writing. It’s all about the short, sharp shocks after all. So when Joan De La Haye’s latest anthology, Sliced and Diced 2, appeared on my horizon I was powerless to resist. Weighing in at a trim ninety-nine pages long this collection includes thirteen tales of darkness, dismemberment and in one memorable instance a very special type of artisanal sausage. Protector of the Citadel – Imagine you are the baddest of the bad, oozing self-confidence, utterly certain in your violent abilities. You’re in the heat of battle, revelling…

When Liz and Nick Holland buy Wintergate, an isolated, long-empty Victorian seaside house, they believe they have found the perfect home. However, it isn’t long before it begins to have an unsettling effect on Liz. She hears the sound of crying babies in the dead of night, and a sinister presence seems to be stalking her, making her doubt her sanity. Wintergate has a dark secret. Something evil lives there, and Liz must unravel the house’s twisted history before she becomes its next victim. I couldn’t tell you the last time I read a haunted house novel. It’s strange because I am fascinated by the history of buildings. I can’t say I believe in the idea of haunted houses exactly but there is something endlessly fascinating about the thought that locations retain a sort of memory, an echo of the past. If this is a violent, bloody echo then who knows how that can affect someone’s mental state? The House of Frozen Screams starts off in a pretty traditional fashion. A young couple, eager to find their own place, happen upon Wintergate. It feels like a dream come true and before you know it, they are all moved in looking forward…

GOING UP? A dinner party is held in the penthouse of a multimillion-pound development. All the guests are strangers – even to their host, the billionaire owner of the building. None of them know why they were selected to receive his invitation. Whether privileged or deprived, they share only one thing in common – they’ve all experienced a shocking disturbance within the building’s walls. By the end of the night, their host is dead, and none of the guests will say what happened. His death has remained one of the biggest unsolved mysteries – until now. But are you ready for their stories? 13 Storeys by Jonathan Sims is a portmanteau novel featuring a baker’s dozen of tales woven together by a strange building and its equally strange owner. Welcome to Banyan Court, a place where nothing is ever quite what it seems. Let’s meet the residents and staff in the run up to the most exclusive event the building has ever hosted. Night Work – Violet Ng works the night shift. She loves the peace and quiet of the slumbering city. She finds comfort in the empty streets and the lonely walk home. Unfortunately, when your home is Banyan…

A woman wakes up, frightened and alone – with no idea where she is. She’s in a room but it’s shaking and jumping like it’s alive. Stumbling through a door, she realizes she is in a train carriage. A carriage full of the dead. This is the Night Train. A bizarre ride on a terrifying locomotive, heading somewhere into the endless night. How did the woman get here? Who is she? And who are the dead? As she struggles to reach the front of the train, through strange and horrifying creatures with stranger stories, each step takes her closer to finding out the train’s hideous secret. Next stop: unknown. This week’s read, Night Train by David Quantick, is a sci-fi thriller with just a dash of horror sprinkled in for good measure. Set on a mysterious train travelling through the dark night, full of danger and the unknown; adventure abounds. Sounds like a winner to me. All aboard, this review is now leaving the station. Please ensure you have your tickets ready for inspection. Garland is an enigma even to herself. She wakes up alone with no memory of who she is and how she came to be where she…

A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead. It spreads quickly. In a Midwestern trailer park, an African American teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.  George Romero is the grand-daddy of them all when it comes to the zombie genre. His masterwork, Night of the Living Dead, is quite rightly considered a classic. You look at anything zombie-related that has come since, and you’ll see a referential nod or two in George’s direction. Over the last decade, zombies have entered the mainstream in a big way. Movies like Zombieland, The Girl With All The Gifts and Train to Busan have been hugely popular. The televisual juggernaut that is The…

In a time of global warming and spiralling damage to the environment, the Virgin Zones were established to help combat the change.  Abandoned by humanity and given back to nature, these vast areas in a dozen remote locations across the planet were intended to become the lungs of the world.  But there are always those drawn to such places.  Extreme sports enthusiasts and adventure racing teams target the dangerous, sometimes deadly zones for illicit races.  Only the hardiest and most experienced dare undertake these expeditions. When one such team enters the oldest Zone, Eden, they aren’t prepared for what confronts them.  Nature has returned to Eden in an elemental, primeval way.  And here, nature is no longer humanity’s friend. A new Tim Lebbon novel is always cause for much celebration and rejoicing here at The Eloquent Page. Coldbrook and The Silence* are firm favourites of mine, and both retain a special place in my carefully curated horror novel collection. When I heard about Eden, and the premise behind it, I was beyond pleased. I was fortunate enough to receive a review copy and the good news is it’s another absolute blinder. The main protagonist, Jenn, lives for adventure. She has travelled…

