The Neighbors by Ania Ahlborn

Ania Ahlborn seems to be the next great thing in the horror world. Her debut, Seed, has been getting nothing but great reviews and now her latest, The Neighbors, has hit shelves as well.

Andrew Morrison has had enough. After taking care of his mom for years, it's become too much to handle. Now he's moved out and found a place rooming with his old friend, Mickey Fitch. At first, Drew is a bit disappointed to see that the house is kind of a dump. Not to be deterred, he quickly decides that a good cleaning will improve the situation vastly. He and Mickey seem to be getting along great and the neighbors are friendly and welcoming. Or maybe just a little too friendly and welcoming. Red and Harlow Ward open their arms and the door to Drew, inviting him to dinner, bringing him cookies, and even offering him a job. But they have twisted plans for their new neighbor. 

Creepy!

I think my favorite thing about this book is the fact that Ahlborn seems to know just when to pull back with the detail. This could easily have been an incredible gore fest of a book, but Ahlborn reigns it in just a bit, leaving some of the horror to the reader's imagination. Trust me, there's still plenty of detail and violence provided, but it's that little extra bit that forces your brain go into its darkest corners and makes the book that much scarier.

The Neighbors is a quick read, but one that packs a punch!

Audio Review: Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan

When readers last left the teens in Glow, Waverly and the surviving group of girls kidnapped by the New Horizon had finally made their way back to the Empyrean. Kieran has become the pseudo leader of the ship and Seth has been thrown in the brig for threatening Kieran's life. 

Now, the Empyrean has increased speed in hopes of catching up with the New Horizon. Though they don't have a solid plan for rescuing their parents, their hope is that they may be able to get them back... somehow. Waverly is understandably apprehensive of Kieran and his new role on the Empyrean, which bears a marked resemblance to Anne Mather's control of the New Horizon. And since Waverly barely survived her own experience with Mather, she can't help but worry about Kieran and the fate of their own remaining crew. Things start to go south for the Empyrean when Seth manages to somehow escape the brig. Evidence of sabotage on the ship is quickly blamed on Seth, though Waverly is certain he can't be behind it. Then the crew discovers that Waverly's escape pod brought more than just the surviving girls from the New Horizon -- a stowaway managed to hide on board and has plans for the Empyrean. As Kieran begins to lose control, Waverly and Seth band together with a plan to save their parents and hopefully escape the New Horizon's clutches once and for all. 

Amy Kathleen Ryan's series so far has left me more than a bit unsettled. The cult-like grip that Mather and then Kieran seem to have on their followers is disturbing to say the least. The kidnapping of the girls for the sole purpose of harvesting their eggs was also highly creepy and added an uncomfortable ick factor to the story.

Spark moves the story along somewhat, but also left me feeling as though little progress had been made in the tale action-wise. It seemed the psychological effects on the kids were the main focus of this installment.

One of the things I want to like about the story is the fact that the kids are in charge. They're left to figure out how to survive and fend for themselves. But the continued waffling on the part of each of the characters -- Waverly, Seth, and Kieran, for the most part -- got to a point where it almost overwhelmed the story as a whole. Yes, they're kids. Yes, the emotional struggle of having these massive responsibilities laid upon them is a HUGE part of this story. Unfortunately the characters at times became both incredibly whiny and paranoid as well as seemingly changing personality characteristics at the drop of a hat.

There's enough going on that I've continued two books into the series -- I've invested enough time in these characters and these stories that I want to know what's going to happen -- but this is not a favorite series of mine. My overall issues with the books could likely be chalked up to my being an adult and beyond the target audience. I'm willing to give it that.

The series is ok, in my opinion. I sort of think that the bones of the story are interesting but that the execution needs a bit more polish to be truly great.

I did think the narrators, Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown, did a great job in reading this one. The two alternate reading from each of the characters perspectives -- meaning that each of them reads as the boys and the girls rather than Kadushin tackling only the girls' narration and Brown the boys', which made more sense considering the story is told in third person narration. The pacing was great and the breaks between scenes was clear and smooth.

Crossed by Ally Condie

Readers, I have to admit that even though I was completely blown away by Ally Condie's Matched, I waited a very long time to read this follow up. And I am so glad that I did!

Book three in the trilogy, Reached, hit shelves just this month and I waited until I had my copy in hand to dive into book two, which means that I got to jump right into book three! And with the end of Crossed in mind, this was very fortunate indeed.

After the events of Matched, Cassia and Ky have been separated. Cassia is on work detail planning her attempt to find Ky, who has been sent to the Outer Provinces. Deemed an Aberration by the Society, Ky has no chance of returning and Cassia knows that this is the only way to find him once again. Armed with a compass and the blue tablets stolen for her by her best friend, Xander, Cassia plans to make her way to the Outer Provinces by herself. She's prepared for a rough journey but before she can leave, the Society steps in. Cassia and a group of other girls are being sent to the Outer Provinces. The Society has been shipping people to the area on a regular basis, using them as bait in hopes that the enemy will believe the Provinces are still heavily settled. In truth, the people sent there don't last long. When Cassia arrives, she discovers that Ky has already made his own escape into the nearby canyons. This area was once Ky's home and he knows it well, but can Cassia survive long enough to be reunited with him?

Crossed alternates chapters between Cassia and Ky, telling the story from each of their perspectives. It's an interesting tactic that's effective here because both characters have very different backgrounds and, therefore, very different reactions to each of the challenges they face.

The history of the Society is touched on in further detail as well, but their motivations are still something of a mystery. What's more, the element of the Rising is added here and Ky in particular makes the reader question just who is actually the good guy.

I love this series! So much intensity, such great world building, and the creepy dystopian Society! I read Crossed in one afternoon and almost immediately started reading Reached.

