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Black Summer - Season 1
Black Summer - Season 1
2019 | Action, Drama, Horror
Dialogue light (0 more)
A refreshing new take on the familiar zombie format
I gave up on The Walking Dead a few seasons ago. Continually disappointing story-lines and characters, along with frustrating pacing issues had made this show hard work to watch, and a far cry from it's early days of action packed originality. Black Summer recently arrived on Netflix, described as a companion piece to the show Z Nation, and consisting of just 8 episodes ranging in length from 20 to 40 minutes. After seeing some online recommendations, I gave it a shot, and it's safe to say that it has reignited my passion for zombie shows.

We're in the fairly early stages of a full on zombie apocalypse. The military are evacuating a small town, taking survivors to a nearby stadium for safety and eventual extraction. There's a lot of panic and confusion, and not a great deal of undead around at first in the mostly deserted town. The first episode is broken into smaller, titled scenes, introducing us to single characters or groups who are located about the town, and it's a style of story telling that continues throughout the season. Some episodes focus on a single character while some focus on a particular mission, with different scenes shot from the perspective of different characters, highlighting how their actions affect others. There's not a single character who is more important than the others in the show, and characters can be lost to the undead in the blink of an eye, with new ones immediately taking their place to become core characters.

Black Summer shares some of its ideas with The Walking Dead, not to mention many other zombie movies and shows. The virus which turns you into a zombie appears to be there within all of us, lying dormant, so you don't necessarily need to die from a zombie bite in order to become one. Turning is pretty much instantaneous too, and the resulting zombies are of the more vicious, faster and cleverer kind. Running, climbing, very determined and able to learn in order to catch you whatever it takes. Luckily then, it's not very often that our characters are having to deal with more than just a few of these things at any one time, which helps to keep things more focused and terrifying.

Black Summer is very dialogue light - something which definitely works in its favour, and is a refreshing change to the long conversations and monologuing of TWD. Many of the scenes are single camera shots, following our characters around and really immersing you in the action. It's taking a simple idea and giving it a fresh spin, providing the viewer with a harrowing and intensely enjoyable thrill ride. For me, the perfect example of this is the episode titled 'Alone', where an unlucky coward called Lance finds himself all alone after escaping a school. He meanders around town before picking up the pace when a zombie decides that it wants to feed on him. I spent a pretty intense 30 minutes just wishing this poor guy would find himself a weapon and catch a break. But even when he does, he manages to blow his chance and lose it again! It's a standout episode, and a perfect example of what I love about this show.

I couldn't really fault a single episode of Black Summer, as it builds towards it's intense but relatively short finale where a number of survivors converge on the stadium, while zombies come at them from all directions. I really hope it gets renewed, and I really hope it continues to find ways to remain original and enjoyable too.
  
House of Wax (2005)
House of Wax (2005)
2005 | Horror, Mystery
As sure as the winter season brings snow and rain, summer is sure to bring sequels and remakes to theaters across the land. With many classic horror films such as “The Amityville Horror:”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” already released and with “The Fog”, pending, Hollywood is trying to find gold from the past.

The latest remake to make the screen is The House of Wax which shares precious little with the 1953 Vincent Price classic aside from the title house and an abundance of wax figures. The story follows Carly Jones, (Elisa Cuthbert), a young college graduate who is planning to move from her small town to take an internship in New York. Her boyfriend Wade (Jared Padalecki) is unsure if he will follow her to the big city which is a source of tension between the otherwise happy couple.

Carly and Wade decide to take a road trip to a big sporting event, and have their friends Paige (Paris Hilton), Blake (Robert Ri’chard), Dalton (John Abrahams), and Carly’s brother Nick (Chad Michael Murray), along for the ride. In a true horror film cliche, the road trip becomes and overnight campout in a remote backwoods area where drinking, sex, and other youthful merriment abounds.

Of course the merriment is interrupted when a strange encounter with a mysterious truck and an unexpectedly broken car fan belt in the morning forces Carly and wade to stay behind to locate the needed part in a nearby town while their friends continue on to the game.

The local town is mostly empty, and looks like something out of the 60’s aside from numerous signs that tout the local wax museum. While exploring the empty town, Carly and Wade stumble upon a church where a service is in session, and meet Bo, (Brian Van Holt), who is the local mechanic who tells them he can get the needed part as soon as the service has ended. With time on their hands, Carly and Wade visit the local wax museum which is equally deserted, but filled with life like figures.

When Carly suddenly sees a bizarre figure lurking in the shadows the events soon unfold leaving Carly and Wade trapped in a nightmare that is out of control. As if that was not bad enough, their friends have become stuck in traffic and decide to forgo the big game and return to pick up Carly and Wade not knowing bizarre nightmare they are about to encounter.

