Fiction Addict

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Publication Date: February 2010

Jake Chism’s Review:

One by one the sons and daughters of New York’s elite are being kidnapped and murdered. Each time Detective Michael Bennett is too late and he soon begins to realize he is facing a killer who is in a different league altogether. Special Agent Emily Parker is sent in from the FBI to help with the case, and soon she and Bennett are knee deep in a murder spree that has the city in a panic. As they piece together the clues behind the madman on the loose, they begin to see that the real terror is yet to come.

James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge more than deliver in this third installment of the Michael Bennett series.  Each book just gets better and I’m beginning to think that even Alex Cross himself might be warily looking over his shoulder at the new guy who is quickly gaining. Admittedly, when I first read about the concept of this series, I was underwhelmed to say the least. Another cop series from James Patterson? Really? Aren’t Alex Cross and The Women’s Murder Club enough? And not only is it another cop series, but it’s about a cop with 10 (yes, 10) kids!!  Despite the warning sounds blaring in my mind, I recently settled down and tackled all three novels. And wouldn’t you know it? I think I’ve found my new favorite character in the ever expanding James Patterson fiction-verse.

In Worst Case, we are easily treated to the best writing of the series so far, and I’m really enjoying how well Patterson and Ledwidge meld together as a writing team. The tension and suspense leap off the pages, while Michael Bennett effortlessly draws us in with his unwavering sense of justice and good guy persona. It almost seems that the art of crafting heroes has been lost in many fiction circles today, and it’s refreshing to find a lead character that gives you every reason to cheer for him. There’s even some nice romantic tension here that actually feels relevant to the story, adding another layer of depth and interest.

This series certainly hasn’t been perfect by any means. One of my biggest complaints has to do with Bennett’s children. It’s not so much the number of kids, but rather how hard it is to get to know them as characters.  As the series has progressed, Patterson and Ledwidge have been able to flesh them out a little more, but unfortunately they often feel like one big character to me. I’m hoping as time goes by and more stories are churned out (and you know there is more coming), that we will begin to spend more time with each character and that they will begin to build their own identities. Maybe 10 kids were a tad bit too many to start with, but that is a writing corner that Patterson and Ledwidge have boldly written themselves into. Something tells me these guys know what they are doing.

Worst Case is definitely must read material for Patterson fans, and those who have been turned away by Patterson’s latest offerings might be surprised by what they find here. As always readers can expect adult language and mature content, but it all seems a bit toned down compared to Patterson’s other series. On the flip side, the Michael Bennett series carries a sort of heartwarming family message that lends enough charm to keep readers coming back.

This Michael Bennett guy? I think he’s the real deal.

Jennifer Roman’s Review:

James Patterson’s latest novel (third in the new Michael Bennett series) opens with the only son of a prominent, wealthy New Yorker being abducted.  The kidnapper asks the young man several questions about social awareness, and his answers determine whether he lives or not.  The kidnapper later abducts other wealthy New Yorkers’ children in an effort to send the message that they should be using their money and influence to help those less fortunate.

New York detective Michael Bennett is assigned to the case, and due to the high profile clients’ demands, the FBI is quickly included.  The team, led by Bennett, has to piece together very subtle clues to determine who is doing such a thing and how to stop him.  Money is not the object; instead, he wants social justice.  True to form, Patterson keeps the reader interested with the fast-paced storyline and interesting scenarios.

Patterson is a prolific writer, and at times it seems as though he goes for “quantity over quality.”  He seems to go back to basics, however, with this series.  He writes a good story that is interesting and suspenseful.  The reader gets a chance to identify the kidnapper, but he is revealed at a good point in the story.  How Patterson develops the kidnapper is what makes the story so good.  Those interested in “how he got the way he is” will be satisfied.

