Horror Books

Every page is packed with facts, information, and awesomeness, a great read and reference guide.

The best way to sum it up:
X-files + Ripley's + Tales from the Crypt = ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA

I read a five-star review of the book somewhere and I couldn't understand what the fuss was about. But then I bought it as a gift for my nephew, and I liked it so much that I had to buy another copy for him! It PULLS you in like a hand from the grave......

The author ("Investigator Gee") has maybe achieved the impossible by creating a book that appeals to readers of all ages, but in different ways. There are plenty of facts and pictures for early Ripley's/Goosebumps readers like my nephew who love all things gross, but the look and feel and humor of the book are a lot like a My Chemical Romance video or a Tim Burton movie.

There are also a million "blink and youll miss it" references to grown-up stuff like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman plus "unexplained" science, etc.

And YES it even has a holographic cover!!!
:-)

Joshua Gee's ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA: THE TERRIFYING TRUTH ABOUT VAMPIRES, GHOSTS, MONSTERS AND MORE packs in evidence, special explorations, interviews and eyewitness accounts to probe the facts behind the fictional representations of mermaids, ghosts, aliens, Dracula and more. Eye-capturing color illustrations accompany `strange case' biographies and historical facts, making this much more than your usual Halloween-oriented fright title - and suitable for any collection seeking to inspire recreational nonfiction reading in kids.

The cover of this great book will attract you to pick it up, the content inside will make you buy it. The cover which is actually referred to inside the book so obviously must be on all published editions has a fanged skull with a spider in its eye socket in the traditional skull mouth closed pose. When you open the cover to begin reading the skull opens it mouth terrifying the spider which flees its shelter. Gimmick covers often mean average content with the gimmicky cover needed to sell the average work, not so with Encyclopedia Horrifica where the content is also very good.

Inside the reader will learn the differences between many a Hollywood or fiction novel version of a creature, myth or tale and the original historic creation. Topics covered include vampires, zombies, ghosts, aliens, sea monsters, witches and psychics. The information is laid out in an entertaining and easy to read format complete with colour photos on every page. There are also quizzes and other interactive features of the book to further grip the reader.

A very good book. If you want other good entertaining and educational books covering these topics also check out Creepy Stuff, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Encyclopedia of the Bizarre (Ripley's Believe It or Not!) and the brilliant Informania: Vampires or Spine-Tingling Tales (Info Adventure).

In spite of the `horrifica' in the title, this author's tongue was tucked firmly into his own cheek during the compilation of this witty encyclopedia. Joshua Gee never comes right out and says, for example, that vampires really exist. Instead he leads his reader on with teasers such as, "If we could ask Stoker himself whether or not he believed in vampires and werewolves, what might he say? Well, hopefully nothing. After all, he's been dead since 1912!"

Mindful of the age of its intended readers, this encyclopedia doesn't go into too much shocking detail. For instance, it never does state what Vlad Dracula a.k.a. Vlad the Impaler did with all of those six-foot wooden stakes. Mr. Gee just drops a big hint: "It [impalement] is best described in a foreign language that the reader does not understand..."

Nevertheless, there are lots of interesting bits of folklore and science to entertain your young Buffys and Van Helsings. For instance, did you know that vampire slayers had to ride a horse "...as black as the blackest ocean" or that vampire bat spit contains a substance called `draculin' that prevents its victim's blood from clotting?

Although this is a standard, hard-bound book with multiple pictures (in gory color) per page, there are lots of interactive features to engage the computer-savvy reader, such as a quiz on the `real' versus movie Dracula: "Who would win in a furious fight to the (un)death? YOU decide."

I'll go with the real Dracula whose "victims accumulated on his front lawn like `a mighty forest'!"

"Encyclopedia Horrifica" has something for everyone who is interested in the supernatural, from aliens to zombies. It's not really arranged in an encyclopedic format, i.e. A to Z, but there is an index if you need to look up, say, "The Call of Cthulhu" or `fugu sashimi.'

This review wouldn't be complete without mention of the many wonderful pictures that adorn this book, from the holographic spider that crawls in and out of a skull's eye socket on the front cover, to the scariest photo of all: an eyelash mite in its natural habitat on your skin, magnified 240 times to look like a wormy alligator. Ugh!

