Here we have another novel from our fabulous friends at Blackthorn Book Tours.  (I swear they keep me soooo busy with all the books they find for us.)  In fact, if you are interested in becoming a reviewer yourself, you can visit their website https://blackthornbooktours.wordpress.com/ and find all kinds of information on how this hard working team gets all this stuff done and how you can be a part of it.
 
Now, before I get into what I thought about this book, here is the blurb that enticed me.  You guys know I always share the blurb on these book tour reviews.  I think it’s important you see for yourself what initially grabs us and forms immediate interest.
 
Blurb
"This is a novel I would read and reread and recommend to others. Fans of vigilante and desperado revenge will delight in this horror story." — Horror Tree.
 
Rebecca Crow’s four-year-old son is dead, and her husband is missing.
 
Divers find her husband’s car at the bottom of a canal with their son’s small, lifeless body, inside. The police have no suspects and nothing to go on but a passing mention of a man driving a van. Guilt and grief cloud Rebecca’s thoughts as she stumbles towards her only mission: Revenge.
 
James Porter knows exactly what happened to them, but he’ll do anything to keep it a secret.
 
James didn’t plan to kill Rebecca’s son, but he’s not too broken up about it, either. There are more important things for him to worry about. He needs money, and his increasing appetite for murder is catching the attention of a nosy detective.
​

Sad story, huh?  Well, don’t get all down in the dumps about it because not everything is as it seems.
 
Rebecca, devasted by the loss of her little boy Oliver and her missing husband, Jon, she desperately waits for the police to come up with something, ANYTHING, that would lead them to who killed her boy.  She’s also in a constant state of anxiety and depression because of this whole ordeal, which only gets heightened and made more raw by the disappearance of her husband.  Cases like these can move fairly slowly.
 
Tommy and James are pals.  Although James is obviously the alpha of the two, they go practically everywhere together.  And, they are partners in crime.  Burglaries, robberies, etc.  In order to live that kind of criminal lifestyle, you need a vehicle that is big enough haul away the loot.  James happens to own and drive an old white van that matches the witness description at the scene of the crime.  Eventually, Detective Barnes comes snooping around James’ home and asking the typical questions.  He confirms with James that he does own and drive that van.  Tommy seems like he’s going to come out of his skin with the Detective there interviewing them.  Of course, they have a planned alibi, but everyone knows it’s thin.  
 
As it so often happens, as more pressing and current cases come in, the Crow murder/missing person case gets put on the back burner, waiting for test results and hoping for some new information to smash the case wide open.
 
But Rebecca is going crazy with all the waiting.  Waiting to go back to work.  Waiting on the police.  Waiting for results.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  She would love the mental and emotional distraction that her work would provide, but her boss thinks she’s not ready to come back just yet.
 
So, what does a shattered woman do with all that free time?  She decides it is time for her to take charge of the situation and conducts her OWN investigation.
 
Out of the two, James is definitely the most cruel and sadistic.  He has no conscience and isn’t fazed by anything that he does.  That includes anything from intimidating his mother’s landlord to killing little Oliver and everything in between.  He has no compassion, no boundaries, no morals.  Tommy, on the other hand, really just seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person.  And he knows it.
 
Soon, Rebecca is becoming so distraught that she is hallucinating and delusional.
 
When does it end?  And where is Jon?  What happened to him?
 
Find out by getting your copy of the book at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084FHXZZL
 
I highly recommend that suspense, thriller and murder mystery lovers read this book.  It is extremely well written and the flow of the text allows the reader to easily follow along, even though we jump back and forth between different characters and situations.  
 
Although there are some truly disturbing and heartbreaking aspects to the plot, the way the author expertly brings everything together is seamless with a flawless fluidity is truly a magnificent structure rendering this tense tale of murder and mayhem that pulls at the reader, flooding them with anticipation and even playing detective themselves as they furiously read along.
 
This was a story of many lives, individual destinies intertwined together in a web of death, gore, greed, love, murder and revenge.  This is the kind of novel that will get your heart pumping and your adrenaline rushing.  I can’t imagine a thriller/suspense/mystery fan not falling in love with this book.
 
