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…

Please note Consequence is the fifth book in the ongoing series The Race. If you haven’t read books one to four then the following review will no doubt feature some minor spoilers. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! Joanna survived another brutal race and the Runner rebellion. But now she must work with Von Zimmer to try and save a village on an Ethiopian coffee plantation from annihilation. Can they face their personal issues and survive their cruellest adversary yet? Time for another episode from The Race series by Joan De La Haye. Regular readers of The Eloquent Page will know I have looked at all the other books so far, feel free to check them out via this link. It would be remiss of me if I didn’t include a quick review of the latest tale that’s available. We’re on to book five, Consequence, and Joanna finds herself knee deep in trouble once again. She does have a real knack for getting into all manner of scrapes. Just as well she is more than able to look after herself. The action picks up in the aftermath of the last race. Though Joanna is still recuperating from her last traumatic…

Please note, Retribution is the fourth book in an ongoing series. With that in mind you’ll probably not be surprised when I tell you this review will likely contain spoilers. After surviving the wilds of Siberia and a fight to the death with Snezhana, Joanna is back running for her life on the island where it all began. Will she be able to survive the wholesale slaughter of The Race, the machinations of The Organisation behind it all, as well as Elena’s thirst for revenge? Regular readers will know I have been reviewing each new book in The Race series by Joan De La Haye. Book four, Retribution, has now released into the wild so it seems like the perfect time to jot down a few thoughts*. Joanna Parypinski has fully embraced her life as a runner. She has accepted that this is now her lot in life. Through training and some appropriately cutting edge medical treatment, she is at her physical peak. Her patron, the ever enigmatic Von Zimmer, has offered her a chance to help in shaping the world. Joanna is prepared; she will be the best runner and she win the next Race. From her perspective it…

Please note Besieged is the third book in this series. If you haven’t read book one and two then I suspect this review is going to contain some spoilery moments. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Joanna has survived the wilds of Siberia only to find herself under attack from all sides as well as from within the safety of her Patron’s inner sanctum. With a war brewing and attempted assassinations, will she be able to save herself and those closest to her? Most importantly, will she be able to keep her head in a fight to the death with no rules? When it comes to thrillers, I enjoy the unrestrained escapism of the genre. I firmly believe you need to go all out. Action/adventure stories should be fuelled by one hundred percent pure adrenaline. It should leave you breathless and always hungry for more. The Race by Joan De La Haye does exactly that. Published as part of an ongoing collection of short novels, each new episode is worth waiting for. Joanna Parypinki is settling into her life as part of the global conspiracy that is The Race. Wars are fought, economies are covertly manipulated, and billions of people…

Please note Training Days is a direct sequel to The Race and it is likely this review may contain spoilers if you don’t read that first. You have been warned. How you choose to interpret that warning is entirely your own business. After winning The Race, Joanna Parypinski’s journey takes her from a castle in Germany to the wilds of Siberia, plunging her ever deeper into a world of political games and deadly intrigue. Once again, she must fight to survive, but how can she be victorious against an opponent she didn’t see coming? Sometimes my brain cries out for nothing more than a bit of good old fashioned pulpy entertainment. Last year, in a move away from horror, Joan De La Haye released a thriller called The Race. Its premise couldn’t have been simpler – a race, first past the post wins and when it comes to your competition, there are no holds barred. I was intrigued by the idea of the global conspiracy that surrounded it all. I liked the suggestion that a shadowy organisation controlled by the great and the good was running everything in the world based on the outcome of a bloody gladiatorial challenge. Wars,…

Joanna Parypinski is drugged, kidnapped, and forced to fight for survival, for the entertainment of the world’s rich and depraved, as well as the chance to win her weight in gold. In the race for her life, glory, and gold, Joanna must kill or be killed. Sometimes I like nothing more than a straightforward thriller. My needs are simple – a plot that whips along at breakneck speed, a protagonist made of steel, and a few twists and turns to keep things interesting. The latest from Joan De La Haye, The Race, does exactly that and then some. The thing I liked most about The Race is the premise. It manages to be deceptively simple but still effective. Just imagine it, you wake up in an unfamiliar location, surrounded by complete strangers. You are all given a simple choice – participate in a race to the death or face immediate execution. I suspect in my case I’d be dead within approximately twenty seconds, but Joanna Parypinki fares slightly better than I. When she finds herself in the world’s most brutal competition she steps up. Joanna finds herself in a situation that she is barely prepared for. The good news for…

