Roger's Reads

Author & Book Reviewer

You are here: Home / Archives for Suspense/Thriller

Suspense/Thriller

Review of Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

by 1 Comment

Book cover for Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate

Those of us familiar with Bram Stoker’s Dracula know that the ship which transported Count Dracula arrived utterly empty except for the dead captain chained to the helm, with nobody knowing that happened to the rest of the crew….that is, until now.

Initially published in 1998, The Route of Ice and Salt is a reimagining of Dracula’s voyage from Transylvania to England on The Demeter. It is narrated by the captain (we never do learn his name), who is assigned to transport fifty crates filled with Transylvanian soil from Varna to Whitby.

We learn right off the bat that the captain isn’t what one pictures as a typical captain of this time period. For one thing, he is gay, and the first part of the novel centers heavily on the captain’s sexuality. We enter into his head as he fantasizes and dreams about having sex with his crew — hungering and yearning for the touch of another man. It was heartbreaking to see how the captain yearned for connection with others but dared not get close to anyone lest they discover his horrible secret.

But our captain also suffers from internalized guilt and internalized homophobia, as it’s slowly revealed that his lover was murdered in a homophobic act of violence by a mob. Because of this, the Captain experiences shame at what he is but, surprisingly, comes to accept himself more and more as the novel progresses. It becomes clear to him that he is not the monster here, but instead, it is that which is causing the disappearance of his men. So what we have here, then, is a story consisting of multiple layers; there is so much more to it than merely a gay captain transporting 50 crates of soil to England.

Now I will say that there’s not much of a plot to this story, and anyone familiar with Bram Stoker’s classic knows how it turns out. There is also minimal dialog and not a whole lot of action. What we do have, however, is a character-driven novel told mostly through internal monologue that’s ultimately about hunger and desire, about inner monsters vs. real-life monsters, about heroes and villains, about suppressing your true self, about how dangerous homophobia can be (both internalized and external) and about redemption.

I enjoyed how the vampire stalking the crew paralleled the captain’s predatory (according to him) desires and thoughts. But through the captain’s revelations, the reader is reminded that being gay and loving others is not what is monstrous, but rather it is that which preys upon innocents where we find the true villains/monsters. I did enjoy the captain’s character arc as he came to some amazing realizations about himself, his lover’s horrific murder, and society in general.

This novel is also quite dense, though it is beautifully written. The prose is lyrical, flowery, and poetic with phenomenal descriptions and meticulously crafted sentences, and I found it a joy to read. I loved the gothic feel and atmosphere to this story, which the author really pulled off swimmingly. That being said, there are some genuinely creepy scenes in the book, especially those involving rats, distressing dreams, the crew’s unexplainable fear, and, of course, a vampire slowly taking over the ship.

Though indeed disturbing, dark, and unsettling, this tension-filled book was also incredibly rewarding to read with its compelling main character, beautiful prose, and fascinating storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A huge thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book for review purposes.

Purchase The Route of Ice and Salt on Amazon

Review of Dracula’s Child by J.S. Barnes

by Leave a Comment

Blurb:

It has been some years since Jonathan and Mina Harker survived their ordeal in Transylvania and, vanquishing Count Dracula, returned to England to try and live ordinary lives. But shadows linger long in this world of blood feud and superstition – and, the older their son Quincy gets, the deeper the shadows that lengthen at the heart of the Harkers’ marriage. Jonathan has turned back to drink; Mina finds herself isolated inside the confines of her own family; Quincy himself struggles to live up to a family of such high renown. And when a gathering of old friends leads to unexpected tragedy, the very particular wounds in the heart of the Harkers’ marriage are about to be exposed…

There is darkness both within the marriage and without – for, while Jonathan and Mina wrestle with the right way to raise a child while still recovering from the trauma of their past lives, new evil is arising on the Continent. A naturalist is bringing a new species of bat back to London; two English gentlemen, on their separate tours of the continent, find a strange quixotic love for each other, and stumble into a calamity far worse than either has imagined; and the vestiges of something thought long-ago forgotten is, finally, beginning to stir…