Patterson’s earlier mysteries have graphic violence, but this series does not.  We know how someone dies, but we don’t see the whole gory scene.  We know what the kidnapper is thinking, but we don’t actually see it carried out to fruition.  There are a few times the “F bomb” is dropped, but overall, there is not a lot of foul language.  What may incite some readers is the fact that Bennett is a widowed dad of TEN adopted children.  While it is obvious that he cares about them, he spends a lot of time at work and leaves the children with one caretaker: Mary Catherine.  He seems to be developing a romantic interest in her.  While it is admirable that Bennett adopts children of all races, some may see it as “collecting” children.  Hopefully soon Patterson and Ledwidge will develop the children’s characters and let the reader see the relationship they have with their father.

Overall, this series takes a step back and follows Patterson’s early formula of success.  The storyline is fast-paced and interesting, and the book is a quick read.  Those wanting to get a good “mystery fix” should be happy with the results.

Review copy provided by Hachette Book Group.

Genre: Suspense

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication Date: June 2009

Jake Chism’s Review:

Kaycee Raye is scared of…well…everything. All of her life she has struggled with paranoia and irrational fears, something she believes was passed down from her troubled mother. Kaycee has found a way to deal with the fear by writing a column that has taken on a life of its own and has turned Kaycee into a household name. Up until now the column has been both fun and therapeutic as she has found a way to connect with readers who share many of the same fears and experiences. Unfortunately for Kaycee, someone out there is watching her and waiting for just the right moment to unleash the greatest fear she has ever known.

To say that Brandilyn Collins is prolific would be an understatement. You would think that a writer who cranks out a novel every few months would sooner or later hit the wall and lose their edge. It’s bound to happen right? Guess again. If Collins has proven anything to me it’s that she is not only a master of her craft, but there literally seems to be no end to the depth of her talent.

Exposure has many of the elements that we have come to expect from Collins: intensity, tension, high-caliber suspense, and engaging mystery. It’s all there and once again works well. We are also treated to a unique story telling device that really propels the narrative along. While I figured out the twist early on, never did the story lose steam in my mind. Collins knows how to grab readers early on and she never gives us a moment to even consider letting go.

Where Brandilyn Collins always excels is her ability to bring us strong spiritual insight through what her characters experience. Many fans will be able to relate and sympathize with Kaycee’s struggles in this story and will be moved by her journey to overcome. Collins once again delivers a pulse pounding story that will have you on the edge of your seat and will leave you desperate for more.

Tim George’s Review:

Willmore, Kentucky is the home of two fine institutions: Asbury College and Seminary and Bradilyn Collins. The first is dedicated to training men and women in the Wesleyan tradition and the other to scaring us witless and then pointing us back to the only One who can truly overcome evil. With Exposure, Collins carries us to a new level of psychological suspense as we follow the personal struggle of one woman with her greatest enemy: fear.

Kaycee Raye writes a column for the Willmore newspaper in which she shares her ongoing struggle with countless phobias. Though the column has helped many with their own hidden fears it has labeled Kaycee as somewhat of a crack-pot with the local police. That, and her numerous calls reporting dangers that, as far as they can tell, only exist in Kaycee’s mind. When the young daughter of a friend turns up missing, Kaycee finds herself on a collision course with her own fears and something so dark and hidden neither she nor you will figure it out until the very end.

Collins follows a great tradition of Hitchcock and Koontz in allowing the reader to paint the picture of evil without doing it for them. It doesn’t take decapitations and gallons of gore to leave one wondering if they forgot to lock the door before they went to bed. Well crafted words and a creative mind can do that job quite nicely. Consider this scene from Exposure and draw your own conclusions …

Finally she rolled over and lay still, spent. Her eyes fixed upon the far wall, unseeing.

Something shifted inside her.

At the center of her soul where hope used to live, a black dot appeared. Deeper. Eating toward the outside. The hopes that had guided Lorraine’s life began to crumble into the pit and disappear … falling until the darkness swallowed them up …

From the bottom of that black hole she felt the throb of a new suffocating spirit.

Fear.

(Don’t miss our interview with Brandilyn Collins).

