A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE......STARRING L.A. AS THE DARKEST HEART OF DARKNESS....THE HORROR...THE HORROR....(*****).

 A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper (2026)

     Welcome to America's real Heart of Darkness......Los Angeles, the city of Hollywood dreams and drug fueled, blood drenched nightmares, the city populated by the bitter, and desperately impoverished along side the fabulously wealthy titans of industry and media, whose sybaritic lifestyles place them above the law and above all known morality. Or to put it more bluntly, what some would call a snapshot of America today.

     That's the carnival ride of horrors that author Jordan Harper takes you on. It's a twisted, warped funhouse of drugs, perversions, random gore-dripping carnage, all of it overseen by a justice system favoring only the rich and powerful......the only ones who make it out alive while literally getting away with murder.

     Within this maelstrom we follow the fates of three L.A. denizens who run afoul of 'The Kids in the Candy Store' that collection of rotten-to-their-very-core bigwigs whose influence and power can cover up anything and everything.........including young women who disappear without a trace. The ones who don't disappear might resurface as victims of the 'L.A. Ripper', whose mutilations of their bodies defy all rational description.

     This book, as you can imagine, is not for the faint of heart or anyone who cannot stomach graphic violence of any kind. But for those willing to grab on ti this Dante's Inferno tour of everything horrible in our modern society, it's a breathless, mesmerizing experience, a perpetual bad dream that nobody can wake up from.

      And I couldn't stop reading until the last drop of blood spills out. If you're up for it, then by all means take the ride. But don't say you weren't warned.....

      5 stars (*****).

DARK IS WHEN THE DEVIL COMES......TURN ON ALL THE LIGHTS.....CHECK UNDER THE BED AND COUCH.....(****)......

 Dark If When the Devil Comes by Daisy Pearce (2026)

     When it comes to authors who can chill you to the bone and fuel up your nightmares, Daisy Pearce is one of the most expert practitioners. And she's back at it with this one guaranteed to make you turn on a few more lights while you're reading it........and checking underneath the couch for.....well, no spoilers can I reveal.

     In a small English country town, Hazel's come back to occupy her parents' vacated home. Reeling from an emotionally bruising divorce, she's hoping to repair the estrangement from her sister Cathy, whose mean streak is well known to everyone who grew up with her. That included Hazel and Cathy's childhood friend Suzie, who now runs the town pharmacy with her husband.

      And here's the point where I think I should cease going into any more particular detail for fear of spoiling the nasty, scary trip this book proceeds to take you on. I'll only say that put in frightening harm's way, Hazel's facing genuine horror.........some of it obvious and some of it indescribable and bound to generate plenty of readers' bad dreams.

     When Hazel drops out of sight, Cathy and Suzie join forces to find her, which leads to a a truly harrowing finale confronting terrors both earthbound........and let's just say something else you'd rather not think about before bedtime.

     An excellent read here for anyone who loves a mixture of a thriller blended with horror and suspense........all in one convenient package. .Well done again, Daisy.

     4 stars (****).

THE GIRL UPSTAIRS......THE CREEPIEST HOUSE IN A CRAZY-FOR-HALLOWEEN TOWN.....OVERLOADED WITH TWISTS....(****)

 The Girl Upstairs by Jessica R. Patch (2026)

     Oh my, you can never have enough books set in small New England towns where Halloween is celebrated like a Federally mandated National Holiday.......not to mention having a creepy old house with a virtual traffic jam of ghosts. and murderous histories.

     So welcome to Cold Harbor, Maine where recently disgraced ex-homicide detective Gwen McDaniels, her baby girl Tara and her doctor husband Steven have taken up residence. And guess which prime piece of creepy old real estate they've moved into......heh, heh, heh.........

     In no time at all, Gwen's beset with paranormal sights and sounds and her detective instincts kick in. She's not only determined to delve into the house's haunted backstories but also the origin of a bone recently found on her property.......a bone the town's Chief of Police insists belongs to an animal, not a human, as some in town believe.........and boasts a medical examiner's report to back him up.

