HOLLY....THE ONCE SHY P.I. VS A PAIR OF SENILE REPTILES...(****)

 Holly by Stephen King (2023)

             Authors can show no greater love for one of their supporting characters than to bestow upon them a book all their own.....

                 And so it is written that the mighty Stephen King gifted a thriller for of his most poignant, vulnerable but stalwart heroines......

                  Who else could I be speaking of but Holly Gibney,  the formerly shy, forlorn, put-upon recluse of "Mr. Mercedes", "Finders Keeper", and "The Outsider".

                  To the delight of all us constant King readers, we're watched Holly come way out of her shell, discovering the bravery, determination and core of steel that was within her all along.  But quite a harrowing journey for her to get there......as the unlikely partner of investigator Bill Hodges, she faced down some of King's most other-worldly,  monstrous creations who took the shape of human beings. 

                   Now operating her own detective agency, she's enlisted by a distraught mom whose college student daughter mysteriously went missing. And Holly quickly discovers the girl's dropping out of sight resembles a slew of similar disappearances in the same general campus area......

                   You should know at this point that author King offers no big surprises or sudden twists and turns here. So don't expect any..... 

                  Our Uncle Stevie lays out exactly what's going on.......starting with the book's resident monsters, who in this case, are all too flesh-and-blood human.  They're the frail, harmless, octogenarian college professors Rodney and Emily Harris.   

                  Yes, indeedy.....those ancient geriatric Harrises, afflicted with a host of aged ills, have managed to snatch victims off the street and commit.....

                  Okay, I'll  follow standard review protocol and not reveal what the demented evil Profs do with their captives, but if you're a Stephen King reader, you'll easily guess what those creepy old ghouls are up to long before King reveals the ghastly, gruesome-beyond-description details.....

                 As Holly embarks on her painstaking, methodical investigation, you'll also have no trouble imagining the ultimate showdown when she finally makes her way to the Harrises. You could practically write the finale yourself, but leave it to King to rub your nerves raw with fear for Holly's safety and somehow drive you up the wall with suspense.......while delivering the richly satisfying finish you knew was coming. 

                 The author's enduring affection for Holly shows in every page, as well as his genuine heartfelt empathy for the hapless victims and the friends and families they leave behind. 

                 And while I'm thinking about it, here's a few words for some other reader-reviewers who carped about King inserting his views of current events into the book, which includes his utter disgust of Donald Trump......

                 Maybe you folks need to check out a few more of the author's earlier books.......you know, the ones that feature malignant authoritarians who seduce people into becoming mindless minions.  You'll discover there's hardly an iota of difference between "The Stand"s Randall Flagg,  "The Dead Zone"s Greg Stillson and the pathetic Orange wanna-be fascist still drooling about turning America into his own Third World Kingdom. 

                 As for "Holly".....maybe it won't stack up with the classic King chillers, but it's still a solid, thrilling and emotional 4 stars (****).....what a perfect way to kick off the spooky season......

THE NIGHT HOUSE.....TWISTIN' THE NIGHT AWAY.......(****)

 The Night House by Jo Nesbo (2023)

           Upon completion, I did thoroughly like this book........but I'm not sure it's such a great idea to market it as pure unadulterated horror, complete with a blood dripping phone and a looming haunted house.

          Here's what took me by surprise, in terms of the book not quite turning out the way its cover seems to promise. Jo Nesbo cleverly makes use of all the familiar tropes you'd find in a Stephen King bestseller. But he deploys them in service of the book's final explanatory chapter, the third section of three major chapters.

           As satisfying as that climactic chapter reads, with all "i"s dotted and all "t"s crossed, you come to realize that bone chilling, nightmarish horror was never the intention here......but rather a dark, unsettling but yet heartfelt, sympathetic excursion into psychological trauma.

            I realize that sounds deliberately vague and elusive, but "The Night House" is so packed to the rafters with twist, after twist, after twist that I can only risk a brief rundown of its opening. It's a barnburner alright, pretty much the inspiration for the lurid, eye popping front cover. Imagine a typical 800 page Stephen King blockbuster compressed into novella length, You'll find all the King-ian tropes in place, all coming at you, one on top of the other. Loads of fun to read, but to me anyway, it felt almost like a sly, deadpan spoof of "It". therefore not particularly scary. 

           Then comes the primary reason I ended up enjoying the book.......the way the next two extended chapters proceed to repeatedly pull the rug out from under you, leaving you dizzy with surprises......right up to the final page. So I'd most definitely recommend "The Night House" as a unique, entertaining thriller with a whole lot more on its mind (and its plot) than that blood soaked phone on the cover. You just need to hang in there for the twists.......4 stars (****)  

THE LAST EXCHANGE....A TROUBLED STAR, HER STEADFAST PROTECTOR - MARTIN-IZED FOR A 5 STAR READ.

