New rating system and blog reboot

In order to ensure a more consistent and robust rating system on this blog, here are 6 categories that represent different aspects of what makes a book a worthwhile read. Each book is rated between 1 and 5 in each category, and the average represents the overall rating.

Premise and setting – The main idea of the book, the core of the story. Has the setting been chosen in a way that tells the story effectively? Are the themes deeply and adequately explored?

Plot – The flow of the narrative. Is it consistent and cohesive, without plot holes? Do the mechanisms used to drive the plot forward make sense? Is the plot structured in a logical way? Is the pacing just right, with no unnecessarily long scenes or glossing over important moments? Are the conflicts in the story compelling and realistic, and are they resolved in a satisfying way?

Characters – Are the characters fleshed out and consistent? Do their choices in the story make sense? Are the things they say and do consistent throughout the story? Do they change in a meaningful way in the course of the story?

Message – Books are not islands, they can influence people, so what effect does the book have on the reader? Does the book provoke a strong emotional response? A book with a positive message entertains, teaches, inspires, gives voice to the voiceless or brings joy, and leaves a lasting impact on the reader.

Uniqueness – That special something that makes this story stand out among the literal sea of books out there. It can be the special use of language, an extra detailed worldbuilding system, a unique genre-bending feat, something rare and unique that we seldom see.

Language: Is the language contributing to telling the story in a meaningful way? Is it suitable to the story told, nuanced and character-specific? Is it unusual and interesting? Does the writing style add and correspond to the book as a whole?

“Barely Missing Everything” by Matt Mendez

Read in: October 2022
Edition and format: Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books paperback 2020
First published: 2019

Barely Missing Everything is a poignant, heart-breaking novel about the choices people make in a world where the odds can seem so hopelessly stacked against them. It follows the lives of three working-class Mexican-Americans living in El Paso, Texas. Juan hopes to land a basketball scholarship that can get him out of the dingy apartment he shares with his mother. Fabi, his mother, is a single mom who had Juan as a teenager, and tries her best to keep her head above water living paycheck-to-paycheck. Juan’s friend JD wants to become a filmmaker and capture life-changing moments of truth on camera.

Starting with a very dynamic and memorable scene set during a high-school basketball game, a set of events starts to unfold for our characters as they begin to wonder when it was that they dropped the ball, missed that crucial shot that could have turned the tables in their favor. Just as he is hoping to finally be seen and recognized, Juan seems to run into a series of problems – he injures his ankle running from the police, he is about to fail math, and on top of everything he can’t stand his mom’s latest boyfriend. Fabi worries about her son, but doesn’t know how to reach him, and her own struggles make her feel like she’s drowning. JD watches as one fight too many drives his family apart, and desperately wants to cling to something stable. Then Juan discovers a letter his mom received from a man named Mando. He’s on death row, convicted of murder, and he might be the father Juan never knew. Juan and JD decide to visit Mando and try to find out the truth before Mando dies. Time seems to be running out, and there’s only enough on the clock for one shot on which everything seems to hang.

The central theme of choices and their consequences is carried strongly from the very beginning at the basketball game and especially when Juan and JD start running from the police in the second chapter to the shocking and gut-wrenching final act. The supporting characters are also convincing – Eddie and his family act as an interesting foil for Juan and JD and their families, and Fabi’s sister Gladi reveals a lot about Fabi’s character when she appears.

Gangs, drugs, racial profiling, unplanned pregnancies, illness, these are just elements in the equation that can turn a life around in an instant. The characters try to come to terms with the past, acknowledge their own mistakes and summon the courage to face the future. The narrative voice is strong and raw, and the scenes of family conflict feel intensely real. Mando’s letters from death row offer yet another perspective that comes at just the right intervals in between the parts of the narrative told from Juan, Fabi and JD’s perspectives. These are the voices of ordinary people trying their best in an unforgiving reality where there aren’t many chances to get it right. Mendez portrays their lives realistically and with a lot of warmth and empathy, which is why Barely Missing Everything is a moving, emotional story of the sort that needs to be told now more than ever.