     But something's telling Gwen that all's not well in Cold Harbor and she teams with young coffee shop owner and fledgling true crime podcaster Cady to get to the bottom of things. And that includes the strange writing carved into Gwen's attic floor, ghostly lullabies heard at night and the mysteries surrounding a long missing child. Meanwhile, Steven's exasperation and disapproval of Gwen's relentless sleuthing has set their already shaky marriage to crumbling.

     Everyone who loves a small town eve-of-Halloween atmosphere and a ton of twists will want seek this book out right away. (I'll admit that at least one of those all-of-a-sudden reveals coaxed a gasp out of me). And once the plot really starts coming to a boil, the twists start tumbling all over each other so fast, I slowed down my usual reading speed to make sure I was getting them all.

     Well paced and a whole lot of fun to dive into.......perfect for either a beach read or the spooky season, but you may not want to wait that long to enjoy chilling out with it....or getting chilled by it.

     4 stars (****).

YESTERYEAR......SHE'S DOWN ON THE FARM......CENTURIES APART....(*****)

 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (2026)

     What a brilliant, funny and deeply unsettling book this is. And a what a powerhouse introduction to this new author.

     Corrosive wit dipped in acid flows throughout this epically sardonic and all too American saga. Author Caro Claire Burke performs a genuine high wire act here, crafting a lead female character that you don't know whether to cheer on,, ridicule, hate with a passion or choke back a tear for.. And sometimes I felt like doing all of those things......all at once.

     Natalie Heller Mills seemingly marries well.....to the youngest son of a wealthy family political dynasty. But Caleb's the dimmest of bulbs, the most unsharpened tool in the shed, lacking intelligence, skills and no detectable ambition whatsoever. But through trial and error (and her father-in-law's money) Natalie creates a social media sensation as a "tradwife', supposedly living the life of a pioneer wife and mother on a supposed early 19th century Idaho farm.........with Caleb overplaying his role of her cowboy-farmer husband. But of course, it's all showbiz smoke-and-mirrors behind the scenes, generating millions of adoring, merch-buying fans and plenty of active haters as well.

     It's a charmed life for Natalie until she wakes up one morning to find herself transported to an actual 19 century Idaho farm, complete with a different set of children, a different version of her husband and none of the 21st century amenities she's used to and depends on. A nightmare? God's punishment? A colossal prank at her expense that's gone viral?

     I'll say only this......I'm still not sure I entirely swallow the staggering final section of this story, but I'm in total awe of how it's pulled off with the same deeply satirical skill and incisive writing that tugs on your emotions in ten different directions.

     No doubt about this.....it's one of the 5 star must-reads of the the year. (*****)

HOPE RISES......THE 'NASH FALLS' REBORN HERO MEETS HIS NEMESIS.....(*****)

 Hope Rises by David Baldacci (2026)

     The first book in this series, "Nash Falls" had me fully glued to it and "Hope Rises", its sequel is even better. It takes the perilous story of Walter Nash a.k.a. Dillon Hope into some fascinating twists and turns I never imagined or anticipated, with deeper characterization, more action and surprises.

     I would first highly recommend, for full enjoyment of 'Hope Rises you need to read 'Nash Falls' That book details everything it implies in its title..........the utter destruction of the life of FBI informant Walter Nash and the terrible price he pays for functioning as an undercover agent in the company he works for.

     Nash found himself in the crosshairs of ruthless international criminal Victoria Steers, who ordered the killing of his daughter and framed Nash for her murder. as well as other unspeakable crimes. Hunted and on the run, a friend of Nash's father helps him to physically transform himself into an all new identity......that of heavily muscled and expert bodyguard Dillon Hope.. The kind of formidable man who might very well get closer to that cold blooded villainess Steers.

     Dillon Hope does in fact move closer to Steers than he could imagine......functioning as her new bodyguard. And it's no easy job, given that those in Steers' orbit (including her mother) are every bit as ruthless and lethal as she is. Steers has no shortage of enemies and doesn't yet realize that the one who hates her most in the world, Hope, is now within easy killing distance of her..

     I would not dare to reveal the host of stunning complications and revelations that befall both Hope and Steers, taking this action-packed story into directions that challenge these characters like never before and raise the stakes ever higher.