 The Last Exchange by Charles Martin (2023)

                 

                Leave it to Charles Martin to once again take a reader on a whirlwind emotional journey........ and keep you compelled to abandon everything else in your life until you reach the final page.

                   Every time I find myself completely engulfed in a Martin book, my overall reaction is always the same......that this author's like Nicolas Sparks on steroids. He starts out by gripping you with a story and characters you can't resist........then along the way, he manages to impart some universal life lessons in love, loyalty, courage, faith and the power of good to overcome evil. 

                   Somehow (I don't know how he does it) he never makes it feel preachy, just common sense inevitable wisdom. You'll be pleased to know he's more than done it again with "The Last Exchange", a heartfelt, yet suspenseful saga of a celebrated, but much troubled movie star and her stalwart Scottish bodyguard.

                  The stoic, taciturn Scot MacThomas Pockets has traveled the world as a battle hardened warrior and when needed, a fearless, loyal protector and defender. It's in that last capacity that he finds himself guarding movie superstar Maybe Joe Sue. A gifted, gorgeous multiple Oscar-winning actress, 'Joe' survived a trauma filled childhood to become beloved by millions. But while she's admired and coveted worldwide, her drug addiction keeps her constantly in and out of rehab. And her equally popular movie star husband offers little help or solace...since the world doesn't know he's actually a self-aggrandizing jerk who only lives for his own fame while hopping from one movie set to another.

               But in her sturdy, steady bodyguard Joe develops a slow burn, unlikely (and yes, sometimes downright funny) friendship, which Pockets struggles to not cross the line into anything more than that.

               In true Charles Martin fashion, multiple terrible calamities befall Joe, seemingly all at once. And it's up to Pockets to put things right and thwart some hateful people, who've no idea of the fierce depths of his loyalty (and obvious unspoken love) for his besieged client.

               Fair warning here - by the time you arrive at this book's grand slam finale, you're not going to move a muscle other than your finger furiously turning the pages or swiping across your e-reader. It's a prime Martin-ized wrap-up filled with stunning revelations, gut wrenching emotions and even some surprising humor along the way. All of that makes "The Last Exchange" easily one of the best 5 star books I've read all year......and highly recommended (*****)

LET HIM IN....IMAGINARY FRIEND? OR REAL SCARY FIEND.....(****)

 Let Him In by William Friend (2023)

                 Unquestionably one of the best, most evocative front covers for a scary book this year. In many ways the book more than fulfills the promise of that cover - to take you on a creepy tour of a cursed, possibly haunted house and keep you in a state of unease, dread and worry for its occupants throughout the story.

                  But any reader who thinks they're in store for decaying corpses, floating sprits and gallons of flowing gore.......this is not that book.

               Despite all its traditional supernatural trappings, "Let Him In" tends to veer more in the direction of psychological horror, of psychosis spawned by grief, tragedy and all too human frailty. The Victorian style Hart House, as it's called, bears a reputation every bit as forbidding as Shirley Jackson's Hill House. The history of the first family who inhabited Hart House is filled with murderous calamities. And the current family who've taken up residence there suffer through their own particular miseries - including a background of religious fanaticism and some freakish, tragic fatal accidents. 

               One of those bizarre deaths widowed Archie and left Sylvie and Cassia, his 8 year old twin daughters without their loving, vibrant mother Pippa. And adding to Archie and the girls' dysfunction as they work their way through their grief, a new presence comes to live among them. . From the twins' synchronized imaginations (or so it seems) springs "Black Mamba, an unseen shape-shifting friend whom they treat as all too real. Uncomfortably, creepily so.. 

               To Archie's growing horror, this invisible entity, who manifests himself as either a man or various beasts evolves from a therapeutic playmate to a sinister evil force......and maybe, just maybe something more than imaginary. Even to the point of unleashing violence.

                I should point out here that none of this transpires at any kind of breathless pace, it that's what you're hoping for. "Let Him In" functions as a slow burn, steadily building up its increasing levels of frightening moments to keep a reader shuddering.

                 Personally, I couldn't think of a better book to curl up with under a comfy blanket on a cold dark night. It's clear that author William Friend wanted a cumulative growing sense of anxiety rather than "gotcha" jumps. And I thought he pulled off that difficult, risky task of straddling the line between what's other-worldly and what derives from the dark recesses of the mind.

                 While I fully embraced and enjoyed what the author accomplished here, I'm aware that hardcore fans may find the wrap-up mild, abrupt and inconclusive. For sure, this is no carnival funhouse ride.....but a more of an unsettling trip through the wounded hearts of a damaged family. And that itself, fellow readers, can be plenty scary.  4 stars (****) 

THE TRAITOR.....A FEARLESS YOUNG SPY BACK IN ACTION...(*****)

 The Traitor by Ava Glass (2023)

                While we're all waiting an eternity for the next James Bond movie, I'd highly recommend "The Traitor" as the next best thing. Fast paced, effectively twisty and filled with some genuine moments of harrowing action and nail biting suspense, it's the new mission assigned to young British spy Emma Makepeace.

