Asbury Dark: Haunting Tales From the Jersey Shore by Lori Bonfitto

Synopsis:

A telekinetic teenager. A doomed ocean liner. A haunted bed & breakfast. A zombie-fighting real estate developer. These are but a few of the eerie people, places and things that go bump in the pages of Asbury Dark: Haunting Tales from the Jersey Shore.

Spanning six decades, Asbury Dark will thrill and delight anyone who’s ever ridden the rides on the fabled boardwalk, searched for Bruce at The Stone Pony, or shambled along in the Zombie March.

Mystery and suspense author Lori Bonfitto delivers seven unforgettable tales of fright and fantasy, transforming Asbury Park from a nostalgic playland into a world fraught with obsession, reincarnation, and the paranormal.

This was a very, very entertaining read with eerie twists and turns woven into each story.

What made this collection unique to me was that every story was centered around the same town and most of them took place there. It was easy to imagine that somehow all of the different stories were woven together. It was like meeting a bunch of different neighbors that live on the same street and hearing their stories. That made it super cool for me.

There was also never a time where I felt like I had to skip a story. When I am reading a collection, I sometimes find that a story in the middle of it is less interesting than the rest, and I will skip it to get to the better ones. That wasn’t the case here. I genuinely enjoyed all of the stories that were a part of this collection in their own way.

They were all different, but as I stated before, they all seemed wove together, and they fit together well.

For short story lovers who want a hint of creepy, spine-tingling fun, I would definitely suggest you grab a copy.

4/5 Stars

Click To Purchase!

Writings on the Wall by D.G. Sutter

Synopsis:

Somewhere deep within, cradled in flesh and blood, our demons dwell. They feed on our darkest secrets and desires in an ill-fated world, craving only freedom. They tear through and reign upon us. Writings On the Wall features twenty gruesome, transgressive tales of loneliness, heartbreak, and self-destruction. Where the real horrors surrounding us are each other.

This is a perfect collection to pick up for the season. Just the right combination of creepy and messed up for Halloween coming up.

You can tell short stories are good when you feel like you have read a whole novel in only a small number of pages. That is what this collection provided.  Instead of the stories feeling like they ended abruptly or that something was missing, these provide a full and engaging story. They surely keep you turning the page.

Some of them were a little out there and weird, others dealt with demons that people face everyday.

These stories were marked with insanity, horror, and disturbing images. The writing throughout was really solid. Despite having all different authors, the stories didn’t seem to have many different feels to them. They flowed together well as a collection and kept you waiting to see what you would get to read next. With any collection, some stories were better than others, but as a whole they were all good.

I really enjoyed reading this. Anyone who enjoys horror or books that are a bit off (think Chuck Palahniuk-esque) will enjoy this.

The last story in the collection had me gagging as I was reading it. It was so descriptive and disturbing.

4/5 stars

Memorable Quote: It’s no longer cool and dangerous, because you realize you’ve never seen he world through anyone else’s eyes, and soon those eyes will disappear. You begin to doubt the reality of the world around you, begin to feel the moment you go, the world goes, but that’s not true. It will exist without you and you will be what you once were: nothing.  –First Assisted Suicide, Leonora Stein

 Click To Purchase!

Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz

Synopsis:

Harry Lyon was a cop who believed in order and reason, until the fateful day he was forced to shoot a man. Now he is haunted by the words that were uttered by a homeless stranger with bloodshot eyes..".Ticktock, ticktock. You'll be dead in sixteen hours...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn...Dead by dawn..".

This was my first Koontz book, and it sure was a crazy journey.

It is one of those books that never lets off the action. Once it starts, it is pretty intense all the way through until the end.

It surely keeps you on the edge of your seat by keeping you guessing as to what is going on.

The villain is very mysterious in the beginning, but once everything starts getting revealed it get weirder and weirder. It turns into more of a sci-fi/horror novel.

Harry and Connie were pretty good protagonists. As the novel went along their chemistry kept growing.

I didn’t feel like there was any part of the story that dropped off in entertainment value, it was consistently intriguing cover to cover. Every character had a purpose in the story so it all flowed well together and made sense.

I really enjoy a good crime novel, and this one fulfilled that while also being filled with elements of horror and science fiction.

4/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “No death made sense. Madness and chaos were the engines of this universe. Everything was born to die. Where was the logic and reason in that?”

“Real justice for the victims could never be extracted from a perp who was so far gone that he couldn’t feel remorse or fear retribution"

 Click To Purchase!