Genre: Romance, Drama

Publisher: Scribner

Publication Date: September 29th, 2009

Lori Twichell’s review:

“Elspeth died while Robert was standing in front of a vending machine watching tea shoot into a small paper cup.”

Thus begins Audrey Niffenegger’s first novel since The Time Traveler’s Wife.  Now let me start out this review by saying that I am a first level geek for Niffenegger’s work.  I fell in love with The Time Traveler’s Wife and when I discovered that this book was coming out, I was over the moon. When the book finally arrived in the mail, I tore into the package like Christmas. I even paraded it around the house saying “Look! See what Mommy got in the mail! Isn’t it awesome?!” (My son, by the way, was nonplussed with the big book that had no pictures.)

Her Fearful Symmetry combines a ghost story with romance, sibling rivalry and woven throughout, death. The setting of the book is quite literally in the backyard of the famous Highgate Cemetery in London and as you may have noticed in the first sentence of this review, the main character of the book dies. That’s how the book starts. It’s not really your typical ghost story or romance. But that’s okay. Niffenegger’s normal is always anything but typical.

The main character in this book, as I mentioned, is Elspeth. She’s the dearly departed without really having departed. For some reason, Elspeth hasn’t really gone away. So when her mirror twin nieces arrive from America to take over her apartment, things get a little awkward. We follow her journey as she spends her days and nights trying to figure out ways to communicate with the girls. She also spends a lot of time trying to get out of the apartment and see Robert, her lover who lives in the flat below the girls. As Elspeth struggles with her lingering presence and lack of purpose, she notices something odd. Her niece, Valentina, has begun to have feelings for Robert. This puts Elspeth in an even more awkward position than just sleeping in a drawer. She doesn’t know what to do. Should she stop it? Encourage it? Yes. I know. Some moments of the plot do feel a little daytime soapy when you repeat them out loud.

Thankfully Niffenegger’s mastery of character development and description makes things feel far less sudsy than your average soap. She can pull off the most stunning descriptions of characters, events, and locations with the simplest turns of phrase. She can draw you in to the oddest set of storylines and characters with just a few sentences. Even as you’re thinking, “This isn’t really my style” you will come across something that takes your breath away and requires that you read it multiple times to really capture the depth of it. Her writing remains brilliant, beautiful, and stunning.

Now to be fair, the plot wasn’t something that I would normally enjoy and the ending felt like it came far too late in the story. Everything could have really been wrapped much sooner than it did. And in all honesty, I scratched my head at the abrupt climax of several major storylines. But still, it’s Audrey Niffenegger. She writes so beautifully and so brilliantly that even if you get to the end and ask “What?” you still had an amazing journey along the way.

Marianne Peters’ review:

Grief. Ghosts. Two sets of twins. Lovers separated by death and distance. Family secrets. And London’s Highgate Cemetery, an ancient burial ground full of storied occupants. Who can resist a novel with all these compelling elements?

Her Fearful Symmetry begins with Elspeth Noblin’s death and her adventures afterward as she haunts her London flat.  In her will, Elspeth mysteriously leaves her flat to her estranged twin sister’s twenty-year-old twin daughters. Her nieces, Julia and Valentina, share a creepily intense sibling bond. They move into Elspeth’s former home, located in a building which borders famous Highgate cemetery. Julia forms a friendship with upstairs neighbor Martin, a gentle, brilliant, but hopelessly obsessive-compulsive man who refuses to leave his flat. The twins also meet Robert, Elspeth’s grief-stricken former lover who is writing a history of Highgate cemetery and working as a volunteer guide there. When Robert and Valentina form a romantic bond, relationships between the living and the dead begin to unravel.

