I jumped at the chance to read this when I saw it.  I figured it would be extremely interesting to read about the cases the deputy coroner had worked and how she dealt with that kind of job, etc.  And it turned out to be that, sort of.  
 
Don’t get me wrong, the author talks about cases she worked all through the book.  But it’s more like she grazes over the case, the decedent and the details and fills the pages with her own personal faiths and beliefs.  
 
Now, believe me, these stories could have been a lot more detailed.  But you have to remember this is the deputy coroner’s diary.  She’s not telling a story per se.  This is a collection of her thoughts and feelings expressed in a stream of consciousness writing style.  And while the true crime material was extremely interesting, it was overshadowed and lost in the text because of three things in my opinion.
 
I received a hard copy of this book.  Beautifully bound and covered with a fantastic image and an easy-to-read title.  But then I opened the book and I immediately saw that it had been printed in double line spacing format. This is the kind of spacing you use when you are printing a draft that is going to be proofread or edited because it leaves a lot of space for the various people to jot down notes.  Unfortunately, it seems that this particular part of the writing process was never done.  This book was riddled with grammatical errors.  Things like no punctuation being used at the end of a paragraph or the lack of using commas or semicolons.  Words are missing from sentences a lot.  Toward the end of the book the author is purposely evasive and frankly, those chapters just don’t seem to make much sense.  The way the stories are grouped together makes no sense.  Sometimes there isn’t even a skipped line to let you know it’s a new story.  No indents.  It truly seems like she typed this up day by day and then just sent it to be published.  And you can tell by the hardback cover and paper that a lot was invested in this venture.  But it wouldn’t have taken anything to just click the spell check/grammar check option, and that would have solved a lot of the complaints I have. 
 
The worst part is that all that kind of stuff takes away from the material of the book, it’s content and literary value.  Not to mention that it becomes somewhat frustrating and annoying for the reader.  Being ultra-repetitive is a good way to annoy your readers as well.  I understand that this is a woman’s diary.  Her own personal private thoughts.  Nothing is really date stamped, it’s just the title of a chapter and then the content of said chapter.  Which is not what I am meaning really when I talk about being repetitive.  There was one theme other than death that was continuously part of the book.  And that was religion.  God.  Not only did she mention God over and over, she kept bringing up ghosts, spirits, psychics and mediums.  It seemed to be on almost every page.  By the end, reading the last few chapters felt like I was at church getting preached at.  I’m not a fan of that kind of feeling.  And it’s not that I don’t believe her claims of paranormal activity.  That’s not it at all.  I just happen to think that she has way more than the average believer has in the quantity of examples of this activity.  So, that leads me to question the validity of all her claims.  As so often is the case, she really has no proof that these paranormal or spiritual interactions ever took place.
 
Another thing that I found interesting was her profound belief in her religion and things coming from “the other side” even though she’s a medical professional and as such usually thought to believe heavily on scientific data.  Yet in her expression of her private thoughts, this does not seem to be the case.  In fact, she seems to focus very heavily on things that not only cannot be proven but also many things that probably have some kind of rational explanation.  Again, I’m not saying these things did not happen.  I am only saying that it could be possible some of these “spiritual encounters” could be rationally explained.
 
And yet, I was willing to forgive all of that and continue to read the book with an open mind.  But then came the sarcastic comments and complaints about the deceased.  Suddenly she would go from a caring and compassionate community healthcare servant into a hardened and cold medical professional that never sees PEOPLE, only injuries, sickness and death.  It was as if the dark, gruesome and unattractive side of the profession were finally outed and put right in your face.  
 
But you have to understand, the people that choose these professions, they see the worst of what humanity has to offer.  How would you expect someone deal with that and do their job effectively at the same time without getting burned out or overwhelmed by the emotional roller coaster they endure?  A lot of people turn to comedy and a kind of detached coldness in order to deal with the horrors they see every day.  It’s hard for people to understand that without having been in that position themselves.  I have a small amount of insight as my father was a police officer and I grew up around all facets of law enforcement and the judicial system.  
 
It’s hard for these professionals to harbor the burden of the terrors that all manners of society are capable of.  It’s difficult to not let emotions get involved and it’s hard to not get a jaded view of the world.  Don’t discount the coping mechanisms that people employ to maintain their sanity and some semblance of a normal life when, let’s face it, dealing with death every day isn’t the norm.  That is a specialized area that only certain types of people can handle working in.  
 
This book allows a look into the mind of the Deputy Coroner.  It’s not really about the cases but instead, it’s about how those cases affect the coroner.  It also shows that as someone in such a position they don’t always know how things end.  That’s hard to handle too.
 