Despite some flaws, House generally works and as horror films go, is entertaining. Sure the characters and plot are paper thin and characters seem to have a severe lack of common sense, yet despite the flaws, there are some good moments. The film goes almost 50 minutes before the mayhem starts, but when it does, the killings are some of the most brutal in horror film history. On more than one occasion during my press screener did I see a member of the audience hiding their face in the shoulder of a significant other during some of the films more intense moments.

The film also has a good villain that while not well defined, is nevertheless chilling and projects menace very well. The cast works well with one another given the limitations of the genre, and the pacing of the film by first time director Jaume Serra is effective in adding a bit of tension yet keeping the adrenalin moving during key parts.

My biggest issue with the film would be the ending that I thought took the Hollywood way out, with a big effects spectacle instead of staying focused on the characters and their plight, That being said, as mindless Summer thrills The House of Wax is a decent if albeit at times lacking film.
  
The Casual Vacancy
The Casual Vacancy
J.K. Rowling | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.6 (14 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is another prime example of why I wish Goodreads would allow half stars...it wasn't a 4 but it wasn't a 3 either.
J.K. Rowlings's first forray into the adult book world is well written, don't get me wrong. She has a true gift in her ability to craft the written word and describes things in a way few other authors can. I just had a very hard time getting in to this book until the last 50 or so pages.
This book tells the tales of several families of all varities in the parrish of Pagford. It is a small town where it seems that evryone has their noses in each other's business and that they know who is who & what is what. The plot flows along following the lives of the various families & showing you how they are all connected, as much as 1 family or person may think they are better than the rest. Of course, the story twists & turns & eventually lets you in to the fact that no really knows what is going on in their neighbor's lives. It is all centered around the sudden death of parrish councillor Berry Fairbrother & the political wranglings around who will fill his seat.
On 1 jand it speaks to the impact that 1 man can have on the people around him. On the other it is a flat lesson on minding your own business. I hope Rowling will attempt more books targeted at an older audience but this one, for me, fell abit short of expectations.
  
He'll do anything to protect his secrets. She'll stop at nothing to expose the truth.
It only takes one person to break the silence.
When solicitor Finn Fitzpatrick is approached by a man to investigate the death of his daughter, her first instinct is to refuse.
The father is grieving, and unable to accept that his daughter committed suicide. And yet something about the man’s story chimes with Finn.
Why did a bright, confident, beautiful young girl suddenly drop out of school? Could the answer lie in her relationship with Ireland's most famous film director?
The deeper Finn goes into the case, the more dark, twisted and dangerous the picture becomes.
Because these are powerful people she is trying to expose. And they're willing to do anything to keep the truth hidden.

This is a brilliant crime thriller debut from Catherine Kirwan featuring Finola 'Finn' Fitzpatrick, a solicitor, set in the small town of Cork in Ireland
This is a fast-paced and gripping novel.
This one's written from a really interesting perspective of a slightly eccentric solicitor rather than a cop.
The story is written very well and the characters are interesting and jump off the page.
Kirwan hits on one of the hottest issues in our contemporary world, and handles it sensitively as she weaves a hugely compelling novel around it.
Definitely a worthwhile read and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley/Catherine Kirwan/Random House UK, Cornerstone for a digital copy of this title.
  
BH
Before He Finds Her
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
In 1991, Ramsey Miller holds a huge block party for his neighborhood. Then, the story goes, he drunkenly and angrily murdered his wife and young daughter.

However, that's not exactly the case: his daughter got away, via the Witness Protection Program, and is living in a small town in West Virginia. Renamed Melanie, she lives with her father's close friend and his wife; it's a cautious life, as her father was never found. However, as she nears 18, Melanie is tired of this life of secrets and hiding. Finding herself pregnant, she decides she doesn't want this life for her own child, so she heads back to her hometown to find her father herself.

The book weaves in Melanie's current life and discoveries with narrative of Ramsey's life leading up to the days of the block party, allowing us to figure out what happened along with Melanie.

This novel started out really well, and for a while, I was thinking it was going to be one of my favorites read so far this year. However, it soon petered out a bit, and the more I thought about it, I liked it less. There are just some odd plot holes that doesn't really make sense and leave you wondering. Further, even accounting for her upbringing, Melanie as a main character is so "blah" and doesn't stand up for herself, thereby making it very hard to root for her. I really found myself pulling for Ramsey at many points. Lots of potential, but doesn't really follow through.
  
Like Water
Like Water
Rebecca Podos | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I'm always interested in queer young adult books, and this one especially caught my eye with its mention of "performing mermaids." Because y'all know I love my mermaid books! So Savannah isn't a real mermaid, she just plays one at a water park. But it was enough to make me pick up the book, and it's a good book. Young adult books about discovering your identity are always needed, and this book is about Savannah realizing she's bisexual.