As an aside, if you're currently looking for great holiday gifts, this trilogy now comes in a boxed set. Just don't plan on seeing your reader until they finish reading all three :)

Tears in Rain by Rosa Montero

Imagine a world in which cloning has become a reality. First contact with extraterrestrials has long since passed, teleportation technology exists, and humans travel through space for industry and settlement. This is the reality of Rosa Montero's Tears in Rain a book both inspired by and paying homage to Blade Runner.

Bruna Husky is a replicant with just four years left of her ten year life span. Once a combat rep, she now makes a living as a private investigator. When a neighbor -- and rep -- shows up on her doorstep raving like a madwoman and later killing herself after attempting to take down Bruna as well, the rep finds herself embroiled in a complicated new case. Her neighbor was not the first of the reps to die in this strange manner. The culprit seems to be a manipulated memory implant, one that convinced the rep that she was indeed human and suffering as a result of a grave conspiracy. In total there have been seven such cases and in each of the more recent instances, the reps have managed to take out a number of people around them as well. Bruna has been hired by the leader of the Radical Replicant Movement to find out who is behind these illegal implants and murders. But as tensions rise between humans and reps, Bruna realizes that case is even stranger than it initially seems.

Tears in Rain is great on a number of levels. The setting and world building are wonderful, the mystery is well plotted, the characters -- Bruna in particular -- are appealing and well realized, and the nods to Blade Runner work without becoming too overly employed or copied.

I personally liked the wiki entries as well. I have to agree with other reviewers to an extent and admit that they do slow the narrative just a bit, but it wasn't anything I found to be overly problematic. In fact, I thought they added well to the world building in particular, which can typically become bogged down and overloaded with the kind of information that's introduced as encyclopedic entries instead. And the fact that they become more and more inflamed with incorrect information, thus shown by the character Yiannis and his edits, also adds to the increasing friction between the humans and the reps.

At its most basic level, this is a mystery. It's a mystery wrapped up in a science fiction package, though, and Montero has blended the genres perfectly. I don't know if there will be more in store for US readers and Bruna, but I certainly hope so. This is the first of Montero's books to be released in the States and it hit shelves today.

Walking Dead winner

By random number generator, the winner of the Walking Dead book giveaway is:

Theresa N. 

Congrats, Theresa! You'll be getting a copy of Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga's two Walking Dead novels, Rise of the Governor and The Road to Woodbury. 

Thanks to everyone who entered and be sure to check back for new posts and new giveaways!

Cold City by F. Paul Wilson

I first came to F. Paul Wilson via the reprint of The Keep back in my bookseller days (2000 to be exact). At the time, I'd planned on jumping into the rest of the Adversary Cycle but could only get my hands on The Tomb, which also happened to be the first Repairman Jack title. Alas like most well intentioned plans my Repairman Jack reading was much delayed and I never bought the series.

Now skip ahead to present day and F. Paul Wilson's latest Repairman Jack entry, which kicks off a new prequel trilogy to the Repairman Jack series. Cold City is Repairman Jack before he became Repairman Jack. It's his first days in New York City and the story of how he comes to be the character he is by the time The Tomb takes place. This makes it a perfect starting off point for anyone new to the series (me) in addition to being a great new release for longtime fans to sink their teeth into.

Jack has recently moved to the Big Apple and is making do with a landscaping job. His mother's death is still fresh on his mind and after exacting revenge on her killer he's cut all ties with home. Here in New York, he's living under the radar with no phone and no paper trail. He doesn't even tell people his real name. An altercation at work leaves him unemployed and searching for a new job when fate steps in: an acquaintance of a friend has an opening for a delivery driver. No, it's not all on the up and up but the risk should be minimal and the pay is way more than Jack could expect mowing lawns. But this new job isn't all it's cracked up to be. Jack finds himself busting a ring of human traffickers and getting on the wrong side of some very bad people. 

There are so many threads in this story. One of the things I really enjoyed was seeing how Wilson was going to bring them all together. Some of them connect and some of them are side stories that help mold Jack into becoming the "Repairman."

What I didn't love about this book was the completely open ending. Nothing is wrapped up. I'm assuming because each story will carry over into the remainder of the trilogy, but I would have loved to see just one part resolved in turning the final page of Cold City. Ah, well. Them's the breaks sometimes.

I will say this, I was intrigued and captivated by Jack's story. Wilson has a knack for drawing in readers and Jack is the perfect kind of lead to carry a long series -- the official Repairman Jack is 15 titles, there are three Teen Jack titles as well, and now this Early Years trilogy. (For a full title listing visit the official site here.) I'll be adding more titles to my TBR very shortly!

And the good news for me and other 2000 Keep discoverers, The Adversary Cycle was recently brought back in print.

Cold City officially hits shelves tomorrow.

New releases 11/27/12

Some of the new titles hitting shelves this week are:

The Neighbors by Ania Ahlborn

The Legend of Broken by Caleb Carr

Tears of Rain by Rosa Montero

Cold City by F. Paul Wilson

Seal Team 666 by Weston Ochse

Moonshifted by Cassie Alexander

Lethal Investments by K.O. Dahl

The Thieves of Legend by Richard Doetsch

Lust for Life by Jeri Smith-Ready

King of the Dead by Joseph Nassie

Not Dead Yet by Peter James

The Gilded Lily by Deborah Swift

The Black Box by Michael Connelly

Trapped by Kevin Hearne

Cold Days by Jim Butcher

Touched by Corrine Jackson

Lullaby by Amanda Hocking

The Lucky Ones by Anna Godbersen

Fragile Darkness by Ellie James

New on DVD:
Men in Black 3
Lawless
The Apparition
ParaNorman