Welcome to my Monday Minis Reviews
I have two for you today.
First up is
Communion
by Richard Freeland
Genre: Horror
My Review
What first drew me to this book was the cover. Lovely and mysterious. Then I read it was about the ill-fated Donner Party and I got more curious. Then I read there was something evil stalking them. They had more to fear than freezing and starvation.
I wanted to know what it was.
Was it a yeti?
Was it a Windigo?
At only about 50 pages, it didn’t take me long to find out.
Even without a mysterious creature, this would be a chilling story. I’ve read the true reports of the fate of the Donner Party and the author has provided his own horrific account of the conditions and the ordeals the characters suffer through.
After reading about the frigid conditions, the slow starving of the children, the weakening of the men who struggled to provide shelter and food, I was glad I was here on the comfort of my couch. We take so many things for granted, and these people just wanted to survive, to save their families.
To also have to worry about the thing outside, sniffing around, scratching to get in and consume their bodies and souls only compounded the suspense.
I came away from this book wondering how I would have fared. Would I have given up?
Not only the freezing blizzard will chill you to the bone in this tale.
4 Stars
**
Synopsis
At the urging of Robert Teal, half-Cherokee John Nye, his pregnant wife Anna, and her father Ben Teal sell all their belongings to migrate to California. Along the way, they join with a wagon train heading the same way – the Donner Party.
After taking an unproven “short-cut” that leaves them a month behind, the emigrants are caught in the mountains by the freezing snows of an early winter.
Snowed in, unable to cross the divide, their food running out, and no relief in sight, the exhausted men, women and children of the Donner party settle in to survive.
But something else is out there. Something unseen. Something evil. And it’s stalking them.
John can deal with the elements. But can he save his family from starvation? Can he stop the demon of the frigid wastelands from taking his wife and child?
As food – and time – run out for the Donner party, John and Anna must make a decision. To stay, and starve with the others? Or attempt a harrowing trek out of the mountains – with a creature of myth on their trail?
There are some decisions you shouldn’t have to make.
~~~
Next up is
The Rain Dancers
by Greg F. Gifune
Genre: Supernatural,horror,thriller
My Review
The book cover really drew me in and I really wanted to read it after this read the blurb, so I grabbed it. I liked it from the opening passage. Made me think, “It was a dark and stormy night,” because it was. Creepy reading and very suspenseful.
If a stranger showed up at your door after dark, claims he knows you, and asks to come in, would you let him in? Not me, but Will and Betty did.
The old man, Bob Laurent, gave me the creeps. His insidious manipulation of Betty and his behind the back smirks at her husband, Will, set my teeth on edge. As they did Will’s. This guy was a liar and he was up to no good. But he seemed to have Betty under his spell.
At first she didn’t remember him, despite his claims he was friends with her late father, and his references to her calling him Uncle Bob. But then her memories started returning.
The night gets darker, the rain falls harder, and the devil dances.
What I enjoyed most about this book was the pacing. The author gives you a mystery right from the beginning, then he gives you some background on the characters, just enough to get you familiar with them, and then the discomfort creeps in like a cold mist, slowly.
At one point I thought the worst might be over, but the malevolence returned, creeping me out. And then I caught a little clue the author dropped in and had an idea where things might be going. I stayed up late, continuing to the end to see if I was right.
A good horror story that wraps itself around you and gives you a cold, ghostly hug.
3 Stars
**
Synopsis
He arrives in darkness, in the middle of a violent downpour…an affable old man with tales to tell…
When Will and Betty Colby return to Betty’s hometown to settle her late father’s affairs and prepare his house for sale, they assume they’ll be faced with some cleaning, basic repairs and making runs to the local dump. Will also hopes it will afford Betty a chance to reflect on the difficult relationship she had with her father. But something more is happening in this quiet little town, in this dark old house at the end of this seemingly deserted dirt road.
In the middle of a rainstorm, a man calling himself Bob Laurent appears in the night on their doorstep, claiming to be an old family friend. He seems harmless enough, only Betty has no memory of him. Yet he knows everything about her, her father and their lives. He even knows intimate details about Will and his life. While the storm rages on, a cauldron of tension, suspicion and fear builds between the couple and the stranger, dragging Will and Betty to the very brink of madness.
A vile and unrelenting evil has returned to claim what was taken from it long ago, and all the demons of the past, present and probable future have come home to roost. Before the storm clears and the sun rises, Will and Betty Colby will come to know the horrifying truth.
People live and die…but the evil they do is eternal.
~~~
So, read any good books lately? Got any suggestions?
Leave a comment to let me know and thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!