It’s an interesting look into the thoughts of a coroner but it’s not for those who are really sensitive about death.  If you can’t handle the lighter side of things being pointed out in a time of heart wrenching seriousness, then you may not like this read.  However, if you are looking for an honest expression of what one person experienced, then you would definitely find this an interesting book.  If you do read this, allow the material to sink in for a little bit before rendering judgement.  Allow time for processing of what you are actually reading.  This is not a fiction novel.  This is truth as one deputy coroner sees it.  Remember, she’s doing a job almost nobody wants to do.  Might be worthwhile to give her some of your time and respect. 
 
RATINGS
4/5 Stars

This book is written by one of the very law enforcement officers that pursued Freddie Crow, an international marijuana smuggler that had been flying contraband over in and out of various countries for a long time.
 
But this isn’t the usual story you might think of.  Before I start my full review, here is part of the summary on the back cover of the book:
 
“When an international drug smuggler makes a life changing decision, he finds himself pursuing a different type of thrill at the way into eternity.”
 
The summary on the purchase page on Amazon reads as follows:
 
“With a hunger for excitement, Freddie Crow becomes an international smuggler, piloting planeloads of marijuana from Belize, Central America, into various areas of North Florida. Because flying drugs into the United States requires avoiding radar detection and nerves of steel, Freddie eagerly embraces this thrill-seeking opportunity. Utilizing his unique expertise of navigating a plane so low over the Gulf of Mexico’s white capped waves that salt collects on its windshield, he earns the reputation of being one of the very few who can actually fly under the radar.
 
While Freddie busies himself flying in loads of contraband for his organization, a team of determined law enforcement officers and a prosecutor diligently busy themselves to make a prosecutable case. Their perseverance pays off, and the walls come crashing in on Freddie. Facing a life sentence, he decides to cooperate and turn his life around. After serving a reduced sentence, he finds love and redemption just before his world turns upside down again.
 
That’s when two people, once on opposing sides of the law, come together and become friends as if directed by God.”
 
The author is a man named Ed Hudson.  He spent 34 years in law enforcement, the last 24 years spent in narcotics investigations including drug smuggling.  In 2004 Hudson was promoted to Special Agent Supervisor with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.  Through his career he received numerous awards from the DEA, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
 
So, why is this not the typical FBI agent chasing an international drug runner type of story?  First of all, although Freddie was fairly successful at what he did, he always knew in the recesses of his mind and heart that he was doing wrong.  It bothered him when his activities or choices affected his loved ones.  
 
But it wasn’t the drugs or even the money that attracted Crow to this line of work.  He was a thrill seeker.  An adrenaline junkie.  It wasn’t that he was getting paid to fly these huge loads of marijuana in and out of countries that got his heart pumping.  It was the actual flying itself.  Seeing as how smuggling requires one to fly below radar signals there were many times that Crow got to show off and test his limits and skills as a pilot.
 
Eventually, Crow became involved in some big-time smuggling.  He also developed a cocaine habit.  An adrenaline junkie with a cocaine habit is a dangerous combination.  This mixture, along with the people he surrounded himself with, led to one bad decision after another until he was finally arrested for smuggling.  
 
It is at this time that two life altering things happen that will work together to give him the motivation to change his ways and straighten himself out.  He meets Ed Hudson and he has an epiphany about how he’s hit rock bottom with this major arrest and he begins to feel remorse for the trouble and embarrassment he has caused his family, the relationships he lost, friends lost.  It’s as if it all came together and instead of looking at the end, he chose to look at a new beginning.
 
Within twelve hours of his final arrest, he agreed to cooperate with law enforcement and provide them with as much information about the smuggling trade and his own ring as he could.  This would not only get him a lighter sentence in his own case but it was the perfect opportunity to confess and rid himself of the weight of knowing he’d wronged and been doing wrong.  
 
The person he was most comfortable with was Ed Hudson.  What began as initial standard interviews would grow into full conversations, eventually forging the most unlikely friendship.
 
This book is the story of who these two men are and how this all came together.  The joy of this book is the chase of an international drug smuggler, his experiences as such, the cops and agents that pursued him and the unlikely bond created between two men on opposite sides of the law, both wanting to make a difference at the same time.
 
A fascinating read, full of all kinds of information and ins and outs of a long-time multimillion or more dollar smuggling business and all the different people one can encounter in such areas of that kind of business.
 
My only criticism would be that it can be a little slow moving at times. However, those are the parts of the book that truly provide a wealth of information.  So, they are not tedious or boring.  They actually cram a lot of information into these sections so you’ll want to pay attention through the whole book.
 