Highgate itself becomes a character in the novel. Its history, architecture, inhabitants, and daily rituals create an atmosphere of decay, a reminder of the inevitable. Descriptions of the cemetery are the most enjoyable part of the novel, along with Niffenegger’s rendering of ghost-life. Elspeth grows in ghostliness as she attempts to communicate with the twins and with Robert, her erstwhile lover. Niffenegger imagines Elspeth evolving from a misty disembodiment to a visible, powerful presence, and watching her discover her strength and begin to insert herself into the twins’ lives makes for compelling storytelling. Nothing good can come of it.

Like her previous novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger renders a fantastical situation plausible with imaginative detail – for instance, what does it feel like to pull a soul from a body? Unlike her previous novel, her characters did not venture far from type, which made the outcome predictable.  Predictable, but still eerie fun, especially with a setting such as Highgate cemetery, full of ghosts and memories.

Don’t miss our interview with Audrey Niffenegger.

Genre: Suspense, Horror

Publisher: Realms

Publication Date: March 2009

Tim George’s Review:

Mike Dellosso stretches his writing wings in his sophomore tale of suspense, Scream. Offering the same intensity and smart pacing as his debut novel, The Hunted, Mike offers even better character studies in both his hero, Mark Stone and Stone’s protagonist, aptly named Judge.

Mark Stone is a hero with problems. His marriage is on the rocks and it’s his fault. What went wrong is doled out in little slices along the way but the hope of seeing things made right seems futile almost from the beginning. As though that isn’t enough to distract a man, Stone has even bigger problems. On several occasions he is talking to various people on the phone only to have the conversation interrupted by unworldly, you guessed it, screams. When he finds those he was talking with dead, our hero knows he is being plunged into a world he had believed to be behind him.

In spite of his disillusionment with the church, Mark Stone is left with nowhere to turn for answers for the hellish screams and resulting deaths except ministers. His conversations with these “men of God” reveal how little some who claim to believe in the spiritual actually do. While Stone is tempted to discount one minister’s explanation, the stakes are raised when a conversation with his estranged wife is interrupted by similar nightmarish sounds. This sets the stage for his ultimate confrontation with the reality of evil and grace.

Dellosso does an excellent job of painting the portrait of the man we know as Judge. This is no two-dimensional villain but rather a complicated man that has experienced deep tragedy in his own life. His misdirected thirst for justice has prompted him to open the door of his heart to a darkness that offers only one horrible option to satisfy that thirst. Time is taken to thoroughly develop the nature of Judge before he and Mark Stone are brought together.

In typical Dellosso style, the story begins fast and races toward its dramatic conclusion from one chapter to the next. In spite of its weighty subject matter it does it with style and suspense. It’s one scream of a ride.

Jake Chism’s Review:

Mark Stone never thought one phone call would turn his world upside down. While driving home one night he receives a call from his friend that is interrupted by a series of horrendous and piercing screams. Immediately after the screams his friend dies in a horrible car accident. As Mark searches for answers, he unwittingly finds himself involved in more similar incidents that lead to more horrible deaths. Things become even more personal when his wife is kidnapped by a madman and the same eerie screams are heard over her desperate phone call for help. Now Mark is in a race against time and evil as he desperately tries to find his wife before he loses her once and for all.

Mike Dellosso has once again brought us an engaging thriller full of gut-wrenching suspense and strong spiritual truth. In his impressive debut, The Hunted, Dellosso stormed onto the scene proving he has what it takes to scare the wits out of his audience while at the same time delivering a challenging and relevant message. Scream ups the ante on all levels bringing us even more terror, more suspense, and ultimately more heart.

Mark Stone is a fallible, yet endearing character that you can’t help but pull for from the opening chapter. His resilient search for truth and meaning provides the perfect backdrop for this incredibly creepy premise. Mark’s struggles as a husband are also effectively explored throughout and help to bring more depth to this intense thrill ride.