​

Murder in Montague Falls
Noir-Inspired Novellas by Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton and Patrick Thomas
 
This was another book sent to me by Blackthorn Book Tours.  I must say, the team over there has a knack for finding entertaining reading material.  This book is a collection of novellas, three of them to be exact.  We have murder, mystery, money, Satan worship, the classic love triangle, sex, drugs…they have everything in these three novellas.
 
Let’s talk about each novella before I get into the ratings.
 
The first story is called Red Ink.  This was written by Russ Colchamiro.  It involves an average fourteen-year-old boy with a wild imagination named Isaac Fuller.  Isaac fancies himself as some sort of super spy.  Yet in the mundane reality of his real day to day life, little Isaac is just a neighborhood paperboy.  He likes the job, riding around town and getting to know his customers as he delivers their newspapers every day.  
 
Unfortunately, one day while delivering the paper to his neighbor, Mrs. Gagne, he sees something very strange, unusual.  He thinks he’s witnessed the tail end of a crime and Mrs. Gagne winds up missing.  He shares this information with his life-long friend Dani, who says, in her most friendly and loving way possible, maybe he should just go to the police and let them handle it.  Poor Isaac has a crush on Dani and has for what feels to him like forever, so when she seems to doubt his “special spy agent prowess”, it is a huge slam to his ego.
 
Soon a precarious triangle begins to form between Isaac, his suspect and the police as suspicious things around the neighborhood start to happen.
 
Will the truth be revealed before someone else goes missing?  Will Isaac get to prove his skills to himself and Dani before something bad happens to him?
 
I really enjoyed this story immensely.  It was a fantastic read and I tore right through it.  The text has such an excellent and natural flow it is easy to read and follow.  I loved the story idea, very interesting with a number of tense moments.  The Isaac character is only fourteen but he has a kind of simple maturity that makes it seem like he should be older.  That little edge on Isaac rounds out the tale perfectly.
 
I rated this story a 4/5.
 
 
The second story is a wild one.  It’s called The Devil’s Delinquents and written by Sawney Hatton.  Okay so here we go:
 
Meet Cal Virgil.  A smaller build of a kid, he’s a young teen from Van Buren High School.  He is not considered popular (if his classmates consider him at all) and the poor thing, like so many others, suffers from horrible teen acne.  Isn’t puberty just grand?  He’s also somewhat mean spirited and slightly emotionally void.
 
Now meet Derry Rhodes.  Derry is a fellow young teen at Van Buren and is Cal’s best buddy.  Derry is a larger kid than Cal.  He has black hair and seems to have more of a conscience and moral code than Cal.  Plus, Derry has a soft spot in his heart for his Mama.  So, we know he can feel love and compassion.  Cal?  Not so sure.
 
These two friends are interested in devil worship, conjuring dark forces, that kind of thing.  They try and try, yet they are repeatedly unsuccessful.
 
Then they meet Natalie Glantz, a Junior classman transferred from what is referred to as “a special school”. She totally rocks the gothic look; black hair, thick black eyeliner, deep red lipstick, pale skin and tops it all off with a black pirate patch over one eye.  Needless to say, she doesn’t look like every other teen at Van Buren. She’s viewed as the creepy girl at school, she’s very cold and emotionally detached (especially from her parents) and even claims she can communicate with spirits and demons from the other side.
 
This is EXACTLY what Cal and Derry think they need.
 
Together the three of them do everything in their power to try to conjure dark forces.  But nothing is ever what it seems when dealing with the devil.  Soon the boys find out that there is more to conjuring than they thought.  Questions start to arise and a tiny little love triangle begins to develop that could have a devastating impact on the trio’s whole plan.  Now they have to figure out what to do, where to do it and most importantly, who to trust.
 
I found this story to be an excellent example of truly disturbing horror and gore.  We run the gamut of horrifying bits and pieces.  Child death and mutilation, Satanic worship, all kind of violence on all levels and murder and gore galore.  Be ready for some shock and awe as you tear through the darkness of this tantalizing tale.
 
I rated this story 4.5/5.
 
The last story, A Many Splendid Thing, reminds me of so many true crime cases I’ve seen over the years.
 
A young man named Jethro find a dead body.  (You gotta love a dead body so early in the story, especially the first page.)  Of course, being the one that reported the crime, this puts him on the radar of the police as a suspect.  If that isn’t bad enough, the troubled teen is struggling at home with an abusive and angry drunk of a father who can’t seem to get over being abandoned by his wife a while back.  Jethro just hates her.  Dad, he just drinks.
 
