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 Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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. Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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 Read more […]

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, Read more […]

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, Read more […]

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 Read more […]