Despite crisscrossing several subplots into the main story, John Ajvide Lindqvist did a good job of not failing to keep with the pace.

In earlier vampire mythology, vampires have to be invited before they can enter your home.

Likewise with the title of the book, the author came up with a interesting theory as to what will happen if a vampire enters a home uninvited.

One of the best vampire-theme books I've ever read.

I hate the vampire trope, but I loved this book. It reads more like a gritty social realism novel than a vampire book. No heavy-handed vampire/goth bulls**t here. Great read.

Let the Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindovist. has one fantastic element: vampires. It's set in a suburb of Stockholm, on a social housing development that has become a sink estate. It's a sad place, full of aimless people. The people with responsibility - teachers, policemen, parents, are, for the most part, trying to do the right thing. They've got good intentions.

The book has a huge cast of characters with the major division between adults and children, each subdivided into the successful, more or less, and the failures, with a further division into victims and victimizers. The book opens with a bullied child, Oskar, who fantasizes about becoming a mass murderer. He meets Elli, a child vampire. The predictable does not happen.

Many of the adults on the estate are as powerless as the children - lonely, middle aged and elderly alcoholics, unemployed or working at minimum wage jobs. They are presented with a moral choice similar to that of the children: even if a victim, one can refuse to victimize others. (And that is the major freedom the characters in the book have.)

An earlier reviewer said he/she wasn't sure if this was belonged in horror... it's horror in the same way that Henry James' ghost stories fit the genre. It's mainstream/literary/horror, a book that crosses boundaries. I think genres are more useful for finding a kind of reading than describing a book - essentially, this is a very good book that people who read horror and people who would never consider reading horror would both like. It doesn't rank highly on the 'feel good factor' but it has a surprisingly happy ending -- one of those 'happy endings' that is about as happy as, all things considered, an ending can be.

I loved it - and think it's one of the best books I've read in the past year or so.

Set in Sweden in 1981, LET ME IN provides a riveting, tense thriller revolving around a dead teen and a possible ritual murder spree. Add a pre-teen who hopes revenge has come for the bullying he's suffered and a strange new girl who moves in next door, who only comes out at night, and you have a vampire novel to rival Anne Rice's best: a tense thriller recommended for any general lending library where patrons request powerful characterization and vampire novels.

I am not sure if "Let Me In" was truly a good book, or if it is because it is so different than much of the vampire fiction being published right now, but I found it fascinating. It is not for everyone - not so much for the violence (par for the course in these sorts of books) as much as the peek into damaged psyches. It's to Lindqvist's credit that he presents even the most revolting human beings as full-fledged characters and not just drooling, one-note lunatics. The vampire, Eli, is also that rarity in horror fiction - a sympathetic vampire who is by no means "good." Eli will attack and kill innocent human beings, yet still remains sad because of her loneliness; in this way, she reminded me of Miriam Blaylock in "The Hunger." Definitely recommended for fans of the weirder side of vampire fiction.

This is the first Koontz I've read, so I can't compare it to his others. I did find the concept in the book interesting, particularly that the long scene in the main character's office could hold my interest so long. The resolution I found a bit disappointing. I"m not sure if this is parody of horror or an effort at real thrills - I read it as the latter and found it a fast, enjoyable read.
I'll read more of Koontz and am curious about sites by fans that rank his books (beyond the ratings here).
Paul

FOR SOMEONE WHO HASNT ACTUALY READ A BOOK SINCE HIGH SCHOOL THIS BOOK CAUGHT MY EYES. THE LAST BOOK I ACTUALLY READ WAS A DEAN KOONTZ BOOK SO I DECIDED TO STICK WITH WHAT I KNEW. THIS BOOK WILL NOT DISSAPOINT. IT HAS A LOT OF TWIST AND TURN! MY FAVORITE CHARACTER WAS DEL. SHE MADE THE BOOK WORTH READING. IF YOU LIKE SCARY, COMEDY, SUSPENSE WITH A TAD OF ROMANCE THEN THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU!

This was very funny - I laughed out loud many times. You don't normally get that in a Koontz book, but I really enjoyed it. I think I've read every one of his books, and this one stands out as number 3 on my list of favorites.