YOU SHALL REAP WHAT YOU SOW  Struggling with the effects of early-onset Alzheimer’s, Dennie Keeling leads a quiet life. Her husband is dead, her children are grown, and her best friend, Sarah, was convicted of murdering her abusive husband. All Dennie wants now is to be left to work her allotment in peace. But when three strangers take the allotment next to hers, Dennie starts to notice strange things. Plants are flowering well before their time, shadowy figures prowl at night, and she hears strange noises coming from the newcomers’ shed. Dennie soon realises that she is face to face with an ancient evil – but with her Alzheimer’s steadily getting worse, who is going to believe her? When things feel a bit grim, which they often do at the moment, I seek out the soothing balm of my favourite genre, horror. Perhaps it’s because I take some small degree of comfort knowing that fictional characters are suffering far worse than I am. If you had told me a week ago that I would be writing a review about a horror novel that has a large chunk set on an allotment, I would have been dubious at best. Turns out…

I’m a fan of Cate Gardner’s writing so when her latest anthology was recently released, I figured it was high time that I dipped my toes back into the waters of short fiction. These Foolish and Harmful Delights features eight tales that explore the darker side of the human condition. Here are a few thoughts about some of the book’s many highlights. This Foolish & Harmful Delights – Imagine Punch and Judy are real. Now imagine that they have been sent to Hell because, it turns out, both of them are more than a little unhinged. The opportunity finally arrives for them to escape their endless torment and wreak some havoc of their own. In this first story, Gardner has morphed the already creepy traditional puppets into a pair of sadomasochistic grotesques who delight in making each other and everyone else suffer. It’s delightful alright, in a deliciously nasty way. A Bleeding of Ink – A dark exploration of mental health seen through the eyes of Alice. I think this is my favourite story in the entire collection. I loved how the boundaries between fantasy and reality smudge and overlap. There is a sense of ambiguity to Alice’s predicament that…

One million years of evolution didn’t change our nature. Nor did it bury the horrors predating civilisation. Ancient rites, old deities and savage ways can reappear in the places you least expect. Lifestyle journalist Katrine escaped past traumas by moving to a coast renowned for seaside holidays and natural beauty. But when a vast hoard of human remains and prehistoric artefacts is discovered in nearby Brickburgh, a hideous shadow engulfs her life. Helene, a disillusioned lone parent, lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. Disturbing subterranean noises he recorded prior to vanishing, draw her to Brickburgh’s caves. A site where early humans butchered each other across sixty thousand years. Upon the walls, images of their nameless gods remain. Amidst rumours of drug plantations and new sightings of the mythical red folk, it also appears that the inquisitive have been disappearing from this remote part of the world for years. A rural idyll where outsiders are unwelcome and where an infernal power is believed to linger beneath the earth. A timeless supernormal influence that only the desperate would dream of confronting. But to save themselves and those they love, and to thwart a crimson tide of pitiless barbarity, Kat and Helene…

Please note, Survivors is the third book in an ongoing series. If you haven’t read books one and two then what follows is likely to contain some potentially spoilery type elements. Consider yourself duly warned.  There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who hear voices, and those who want to silence them. Pilgrim is a man with a past he can’t remember. When he wakes alone in a shallow grave, there is a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. It explains who he is and what he’s done. It tells him he has one purpose: to find a girl named Lacey. As Pilgrim is drawn north to Missouri in search of Lacey, he must also travel back to where it all began – to those he left behind. War is coming, and Pilgrim is going to need all the allies he can get. Chances are that if you’re reading this, then you’ve already discovered this series of books and, like me, you’ve been waiting eagerly for Survivors to arrive. The good news is that the wait has been well worth it. G X Todd is back with another slice of post-apocalyptic drama, and it…