There is much controversy surrounding the mix of the horror genre with inspirational fiction. I’m thrilled to see that authors like Mike Dellosso are consistently churning out novels that prove how powerful this type of storytelling can be. Indeed, Scream will have you breathlessly flying through the pages and closely examining your heart at the same time. Mike Dellosso is a bright new talent that demands to be noticed.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: NavPress

Publication Date: September 15th, 2008

Kaci Hill’s Review:

I’ve been hearing Tosca Lee’s name since her book Demon: A Memoir came out.  She’s had nothing but rave reviews it seems – and that’s from a reader who only reads negative reviews. At any rate, several other writers I know personally or am familiar with through their own books only left me that much more interested. So, when her second book, Havah: The Story of Eve came out, I decided I really had better get to reading Lee’s books lest she have a stack of them I haven’t read yet.

Havah did not disappoint. There’s something striking about reading a pre-fallen world while sitting on the beach, something about the combination of quiet despite the constant movement Either way, this book is a gorgeous story with poetic prose, exploring the full range of the emotions of a couple who doesn’t even have words for those emotions yet. The book follows Havah’s first waking moments to her deception, to her and “the adam” as they struggle to raise the first family on earth. Readers follow their progression from the playful, childlike spirits of Havah and Adam to the Great Father and Mother they become. Yes, Lee covers all six hundred and thirty years of their lives, a daunting task well done. Moreover, their story becomes one of resolve to return to Eden, to the garden, the earth’s cradle where they first knew life and the One That Is.

Lee took great pains to make the story of the first man and woman and the subsequent events of their family come to life, and she explores everything from death to obedience to doubt to redemption.  She took great pains to make a pre-fallen world dynamic and alive, even within peace.

Suffice it to say, I’m definitely looking forward to Demon: A Memoir and anything else Tosca Lee deigns to write. Depth, creativity, and wit go a long way.

Jake Chism’s Review:

The story of Adam and Eve is both the oldest and most familiar story known to man. In fact, it is so familiar that we think we know all there is to know. Then along comes a story like Havah that pulls back the veil, giving us a wondrous glimpse into what life might have really been like for the first man and woman.

Havah is told from the perspective of Eve, and from the opening lines Tosca Lee hooks us with her intoxicating style and clever storytelling. All of the famous events are here: the garden, the fall, the story of Cain and Abel. But make no mistake about it: this is not the version you heard in Sunday school. Lee holds nothing back in her descriptive narrative as she explores the intimate relationship between Adam and Eve and their rugged lifestyle. Eve’s firsthand account of the fall is gut wrenching and emotional, bringing yet more vitality to another familiar aspect of this story. I was especially moved and anguished over the beautiful, yet flawed relationship of the first husband and wife.

As the story unfolds Tosca Lee gives some intriguing speculative insight into many of the questions that surround Adam and Eve. How many children did they have? How exactly was the Earth populated? What was their relationship really like? How did they interact with God? Every aspect of this story is backed by careful research and study, and even if you don’t agree with Tosca Lee’s viewpoint, you have to admire her willingness to re-explore this monumental moment in history.

Havah is a beautiful tale that will awe and inspire you at every turn. With beautiful prose and breathtaking description, Tosca Lee has breathed new life into the story we thought we all knew so well. Allow yourself to step out of the box for a moment and experience a retelling of Adam and Eve that will leave you desperate for more.

Genre: Suspense, Supernatural

Publisher: NavPress

Publication Date: May 18th, 2007

Frank Redman’s Review:

I have to admit thrillers are my favorite genre. I love the action and the pacing. But even with thrillers, it’s rare when I get so lost in a novel that I’m not mindful of the page numbers as I’m turning pages. Despite the fact Tosca Lee’s DEMON: A MEMOIR is not a thriller and not action oriented, the story is so wonderfully engrossing it literally captured my imagination. I was amazed when, finally cognizant of the act of turning pages, I’d look at the current page number and realize twenty pages just flew by. The story—the writing—is mesmerizing.

The story begins as we join Clay wandering aimlessly in an earthly purgatory. He’s recently divorced, a recovering alcoholic, a failure as a writer, and in a dead-end job. Life has no meaning. Enter Lucian, a mysterious fallen angel who desires to tell his version of biblical history. “I’m going to tell you my story, and you’re going to write it down and publish it.”

