'The Benson' is a 50 page novella in the 'Experiment in Terror' series by Karina Halle. I'll admit that it was a short, easy read but that definitely did not detract from just how good it turned out to be.
Perry Palomino and Dex Foray are spending the night at The Benson, an up-market hotel in Portland, Oregon. There have been a whole host of ghost sightings at the hotel and the intrepid duo are determined to catch something on film. Armed with their usual camera plus an infrared camera for Perry this time, they check out the ghostly goings on at the hotel.
There are a few creepy moments in this novella and a clever little twist involving a maid (I'm trying not to say too much). All in all, I'd say it was the perfect accompaniment to the series, and it would make a great starting point for anybody who hasn't yet read any of the series.
4/5
I was sent a copy of 'Mr Suit' by Nigel Bird as part of a Goodreads.com giveaway. The novella was described as a "noir farce...that delights in the dark humour of the situation as much as it explores the deeper issues relating to painless release".
I can't seem to decide exactly what it is I thought of this novella. I'll admit that the idea was a good one - Archie, an ex mobster with locked-in syndrome wants to die and unable to help him herself, his wife asks head mobster Mr Suit to arrange his death for her. Things don't go to plan and she finds herself making the slowest get-away possible with her wheelchair-bound husband in tow. The story leaps from one chaotic mis-adventure to the next and it did keep me entertained throughout but I did feel as though it was lacking something. I don't think I connected with the characters enough for me to care what happened to Archie and when Mr Suit kidnaps his daughter, Miriam, I felt as though I didn't really know enough about her to worry about her safety. I feel as though she could have been more of a presence earlier on in the novella and that way I might have been more incensed by her situation. As it was, there were times when I struggled to see Archie as 'real', as more than a body stuffed in the corner.
The ending was a surprise that admittedly I didn't see coming. There were some good twists along the way that kept me guessing and all in all, this was an entertaining read that did manage to keep me interested. I think it could of benefited from being longer - perhaps extended into a novel. We need more time as a reader to identify and grow to care about the characters.
The one major downfall for me was the very obvious mistake on page 19 - the attempt to resuscitate somebody while in the recovery position. You can't pound on somebody's chest while they're on their side. Sometimes a little research goes a long way...
All in all, it was an entertaining but slightly flat read.
Rating: 3/5
'Different Seasons' is a collection of four novellas by Stephen King. I haven't really read many novellas in the past but I found these four to be the perfect length. More than a short story, and less than a novel, the novella is an interesting genre and a difficult form to get right but Stephen King does it perfectly as usual.
The first novella, 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' was an interesting tale of a man's wrongful imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover. There were some good twists and the narrative reminded me a little of 'Green Mile'. First Person point of view is definitely one of King's strong points.
The second novella, 'Apt Pupil' really gripped me. It showcases the power struggle between a teenage boy and the Nazi war criminal he has discovered living in his quiet suburban neighbourhood. Parts of this story had me wanting to close my eyes and the dream sequences were pretty horrendous. It was a fascinating read though and it really stuck with me for days.
This was followed by 'The Body', the basis for the film 'Stand by Me'. Told from the point of view of the adult Gordie, the novella centers around young Gordie and his friends adventure to go and ind the corpse of a boy their own age who died when he was hit by a train. That's the surface of it anyway. Really, the novella is about friendship, about family and the expectations that life throws at us. It's about the choices we make and the fact that sometimes, though we think we might have a choice, our lives are mapped out for us before we even have a chance. Having watched 'Stand by Me' several times, I was really surprised by how much the screenplay stayed faithful to the original source. At times, I felt as though I was reading the script, it was just so familiar.
The fourth novella, 'The Breathing Method' was probably my favourite from the collection. It's definitely the closest to what I think of as classic Stephen King. An ageing Doctor tells the story of a patient he treated in the early days of his career, an unmarried pregnant woman who despite the convention of the times, will do anything to give her unborn child the life it deserves. It's pretty chilling and while you know that what happens is impossible, the thought still lingers that it might just be possible, that it could really happen. That's the power of Stephen King for you. His writing always makes you suspend your belief in reality. And only the best writing can do that.
All in all, I loved this collection.
Rating: 5/5
My best friend Stacey bought me this book for Christmas. I've been excited to read it since then and it really didn't disappoint.
'Coraline' has to be my favourite story in the collection. I would have loved to have read it as a child. The idea of an 'Other Mother' is super creepy and the thing with the button eyes is hideous!
'The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds' was a cute little story giving a new twist to all the old nursery rhymes from my childhood.
I also loved 'Chivalry'. The idea of the Holy Grail being hidden away in an Oxfam Shop somewhere in Britain is inspired.
Actually, I loved the whole book, every single story. I can't normally say that about short story collections (there are usually one or two I start reading and then skip) and so 'Coraline and Other Stories' gets a huge thumbs up from me.
Rating: 4/5
This was a quick read. 130ish pages for 2 stories and I devoured it in less than an hour and a half.
The first story, 'Blockade Billy' was pretty good, told in the voice of an old-time Baseball coach who is recounting the story of a Baseball player whose existance in a Major League Baseball team was wiped from the sport's history books. Despite knowing absolutely nothing about Baseball, I still enjoyed the story and it had a nice little twist that I wasn't expecting. I also liked the inclusion of the inside King joke of Billy's shirt being number 19.
The second story, 'Morality' is interesting. It questions the nature of Sin and how our deeds impact on our lives and relationships. I really liked it. It had a distinctly King feel to it.
Rating: 3/5
As you could probably tell by one of my previous posts, Meeting Sam Stone, I'm a huge fan of the horror writer and couldn't wait to crack on with her two newest books. On Saturday night, I started reading 'Zombies at Tiffany's' her steampunk Zombie Novella, and despite being extremely tempted to stay up reading all night, I reluctantly put the book down at 11pm and returned to it the next day. By mid afternoon on Sunday I'd finished the 180+ page novella.
I simply hadn't been able to put the book down. I'm not normally interested in Novella's if I'm honest. I can count the number I've read on one hand. There's just something about them that doesn't appeal to me. But now I'm thinking I just haven't read the right ones. This novella was fast-paced, had the speed and momentum of a short story and yet still maintained the breadth of character and well-developed plot that you usually only find in the best novels.
The heroine of the novel, Kat Lightfoot is instantly likable. You can tell from the moment you meet her that there's more to this woman than being a shop girl at Tiffany's. She's beyond her time. She's destined for something. I like heroines like that. They're few and far between in horror literature these days, gradually being replaced with weak women in need of rescuing by Supernaturally powerful men. Sam Stone doesn't go there with her literature. She's all for empowering her female characters. It makes her books much more interesting reads.
I'm being careful not to reveal too much of the plot here, but the Zombies in this Novella are brilliant, a real surprise. They jump off the page, feel real, in that, this could really happen kind of way. And there's a whole aspect to do with cats that I thought was really inspired.
For anybody who hasn't read any of Sam Stone's books yet, this is a brilliant introduction to her work. Everybody, go out and buy it. If not for yourself, then as a Christmas present for the Horror fan in your life.