But Jethro does have a place of rescue.  His teacher Mrs. Carmine.  He’s totally in love with her (ya know, hot for teacher…) but then again, so is every other guy in the school.  Jethro feels almost blessed when she asks him to help her home with groceries.
 
Most of Jethro’s days at school are spent being as quiet and unseen as possible.  Yet the three school bullies, Pete, Dean and Stumpy, are constantly antagonizing him every time they see him.  But Mrs. Carmine usually takes Jethro’s side and runs to his aid.  Of course, this makes him feel like she has a thing for him, which only intensifies his emotions towards her.
 
Eventually things progress between Mrs. Carmine and Jethro and they spend a wild weekend together while her husband is out of town.  Then she starts telling Jethro things about her marriage and how she wants out and they can’t be together unless she doesn’t have a husband anymore…and all these thoughts and feelings start pouring into poor, young Jethro’s head and heart.  
 
Thus, begins the game of cat and mouse between Jethro and his new love where she will stop at nothing to get what she wants and accomplishing her goals.  And apparently, she’s outsourcing the job of getting rid of her husband.  
 
So, who will accept?  Who will decline?  Who will survive and who comes out on top?
 
This story was by far my favorite.  It’s the best story in the book.  It has a fantastic ending and for me, was the most well written out of all.  I was on the edge of my seat, reading as fast as I could just to find out what happened next when I turned the page.
 
I rated this story 5/5.
 
The average rating between the three stories is 4.5/5.  This is a very good rating.  I have to say that this is definitely a must read for horror lovers.  Each story is independent of the others and they are all very entertaining to get to experience in your mind as you read.
 
RATINGS
4.5/5 Stars

Russ Colchamiro
 

Russ Colchamiro is the author of the rollicking time travel/space adventure, Crossline, the SF/F backpacking comedy series Finders Keepers: The Definitive Edition, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, editor of the SF mystery anthology Love, Murder & Mayhem, and co-author of the noir anthology Murder in Montague Falls, all with Crazy 8 Press.
He is now finalizing Crackle and Fire, the first in a new scifi mystery series featuring his intergalactic private eye, Angela Hardwicke, set for publication September 2020. 
Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two ninjas, and crazy dog Simon, who may in fact be an alien himself. Russ has also contributed to several other anthologies, including Tales of the Crimson Keep, Pangaea, Altered States of the Union, Camelot 13, TV Gods 2, They Keep Killing Glenn, Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Camelot 13, Badass Moms, and Brave New Girls. 
Russ is repped by The Zack Compnay. 
For more on and Russ’s books, you can visit www.russcolchamiro.com, follow him on Twitter @AuthorDudeRuss, and ‘like’ his Facebook author page www.facebook.com/RussColchamiroAuthor. 

​Sawney Hatton
 

Sawney Hatton is an author, editor, and screenwriter. Other incarnations of Sawney have produced marketing videos, attended all-night film festivals, and played the banjo and sousaphone (not at the same time). He loves a good day trip into the unknown.

To learn more about Sawney, visit his website at SawneyHatton.com

​Patrick Thomas

Patrick Thomas writes the beloved fantasy humor series Murphy's Lore, and  wrote the graphic novel Case of the Moon Maniac and the steampunk themed As The Gears Turn. His short stories have been featured in over fifty anthologies and more than three dozen print magazines.
A number of his books were part of the props department of the CSI television show and one was even thrown at a suspect. Fairy With A Gun was optioned by Laurence Fishburne's Cinema Gypsy Productions. Act of Contrition, a story featuring his Soul For Hire hitman is in development for a short film by Top Men Productions. 
 
Drop by www.patthomas.net to learn more.

Brought to you by The Horror Report
​and Blackthorn Book Tours
(click Blackhorn Logo below to visit Blackthorn Book Tours)

​This book is a collection of short stories sent to me by the most awesome people ever at Blackthorn Book Tours.  There are eighteen stories in this collection.  They are ALL horror, thriller and suspense type stories.  They are put together kind of like an anthology, which I always like.
 
Here is the blurb for the book:
 
Nightmare Asylum – Despised by day, tortured by night. A midwifery student’s life disintegrates into a terrifying nightmare, after a disturbing encounter with the notorious child killer, Evelyn Green. Dark secrets from Lydia’s past unleash a truth that conjures her fears into unspeakable horror.
 