If you have anything better to do, do not read "Tick Tock". It is rather a waste of time. The novel is weak in every respect - the plot is stuttering and banal, the characters one-dimensional, and the language is simple... Not much to enjoy here.

Tuong, or Tommy, as he prefers to call himself, Phan, a Vietnamese-American detective novel writer living in Los Angeles, has just bought himself a new Corvette. Happy, he returns home. On his doorstep, he finds a small rag doll and takes it home (how likely is that?). Then he gets a message on his computer screen "The deadline is dawn. Tick tock". Here his nightmare begins: the doll turns into a monster, who grows more and more scary, trying to kill Tommy. He runs away and the pursuit begins. The doll is undestructable and indefatigable.

Tommy meets on his way Deliverance Payne, a strange waitress-artist who gets with him through this long and tiresome night. He also gets to think about his unresolved family issues and his identity struggle.

Nothing in this novel is unpredictable, nothing surprises, almost at every page I felt the urge to put it down, but I read on hoping it would get better, but it did not. I finished only to write the review. I was not sure even about the genre - horror? Not scary. Satire? Not funny (well, there were a few funny moments, but very few).

Even to pass the time on the airplane you can choose something else. There are too many good books around and too little time.

This book is delightfully quirky and a quick read. Part screwball comedy and part horror story, it will make you laugh and it will make you want to keep the lights on. Filled with rapid, quick fire repartee and lots of non-stop action, I read it in one sitting, as I simply could not put it down, even though it was not at all what I expected.

Tommy Phan is a successful novelist of detective stories. Unfortunately, his Vietnamese mother doesn't see quite it that way. She feels that he is turning his back on his Vietnamese roots, as he has Americanized his name from Tuong to Tommy. He also did not wish to become a doctor or work in the family business, as did the rest of his brothers. Tommy is living the American dream, which his mother simply will not accept.

One evening, shortly after returning home, his doorbell rings. When Tommy answers it, there is no one there. He does, however, find a homemade rag doll on his porch, which bewilders him, as he cannot imagine who would leave him such a thing. Taking the doll into his home, the doll's stitches start popping, and so the fun begins.

It is a little more fun than Tommy bargained for, and he flees his home with something evil in pursuit. Ultimately, he runs into Deliverance Payne, a beautiful seemingly intuitive blonde waitress, who gives him a hand in evading his demonic pursuer. She is certainly more than a sum of her parts and is not what she initially seems. Let the games begin! Tommy's life will simply never again be the same.

The below review was taken from Aint It Cool News. I loved what they said about the book, and thought it was worth repeating it here.

Zombie this, zombie that. Everything and anything has had a zombie version of it as of late. But none fit together better than zombies and poetry. Haiku poetry that is. Known as a meditative form of linking words to find meaning and peace in a 5-7-5 word per line structure, the art of Haiku has been cannibalized by Ryan Mecum in his original graphic novel ZOMBIE HAIKU and the result is simply one of the best zombie reads of the year.

A man starts yelling
"When there's no more room in hell..."
but then we eat him.

Although a series of non-connected poems would be kind of fun, this book is so much more than that. The book tells a narrative of one man's attempt to survive during a zombie holocaust, but doesn't stop there. Like Romero's zombies in his later films, after the narrator/poet succumbs to the zombie infestation, he continues to write Haikus and that's when the real poetry starts.

Always be careful
when you're biting teeth with teeth.
Dead teeth tend to lose.

With nods to just about every zombie film you can imagine (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, Romero's films, even obscure zombie fare like ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST and Bianchi's incestuous BURIAL GROUND) and reminiscent of high concept stories like Stephen King's SKELETON KEY story "Survivor Type" and "trapped in a dead body" episodes of TWILIGHT ZONE and JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN AKA the Metallica "One" video, ZOMBIE HAIKU takes the reader on a journey through the zombie holocaust on a personal level and makes the journey a fascinating, often hilarious, and most assuredly horrifying trip to take. You are literally riding in the brain of a zombie as it eats, shambles, and zombies about.

The two of us take turns.
I chew when he bites and tears.
When I bite, he chews.