Review

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke

I’ve always been a massive fan of Bram Stoker’s novel ‘Dracula’ so I was incredibly excited when I had to opportunity to read Dracula’s Child. The story takes place ten years after the original novel’s events after Abraham Van Helsing destroyed the evil Count Dracula. In this novel, we follow Jonathan and Mina Harker, who are still dealing with the trauma and aftermath of those horrific events. Then, something happens on the eve of their son Quincy’s 13th birthday leading to a descent into darkness for everyone involved as it quickly becomes clear that the evil may not be gone after all. Thus begins a fight not only for Quincy’s soul but for the lives of everyone around him.

What I loved about this captivating book is how it’s in the same epistolary format as the first and written in the form of letters, found documents, newspaper clippings, and diary entries. Like the original, the story is also told through multiple points of view, allowing us to experience the story from several different angles, viewpoints, and voices.

It was so true to the original and so atmospheric that I felt as though I were reading a sequel penned by Stoker himself. It even had that same suspenseful slow burn aspect to it as what was really going on was slowly revealed by the author.

Additionally, the characterization was spot on and utterly faithful to the original. It was so compelling to watch the new terror unfold as many of our favorite characters from the original story are forced to face an unspeakable horror and make some impossible decisions. There are also plenty of new characters as well as a new and original plotline to add to the intrigue of the story.

I thought this book really stood up well to the original and what we end up with here is a gothic story as timeless as the original Dracula. The story’s ever-darkening atmosphere had an increasing feeling of foreboding and menace to it as the events slowly unraveled, revealing quite a twisty, multi-layered heart-in-your-throat tale.

Though this book does stand on its own, I’d recommend reading the original first as there were plenty of references to that book’s events. It will also help the reader better understand the characters and their motivations.

All in all, I thought this was a phenomenal and unputdownable novel. Barnes has succeeded in creating here an intense, troubling, and complex story just as dark and creepy as the original, and I thought that the blend of human horror and the human heart is expertly achieved. Dracula’s Child is an outstanding balancing act that walks a thin line between being an ode to classic horror and a nightmarish and original modern-day suspense story all its own.

Purchase Dracula’s Child from Amazon

Review of Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter

by 1 Comment

Blurb

The silicon revolution left Dremmler behind, but a good detective is never obsolete.

London is quiet in 2039—thanks to the machines. People stay indoors, communicating through high-tech glasses and gorging on simulated reality while 3D printers and scuttling robots cater to their every whim. Mammoth corporations wage war for dominance in a world where human augmentation blurs the line between flesh and steel.

And at the center of it all lurks The Imagination Machine: the hyper-advanced, omnipresent AI that drives our cars, flies our planes, cooks our food, and plans our lives. Servile, patient, tireless … TIM has everything humanity requires. Everything except a soul.

Through this silicon jungle prowls Carl Dremmler, police detective—one of the few professions better suited to meat than machine. His latest case: a grisly murder seemingly perpetrated by the victim’s boyfriend. Dremmler’s boss wants a quick end to the case, but the tech-wary detective can’t help but believe the accused’s bizarre story: that his robotic arm committed the heinous crime, not him. An advanced prosthetic, controlled by a chip in his skull.

A chip controlled by TIM.

Dremmler smells blood: the seeds of a conspiracy that could burn London to ash unless he exposes the truth. His investigation pits him against desperate criminals, scheming businesswomen, deadly automatons—and the nightmares of his own past. And when Dremmler finds himself questioning even TIM’s inscrutable motives, he’s forced to stare into the blank soul of the machine.

Auxiliary is gripping, unpredictable, and bleakly atmospheric—ideal for fans of cyberpunk classics like the Blade Runner movies, Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon, William Gibson’s Neuromancer, and the Netflix original series Black Mirror.