                 Even more so than her bosses, Emma's especially dedicated to rooting out and thwarting nefarious Russian operatives. She and her mother escaped Russia, but not her father, who died at the hands of Moscow secret police. So when a fellow MI6 spy's found brutally murdered,, she's put on the hunt for the prime suspects - a couple of fabulously wealthy Russian oligarchs.

                This new mission puts Emma undercover right in the lion's den......posing as a replacement crew member on a spectacular sumptuous yacht in the south of France....owned, of course by one those two oligarchs. Utterly fearless and determined to uncover the Russians' malignant doings, Emma's placed herself in no end of danger. If her identity's discovered, the oligarch and his ominous thuggish minion will most likely make her disappear without a trace. And the thug already views her with deep suspicion. 

                To go into any more detail would totally spoil all the adrenalin-filled fun of reading a spy adventure like this one. I will say that you'll find yourself cringing with fear for Emma as she takes one near lethal risk after another.....and then finds herself coping with yet another perilous threat she never counted on.

                Having thoroughly enjoyed 'Alias Emma' the first book in this series, I couldn't wait for a new one. And 'The Traitor' did not disappoint in any way. For all of us armchair secret agents, it's a pure escapist read of the best kind.  5 stars (*****)

WHO HAUNTS YOU......WHO'S HAUNTING HER OVERACHIEVING FRIENDS TO DEATH? (*****)

 Who Haunts You by Mark Wheaton (2023)

                Had no idea that to expect with this book.....but wow, what a swift, creepy and unexpectedly complex little thrill ride. It wastes no time at all sucking you in to its story of an autistic teen girl seemingly tormented by a haunting that's killing off her classmates, one after the other.

                Even as it maintains a literally breathless pace of suspense, scares and mind-bending twists, you still come to care deeply and fear for its narrator, Bex. She's forced to cope with way more than the everyday human interaction struggles of neurodiversity. Her school Claremont High boasts a student body heavily populated in overachievers with GPA's worthy of college placements reserved only for the best and the brightest. Bex, equally smart and armed with a deadpan wit, does her best to keep up with them.

              But why are some of the classmates she grew up with dying in horrible accidents? And why, in their last moments do they appear to be fleeing in terror from something (or someone) unknown.....and unseen?

              Bex quickly becomes desperate to find out, since this paranormal virus, or whatever it is, lands on her as its next victim. And her sense of what's real in her life and what isn't starts to rapidly warp like a funhouse mirror. 

             Given the sheer brevity of the book, I'm duly amazed and impressed at the density of the core mystery at the heart of all the strange goings on. There's truly some vast, overwhelming evil at work against Bex.........and as a fan of Hitchcock-type suspense, I couldn't help loving the scenes where she's hurled into the maddening position of sounding delusional to everyone around her.

             With its satisfying, ironic finale twist, "Who Haunts You" finishes up as one of the fastest, most enjoyable YA thrillers of this year.......a well earned haunting 5 stars.

ENOLA HOLMES AND THE MARK OF THE MONGOOSE......SHERLOCK'S KID SISTER, BACK ON THE CASE...(*****).

Enola Holmes And The Mark Of The Mongoose by Nancy Springer (2023)

             Once again, the game's afoot amid the cobbled streets and darkest corners of 1890 Victorian London. And once again, it'll require the relentless, perceptive and fearless investigation of a Holmes=ian detective with dauntless courage and intellect. So who better than Sherlock's feisty and fiercely independent young sister Enola?

              Having now established a distant but respectful relationship with her famous brother, she's a consulting finder of missing persons herself.......but under the guise of a fictitious male name. This ruse entices a potential client in cantankerous, irascible famous author Rudyard Kipling. He's seeking a dear friend, a young American publishing representative who vanished off the London streets,......but Kipling storms out enraged at the thought of dealing with a teen girl detective. Enola, intrigued enough to take on the case anyway, dons her endless variety of costumes and disguises to plunge fully into solving the dangerous mystery of what befell young Wolcott Balastier....even if it puts her own life at risk

            And guess what? Sure enough it does, as she encounters foaming-at-the-mouth rabid dogs, an ominous secret society of thuggish street vigilantes and further run-ins with the high strung, hot-tempered 'Ruddy' Kipling.

             As I expected, this latest Enola Holmes adventure proved every bit as thrilling, clever and witty as all the previous entries. And again, author Nancy Springer's meticulous research recreates Enola and Sherlock's world of late 19th century London with such evocative detail. It's the kind of long lost world any reader can happily lose themselves in.

              I wouldn't dream of missing any of Miss Holmes's baffling cases, filled with suspense and sometimes even laugh-out-loud moments..... and I'd more than recommend you don't miss this one either  5 stars (*****)....elementary.