DEMON was in my queue to read, but I was in the middle of another book for review. Succumbing to the temptation to look at DEMON, one night I opened it and perused through the first few pages. Just a peek. I soon found myself obsessed with finishing it.

I admired the melodic feel to the words and phrasing. The dialog is also “voiced” well. There were no instances in which I was removed from a scene because of disjointed or boring dialog. The settings are enjoyable with sufficient description to effectively imagine the background, but not so much that it impedes the flow of the story.

Never before have I read a novel that made me really think about my lifelong perceptions of religion, angels, demons, and culturally defined happiness. I gained insight into things I had previously taken for granted—new perspectives. Unfortunately, I cannot provide examples here as they would spoil the impact of the discovery for yourself as you’re engaged with the story. Just as Clay (and I) had to experience these things firsthand, you will have to as well. But let me say traveling through time with Lucian is absolutely worth the trip.

Clay is propelled face-first through spiritual realms while he desperately tries to grasp all that is happening, as best as humanly possible. Lee kills our complacency as we read, constantly changing the character manifestations of Lucian and his demeanor. This does not detract from the enjoyment of the story, but adds to it. We don’t know when or where Lucian is going to appear and we never really know what’s going to happen next. Just when you think you might have something figured out, you’re wrong.

The writing is captivating, the story is riveting, and the themes are enlightening. Lee makes you evaluate what we believe regarding grief, grace, and spiritual beings. I’m thankful I read DEMON. It has jumped high onto the list of my all-time favorite novels.

Kaci Hill’s Review:

I said in my Havah review I’ve been looking forward to reading Tosca Lee’s books since I first started hearing rumors about this demon lurking in Bosnian cafes. Well, Demon: A Memoir was hiding from me but was at last apprehended. And I have to say, again, I’m far from disappointed.  Okay, so the recently-divorced fiction editor, Clay, receives a summons from a demon named Lucian, who has a story to tell that begins one way and ends another.

Demon begins with a tone dark and tense, full of conflict, with the story of a man in transit with his life. Honestly, the demon is compelling, and I was a little unnerved at my own appreciation for his storytelling presence. This command is, in fact, Lee’s ability to combine intensity and beauty manifesting itself once again. It’s the subtle attention to detail that, once more, is full of surprises. Even Clay’s name has a purpose.

There are two stories going: Lucian’s narrative, and Clay’s life as it’s further affected by the conflict imposed on him by his personal demon, and the two quickly become one.  Unfortunately a great deal of what I would like to say is too wrapped up in spoilers. The end is definitely not what I was expecting, almost a challenge.

Once again, Lee covers an extensive amount of ground and subject matter: creation, the Fall, the nature of man, the nature of God, how they related to one another, sin and redemption, spiritual warfare – honestly, it’s all in there.  Oh, yes, and the temptation of the angels. I almost wish I’d read Demon first and Havah second, even though the order doesn’t actually matter because they’re stand-alone titles, if only because the thought of reading Lucian’s account before Havah’s is intriguing to me personally.  I’m definitely looking forward to whatever comes next.

Genre: Horror, Suspense

Publisher: Faithwords

Publication Date: May 28th, 2009

Frank Redman’s Review:

Dennis Shore is a successful horror novelist but has suffered one of life’s greatest tragedies in the past year, the death of his wife. “When stricken by a paralyzing case of writer’s block and a looming deadline, Dennis becomes desperate.” He plagiarizes an unstable fan’s manuscript, setting off a chain of events and the pursuit of violent revenge that threatens his sanity and the lives of his daughter and friends.

This was a difficult review for me to write. I’m a fan of the horror genre, but loathe the excessive profanity, sexual content, and gratuitous gore that so many writers in the genre depend on to make an impact with the reader. I had not previously read a Travis Thrasher novel, so I was excited to see what he had to offer.