Review

Auxiliary: London 2039 was such an exciting book in that it’s a dark combination of the detective noir, cyberpunk, and sci-fi genres. Our main character, Carl Dremmler, is the kind of detective you’d find in a 1940s noir story: he drinks too much, has a painful past, is a bit crass, and picks up strangers for sex (though he often has sex with his personal humanoid robot). I thought the author did a fantastic job of meshing the different genres, and they all worked seamlessly in this story.

The setting for this dystopian thriller is more than a bit disconcerting and grim, taking place in the near future where machines pretty much run the world. Robots have replaced most jobs, humanity has stopped growing, striving, and evolving, and people are continuously monitored and controlled by the primary operating system. “Real Life” as we know it has nearly become obsolete.

We get a taste of this in the opening scene where Detective Dremmler is called to the flat of a young man who was so engrossed in the virtual reality “AltWord” that he neglected to eat or drink, and thus died at his computer. It’s at this point where we’re introduced to the main operating system, TIM, which stands for “The Imagination Machine.” TIM is a single interface that controls every aspect of people’s lives, from turning on the lights, ordering food, shopping, playing music, transportation, surgery, etc. Basically, this system holds absolute power, with everyone’s lives being tightly controlled by the AI.

The story then becomes especially interesting when Detective Dremmler is called to the scene of a grisly crime. A young man has allegedly murdered his girlfriend by crushing her skull with his cybernetically-controlled prosthetic arm. It appears to be an open and shut case of murder. However, the distraught man protests that the arm, whose chip is controlled by TIM, acted on its own accord and that the man couldn’t stop it — that he had neither intention nor reason to kill his girlfriend. Initially, Dremmler is certain that the man is lying because what he’s claiming is impossible. TIM is unhackable; everybody knows that. Right?

But as Dremmler and his partner begin investigating deeper, he soon begins to suspect that there’s a lot more going on here than what he first thought and the case then morphs into something else entirely. In fact, the “unhackable” TIM may not be as safe as everyone thinks. Further digging causes him to suspect that there’s an even larger conspiracy at the bottom of it all.

Of course, there are those who want him to stop digging, especially those higher up in the police hierarchy and certain mega-IT corporations. It also becomes clear that some will do whatever it takes to ensure that he stops digging because if it’s proven that TIM was indeed hacked, that knowledge could destroy the public’s trust in the AI and throw society into panic and upheaval. Dremmler and his partner then begin working under the radar, and the more they uncover, the more deadly the situation becomes.

The clever and imaginative plot was utterly compelling and had me madly turning the pages to discover what was really going on here. I thought the story was fascinating though certainly dark, creepy, and profoundly unsettling. This book captivated me from beginning to end as the twists started to pile up. I thought this was a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel that’s both provocative and shocking. Compelling, dark, and intense, this story of technology gone wrong kept me guessing until the end and took me places I very much didn’t expect.

Speaking of the ending, it’s worth mentioning that the book ends rather abruptly mid-scene, which is the type of conclusion one often finds with short horror stories. I’m not a fan of these types of endings, so I knocked off a star for that as it did leave me feeling a little unsatisfied. But apart from that, I thought this gripping story was phenomenal and the world-building exceptional. I’d definitely read more by this author.

A huge thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

Purchase Auxiliary: London 2039 on Amazon

Review of A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman

by Leave a Comment

Blurb:
Both seventeen. Both afraid. But both saying yes.

It sounded like the perfect first date: canoeing across a chain of lakes, sandwiches and beer in the cooler. But teenagers Amelia and James discover something below the water’s surface that changes their lives forever.

It’s got two stories.

It’s got a garden.

And the front door is open.

It’s a house at the bottom of a lake.

For the teens, there is only one rule: no questions. And yet, how could a place so spectacular come with no price tag? While the duo plays house beneath the waves, one reality remains:

Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.

