Please note that Damnation is the third book in The Burned Man series and if you haven’t read books one and two then this review is highly likely to contain spoilers… I’m not kidding… seriously there is one in the first paragraph. Ok, consider yourself warned. Shambolic demon-hunting hitman Don Drake is teetering on the edge of madness in this smart, witty urban fantasy novel. Don Drake is living rough in a sink estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh, doing cheap spells for even cheaper customers while fending off the local lowlifes. Six months ago, Don fled from London to Glasgow to track down his old girlfriend Debbie the alchemist. With the Burned Man gradually driving him mad, Don meets with an ancient and mysterious tramp-slash-magician, with disastrous consequences. Now his old accomplices must step into save Don from himself, before he damns himself for good this time. The thing I like most about this book, and by extension this series, is Don Drake himself. You would think that someone who had the ability to control magic would be a bit more together. Not in this case. You can almost guarantee that if there is a wrong thing to say,…

Please note Skitter is a direct sequel to The Hatching and if you haven’t read that then there is a distinct possibility that this review may contain something akin to spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Tens of millions of people around the world are dead. Half of China is a nuclear wasteland. Mysterious flesh-eating spiders are marching through Los Angeles, Oslo, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, and countless other cities. According to scientist Melanie Gruyer, however, the spider situation seems to be looking up. Yet in Japan, a giant, truck-sized, glowing egg sack gives a shocking preview of what is to come, even as survivors in Los Angeles panic and break the quarantine zone. Out in the desert, survivalists Gordo and Shotgun are trying to invent a spider super weapon, but it’s not clear if it’s too late, because President Stephanie Pilgrim has been forced to enact the plan of last resort: The Spanish Protocol. America, you are on your own. Last year I read The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone. I loved it. Horror has always been my favourite genre and I like nothing better than a bit of nasty, flesh munching evil. Fear of spiders gets a checkmark…

Meryam and Adam take risks for a living. But neither is prepared for what lies in the legendary heights of Mount Ararat, Turkey. First to reach a massive cave revealed by an avalanche, they discover the hole in the mountain’s heart is really an ancient ship, buried in time. A relic that some fervently believe is Noah’s Ark. Deep in its recesses stands a coffin inscribed with mysterious symbols that no one in their team of scholars, archaeologists and filmmakers can identify. Inside is a twisted, horned cadaver. Outside a storm threatens to break. As terror begins to infiltrate their every thought, is it the raging blizzard that chases them down the mountain – or something far worse? Isn’t just always the way; you discover a centuries old burial site that could hold secrets relating to one of ancient history’s biggest mysteries and before you know it a blizzard has arrived, everyone is trapped and one by one they start to die. Is there a deranged killer amongst them, or is there something far more sinister? Christopher Golden’s latest, Ararat, is a masterclass in slow burning tension. The thing I like most about this author’s writing style is the attention…

1987, THE HEIGHT OF THE COLD WAR. For Captain Vadim Scorlenski and the rest of the 15th Spetsnaz Brigade, being scrambled to unfamiliar territory at no notice, without a brief or proper equipment, is more or less expected; but even by his standards, their mission to one of the United States’ busiest cities stinks… World War III was over in a matter of hours, and Vadim and most of his squad are dead, but not done. What’s happened to them, and to millions of civilians around the world, goes beyond any war crime; and Vadim and his team – Skull, Mongol, Farm Boy, Princess, Gulag, the Fräulein and New Boy – won’t rest until they’ve seen justice done. This week’s flavour of armageddon is brought to you by a splash of nineteen eighties nostalgia, a dash of Cold War paranoia, and a big old chunk of flesh eating zombies. The latest from Gavin Smith pits a squad of mismatched soldiers against, well, just about everyone frankly. Let the madness commence! Captain Vadim Scorleski is the consummate professional soldier. He has spent years honing his craft and is now a killing machine. The captain will follow orders to the letter because…