This isn't necessarily a comic, but a book that comic book readers can appreciate on a intellectual level and most assuredly on an aesthetic level. ZOMBIE HAIKU is packaged extremely well, done on slick paper and bound tightly in soft cover. The pages are made to look like real journal pages smeared with blood and other zombie oozings. Included are extremely creepy photographs like close up images of zombie mouths, obscured long shots of people wandering the streets, and blurred snapshots that suggest action, panic, and carnage.

The city is dead.
Streets are just filled with people
who aren't quite people.

This is the single best zombie read I have laid my eyes on this year and sure to show up in my picks for best original graphic novel of the year. The book does a phenomenal job of going into the mind of a zombie and does so in a creative and wholly new and imaginative way. If you have a taste for horror, this quirky little book is for you. But if you're a zombie fiend like myself, you should make it your single minded goal to seek out this book and digest then savor it. It's a true gem of a book for those with a taste for the macabre.

Biting into heads
is much harder than it looks.
the skull is feisty.

Highly recommended.

I was impressed by Mecum's creativity in Zombie Haiku. It is a good read. I wonder if Mecum will write Sasquatch Haiku...(or Sasqui, if you will) or Bad Mime Haiku.

as a fan of all things zombie i can plainly say that this book is awesome. mecum is a comical genius.

I was excited to read this book, and I really wanted to like it. My wedding proposal was an illustrated zombie haiku, so I have a tender spot in my heart for these things.

As another reviewer mentioned, these are just 17 syllable sentences, and not much is done in the way of playing around with the form. This book never would have been published if not for the flood of zombie related merchandising lately- it doesn't contribute anything to the genre in the way of originality aside from the fact that no one has published haikus about zombies yet. The best haiku appears on the cover:
Biting into heads
is much harder than it looks
the skull is feisty

I don't completely hate it, but it was a real disappointment.

"All of us searching, / all of us with fat stomachs, / still hungry for more." Ryan Mecum has managed to capture the essence of modern American consumer culture with this witty and hilarious allegory. This is great haiku--Like a feast of fresh brains, I didn't want it to end: "Its over too fast. / I hunger, longing for more / while I'm still eating."

As stated in the other reviews, The Monk certainly is for mature readers only. I'm not an expert in the gothic genre, but I have read a gothic book or two in my day so here is my humble opinion. Although the descriptions in this book are centered around less than wholesome events, the book easily catches your attention and imagination. The langauge, in my opinion, is well written but less complex and easier to understand than some of the other books of its time.
Another thing I enjoyed about the monk was that it did not overdo the descriptions as I thought Radcliffe's The Mysteries of UdolphoThe Mysteries of Udolpho (Penguin Classics) did.

Some of the best qualities in the book were: the snipits of interesting poetry, The story of The Bleeding Nun (which in itself is an interesting story), and the concentration on several characters as opposed to just one.
Although the Monk is certainly not everyone's proverbial cup of tea, I think that if one enjoys the gothic novel with extreme elements of debauchery and is looking for a book without an overly complex venacular The Monk is a great read.

i had just finished udolpho when i picked this one up. i really liked this book, it was a very masculine Gothic. it had some problems though. for instance, a maiden's value hinges on her virginity, this came up several times and the book was always in firm support of virginity regardless of the way it was taken or the person who took it. the story itself was fast paced and easy to read. i would encourage people to read it.

this is much better than Uldolpho, Otranto, or Okandale abby.(please pardon any misspellings of the names). it is rather creepy and i would think that the author must considered raping someone as well as i think that he must have seen a person drug down and murdered by an angry mob because, these scenes and the thoughts and sensations of the characters are very believable. it does have some dated attitudes that are annoying (i.e. i lost my maidenhead therefore i am no good and must die). as far as gothic novels go, this is one of the best.

This is an absolutely amazing work of fiction. I am so pleased that my present English course assigned this book. True, the book is not for the faint of heart, and although I typically shy away from horror movies, I truly found Lewis' work absolutely engaging. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in literature, for this English major couldn't put it down.