Anyone who likes true crime and things like that would probably enjoy this book immensely.  Anyone who wanted to hear from law enforcement’s perspective would also be interested in this book.  Since I have blue in my blood coming from a law enforcement family, I found this book particularly interesting.
 
RATINGS
4.5/5 Stars

GOLD! is about a couple members of the Kincaid family go into business owning a gold mining company.  Of course, one of the brothers is gung-ho believing that they will immediately be rich.  The other brother is skeptical but willing to take the risk on the idea that eventually money will be coming their way.  A lot of money.
 
The sibling rivalry couple with the stresses of running an entire mining company compiled with the personal issues each one faces creates a lot of nervous tension, anger and emotional turmoil.  Misunderstandings turn into disagreements which turn into arguments which then turn into full on conflict peppered with strife and hostility affecting everyone and everything in their path.
 
The plot is original and unusual, grabbing you from the beginning.  Each chapter is actually titled letting you get a glimpse of what is coming in the next part of the story.  The titled chapters also make it a whole lot easier to read and organize the story in your head and if you have to step away from the book the titles help keep you on track so you don’t feel the need to keep going back and rereading the ends of the previous chapters over and over again, wasting precious reading time that all of us fight to have.

Well written and easily organized this novel is an incredibly fast read.  The structure, as I mentioned before, is perfectly set.  Mr. Greenbank is fantastic at each of the different conveying character personalities. This makes it very easy to like or loathe each particular character.  
 
There is a large inclusion of all of the cultural aspects that are different, the language differences from the United States and Australia and all the societal differences gives an entirely new cultural view to the reader, taking you to a new continent, a new country and parking you in the middle of a town that you are not familiar with and letting you learn the ins and outs from the first page all the way to the last.
 
Every chapter has a twist in a new direction or a crazy turn you didn’t expect, the things you thought were coming are quickly whisked away into a whole new realm that you didn’t even think could exist, let alone consider.  These twists and turns are combined with the normal everyday average situations that each one of us can relate to and identify with.  That is another aspect that really makes the story feel more personal but the largest way the author pulls you in like that is the way he shows the full persona of each character.  There are some characters you love; some you feel for and some you just absolutely hate.  Each of these emotions are fully real and experienced because the author presents them so perfectly the characters actually take on real life personalities in your reading experience.
 
Although this wasn’t an actual horror novel it was still very much a suspense thriller.  There are definitely moments where the one-tenth of a second it takes you to turn the page seems like an eternity but once you get to the text on the next page it is always well worth it.  I would recommend this to suspense and thriller lovers.  If you are looking for the hardcore horror plotline kind of story, this isn’t going to give you that.  But the suspense and thriller aspects are completely satisfying and totally enjoyable.
 
 
RATINGS
5/5 Stars
 ​

Gold! – Thomas Greenbank
Book Information
 

• Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/GOLD-Kincaid-Saga-Book-1-ebook/dp/B08N5ZVMZT/
• Genre:  Family saga
• Print length: 329 pages
• Suitable for young adults? This is an adult book but suitable for mature teenagers age 18+
• Trigger warnings: No
• New book, not yet rated

About Gold!
Malcolm Kincaid is a self-made man. He is also a ruthless businessman and opportunist. He knows what it takes to build and maintain a business empire, but how far will he be prepared to go to achieve his goals — and what will he sacrifice along the way?

Rachel, Malcolm’s one-time fiancé; his business partner, and the mother of his child, finds herself forced to work with the man she has grown to despise.
Unaware of his true parentage, their son, Lachlan—after first studying for a law degree—advances through the ranks as their company grows into a mammoth corporation, while Rachel does her best to mitigate Malcolm’s increasing influence on him. This task becomes more difficult when Malcolm appoints Lachlan as manager of a new mine.

Lachlan soon has his own set of challenges: A fractious and sometimes domineering wife with a drug dependency, a child of his own, and a conscience that often leads him into direct conflict with his Machiavellian ‘uncle’.

Over the years, Malcolm Kincaid uses, abuses, and dominates associates and family alike, crushing all opposition in his pursuit of wealth and power.
When he allows the pollution of an Aboriginal settlement’s water supply, however, he faces justice of a kind he could never imagine.

GOLD! is a tale of greed, betrayal, family conflict, rape, and murder. It is also, however, a story of love and loyalty — and of how one man’s pride and prejudice can lead to terrible retribution.


Praise for Gold!
“Honestly, I couldn’t put the book down until I completed it. A most worthy read for anyone interested in a great story. Well done Thomas.”-– ★Pat Ritter, Published Author of 27 Books, 1988–present day.