Only a rag-tag team of gargoyles stands between humanity and extinction. Hell has released its ravening horde of demons, leaving most of humanity a puke-spewing, head-spinning mess of possession. Humanity’s last hope? A team of misfit gargoyles—including a cigar chomping, hard-ass grotesque—come alive and ready for battle during the End of Days. They guard the last cathedral-turned-sanctuary atop a bald knoll in the North Carolina mountains. Gargoyle protection grudgingly extends to any human who can make it inside the Sanctuary, but the power of the stonecutter blood magic, which protects the sanctuary, may not be enough when a rogue grotesque and his badly-wounded ward arrive. All the hounds of hell are on their heels. The last Sanctuary is about to fall. Ahh, my favourite fictional sub-genre – the end of the world. Always a joy. I may have mentioned this before, I can’t remember? I do love me some apocalyptic fiction. The latest Armageddon to grace my review pile is Stone Cold Bastards by Jake Bible. The gates of Hell are open and they are spewing forth a demonic horde. Our last line of defence? A mismatched collection of humans and living gargoyles. The main story focuses on a monster…

When the sudden appearance of a dark figure shatters his idyllic coastal life, he soon realizes that the murky past he thought he’d left behind has far from forgotten him. What’s more unsettling is the strange atmosphere that engulfs him at every sighting, plunging his mind into a terrifying paranoia. To be a victim without knowing the tormentor. To be despised without knowing the offence caused. To be seen by what nobody else can see. These are the thoughts which plague his every waking moment. Imprisoned by despair, Seb fears his stalker is not working alone, but rather is involved in a wider conspiracy that threatens everything he has worked for. For there are doors in this world that open into unknown places. Places used by the worst kind of people to achieve their own ends. And once his investigation leads him to stray across the line and into mortal danger, he risks becoming another fatality in a long line of victims . . . A new Adam Nevill book is always a cause for celebration here at The Eloquent Page. I am a relatively recent convert to his work, but every story I’ve read has been masterfully told. His…

In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road. The moment locks them together. Here and now it’s dangerous to listen to your inner voice. Those who do, keep it quiet. These voices have purpose. And when Pilgrim meets Lacey, there is a reason. He just doesn’t know it yet. I’ve said this in the past and I’ll say it again now – I have a soft spot in my heart for apocalyptic fiction. I love nothing better than a good apocalypse. Last year I read about half a dozen books that had a distinctly end of the world type vibe. The Fireman by Joe Hill, The Ship by Antonia Honeywell, and The Last of Us by Rob Ewing were all extremely good examples. Why this fascination with the end of all things as we know it? It’s simple. I am consumed with wanting/needing to know what happens next. For me, the very best examples of apocalyptic fiction suggest to us how humanity will change. It is all about questioning our place in the universe. What…

From electrifying horror author Nick Cutter comes a haunting new novel, reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and Stephen King’s It, in which a trio of mismatched mercenaries is hired by a young woman for a deceptively simple task: check in on her nephew, who may have been taken against his will to a remote New Mexico backwoods settlement called Little Heaven. Shortly after they arrive, things begin to turn ominous. Stirrings in the woods and over the treetops—the brooding shape of a monolith known as the Black Rock casts its terrible pall. Paranoia and distrust grips the settlement. The escape routes are gradually cut off as events spiral towards madness. Hell—or the closest thing to it—invades Little Heaven. The remaining occupants are forced to take a stand and fight back, but whatever has cast its dark eye on Little Heaven is now marshalling its powers…and it wants them all. It’s weird, I was struck with a couple of different impressions almost immediately I started reading Little Heaven. Firstly, eating a ham sandwich when you’re reading horror was a rookie mistake. Secondly, and more importantly, I felt in some respects I was reading a Western. So much so I had…

Richard leads a simple, uncomplicated life in the suburbs of London where anonymity is a virtue. His life has a routine. His cleaner visits twice a week and he works out in his basement, where occasionally he kills people. Everything is as Richard wants it until David enters his life. What happens next changes his whole existence and the lives of those around him. Is he able to trust anything to be true? And will he be able to escape David or will David take over his life completely? When we first meet Richard, he appears to be entirely average. He works from home living a quiet existence, and the only obvious quirk of his personality is his love of precision and order. It swiftly becomes evident however, that there is a little more to Richard than meets the eye. His tidy little life masks the fact that he enjoys nothing better than killing. Richard, using his tried and tested method of stalking potential victims, meets an ideal candidate in the form of David. Everything appears to be playing out exactly the way it always has in the past, but Richard is about to find himself on the receiving end…