A classic in the gothic genre, in fact even a founding novel of the genre. It is at first sight a strong criticism of religious orders that lead to extreme violence and narrow-mindedness instead of charity, purity, humility, etc. But it is also another denunciation, that of the practice of some noble families of getting rid of some of their daughters by sending them to nunneries. Yet it is a novel that has many other interests. For one it is anti-Faust : the monk is the one who knows, who preaches THE truth, but he is also the one who is easily tempted and dragged into the worst crimes. Then, when the devil comes into the picture, it is not to save that monk from death, but to destroy him utterly : the objective of the devil has been, all along, to tempt him and to lead him to the worst destruction possible when he thinks he is saved from death by this very devil. The devil more or less takes possession of him, puts him under pressure in order to punish him in his mortal body a hundred times more severely than the Inquisition, to punish him not for his crime but for having been a monk who preached purity. Two objectives for the devil : to get rid of this cumbersome monk for the task of the devil in the world, and to prove to the world that monks and other moral fundamentalists are fakes and monsters. In this element this novel is modern because it announces the death of God among the people, the regression of religion. And yet it does not go as far as Goethe will go with Faust. Another interest is in the negation of sexuality by these religious fundamentalits : negatiion for themselves, but also negation for the whole society. Sex is dirty, sex is ungodly, sex is to be absolutely rejected, even if it does not take much for the monk to fall into it, though the nun, next door, seems to be a lot more unpliant on the subject. Women are more fundamentalistic than men on the subject, in the Catholic church. And yet it is through a woman that the devil will tempt the monk, how else could he do it anyway, though he will not even try to tempt the nun. Contradictory messages then. A last remark about how popular opinion is variable and can shift within seconds from adulation to the most extreme and destructive violence and hatred. This aspect goes along with the method the Inquisition uses to lead someone who is redhandedly taken while committing a crime to his or her execution by forcing that person to confess the crimes the court wants him or her to confess : and they will use all methods, even the most cruel ones, to reach their aim. They are not really concerned by the crime itself ot the truth but only by proving to the people with spectacular autodafes how good and useful they are at protecting people against evil. The Inquisition is an ego trip for powerthirsty religious dignitaries. All that and many other aspects make this novel fascinating and in a way modern.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Victor Frankenstein's creation had murdered members of his family and strangled to death his fiance on their wedding night fulfilling his threat to "be with you on your wedding night" and warned Victor, "You are my creator but I am your master." As Victor centered his life around creating the monster, he would later center it around hunting down and killing his creation. This manhunt would expend Victor's life and prove his efforts futile to catch an untouchable and nameless monster. This novel is full of enduring themes of ambition, friendship, and the conflict between the two, psychology, oppression and rebellion, the dangers of scientific and intellectual advancement, and societal injustice. The writing itself isn't great but it's the story and the themes that make this a great classic.

Shelley wrote this book influenced by the period of time in which she lived, the Romantic Period. This was the response to the previous time, the Age of Enlightenment. In the Age of Enlightenment, reasoning was deemed of utmost importance and people thought that there were natural laws and that reason plus these natural laws would equal progress. By progress, they meant not only advancement, but unlimited advancement, that society would continue to move closer and closer to perfection. In Frankenstein, we see the result of so much logic and reason- the creation of a monster. In the story there seems to be no natural laws governing the world.

When I think of what natural laws would govern the world, Justice comes to mind as the most important. Throughout this whole story, justice is so dearly lacking. Injustice leads to more injustice. The monster is born into unforgiving circumstances that were not his fault. His creator rejects him immediately. Throughout his life, the monster found himself rejected by everyone for the repulsive looks his creator gave him. The monster even suffered rejection of the impoverished family he ardently and sacrificially helped. When he saved a girl from drowning, her father shot him. The monster yearned desperately for a mate of his kind, which Victor denied him for fear the two would breed an entire race of fiends or that she, too would reject him and there would be two fiends. Decide this debate between the monster and Victor for yourself. Even if Victor was right to deny him a mate, it was still an injustice for the monster. After all, the monster could not help the disadvantages he was born into and he strove mightily to be virtuous. He exercised his will and responsibility strongly, but to no avail. The poor thing begs for just one friend and he is denied this. The innocent Justine (a play on the word "Justice") is executed for the monster's crime; the monster eventually slays several innocent people he doesn't even know. Injustice is what moves the plot of this book.