“GOLD! by Thomas Greenbank has all the ingredients of a page turner. It has a straightforward plot, characters that are tied to the main plot and help further it rather than creating their own sub plots, a well-defined villain whose villainy runs like a spine through the whole story, setting the tone for other characters and events. ..took me back to Sidney Sheldon and Jeffery Archer, warts and all.” — reedsy.com


​About Thomas Greenbank
Thomas Greenbank writes gritty Australian fiction. His debut novel, GOLD! The Kincaid Saga, was a finalist in the respected 2020 Page Turner Awards. (https://pageturnerawards.com/writing-award-finalists/thomas-greenbank)
Greenbank’s writing draws deeply on his diverse background and professional experience. From years as a professional musician, factory worker, business owner, wide-load escort driver, ceramic artist and more—to 25 years as a full-time career, there’s not much he hasn’t experienced. This diversity shows in his writing, as does his penchant for accuracy in research. Now semi-retired, Thomas lives south of Adelaide, South Australia, with his wife — #1 fan and biggest critic — Linda. When he’s not writing you’ll probably find them fishing or walking on a nearby beach.

 
This was an interesting find.  First let me say it was a delightful read.  This is a novel that has all the earmarks of a successful thriller mystery story.  We have death, money, a questionable past, a bright young man, his relationship with his farther and the presence of Daddy’s crooked mob cronies always in the vicinity.
 
A young man has long since buried his father.  He always wanted to please that man and yet never felt he fully measured up to the bar that his father set for him at the moment of his birth.  Still, he went and made a life of his own, away from his father.
 
Things were going fairly well until one day his mother calls and says she has a letter for him from his Dad that she found in a bunch of his things.  As I think anyone would be, the son is a little leery about opening this letter.  What could possibly be in this letter that his father hadn’t told him already?  His mother won’t open it and she doesn’t want to discuss it.  
 
So, what’s with all the mystery?  What kind of information is lurking in that letter?  This young man knows his father was a mobster and not always walking the straight line.  He knows his old man did and got involved with some very questionable, if not down-right wrong activities.
 

Moonlight Becomes You
Author Robert Herold
 
This was a selection of mine from the good people at Blackthorn Book Tours.  I originally got interested in this when I read the summary/blurb for the novel.
 
“The Eidola Project travels to Petersburg, Virginia, to investigate a series of murders in the Black community--rumored to be caused by a werewolf. Once there, danger comes from all quarters. Not only do they face threats from the supernatural, the KKK objects to the team's activities, and the group is falling apart. Can they overcome their human frailties to defeat the evil that surrounds them?  Winner of two 1st place wins from the Southeastern Writers Association, including Best Novel!”
 
I must say I got more than I anticipated out of this novel.  It does start a little slow but once you get to the meat of the story the action is practically nonstop.  This is a story full of supernatural villains, real-life villains, good vs. evil, romance and all kinds of mental and emotional drama.  All carefully and expertly woven into a tapestry of a tale.  From the beginning you start this slow climb through the details and by the time you get near the top it all seems to be masterfully coming together.  Then with rapid and consistent pace you finish the ascension with a satisfying  finale worthy of the time spent reading.
 
Excellent action all the way through.  There is a strong and very real KKK presence in the story.  This of course leads to some very disturbing scenes in the book.  However, if you compare what is in the story to the things that really happened in this country alone, I’d say the content in the story is a fairly mild representation of the racial issues in that era.  I understand that this might make some people uncomfortable but it was a reality and still is to a large degree.  I think it was bold of the author to include such situations so that people who haven’t experienced that kind of discrimination can get a glimpse of what it is like.
 
I really enjoyed this novel.  It was a fast read and very easy to get through.  The chapters are well organized and everything flows perfectly.  Truly a must read for any thriller lover.
 
RATINGS
5/5 Stars

• Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08TVHMNGN
• Genre:  Gothic horror
• Print length: 209 pages
• Suitable for young adults? This is an adult book but suitable for mature teenagers 16+
• Trigger warnings: Some sexual scenes. Supernatural violence. Recollected murder of a child.

​

Acclaim for Moonlight Becomes You
Moonlight Becomes You earned 1st place in two categories for the Southeastern Writers Association, including Best Novel.
​
About Robert Herold
The supernatural always had the allure of forbidden fruit, ever since Robert Herold's mother refused to allow him, as a boy, to watch creature features on late night TV. She caved in. (Well, not literally.)
As a child, fresh snow provided him the opportunity to walk out onto neighbors' lawns halfway and then make paw prints with his fingers as far as he could stretch. He would retrace the paw and boot prints, then fetch the neighbor kids and point out that someone turned into a werewolf on their front lawn. (They were skeptical.)
He has pursued many interests over the years (among them being a history teacher and a musician), but the supernatural always called to him. You could say he was haunted. Finally, following the siren's call, he wrote The Eidola Project, based on a germ of an idea he had as a teenager.
Ultimately, he hopes the book gives you the creeps, and he means that in the best way possible.
https://robertheroldauthor.com/