For the uninitiated – The Eloquent Page is just me, on my own. There are guest reviews from time to time but I read 99% of the books myself. I’m most definitely not a writer, I’m just a collector of stories, so I don’t bother with negative reviews. Life, as I have discovered, is way too short to be reading books you don’t enjoy. As has become habit over the last few years, I like to round off the reviewing calendar with a look back over the last twelve months, and dispense some awards that are entirely of my own devising. In 2016, I’ve read sixty-five books and the only criteria to be in the running for an award, except for one category, is that I’ve read and reviewed the book. Now that we’ve sorted that waffly preamble out… on with the show. “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” Award – I enjoy a good apocalypse as much is the next person so I read as many of the Armageddon-esque gems as I can lay my hands on. This year I read some corkers. The Ship by Antonia Honeywell, Bite by K.S. Merbeth and The Last…

Aurel and Zora Schwartz are a married couple trying to make a modern relationship work. But an old secret is going to affect them in ways neither of them can imagine. And Zora’s daughter Livie may find herself caught in a trap built long before she was born. The ending will leave you stunned and speechless. Get ready to scream. We’ve all been envious of another person at some point in our lives. You’ve looked at someone and thought “They’ve got it all sorted. They have the perfect life, the perfect family”. No doubt, part of you has wanted to be just like them. The thing you must remember is that the socially acceptable face of a person is little more than a thin veneer of civility. Inside, in the dark recesses of the human psyche, everyone is just as screwed up as you are. Everyone has issues, has skeletons in the closet. The character of Aurel reads like a prime example of this. On the face of it, he has it all. He loves his life. He is in a stable marriage, and even gets on with his step daughter. On the flip-side of that however, you quickly realise…

Before we begin a word of dire warning. Dominion is a direct sequel to Drake. If you haven’t read book one in this series then there is a good chance that this review may continue something akin to minor spoiler. Don’t say I didn’t warn you… In the tunnels deep under London, the Earth elementals are dying. Hunted by something they know only as the Rotman, the elementals have no one trustworthy they can turn to. Enter Don Drake, diabolist and semi-reformed hitman, and an almost-fallen angel called Trixie. When the Matriarch tells Don that Rotman is actually the archdemon Bianakith, he knows this is going to be a tough job. Bianakith is the foretold spirit of disease and decay whose aura corrupts everything it comes near, and even the ancient foundations of London will crumble eventually. Now Don, Trixie and the Burned Man have to hatch a plan to keep Bianakith from wiping out the elementals and bringing down the city. But the Burned Man has other plans, and those may have dire consequences for everyone. The past never stays buried, and old sins must be atoned for. Judgement is coming, and its name is Dominion. At the beginning…

A bestial face appears at windows in the night. In the big white house on the hill angels are said to appear. A forgotten tenant in an isolated building becomes addicted to milk. A strange goddess is worshipped by a home-invading disciple. The least remembered gods still haunt the oldest forests. Cannibalism occurs in high society at the end of the world. The sainted undead follow their prophet to the Great Dead Sea. A confused and vengeful presence occupies the home of a first-time buyer . . . In ghastly harmony with the nightmarish visions of the award-winning writer’s novels, these stories blend a lifelong appreciation of horror culture with the grotesque fascinations and childlike terrors that are the author’s own. Adam L.G. Nevill’s best early horror stories are collected here for the first time. Seems entirely apt, what with Halloween being just around the corner, that this week’s review falls squarely into the horror genre. Some Will Not Sleep is collection of Adam Nevill’s short fiction that were original published in the period between 1995 to 2011. Eleven wonderfully macabre tales that cover the whole gamut of the horrific. The supernatural rubs shoulders with the bizarre, body horror and…