Shelley's novel disputes the importance and promise of natural laws, reasoning, and the idea of progress. It introduces emotion and intuition. Frankenstein studied laboriously but failed because he left the monster emotionally neglected and rejected. When Victor first learns of the murder of an innocent member of his family, he intuitively knows it was the doing of the monster- he offers no reasoning or deduction as to how he knows. The monster hounds Victor and seems to supernatually know where he is at all times.

One of the many interpretations of Frankenstein is that it was a product of the Romantic Period, which was a response to the Age of Enlightenment.

yep. uh huh. you bet. this book was nice. i red it.

Seeing as how I didn't like Frakenstein very much at all, this book kept me at least fairly interested in the novel.

The novel is very long, repetitive, and extremely slow at times, and the book helps make it a lot faster, and reviews the main plot so the complicated sentence structure of the book is easier to decode.

Also, Cliffs notes tells about the literary messages of the novel, hard to figure out unless you know about romanticism, and explains most of the olden-style vocabulary.

Finally, there is an excellent character web that explains all the relationships.

All in all, helped me a lot with the novel.

Most interpretations of this novel are flawed because they are based Victor Frankenstein's own opinions, which are not confirmed by any other character or by the outcome of the narrative. Victor's grim view of his own career and particularly his creature commences at the moment when the creature comes to life and fails, like any artist's work, to meet the creator's high hopes. By his own admission, Victor has deprived himself of sleep and nourishment, not to mention even the slightest social intercourse such as letters to his family might have provided. He is on the verge of a physical and nervous breakdown which overtakes him on the very next day and from which he does not recover for many months. In this condition, when he sees the creature suddenly open its eye and move, and somewhat later smile upon its creator and reach out towards him, its ugliness appalls him, for the labor is now complete and all imperfections are irremediable.
Mere ugliness is the sole flaw which Victor notices in his work, but that is sufficient to drive him from it and thus to allow it to escape. This mistake is ultimately to blame for the creature's learning to hate mankind. Since Victor has been so obsessively preoccupied with the task of conferring life upon dead matter, he has made no provision for the next step, and the creature is allowed to wander abroad without supervision or care. Victor is totally unaware of its innocence until after its goodness has been crushed by yet more human prejudice against physical ugliness. Indeed, Victor does not hear his creature's side of the story until after the innocent William has died, and it would be surprising indeed if the brother's grief and self-reproach left him capable of recognizing the creature's innocence of evil intent in the death of William. We know, however, that he did not intend to kill the child in spite of the world's having thoroughly educated him in brutality and hatred. On the contrary, even at that late date he intended to make William his friend.
Yet Victor cannot accept his true responsibility for having failed to provide for his creature as his own parents had provided for him. Rather, his heavy sense of guilt induces him to shift the blame to the science which led him to create the being in the first place. Just as he calls science ``unlawful'' for taking him away from the calm and serene enjoyment of his family even though it is clear that his own obsessive-compulsive nature is at fault, so he also blames science for bringing the creature into the world whereas its evil was not innate but learned. Parental irresponsibility is simply too heavy a burden for Victor to carry.
Critics, however, accept his assessment of the situation, especially that aspect of his interpretation which arises when, by a flash of lightning, he catches sight of the creature in the storm and supposes it to be the murderer of William. The fact that this guess is in fact correct is probably why its rashness is not more generally recognized, and once we accept this piece of the speech, the rest of it follows although it is nothing but the most violent hysteria. Beginning with the naive assumption that ``nothing in human shape'' could have committed so heinous a crime (for Victor hasn't had the benefit of the twentieth-century press), he says that the creature had to be guilty, declaring in defiance of all his scientific training that ``the very existence of the thought was an inescapable proof of the fact.'' And from this reckless reasoning he moves on to the fanciful view of the creature as ``my own spirit let loose from the grave and forced to kill all that I held dear,'' as if the creature were a kind of doppleganger sent to punish its creator for the crime of having defied the laws of nature by calling it into existence.
The fact that by understanding those laws Victor has created a being not only more agile and enduring than mankind but also full of goodness is somehow lost sight of, and Victor's own self-loathing is allowed to drive the critics' supernatural interpretation of the events. It is even rare to find any admission that the creature is guilty of only two deliberate crimes: framing Justine and murdering Elizabeth. The creature's narrative is sufficient to account for every single detail of its behavior, and yet the idea that it is some sort of preternatural vampire stubbornly refuses to be displaced. It is time to accept the idea that Victor Frankenstein is deranged and that his life has not been ruined by science but rather by his own frenzy, obsessions, and impracticality.

