No Exit by Taylor Adams

 

Darby Thorne learns that her mother is dying of cancer, and she has little time left to live. Darby makes the trip to see her mother one last time when a blizzard kicks up. She ends up stuck at a rest area with a group of strangers. She notices a kidnapped girl in one of the vehicles in the parking lot and has to play it cool to not giver herself away as she tries to figure out who among them have kidnapped the girl. The book is well written and nicely paced. The suspense builds up as the story goes on. This novel has several ideas that I am a fan of, isolation, gloomy weather, and a mystery that is going on that keeps you intrigued to see how it all ends. One of the things I did not enjoy was that Darby made too many mistakes that seemed more out of convenience to move the story along than it was a believable character trait. The other thing I did not like about the book was that the mystery was a bit predictable at points. I still say it is a solid read, especially when on a road trip. 3 out of 5 stars.

Coyote Song by Gabino Iglesias

 

This book was an interesting one for me to read. There are little vignettes (for a lack of a better word) that intertwine in this book. We see the realities and obstacles people can face when they are trying to make a better life for themselves. Being a Mexican American myself, the descriptions of some of the threats that the people in the story faced came out so realistic. Growing up I heard about similar situations that family and friends faced in either Mexico or the bordering states. Even if I had not heard similar firsthand stories, the way Gabino Iglesias writes make the words just come alive and makes it easy to formulate a picture in one’s mind to what is happening on the page. I hate to dock the book some points but as it is about my reviews, I’ll rate it as such with the caveat that it is due to personal preferences. My first ding against this book was that it was a fast read and coming in just over 200 pages made it a little disappointing because I wanted more from the story. The other minus that I personally gave is that it is more crime/noir focus that horror like I had wished it would be. If those two reasons do not bother, you this could be a 5-star book for you.  4 out of 5 stars.

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden

 

I am choosing this book to launch my book reviews for my blog because it was probably my favorite book, I read in 2022. I am also using this as a post because I have been waiting for his new book that was released today “All Hollows”. According to the book’s description, “Kolyma Highway, otherwise known as the Road of Bones, is a 1200 mile stretch of Siberian road where winter temperatures can drop as low as sixty degrees below zero. This is the setting of the story and Christopher Golden does a great job describing the area and made it come off the page. The main character, Felix Teigland, is hoping to make a documentary about the famed road, however, he soon finds out that he may have bit off more than he could chew this time. He and his camera man end up in an abandoned town (I love abandoned areas as a setting) and this is just the beginning of the strangeness they will face. The characters are well written and fleshed out. The pacing is excellent, it slows down when it needs to build tension and ramps up when you think it is safe for the characters. The only thing that is keeping this from being a perfect book for me is because I was hoping to get more of the lore explained in this book. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants a good read on a cold day. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Introduction

 Hi my name is O.J. As far back as I can remember books have been a presence in my life. Unfortunately, I am a slower reader so it is taking me a while to get through my ever-growing to be read pile. I think way too much when reading about how what I am reading is similar to something that happen to me, how I would deal with what is happening, etc. This even happened often when reading research papers for my master's thesis. This resonance that I go through every time I read is why I gave the blog its name. 

I enjoy reading horror, mystery, thrillers, suspense and non-fiction historic books. I do have a weird problem that I do not like reading first person point of view books. For whatever reason I have trouble getting into them. There have been a few exceptions to this rule though. 

For the mean time I aim to post two book reviews a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) starting next week. Depending on time I may post more or less per week.