The Flip Side of History
Strange News, Hard-to-Believe Headlines and Other Curious Stories from History
Authored by Steve Silverman
297 pages
 
This was quite a curious and interesting book to read.  The biggest hook for me was that it was ALL true, no fiction, no embellishments.  Each account described is a real event already documented in history in some way be it by newspaper, biography or autobiography, editorial, news broadcast, personal correspondence, something.  Moreover, what is continually  impressive is the shear mass of information accumulated for this book.  It is clear that this wasn’t just a “sit down and churn a book out” kind of project.  The amount of information mixed with all the different types of events and incidents shows to me that this was a writing project that took a lot of time, effort, organization and passion.   I would guess that this author does in fact have a passion for history in general.  
 
The events detailed in this book are mostly from the late 1800s to the late 1900s.   Again, it is things like that that make me feel this was a long-term project.  The author had to find, research, compile the data, organize it and then put it into the book you’re going to read in an entertaining, concise and coherent manner.  These events cover all kinds of topics.  There are stories involving things from true crime, cons and con-artists, hoaxes, heroes and survivors to the most noticeably newsworthy events and, of course, just the absolutely oddest happenings that really drive parts of the human mind to maximum curiosity.
 
This  book is an easy read.   It’s very well written, logically organized allowing the information to truly  just flow from page to page and from the page to the mind of the reader.  Fascinating circumstances with specific and precise details easily create the array of images I’m sure the author is projecting into the mind of the reader.  The bulk of these accounts are not common or what one might call common knowledge, giving the whole reading experience a completely added allure and enthralling feel.
 
I love learning.  I am constantly learning things, looking things up, asking questions and finding the answers.  I would love to be able to afford to be a true professional student and honestly just take every college and course in under-graduate and post-graduate education that ever interested me.  I would probably end up with seven or eight degrees if I could.  Because I love to learn, I was immediately taken with this book.  Any history buff, lover of new information, knowledge seekers and the like will absolutely love this book.  I can even say that there was so much intriguing information in this one book that I know I will have no issue reading it a second time.  I enjoyed it that much.  Plus, I want to make sure I got all the information the author was offering.  Take advantage of the knowledge others can give you.  And this book is an excellent and entertaining way to start.
 
RATINGS
5/5 Stars 

Get your copy at the link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Flip-Side-History-Hard-Believe/dp/1094174874

Watching the Devil Dance
Authored by Will Toffan
180 pages
 
I received this book to review not too long ago.  I always have an extensive reading list so it takes time to get through everything.  This was a lucky break for me.  Not only is this a book about true crime, which you all know is right up my alley, but it is also a fairly short book.  But don’t let that fool you.  While the number of actual pages makes it a quick read, the content makes for an even faster reading experience. 
 
The book is about a man named Mathew Charles Lamb; a spree killer active in Canada in the late 1960s.  But in this recounting of those horrific events the author also exposes, clarifies and addresses the weaknesses, pitfalls and shortcomings of the criminal justice system in Canada at the time.  It tells of the crimes themselves, the killer including his life leading up to the killings and what happened afterwards.  
 
The amount of detail that is in this book is amazing.  With very specific interviews of all kinds of people, from witnesses to detectives to friends and family, this author really shines a light on what is certainly a very dark moment in the country’s history.  He makes it known in no uncertain terms that there were obvious failures in the treatment and containment of such a violent and callous spree killer.  He explains how this murderer caught practically ever break and benefited from every loophole possible making this an excellent example of how many people know when, where and how to work and exploit their justice system and their penal system.
 
The fact that this killer was able to slip through the cracks of the justice system and then the penal system, ending up in the mental health care penal system, is truly baffling from one aspect.  On the other hand, it is easier to understand how this happened as you read this book because Toffan fully explains what the mindset was at the time of these killings.  Understandably, at that time the terms spree killer and serial killer hadn’t even been coined yet.  People not only weren’t familiar with such offenders; they had a very difficult time wrapping their minds around the idea that someone would do something so vicious and heinous.
 
The content of this book is well researched, well written and very easy to follow as it has an extremely natural and logical flow to the information.  The information contained within the text is beyond interesting as it ultimately captivates the reader from the very beginning.  With spectacular insight Toffan details the horrible tragedy of Lamb’s shooting spree, submerging the reader in that era and putting them right in the middle of the story.  Toffan also gives us a very generous amount of background on Lamb which is essential  in understanding the mind of a killer.  Oftentimes, authors will only give a short summary of the life of the killer prior to their crimes or only detail the short time before the events actually take place.
 