After having recently reading the first book again, I couldn't help but read this one right afterwards as well. I really liked it but not as much as I remember. While the story does pick up, the beginning is really a little slow. Lumley has a compelling style though that carries you through the lack luster parts and keeps you interested even when I thought the story lagged a bit. I was worth reading over though, if for no other reason, his spin on vampire lore.

I can only compare Vanphyri to the other books that I have read in the series. The original Necroscope is a revelation. Necroscope 3: The Source, is a compelling new direction. Necroscope II, however, is neither. In fact, so little happens in this story that you could literally skip from "book one" to "book three" and not miss a beat. Besides, all the non-events of this story are summed up in one small paragraph in the first few pages of book three. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I think the book was great. The protaganist in the book, which was Harry Keogh helps a lot of people such as telling story about Thibor and Ferenczy's time and how he said he really talked to Thibor personally. I think the book was the greatest scary story fiction book ever and i liked it personally. it was like the movie "The Ring" except in a book. It was really bloody and lot of deaths involved. it was diabolical and satanic, a little bit.

When I read the first NECROSCOPE book a couple of years ago, I commented to a friend that it was unlike anything I had ever read before. Brian Lumley has a rich and fertile imagination populated by vampires, telepaths, and secret government organizations.

In N2: VAMPHYRI, Harry Keogh returns. Harry talks to dead people. Anyone he wants to. It seems the dead are restless and trapped in their singular worlds, like a person locked in a box with no one to pass the time with, they want to talk.

The first 80 pages or so of this novel are narrated by Faethor Ferenczy, an age old vampire pinned in his grave. It's all very dull, and the first time I tried to read this book I gave up after 80 pages of nothing happening. A few pages later, Faethor explains how Gorgina Budescu falls unconscious following an accident that claims the life of her husband. In her unconscious state, Faethor takes the opportunity to plan his seed in her womb, on her unborn son, Yulian. Years pass and Yulian develops into quite a creep. Unfortunately, he is also a vampire.

Brian Lumley is a genius. He doesn't just build on vampire lore he creates thousands of years of history that reinvents the legend from the seeds of it Rumanian roots. His creatures live to be over a thousand years old and find their origins well beyond a simple bite to the neck.

In N2, vampires are symbiotic creatures, cohabiting inside the bodies of their human hosts, with the result of enhancing both entities. The protoplasmic creatures give humans longevity, healing abilities, and enhancements in all endeavors. The host gives the creature mobility and purpose -- a vessel for accomplishment.

More interesting to me than the vampire story-line are the ESPers making up British INTESP and Soviet E-Branch. Teams of telepaths and psychics with various degrees of ability play politics on the fringe of the vampire menace. The more I read, the more I wanted Lumley to deviate from Bodescu and flesh out Alec Kyle, Carl Quint, and Zek Foener.

By the time Yulian is killed near the end of the novel, that story-line was taking a back-seat to the explanation of E-Branch and INTESP and their members. As a result of Zek's "husking" of Kyle, Keogh was able to adopt his body and teleport using the Mobius dimension.

An awesome read. Thoroughly enthralling.

Its my least favorite book of the series, I did like the back story of "the thing in the ground" who will become quite a major character in the future.

Dont be fooled by the title this book has nothing to do with dan curtis dark shadows and Amazon should state that.

I loved this book. I stumbled onto Ted Dekker a few months ago, and when I heard that Ted Dekker is working with Robert Liparulo, I had to read it.
And what a great story. A lot of suspense, and I couldn't put the book down.

Definitely a Recommend for every body to read.

I can't believe no one mentioned the hilarious descriptions of the brother's- Xander and David's fear and nervousness,as they set about exploring this huge house,and investigating noises,such as David being stuck to Xander like a "wet leaf"!