“Last Resort” by Abhinav Ramnarayan

Read in: September 2022
Edition and format: Kindle edition
First published: January 2022

Last Resort is the first novel in the Harsha Devnath Mysteries. It is a murder mystery set in rural India, a rare combination that bursts with potential, and that potential is used to great effect in Last Resort.

We follow Harsha Devnath, a journalist who lives and works in London and gets an invitation to reunite with his university friends from India. His old friend Azhar now owns and operates a beautiful mountain resort, where the group is invited for a vacation. Curious to see how the people he was so close to during his university days have done in life, eager to shake up the structure of his daily grind, and above all drawn to the chance to see his old love Maya, Harsha accepts the invitation and returns to the country of his birth. We meet Azhar, the former bad boy who by rights should have made in in Bollywood, but is now all grown up and responsible; Shane, the voice of reason and treasure-trove of aphorisms; tomboyish and fun-loving Junaina; and beautiful and enigmatic Maya, who has her own things to figure out on this journey.

When murder shakes up the friendly reunion, the lines that divide the community become sharply pronounced. Far from the bustle of any city, deep in the countryside, small-town politics mean more to the residents. Seeing his friend’s resort at the center of the tragic case, Harsha decides to take the initiative and do some investigating of his own. Can his training as a journalist and his sheer determination hold up in a country that’s painfully familiar, yet not entirely his anymore? Has the bond of friendship been able to withstand the test of time for the small group? Do Harsha and Maya have another chance?

Last Resort makes wonderful use of the stunning backdrop, with vivid yet unobtrusive descriptions of people, places, food and customs. As someone who has one foot in Indian and the other in Western culture, Harsha’s character offers a unique perspective on India and its people – half insider, half looking in, as he muses on things that have changed or have remained as he remembers them. He turns the same nostalgic eye on his old friends, who are all grown up but still hold traces of the teenagers he knew so well.

Added to the portrayal of characters and their dynamics is the exploration of social and political issues in India. From the commentary on modernity that still hasn’t made its way fully into some of its rural parts, to exposing the roles of tradition, caste and religion that still hold strong and drive many people’s lives, Ramnarayan gives Non-Resident Indians a voice to talk about their country, praising its beauty but not shying away from its flaws. In this sense, Last Resort reads like a love letter to India that unfolds its complexities with both due respect and a critical eye. This holds true for the murder mystery element as well, which is the bone that the meat of the story is attached to. All the elements of a classic mystery are present and executed really well – the crime scene, the amateur sleuth, the investigation, the interest about the victim’s life, the list of suspects, the clues – all of this will more than satisfy any mystery lover. The character of Inspector Palanivel is also quite memorable, and his scenes with Harsha portray a very interesting battle of wits and a negotiation of how the investigation is to be handled.

“Blood Tingling Tales Vol. 5” by Steve Hudgins

Read in: March 2023
Edition and format: Digital ARC provided by the author
First published: January 2023

Another 17 tales written in an immediate, first-person, allegedly-true style are collected in Blood-tingling Tales Vol. 5. The stories feature cold-blooded killers, otherworldly monsters, lingering ghosts, and much more.

The story Neat Freak picks up on the theme of married life that some stories in other volumes share.

Skeleton Face breaks the fourth wall in an interesting way, and Spiders from Mars combines the evocative title with an unusual spin.

The Dead Body brings back the story told from multiple perspectives that converge to paint a full picture. What makes these stories particularly interesting is the dramatic irony of each narrator being confined to their own perspective.

Two standouts in this volume are The Creep and The Bet, both because of how they play with the reader’s expectations and because of how vividly they set up the unusual situations the characters find themselves in.

