Do you know what happens when a car that has crashed catches on fire? RL Stine apparently doesn’t. In the real world, a car that has caught on fire burns. In Hollywood and in Shadyside, however, every car is a Pinto. We’re back in familiar territory when the book opens with a first person narrative from a murderer. In this case, a murderer-to-be, as he’s planning rather than gloating. We then go to Deena Martinson and her friend Jade Smith. The two of them have […]
The story of a very special little girl and her journey of self discovery
I’m actually going to use the Goodreads summary of this, because it’s what made me want to read the book in the first place: Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius”. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh. Melanie […]
Probably don’t get this book in place of a Valentine: This is not the kind of Heart Shaped Box your sweetie wants
(Unless your sweetie is, like me, a fan of creepy books. In that case, this might suit her/him better than the box of candy you had planned on.) Is it a sin to treat people as if they are disposable? If you don’t think so at the beginning of this creeper of a novel, I guarantee that you will by the end. (You will also probably believe in ghosts.) (And never lock your dogs out of the room ever again.) The main character of Heart […]
Didn’t I See That Twist in a Goosebumps Book Once?
I’m not completely clear on the timeline between these books. I’m not sure it’s worth trying to track, but I can’t help myself. This book doesn’t open with a narration from a murderer, either, so maybe I was wrong to expect it to be a standard for these books. This one is told in first person, but it hops back and forth between Mark and Cara. It’s shortly after the school year started, and Mark and Cara Burroughs are new students. As near as I […]
Jelinas Reviews Cannonball #1: A Worthy Homage to Horror
There’s fanfic, and then there’s homage. Fanfic is usually written to satisfy the writer; filled with the fan’s desires of what he’d like to see come to pass. Since the focus is the writer’s satisfaction, it often happens that no one but the writer is satisfied after reading. Then there’s homage, which is written to honor the original work. Any true fan can appreciate a good homage, and it may even succeed in converting the uninitiated. Boogeymen
That Looks Nothing Like Nosferatu, Mr. Hill (A Robert CBR6 Review)
In NOS4A2, Joe Hill takes his remarkable eye for detail and applies it to a wide and expansive universe full of rich, memorable characters. The general throughline is Victoria McQueen and the discovery of inscapes. As a child, Victoria (or Brat, as her father calls her) finds out that if she rides her bike fast enough, she can make a demolished bridge appear that leads her to whatever she looking for. A fight with her parents leads her straight into trouble: a serial child abductor […]