In a weird bit of synchronicity, August appears to have had a distinctly African flavour here at The Eloquent Page. First there was that fine debut novel Infernal from South African born author Mark de Jager. Then the fantastic Poison City by Durban based author Paul Crilley arrived. To round things off, it seemed only appropriate to celebrate another of my favourite authors from the southern hemisphere, Joan De La Haye. So breaking from tradition, today you are getting two reviews for the price of one. I’ve decided to rename Friday August 26th to “Joan De La Haye Appreciation Day”. I first discovered Joan’s work a couple of years ago with her splendid zombie novella Oasis. Since then, she has continued to produce wonderfully dark fiction including the deliciously evil Fury. I kept promising myself that I would go back and check out some of her other work in her back catalogue. This week, I finally managed to get some space in my schedule and so decided it was high time to check out the two books below. Burning Marcie Grove is a lonely witch. After a full moon ritual she decides to do something about the abysmal state of…

A young girl is brutally murdered. Two rival crime bosses fight for dominance on the streets of South Africa’s capital city. The city’s underground film industry is set ablaze. An angry spirit bent on revenge is on a murder spree. And Alice, a university student, is caught in the middle of a bloody battle for survival. Their fates all intertwine in this tale of vengeance and fury. All things considered, I think that sometimes people should be haunted by spirits hell-bent on dark malevolent vengeance. Certainly, if you’re murdering women for some sicko’s idea of entertainment, then you deserve absolutely everything that you’re going to get. You’ll probably not be surprised to discover that my sympathies lie squarely with Angela. She is the victim of the piece, and in making a single stupid mistake, trusting the wrong person, she pays the ultimate price. This error costs her everything and leaves her in a horrific limbo. No one should ever have to suffer the brutal horrors she is forced to endure, and it seems only fair she gets payback against her assailants.  After her senseless murder, I think the bloodthirsty part of me was actively willing her to destroy all her…

Hot on the heels of the Angry Robot cover release this afternoon, we now have a little something from the good people at Fox Spirit. (I know, I know. I don’t do any news for ages and then two articles come along at once. I’m like a bus).  Fox Spirit books are pleased to announce that Joan De La Haye’s psychological horror ‘Shadows’ is now available from amazon (to follow at other outlets soon). ‘Shadows’ was Joan’s first published novel and we are delighted to re release it. Sarah is forced to the edge of sanity by the ghosts of her family’s past. Suffering from violent and bloody hallucinations, she seeks the help of psychologist and friend, Michael Brink. After being sent to an institution in a catatonic state covered in blood from stabbing her unfaithful boyfriend, Sarah is forced to confront the truth about her father’s death and the demon, Jack, who caused her fathers suicide and is now the reason for her horrific hallucinations. Unlike her father, Sarah refuses to kill herself. She bargains for her life and succeeds. In Sarah’s struggle to regain her life and her sanity, she discovers more things to the world than she…

2013 – The planet has been fried by solar flares turning it into a desert. The surviving population has been affected by solar radiation, turning them into Zombies. Only a handful of people remain unaffected. A family of civilians, guided by a crack army unit who has seen more action than they can handle, must make their way to the safety of a UN base at the South Pole called New Atlantis. But can they make it to this oasis alive or will they only reach it as the undead? I know, I know, I said less than a month ago that I was going to take a break from zombie fiction but when it comes to the undead, it’s like the Mafia – just when I thought I was out … they pull me back in. I couldn’t resist though when this novella popped into my inbox. As soon as I spotted the cover I knew I was going to read it. A zombie head partially obscured by desert sand with a bullet hole in the temple; I ask you, what’s not to love? We follow the action through the eyes of Maxine, a young women who dares to…