Review


“Just because a house is empty, doesn’t mean nobody’s home.”

Though this is classified as a horror novel, I’d say that it’s more akin to a suspense story. However, for those of us who have a fear of water/drowning or the deep dark blackness of the sea, then there’s definitely a horror element there for us — one scene in particular in which one of the teens is thrust into complete darkness while deep inside the underwater house comes to mind. That being said, it’s definitely creepy once our two characters begin exploring the depths of the house under the dark lake, lending quite a claustrophobic feel to some scenes. I shuddered as I thought how easy it would be to get trapped there and unable to find your way out.

There’s also a fascinating human element of “obsession,” which I thought worked well in this novella. So yes, there is a major creep factor, but it’s subtle and kind of sneaks up on you, causing the hairs on your neck to stand up without you even realizing it.

I loved the whole premise of this slice of life story following two awkward and somewhat shy teens on a first date who not only discover a hidden lake, but a complete house sitting on the bottom of the lake. The teens feel compelled to investigate, leading to several subsequent diving explorations of the house as each time, they enter deeper and deeper inside. In this way, we have a first love accompanied by extreme adventure.

Interestingly, the existence of the house with all of its furnishings is completely illogical, and that was kind of the point of the story. In fact, we are reminded not to ask “why” or “how” but simply experience the house, and I found this aspect of the story especially fun. Every item in the house is firmly rooted in place, contrary to the laws of physics, including books and knick-knacks on the shelves.

In addition to the house’s mesmerizing mystery, we also follow along with our young couple as they share their secrets with each other, slowly get to know each other, and eventually experience first love. Their budding relationship, paired with the intrigue of the irrational house, lent to some interesting symbolism which I’ll leave the reader to discover themselves.

All in all, I thought this was a beautifully written and haunting story with vivid imagery, especially of the house. Though it’s a short tale, coming in at 188 pages, it definitely packs a punch, and I loved how Malerman continuously ratcheted up the tension. A House at the Bottom of the Lake felt disconcerting, and even a tad sinister, but was charming at the same time. The story sucked me right in, and I couldn’t read it fast enough to find out what was going on with the house.

But…as if often typical of horror stories, the story concluded with an ambiguous ending. Personally, I’m not too fond of such endings, and for that, I knocked off a star. Yes, the story was undoubtedly unique and addictive, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Still, the vague ending left me feeling a tad unsatisfied — but not enough to stop me from highly recommending this gem of a novella.

A huge thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a review copy of this book.

This book will be released on December 1, 2020 but it as available for pre-order now.

Purchase A House at the Bottom of the Lake from Amazon

Review of Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

by Leave a Comment

Book cover for Surrender your Sons

Blurb:

His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivers meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final destination: Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes.”

But Connor’s troubles are only beginning. At Nightlight, everyone has something to hide from the campers to the “converted” staff and cagey camp director, and it quickly becomes clear that no one is safe. Connor plans to escape and bring the other kidnapped teens with him. But first, he’s exposing the camp’s horrible truths for what they are— and taking this place down.

Review:

This story follows Connor Major, a gay teen who, at the incessant urging of his boyfriend Ario, has just come out to his mother. She did not take it well at all, especially since she’s become quite a religious zealot after getting involved with a fundamentalist Christian church lead by a super-creepy pastor. Connor hopes his mom comes around and ends up accepting him, but instead, she has him kidnapped in the middle of the night and sent to a religious conversion camp on a secluded island off of Costa Rica.

And thus Connor’s nightmare begins.

This ended up being quite a disturbing thriller — a dark, raw, intense, and heartbreaking story that explored themes of suicide, homophobia, parental abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, murder, conversion therapy, and religious zealotry. The author did an excellent job of capturing the camp’s horror and the terror of the campers into the written word. We witness firsthand the brutality of the “camp counselors” and the monstrous things they did to their young prisoners. So, in addition to being poignant, the story is atmospheric and evocative.