Other Deadly Delights – Tales from the psychotically unsound and deadly deluded. A stalker turns serial killer; a cleaning lady is imprisoned in the basement, there’s a prophetic warning for a woman in peril, and an android with love addiction, plus many more… a deliciously dangerous collection of short stories, ranging from psychological horror to paranormal, sci-fi and noir.
 
Dare you enter the nightmare Asylum?
 
I like the fact that it is a COLLECTION of short stories, rather than a full novel.  It makes it easier to read, like when a book is broken up into chapters.  So, keeping in mind that it was in such format, I decided to rate each story individually and then take the average of those ratings for the overall book rating.  I figured that would be a completely fair way of evaluating the book.
 
But, before we get to the ratings, I want to point out a couple of things.  First of all, in a larger collection of stories like this, you get such a variety of content.  I want to say that’s one of the best things about this particular collection.  Some of the stories read like journal entries, some were hair raising and chilling, some were mildly creepy but still fun to read.  There was only one story out of the whole collection that got a 1-star rating.  I’d say that’s pretty good.
 
One of my favorite stories that I would like to highlight is the first one, Nightmare Asylum.  This was a truly haunting and chilling tale.  It’s full to the brim with madness, anger and confusion.  So much so that those very emotions and feelings are very real to the reader and beyond just palpable.  This piece actually reminded me of the Masters of Horror TV episodes that have been on cable here and there.  It is amazingly written and quite a page turner.  Exceptional vocabulary was used in this creation and it really adds to the heft and depth of the story.  The vivid descriptions and emotional context put the reader right in the thick of what is happening.
 
Another excellent creepy concoction was Cry Baby.  This rated VERY high on the creep-o-meter scale.  The psychopathology expressed in this little bite of terror is incredibly detailed leaving you to able to conclude nothing but the fact that this main character is nothing other than a truly disturbed and troubled individual…and that’s putting it VERY nicely.
 
So, here’s how the ratings broke down:
 
There were five stories that got 5/5.
Two stories got 4/5.
Three got 3/5.
Six stories got a 2/5 (keep in mind that THIS count includes a two-part story set.
Only one story got 1/5.
 
This gave me a total of 53/90 which is an average of 3/5 stars.
 
I would totally recommend this to short horror story lovers.  Again, the beauty of this collection is that you can read in short bursts and not have to remember what carries over in the plot because you can easily finish one or two stories in a sitting.
 
I really respect and like how the author wasn’t afraid to try new things in the story lines.  It feels like the writer really searched themselves for some good ol’ fashioned horror and managed to not only keep it classic but also add a splash of modernism, which nicely rounded things out.  I hope you all enjoy this horror collection as much as I did, or better yet, more than I did!

About the author:
 
Sonia Kilvington
 
Bio: Sonia Kilvington is a journalist and fiction writer from the beautiful Mediterranean island of Cyprus. She has published many articles, travel features, short stories and interviews in glossy magazines. She loves to write dark and disturbing short stories in genres such as noir, crime, ghost and Sci-fi. Her online writing credits include Out of the Gutter Online, Spelk fiction, Pulp Metal Magazine & Near to the Knuckle. Her new short story collection, Nightmare Asylum & Other Deadly Delights - published by Close To The Bone, is available on Amazon.
 
Links:
 
Website: https://soniakilvingtonwriter.com/
 
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonia-Kilvington/e/B005FDXFQS/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1
 
FB writer’s page: https://www.facebook.com/soniafiction/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Soniacyprus   (@Soniacyprus)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-kilvington-26b2b721/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soniakilvington/?hl=en
 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898959.Sonia_Kilvington
 Contact email: [email protected]
 
Amazon book links for Nightmare Asylum & Other Deadly Delights:
 
Amazon.co.uk.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nightmare-Asylum-other-Deadly-Delights-ebook/dp/B083R5YMX2/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Nightmare+Asylum&qid=1578909796&s=books&sr=1-5

Amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Asylum-other-Deadly-Delights-ebook/dp/B083R5YMX2/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=nightmare+asylum&qid=1578910007&s=books&sr=1-5
 
 
 
RATINGS
3/5 Stars