“Blood Tingling Tales Vol. 4” by Steve Hudgins

Read in: February 2023
Edition and format: Digital ARC provided by the author
First published: December 2022

Volume 4 of Blood-tingling tales offers another 19 tales featuring bloodthirsty monsters, secret societies, strange coincidences, melancholy ghosts, unusual scientific experiments and more. The trademark first-person style is present, and the stories are given just enough setup to enable the reader to envision the situation and put themselves in the narrator’s shoes.

Region #6 is unique in its setting on a forest preserve and the setup described, which really allows for feelings of claustrophobia and terror to set in as the unknown danger closes in on the characters.

The Cult gives off vibes somewhat reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit, but goes in a different direction.

Brain Waves and Splatter offer some interesting futuristic perspectives that make for even greater diversity among the stories.

The well-established tradition of diving into real-life stories and reimagining them in fictitious accounts resurfaces in this volume with a story inspired by the Loch Ness monster.

A Hell of a Way to Die blends action and irony in a way that makes it stand out from the rest of the stories. Doppelganger also stands out for its interesting combination of humor and coincidence.

“Blood Tingling Tales Vol. 3” by Steve Hudgins

Read in: January 2023
Edition and format: Digital ARC provided by the author
First published: November 2022

Yet another 19 horror short stories are collected in Blood-tingling Tales Vol. 3. The stories feature more dangerous killers, haunted toys, secret societies, houses that just don’t sit right with their owners, and encounters with the strange and unexplained.

There are several stories in this volume that stand out for their creativity. The Fake Séance explores the line between believing and not believing in the paranormal through a group of young people who stage a séance. Witness introduces an unusual angle from which to observe human beings and their savory and less savory activities.

There is an interesting theme of married life (and death) that unites three of the stories in this volume: Top 10 Ways to Kill Your Husband, which also breaks the fourth wall, The Hitchhiker, and Dead on Arrival. The exploration of the good old “till death do us part” theme has appeared in other volumes as well and gives these tales a special flavor.

Another common thread that connects many of Hudgins’ tales is (re)imagining real-life legends and mysteries as fictional accounts. One of those real-life horrors is visited in Dark Web Mystery Box, in which a thrill-seeking woman orders a mystery box on the dark web, and each of the unboxings reveals a new piece of a terrifying puzzle. The other one is the story about a gizby, a made-up toy that sounds much like a very popular real-life furry robotic friend. Those references to recognizable things and the exploration of their horror potential places the stories firmly in a shadow universe, parallel to ours and just as terrifying.

“Blood Tingling Tales Vol. 2” by Steve Hudgins

Read in: December 2022
Edition and format: Digital ARC provided by the author
First published: October 2022

The second volume of Blood-tingling Tales contains 19 unnerving encounters with mad scientists, aliens, monsters, ruthless killers, haunted dolls, creepy roads and much more. The tales are written in the first-person as supposedly true events, which gives them a sense of immediacy. The convenient length of these stories makes them suitable for a break in between tasks, or for a more substantial binge.

Just like in previous volumes, some stories are told from multiple perspectives that complement each other and help the reader grasp the full extent of the situation, or escalate the intensity of the encounter (The Island, Elf on the Shelf).

The stories run the gamut from encounters that largely concern one individual’s run-in with the strange and terrifying (Stalker, The Disembodied Voice) to events that are chilling because of the consequences for a larger group of people, or indeed, all of humankind (Alien Signal, The Pyramid).

Some of the stories that pack a particular punch are the ones where the twist consists of a reversal of the reader’s expectations established at the beginning of the story. Here are some of the stand-outs:

In The Last Man on Earth, we follow the last man on the planet as he discovers something he had never hoped to see again. The retired assassin in The Professional is assigned a most unlikely mark. In Out of Time, a saloon owner serves a particularly thirsty customer.

In terms of scare factor, The Nursing Home and Vacancy definitely take the cake in this volume – there’s something about lying in a bed other than your own at night that’s just inherently unsettling, even without factoring in a creepy old lady who’s completely harmless, right?