The author also gives us some fantastic side characters. I thought the queer kids in this story were utterly brave and commendable, considering the unimaginably terrifying situation in which they found themselves. No matter what monstrous events they faced, the theme of hope ran throughout the narrative. So though it was quite dark and creepy in places, there was always a light of hope in that darkness.

I loved the camaraderie and solidarity that developed between them as they faced imaginable odds and ended up turning the tables on their captors. In this way, this dark and disturbing survivalist story ends up being a hopeful tale of bravery and resilience.

Though it was an uncomfortable, intense, and violent book that delved into some pretty gritty places, it was also fast-paced, thrilling, twisty, and adventuresome. In fact, the entire story took place over a period of two days, which really lent a sense of urgency to it. The book also ended up being a compelling mystery as Connor, and a few other campers begin investigating the mysterious death of a former camper, leading them to uncover the camp’s deepest and darkest secrets. I found the story compelling, gripping, and unputdownable as the secrets were revealed to us one by one.

Surrender Your Sons had a satisfying conclusion with everything neatly tied up at the end and is well worth the read. I ended up loving this book and look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a review copy of this book.

This title will be released on September 15, 2020 but is now available for preorder.

Order Surrender Your Sons from Amazon

Review of The Bright Lands by John Fram

by Leave a Comment

It’s difficult to believe that this is a debut novel as it was not only addictive and gripping but also incredibly well-written. This was a riveting supernatural thriller/horror novel full of suspense, twists, and tension that takes place in a creepy small town with quite an assortment of fascinating characters.

As Joel begins to investigate his brother’s disappearance, he unearths a plethora of painful memories — memories he thought he’d left behind him after being shamed out of town ten years prior for being gay — and he ends up exposing the town’s darkest secrets. But Joel wants answers and is willing to do whatever it takes to get them — even if it puts his life in jeopardy.

As he gets closer to the truth, it eventually becomes clear that the town itself is responsible for the evil goings-on in Bentley with a frightening urban legend at the heart of it all. I actually thought that this was going to be a small-town mystery story, so I was a bit gobsmacked when the horror and supernatural elements came into play – though I will say pleasantly surprised.

Think you have it figured out? Think again! And that’s what I enjoyed about the story — how unpredictable it was. I was a bit surprised, though, when the story went super dark and took on an overall sense of foreboding, hints of menace, and the general feeling that something was off. What we end up with, then, is a razor-witted, intense, and brutal look at the modern human condition – a tale of twisted narratives fueled by obsession, resulting in a tense and unsettling read. This book is a serpentine tale of betrayal, madness, and murder.

But interestingly, it’s also about casting off shame and stigma. At its core, it’s a novel rooted with human failings: the dangers of bigotry and close-mindedness of our own society leading to many of the characters facing insurmountable demons — demons resulting from the suppression of the self and the suppression of others. There is definitely a deeper story within these pages, and parts of it speak to the divisiveness of the world in which we live.

Additionally, the author explores several other important themes in the story: sexuality, religion, betrayal, drugs, predation, complicated family dynamics, racism, conformity, and the confusion that coming of age can bring along with it.

I liked how the story was told several alternating POVs, allowing us to see the events through multiple lenses and perspectives. Though there are several pivotal events in the story, at its heart Bright Lands is a character-driven story where every character has something to hide. All their stories come together to weave a dark and intricate tale that draws you in until the very end. What we end up with is a pitch-dark, terrifying story that explores what we’re capable of when our backs are against the wall.

I will say, however, that The Bright Lands is a disturbing novel with graphic content, so it may not be appropriate for more sensitive readers.

All in all, this was an edge-of-your-seat page-turner that kept me guessing until the explosive ending, and though it wasn’t quite what I expected, I enjoyed the wild ride it took me on.

Purchase The Bright Lands from Amazon