Much of the angst in this book comes from Savannah not knowing if she has the same disease her father does, and she's not sure if she wants to know. Altogether, in this book we have chronic illness, hispanic teens, bisexual, lesbian, and genderqueer teens, small-town angst....there's really a LOT of demographics covered in this book.

I like Savannah, but I don't like her love interest, Leigh, very much. Leigh does NOT have her shit together, and between drinking and doing drugs, all while underage, she poses a very real threat to Savannah's well-being.

I'm a little nonplussed by the ending of the book. It leaves a few questions unanswered, but not in a cliff-hanger-y way. It's more of a possibilities-left-open kind of way. Which makes sense for a "first love" romance. It's not necessarily a "true love" story. It reminds me of John Green novels in that way.

So - it's a great book for representation, but don't expect a tidy, wrapped-up ending. You won't find that here.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
  
Desire at Roosevelt Ranch (Roosevelt Ranch #5)
Desire at Roosevelt Ranch (Roosevelt Ranch #5)
Elise Faber | 2019 | Contemporary, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Desire at Roosevelt Ranch is the fifth and final book in this series, and we have bad-boy Rex's story. He is hit by cupid's arrow when he stops one night to help a damsel in distress, none other than Tilly from Henry's Diner. Tilly knows all about Rex and doesn't expect anything from him. Rex surprises himself by wanting everything with Tilly.

Rex is a bit underhanded in some ways, but I loved that because that is part of his character. He isn't one to flaunt his help, but will do it quietly and without fanfare. Tilly doesn't know quite what to do with this as how he is behaving with her is very different to what she expected.

I am very sad to come to the end of this series. The small town of Darlington with its inhabitants have come alive to me through Elise Faber's writing. There are quirks and witticisms that have made me smile with each book.

The ultimate jewel in the crown, this book has knocked Sam and Haley off their perch and taken their place as my favourite of the series. Sam and Haley remain just half a star behind though!

This is a fantastic series that can be read as standalones, but seriously, why do that? Get your mitts on each and every one of these, as recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
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Ronnie (304 KP) rated A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder in Books

Feb 1, 2020 (Updated Feb 13, 2020)  
A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder
A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder
Holly Jackson | 2019 | Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
10
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
the book so terrifying that you feel as though you can’t breathe or you’ll disrupt the tension
Holly Jackson’s debut novel “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” is a thrilling page turner. Pippa Fitz-Amobi grew up in the same small English town that 5 years prior, witnessed the murder of schoolgirl Andie Bell. In 2017, Pippa starts a school project trying to prove that Sal Singh, who was convicted of Andie’s murder, is innocent. She work’s with Sal’s younger brother, Ravi, to uncover the truth of what happened 5 years ago, but will this put her life in danger?
Throughout the book Jackson takes serious subjects like murder and suicide and handles them with care, although she also manages to take the edge off them by using humour. Despite the humour used to lighten the mood, there are also sections of the book so terrifying that you feel as though you can’t breathe or you’ll disrupt the tension. Holly Jackson managed to spin a story so intriguing that you can’t put the book down and will have you constantly puzzled by the curveballs thrown, completely changing who the top suspect is. The book also contains entries from Pippa’s log book, which is a very interesting addition, and it also helps to break down complex pieces of evidence and make them easier to understand.
The follow up to “A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder” is due to be published in April and will follow Pip as she investigates another disappearance and uncovers more of Little Kilton’s darkest secrets.
  
A Faint Cold Fear (Grant County, #3)
A Faint Cold Fear (Grant County, #3)
Karin Slaughter | 2003 | Fiction & Poetry
7
5.5 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
From the back of the book: Sara Linton, Oh examiner in the small town of Heartsdale, is called out to an apparent suicide on the local college campus. The mutilated body provides a little in the way of clues - And the college authorities are keen to avoid a scandal - but for Sara and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, things don’t add up.
Two more suspicious suicides follow, and a young woman is brutally attacked. For Sara, the violence strikes far too close to home. And as Jeffrey pursues the sadistic killer, he discovers that ex-police detective Lena Adams, now a security guard on campus, may be in possession of crucial information. But, bruised and angered by her expulsion from the force, Lena seems to be barely capable of protecting herself , let alone saving the next victim…

This was my first time reading a Karin Slaughter novel. I didn’t realise until halfway through that this was the third in a series, however I was able to pick up some of the previous relationships and how it all linked together. I quite enjoyed reading this book although found it slow to start, but after about 100 pages in found myself unable to put the book down.

As an avid reader of crime and thriller novels I have to admit that even I did not pick up on who was guilty of committing the crimes. Slaughter’s writing Is very graphic and descriptive, including some very realistic forensic details would definitely like to carry on reading this series. Most enjoyable!