This is one of the most complete true crime accountings I have ever read.  I can definitely say that I not only learned a great deal about a killer I had not heard about but I also found this book so interesting that I read it in four nights.  If I had read during the day, I would have finished it in probably two days.  It was that good.  I can safely recommend this to any true crime buff.  This is a must read for crime story lovers.
 
RATINGS
5/5 Stars
 
Purchase Link: 
 http://biblioasis.com/shop/non-fiction/watching-the-devil-dance/

https://www.amazon.com/Watching-the-Devil-Dance/dp/1771963255

Misery
By Stephen King, 1987
310 pages
 
I finally took time to read the novel Misery.  I have always been a huge fan of the film adaptation released in 1990.  Knowing that King’s stories always include more punch in the written work than in the film work, I expected this story to be much more intense, creepy and suspenseful in novel format.  I was not disappointed on that aspect.
 
The story is incredibly simple yet entirely multi-faceted and layered in psychopathology, fear, loneliness, helplessness, desperation and motivation.  Paul Sheldon, the main character, endures much more abuse, torture and torment from the antagonist character of Annie Wilkes.  While Kathy Bates did an excellent job of playing Wilkes in the film, the book character is much more intimidating and unnerving.  
 
The movie follows fairly close to what is written in the book but the amount of pain and fear inflicted on Paul and the various ways this torment is unleashed upon him is unsurpassed by the film.  Annie is much more unstable, much angrier and a whole lot more demented than she seems to be in the film.  The book allows us to experience of the little things that she does that help inflict terror upon Paul.  The various strange, cold, blank expressions on her face at inappropriate times.  The random and seemingly unprovoked repeated outbursts and fits of anger.  The underlying inferiority complex that obviously plagues this woman day in and day out ironically countered with her apparent feeling of superiority over almost all others.  
 
There were a number of times during reading this that I got chills or caught myself reading with my mouth hanging open in surprise or outright shock.  The detail King always seems to employ is beautifully demonstrated in this novel.  He expertly captivates and transports his audience directly to the little room in Annie’s house where Paul is victimized daily, giving us a front row seat to the carnage and even putting us right in the midst of it when he wants to.  Fantastically gruesome and spectacularly creepy writing sparks the best, and rather disturbing, horror images in the mind of the reader.
 
I would say there are only two things I wasn’t thrilled with concerning the novel.  First would be the ending.  I like the film ending better.  I’m not going to tell you the differences in the two because I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t read it.  The second would be that, in the novel, King includes portions of the book Annie is having him write.  For me this inclusion didn’t add anything to the story really and it probably wouldn’t take anything away from the plot if these excerpts were removed.  It almost feels like filler material.  I can understand why King put it in there.   It is part of the story.  But the content of the forced novel has only a small bearing on the entire plot of the real book we are reading.  A much smaller influence than portrayed in the movie.
 
Still, I know any King fan would love this book.  And those that have a stronger type stomach will also love this book.  But if graphic gore and violence upsets you, this is not the novel for you.  I have to say though, it’s one of my favorite Stephen King novels that I’ve read so far.
 
RATINGS
4.5/5 Stars

​I am so excited to finally be able to get this review posted!  I have been waiting for the tour date to hit, anxious to tell you all about this book.
 
I usually don’t care much for the paranormal type horror.  Whether it be movies, books or comics, it’s just never been my thing.  However, every once in a while, I come across a paranormal horror story in one form or another that really does the trick.
 
This is one of those books.
 
As always, before I really dive into the few particulars I’m willing to share, I want to give you the blurb that made me want to sign up to read this when my awesome teammates at Blackthorn Book Tours sent it to me.  

​So here it is:
 
Pride and greed infect the soul, anchoring the dead to Gallagher Hotel.
 
When Chris, a master thief, and Riley, a contract waitress, get mysterious invites to an exclusive party at the haunted Gallagher Hotel, they discover that there is more at play than simple celebrations.
 
Hidden truths are revealed, and all hell breaks loose. But the “party” has just begun.
 
Now, Chris and Riley face their demons as they fight to survive a hellish nightmare full of spoiled secrets, carnage, and vengeful spirits lost to the hotel dating back to the turn of the 20th century.
 
Will they survive the night? Or will their souls be devoured by the most haunted building in Michigan?
 
 Not bad right?  Sounds like it has potential doesn’t it? 
 
The Haunting of Gallagher Hotel was a fantastic read.  It’s a great story about a group of people at what is rumored to be the most haunted hotel in Michigan.  We really stay centered on mostly one character, Riley, although there are five guests or so at the hotel total.
 