“Blood Tingling Tales Vol. 1” by Steve Hudgins

Read in: December 2022
Edition and format: Digital ARC provided by the author
First published: October 2022

Volume 1 of Steve Hudgins’ Blood-tingling Tales offers 16 tales in the already established first-person, true-story format.

Taking inspiration from classic horror influences and themes while adding a unique, often violent and ironic twist, these tales introduce everyday heroes and heroines who encounter ghosts, aliens, monsters, crazed killers, the strange and unknown.

A tried and true story format makes a reappearance – the story told from multiple perspectives that complement each other (My Haunted House, Serial Killer). Another familiar approach is the exploration of a well-known true incident, building a theory as to what might have happened into a story. After stories like the Bermuda Triangle and Jack the Ripper, the real-life event explored in this volume is the Roswell incident. This story follows another established format – having multiple narrators tell a story that gradually escalates in intensity with each encounter.

Once again, eagle-eyed fans will be rewarded with Easter eggs and the appearance of familiar places and characters in the story Snuff Film.

As always, the very best stories are the ones where horror and humor intersect in an exploration of human nature. Two such standouts in this volume are The Fisherman and Grave Robbers. In the former, an avid fisherman’s luck abruptly changes on an otherwise unexciting day. In the latter, a husband and wife hatch a plan to push the boundaries of science and human endurance.

One of the most unnerving tales that deserves a special mention is Serpent Woman, an unusual take on holiday horror, after which the beach will never be the same.

“It Lives in the Attic” by Steve Hudgins

Read in: September 2022
Edition and format: Digital ARC provided by the author
First published: September 2022

It Lives in the Attic is another twisted ride that showcases the dark side of human nature and how it combines with the workings of mysterious forces beyond our understanding.

The short book is written in Hudgins’ trademark style that mixes brief narrative sequences with a screenplay. As always, this allows for instant immersion and a plot that moves along quickly. The characters and settings are described in just enough detail for the reader to have a good idea of what’s going on while filling in the blanks themselves. The stories of Andy, Ellie, and Barney, and the ways their lives intersect are gradually revealed in a series of incidents that are staged with a precision that is at times reminiscent of stage instructions for a modern play, especially in the scenes between Andy and Ellie.

As usual, there are many twists and turns as the same events are explored from different perspectives and each reveal peels another layer off the story and the characters.

One of the most exciting parts of the story is how it ties in with previous tales in the Hudgins universe of horror, as familiar places and characters make an appearance. Just as the puzzles pieces of the standalone story fit together in the end, the tale as a whole finds its place in this dark, fascinating universe.

“Horror Quickies Vol. 3” by Steve Hudgins

Read in: September 2022
Edition and format: Kindle edition 2021/ARC provided by the author
First published: May 2022

The third volume of Horror Quickies is another collection of short tales that put an interesting twist on well-known horror tropes: scary creatures, haunted houses, bloodthirsty killers, the criminally insane, strange drugs, and unreliable narrators.

This volume features new takes on well-known tales – The Bermuda Triangle and The Abominable Snowman – as individuals report of their encounters. Can these mysteries ever be solved, or will the secrets only run deeper?

Just like in Volume Two, there are several stories featuring creepy phone calls that lead to more than one of the parties had bargained for.

Two standout tales with particularly intriguing twists are Hunting Season and Zombie Apocalypse. In the former, a hunter takes shelter in a cabin whose owner might not be just a regular hunter. In the latter, a couple hears the news of the zombie apocalypse during breakfast.

The Fly is a both humorous and serious take on reincarnation, and The 1950s House features a home that’s frozen in time. Trick or Treat combines several people’s accounts of a Halloween night at a house where the owner might be the one with the tricks.

In Night Terrors and The Photo Bomber the narrators are trying to figure out what is happening to them, and the evidence they have to piece together is ominous.