There are actually several tense moments in this story,with an atmosphere of creepiness,interspersed with laugh-out-loud funny incidents such as the one mentioned above,that do not detract from the suspense at all.

I am so happy that I have the second book in the series "Watcher In the Woods" here,ready to start reading tonight.

I hope this author will treat us to many more such stories. I highly recommend the Dreamhouse Kings series for others like me,who love horror/fantasy/sci-fi without all the offensive elements found in many such offerings for the adult market.

House of Dark Shadows is the first in the Dreamhouse Kings - a new series for young adults from Christian publisher Thomas Nelson. Young Alexander, Xander for short, and his family - the Kings, move from Pasadena to the small town of Pinedale when their father Edward accepts the position of principal at the Pinedale high school. The King family moves into an unsettling house with a dark history; a shadowed past that has made it a focal point for speculation and rumour amongst the townspeople of Pinedale.

It soon becomes apparent to the Kings that their move into the house has thrown them into a world where nothing is as it seems. Brothers Xander and David soon discover mysterious portals on a hidden third floor that seem to lead into the past. Unfortunately most of these portals lead into life-threatening scenarios - once entered into they require some effort to escape from.

The story moves at a brisk pace and readers soon find themselves contemplating the nature of the mysterious house and trying to unravel its mysteries. The chapters are short - 40 chapters to 283 pages of story, keeping the level of suspense high and the reader moving from one scene to the next. The entire story takes place in a very short time period, approximately one week. Once Liparulo has his hooks in the reader, he blazes through the story, bringing the action on at an unrelenting pace.

Aimed at teenagers, the writing style is easy to read and highly accessible. Though written for a young audience, adults who appreciate a suspenseful and unusual tale will also enjoy this series. An age appropriate discussion guide is also included to guide readers into further examination of the events and speculation about the mysteries of the house. While intense events are taking place all around them, the King family remains realistic. Sibling rivalry, teenage angst, self-absorption and day-to-day family squabbles are all presented realistically and woven into the dramatic storyline. Young readers are certain to empathize with these everyday occurrences and struggles that are intertwined with the highly unusual events the King family experiences.

Liparulo is well known for his work in the genre of thrillers, with several adult titles already published. While House of Dark Shadows is eerie and unsettling I didn't have any nightmares after reading it, and I'm not exceptionally brave. Most readers should be able to read this title without undue distress or horror depending upon their age and comfort levels.

While published by a Christian publisher and marketed to a Christian audience this title does not contain a strong faith message. Interviews with the author have indicated that when the series is viewed in its entirety readers will be able to see the message that Liparulo has written into the books, but that it will be subtle. The King family does include references such as to God, church, and creation, building a Christian worldview into the backdrop of the storyline. However, the plot does not focus on the characters' relationships with God, but rather the unusual events and struggles they encounter, as well as their changing family dynamics. Those without a Christian background will enjoy this work as much as Christian readers will.

With this first title the mystery has only begun. The cliffhanger ending leaves readers with a long list of questions and a minuscule list of answers. Thankfully readers can dive into the second book in the series, Watcher in the Woods, which has already been published. Unfortunately the third title, Gatekeepers, will not be available until January 2009.

Liparulo established himself as a major presence in the thriller market with "Comes a Horseman," followed by two other fine-tuned suspense novels. I had no doubt he could create the same chills for a younger audience, particularly since he draws from his own experience as a father.

I was not disappointed. "House of Dark Shadows" reads like a mix between a very tame Stephen King and a very mature Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book (you have to be much older than 16 to remember those!). When the King family--no relation to Stephen--relocates to a creepy old house in the woods, they have no idea what they are in for. Xander and Dave, the two brothers, take center stage as they stumble upon secrets and mysterious doorways in their new home. From unexplained footprints, to gladiators, to the jungle, Liparulo takes us along on a fast-paced adventure. He leaves us hanging, anxious for the next book, "Watcher in the Woods," and certain that there are plenty more escapades and dangers for the entire family to maneuver.

I haven't yet read a Liparulo book I didn't enjoy. He always gives a good story, memorable characters, and secrets lurking in every corner.

Oh, and "Gatekeepers" is book three? More good books to read!