Riley is a contract server, kind of like catering.  She’s an independent gal with a boyfriend who is madly in love with her and already planning their future together.  Although she cares for him deeply, she kind of already has plans of her own.  She is a young woman struggling to make ends meet and takes the request of this event at the hotel because she believes it will be an easy night of easy money.  She quickly finds out that things aren’t going to be as easy as she had hoped.
 
As soon as all of the invited guests arrive tensions immediately begin to brew.  So many different personalities just forced together for a night in a strange place, a haunted hotel and some very oddball hosts makes for the perfect recipe for trouble.  All of the guests that Riley has been hired to serve for the evening seem to have this disgusting sense of entitlement.  The kind of entitlement that makes the average person cringe with loathing and abhorrence.  This makes the job much less pleasant for Riley than anticipated.
 
Also, she soon starts experiencing some very strange things.  Peculiar things begin to happen inside and outside of the hotel.  Before Riley even knows what is going on, dead bodies start to turn up in guest rooms.  She not only has to figure out what is going on, but she also has to figure out who she can trust.  More importantly, she must figure out how to stay alive herself.
 
Some parts of this book reminded me of the general idea behind the movie Final Destination in which the characters had to figure out ways to cheat death.  This novel takes that kind of idea and mixes it together with Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.  Once that is combined really well it’s as if the author threw in a spoonful of the movie CLUE just for good measure.  It’s a lot to put together, but this author was an expert with her literary loom and wove us a tapestry of  suspense, horror, truth, lies,  present, past and paranormal.  A very tall order, in my opinion, but extremely well executed in the finished  product, a novel that is sure to be a hit with any horror or suspense story lover.  ANY paranormal horror lover should be jumping at this novel as well.
 
Yes, there is horror in this novel.  There’s horror and gore, creepy ghostly secrets, blood and death, and just a dash of levity.  I always enjoy when an author adds a little comedy into the mix.  It makes for a much more entertaining read.  
 
I also enjoyed the ending.  It was like the last act in a thrilling and suspenseful play.  It was truly an excellent conclusion.
 
This was a fascinatingly chilling and exciting novel to read.  It was a true page turner for me, easy to read, easy to get through and very difficult to put down.  The best part, for me, was the diversity of the characters.  To me this adds a certain realism to the story and gives it a much more interesting angle.
 
My only complaint would be that the Part II section seemed to have quite a few words missing.  It seems that the writer’s mind was going faster than their hands could type, which is something I completely understand. The words missing are not “key” words.  It is obvious from the context that these are small more or less transition words and such, so it’s not that big of a deal really.  Unfortunately, it’s very difficult for spell/grammar check to catch those sometimes.  However, I do want to stress that, as a reviewer, I often get pre-corrected versions of manuscripts, before they are proofed and edited and completely published.  Remember guys, I’ve had this book for a while before I get to post my review, months in fact.  This is something that is usually fixed in the final copy.  So, don’t fret.  Some might feel like this novel is a bit long, but it moves so fast it really didn’t bother me as much as it might have if the book was bad.
 
I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of ghost stories and haunted tales, but also the regular horror lovers.  I promise this novel does in fact fit in that category as well.
 
And if you aren’t convinced yet…here’s the first chapter, FREE.  
https://henryroipr.com/tour-the-haunting-of-gallagher-hotel/

The Running Man
By Richard Bachman
(Stephen King)
 
First printing May 1982
 
This is one of those cases where the book is very different than the film.  The film was made in 1987, five years after the first printing of the novel itself.  King disliked the drastic differences so much that he demanded that his name not be used in the marketing of the film at all.  This demand was adhered to and we were given what is often touted as one of Arnie’s best movies of that era, alongside with films like Total Recall (1990). However, if you know the true meat of the real story, honestly, he’d be one of the last people that you would cast for this role.
 
In the novel, Ben Richards is still the main character.  But he is a broke man in his late twenties with a wife and an infant child of eighteen months.  Times are very hard as the societal setup is very dystopian indeed.  The regular people are poor and suffering in ways that one would never want to imagine.  

For Ben Richards, he’s going through a particularly rough time.  He’s been blacklisted from his own profession, leaving his wife to prostitute herself to try to make ends meet, as he’s unable to find employment.  The cost of living is unfairly high and the work and pay are disproportionately unavailable and low to the average man in this idea of 2025.  He’s barely able to keep himself together as they scrape by and then their baby girl, Cathy, becomes increasingly ill with the flu.  With no money for medication or doctor visits Ben and his wife are forced to watch their baby suffer, unable to provide help or comfort.
 
