I have created a TBR list of horror. It's varied--classic and new, men and women, novels and short stories. The only common denominator is that I haven't read these particular works yet--and I ain't getting any younger, so it is time to begin, Gentle Reader.

Wanna play? http://booklikes.com/apps/reading-lists/267/horror-expansion

Nonexhaustive list of authors included:

Dan Simmons

Clive Barker

Joyce Carol Oates

Shirley Jackson

F. Paul Wilson

Richard Matheson

Harlan Ellison

Greg Chapman

Simon Clark

Bentley Little

Angela Carter

Chuck Palahniuk

Joe R. Lansdale

John Collier

Douglas Clegg

Ramsey Campbell

John Shirley

David V. Schow

Caitlin R. Kiernan

Poppy Z. Brite

Christa Faust

Graham Masterton

Robert W. Chambers

Elizabeth Massie

Kathe Koja

John Farris

Graham Joyce

Michael Slade

Fritz Leiber

Charles Beaumont

T. E. D. Klein

Peter Straub

Neil Gaiman

Gregor Xane

Jonathan Carroll

Steve Rasnic Tem

John Skipp

Francesca Lia Block

H. P. Lovecraft

Saki

I DNF'd at 77% in. It wasn't holding my interest. A good book keeps me interested and I finish it in a day or so... work allowing and all. I started on the 14th and it is now the 25th.  

It was too repetitive, no surprises, no thrills... two stars for good formatting, grammar, and punctuation (given this is published by Penguin, it shouldn't even be a question, but I am trying to say something nice...).      

I received a copy of this from NetGalley for an honest review

Because "Cutthroat" is about two cops chasing down a serial killer who appears to be linked to a shady pharmaceutical firm, you might come at this one looking for police work. But you'd be disappointed if you did. You might think, Well, I love a good mystery. But you won't find one here. On the other hand, because this is written by Michael Slade, you might be satisfied with blood, gore, and torture. This is really the only way to go. Cutthroat is nothing if not sadistic.

Believe it or not, a gigantopithicus skull figures into the plot. Gigantopithecus is an extinct species of ape once thought to be related to Man. Or is it related? Slade wonders. He uses it to tie together Custer's Last Stand, a superfluous scene with Charles Darwin, and one of the dumbest climaxes I've ever read.

He uses his time-period (late eighties) to tie in the Zodiac killer, in the process making a mockery of all the behavioral science and criminal profiling pioneered by people like John Douglas.

As literature, the book is almost a total loss. As gore-porn, it has its moments.

One funny note about the climax: Slade goes out of his way to position his cop heroes as literate, cultured men. They quote poetry and listen to classical music. But when one of them imagines a terrible battle on top of a mountain, the best his mind can conjure is a grade B monster movie.