     After reading the first book ,I had my own ideas as to where this story was going (all wrong, as it turned out) but the only thing I did expect was that David Baldacci would hit this one out of the park. And in 'Hope Rises' he doesn't disappoint.

     5 stars (*****).

THE SCOOP......A TABLOID TAKEDOWN EXECUTED WITH KNIFE-EDGED WIT.....(****).

 The Scoop by Erin Van Der Meer (2026)

     Fasten your seatbelts for this one......a book that takes a reader on a cringe-filled safari through the most vicious Heart-of-Darkness contemporary jungle imaginable......the absolute abyss of a tabloid website. It's where the moral compasses of journalists spin faster than helicopter blades in the pursuit of click-bait dirt. It's where misery, tragedy and celebrity collide and we just can't help ourselves if we stop in to munch on a few tasty McNuggets of bad news for the Rich and Famous among us.

     29 year old magazine writer Frankie Miller, unemployed and desperate to continue living her dream of a journalism career, sells her soul to 'The Scoop' an on-line tabloid ruthlessly overseen by its Editor-in-Chief David Brown. Newly installed as the 'The Scoop's night editor, Frankie at first tries holding on to what's left of her scruples but....fat chance. David's brutal tirades give her a boot camp schooling in the world of the take-no-prisoners tabloid meat grinder. that needs constant feeding.

     When a long forgotten pop singer's spotted in less than flattering photos, David targets her for non-stop humiliation, contrived scandal and around the clock paparazzi stalking. And Frankie, now enraptured with the nationwide and worldwide attention her bylines earn for her, succumbs and embraces her notorious success, even at the cost of losing her closest friends. But what happens when the repercussions of her choices finally come back to shake her to her core?

     I can only say that you do NOT want to miss Frankie's response and ultimate ironic fate. .

     Author Erin Van Der Meer not only eviscerates the tabloid world but takes a knowing, unflinching look at the challenges faced by ambitious, talented working women in a Patriarchal marketplace.. And I was amazed at how absorbed I became with Frankie's calamities given that her shifting morality renders her unlikable and the book spends a little too much time with her repetitious internal anxieties.

     There's real live wire energy in the storytelling here and a sense of cruel wit runs through the entire book. Not a pretty picture of the way we digest news these days, but you won't want to stop reading till Frankie (and author Van Der Meer) have the last word.

     4 stars (****).

THE PATRIOT'S DAUGHTER.....A BEAUTIFUL SPY UNRAVELS A DIRE RUSSIAN PLOT.....(***)

The Patriot's Daughter by Brittany Butler (2026) 

     I expected to shower unconditional love on this book because it contains the mixture of everything I crave in a contemporary espionage thriller.......American and Russian spies facing off with the fate of U.S. and the entire civilized world hanging in the balance......suspenseful stealing of top secrets....double agents, triple agents, maybe even quadruple agents, none of whom trust each other for a single second (nor should they.)

     Chases.....daring escapes......startling twists......bullet-riddled action a plot that corresponds to today's current events......and to top it all off, a fast boiling romance between Ava, our fearless lead CIA spy and Ben, a tradecraft-savvy battle hardened counterintelligence agent.

     The stakes and the danger levels couldn't be higher here. And I was fully enthralled with Ava's combing her save-the-world-as-we-know-it mission with her clandestine agenda to discover the secrets surrounding the betrayal and death of her mother, also a CIA agent.

     While I had an exciting time reading everything I've detailed above, the book's incredibly poor editing (or complete lack thereof) threatened to sabotage the novel even worse than what its Russian villains were trying to do to U.S. democracy..

     I grew increasingly frustrated with the gaping plot holes, continuity gaps, jarring transitions from one scene to another, a last minute introduction of a formidable villain who then disappears altogether and twists with no rational explanation to back them up.

     The overall effect was similar to watching a two hour movie thriller that looked like a half hour of footage was randomly chopped out of it, rendering parts of it senseless.

     If all these grievous errors in story construction and plotting had been addressed, I would've easily given "The Patriot's Daughter" 2 more stars than its getting now. And yet I wouldn't mind seeing Ava take on more global adventures, but only if there's huge improvements made from this first one.

      3 stars (***).