It would be an injustice to the readers of this review, to myself, and ultimately to the author if I merely stated “This book is great—read it,” and was negligent in revealing some disappointment. The fan in me loved this story. The critic in me found some minor negatives.

I was concerned a few pages in whether I would truly enjoy it. The story took a while to develop and incidents occurred that seemed disjointed from the plot. The dialog felt forced. There are some editing errors, for example, the wrong pronoun used (p.17 “Did you threaten you?” The first “you” should be “she.”). To the author’s defense, it is tricky starting a novel, establishing the plot and characters, and simultaneously hooking the reader. If you stop reading this book because of these flaws, you’ll miss out on what simply can be defined as an extraordinarily good story. I’m incredibly grateful I stuck with it.

Yet there was still one more thing that frustrated me—I couldn’t wait to see what happened next! This… was a good feeling. For thrill-seekers, GHOSTWRITER is very much like the beginning of a monster rollercoaster. After climbing that first big hill (having time to look around, check your watch, shift around in your seat…), the rest flies at you in an eye-watering rush and your focus is dominated by what’s coming in the next stage of the ride. Kudos, Mr. Thrasher.

When you read a scary story and you’re not really sure what’s going on, but just when you think you’ve nailed it, something unexpected happens and your perception is shattered, that is the outline of a great horror story. That’s a great story, period. That is what GHOSTWRITER is.

It’s easy to develop compassion for Dennis Shore and identify with his grief, lack of faith, and his struggles with what’s real and what’s not. While it’s a remarkably frightening story, it is also an emotional love story. The reader feels Shore’s nightmarish fears and also his gut-wrenching sorrow.

Shore bounces in and out of lucidity so the reader cannot always discern what is real and what is the product of his poor mental health. This element can be difficult to pull off while mitigating reader confusion, but Thrasher makes good use of the technique, effectively keeping the reader guessing.

While this may sound like just a scary love story, do not be deceived. It is a full-on horror novel. Unspeakable supernatural evil tries to destroy the very essence of Shore’s life with an unhealthy serving of shocking violence.

GHOSTWRITER is an emotionally intricate masterwork of how evil can destroy us and love can redeem us.  Thrasher has proved to me to be an exceptional storyteller.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Jake Chism’s Review:

Dennis Shore has made quite a name for himself as a bestselling horror novelist. Every year his rabid fans anxiously anticipate the release of his new and terrifying creation. What his fans don’t know is that this year things aren’t what they seem with his new book. Sure it’s scary and addicting, some would even say his best work yet. Although his name may be on the cover, Dennis Shore didn’t write this book. Unfortunately for Dennis, the man who did write it is out to get him. And Dennis Shore will pay.

Like the fictional Dennis Shore, Travis Thrasher himself has begun to make quite a name for himself in the horror genre. Isolation proved that Thrasher has what it takes to scare the wits out of his audience while challenging them at the same time. Ghostwriter takes Thrasher’s writing to a whole new level of terror and heart.

From the opening lines we are effortlessly drawn in with Thrasher’s delectable prose and revealing insight into the mind of a novelist. Dennis Shore is an endearing character that demands our compassion because of the struggles life has thrown him. Yet on the other hand the more we get to know Dennis our compassion only grows as we realize how fallible he is.

The horror elements are very strong throughout as Dennis goes head to head with a madman that will stop at nothing to see him suffer. Ghostwriter truly offers some of Thrasher’s most disturbing scenes to date. Time after time I wanted to look away, but the quality of Thrasher’s writing made it impossible to do so. As the story progresses and truth is brought to life we are treated with a wondrous display of light in the midst of the deepest darkness.

Travis Thrasher only continues to astonish me with not only the quality of his writing, but his ability to tell powerful stories. It’s rare to find an author who can take us to places we don’t want to go in order to bring us to a place we long to be. Ghostwriter is the kind of gem that comes along far too seldom; displaying the kind of writing that deserves to be devoured by the masses.