The Running Man is a game show on the Games Network.  The grand prize is one billion new dollars.  There are two kinds of currency, old dollars and new dollars.  Old dollars are easier to get but aren’t worth as much as new dollars.  It also identifies you as poor when you spend it.  Richards decides that with as bad as things are, they can’t really get much worse.  He decides to sign up to be a contestant on The Running Man.  But the rules are very different than what you might be familiar with.
 
First of all, the contestant is declared an enemy of the State.  He gets a twelve-hour head start before the Hunters, which are skilled assassins (and called Stalkers in the film), are unleashed on him.  For every hour that Richards remains alive, avoiding capture or death, he wins one hundred new dollars.  He is awarded an additional one hundred new dollars for every Hunter or law enforcement officer he kills while on the run.  He is let loose in the city, named Co-Op City, with his twelve-hour head start, $4800 new dollars and a pocket video camera.  He is required to send in two video tapes each day of recordings of himself to the Games Network.  He can say or do whatever he wants in these messages but if he doesn’t send them in, he’s disqualified.
 
He gets the one billion new dollars if he can make it an entire thirty days.
 
But it’s not just the Hunters after him, there is a penalty for being a citizen that helps a Runner and there is an enticing reward for turning him in.  Once he signs up and the timer starts, it’s just Ben Richards against the world.  An average man running for his life, for money on the hour, just to get out of poverty and get medical treatment for his daughter.  And he’ll do whatever it takes.
 
The way this novel was written is so much more emotional and effective as a novel rather than a movie.  While the film was an entertaining movie and I enjoy it very much, when I read this book, I found it was easy to get very emotionally invested in the outcome for Ben.  King writes with such expert description the trials and tribulations, the injustices and the crimes, the hardship and suffering endured by Richards and his family, you can’t help but want to take a stand with him and root for him from beginning to end.  King creates a classic every man character that is willing to sacrifice anything for his wife and daughter.
 
The novel still contains the much-enjoyed action and excitement that the film makes you expect, but it is so much better because the novel is incredibly more intense and dramatic.  This plot is a genuine underdog story with the main character as the normal average joe trying to be a hero.
 
The novel is much more psychological, much more intense, darker, more dangerous, realistic violence and realistic characters.  This creates a very personal aspect to this story that you don’t get in the movie.  This is where the liberties taken by Hollywood not only disappointed Stephen King, but also take away the very essence of what this story is really all about.  King wanted to write a story in which the main character was a common man.  Not someone who is super athletic and the body builder type like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Ben Richards is supposed to be the kind of character that could be any one of us.  Just a regular average citizen struggling to make ends meet and tired of not being able to have access to basic needs like food, water and medical attention.  It’s the daily strains of regular life that drive this man to his edge.  In the film, even though Ben Richards is presented as the victim and the underdog he definitely doesn’t look like the underdog.  However, in the novel, it is plain as day that Ben is no ex-military specialist with unique skills and training allowing him to overtake his few opponents.  Instead, he is just a guy that needs money so badly that he is willing to have the whole multi-metro area of Co-Op City on his tail.  In the movie, Ben goes through the game with friends.  In the novel Richards is on his own from the start.  Alone and on the run, trying to avoid death and being hunted down like a vicious rabid dog.
 
This is a story one could believe could actually happen, with the way this country keeps going, citizens giving up their rights one at a time for the illusion of security and safety.  It brings into question how far a parent is willing to go for their child, how far a husband is willing to go for his wife.  Now remember, in the novel, this story takes place in 2025.  We aren’t quite there with how bad things have gotten.  However, in oh, 500 years, if we are still around, life could be like this dystopian tragedy.  After years and years of destroying ourselves, lying to each other, hating each other, giving away our rights to the government.  We could one day end up in a world where things could be similar to anywhere from Demolition Man to Mad Max to The Running Man.
 
While in the movie the action is confined to the four quadrants, in the novel the action runs rampant through the city in every direction with every kind of person.  Instead of presenting the novel in chapters we have a rather interesting countdown.  We start at “Minus 100 and Counting…” and as we go through each scene or “chapter” it counts down to zero.  This adds a lot of anticipation.  Some chapters are less than a page.  Some are several pages long.  But, there’s action almost everywhere you turn.  Something to make your jaw drop or your mouth utter “No way”, always keeping you on the edge of your seat, eager to turn the page before you have even finished reading it.  
 
In my opinion, although the film is entertaining and a great action flick, The Running Man novel is by far better than the film.  This is a novel that is a slightly different side of Stephen King, as he is writing as Richard Bachman, but the essence of King and his style is still very apparent and still makes the novel what I would consider one of his best and most classic pieces of work.
 
RATINGS
5/5 Stars