One person from 4 different families have a possessed music box thrust upon them by a dead witch that has been stalking their families for 200 years.  They have 7 days from receipt to lock them down.  They must meet and battle the witch for the keys on her home turf. If they don't find them in time, if at all, the demon possesses them.  A long lingering death.  Age is not a consideration.  

Definitely will be reading book 2.

In jeder Kleinstadt gibt es ihn: Den Sonderling, der die Streiche der Jugend auf sich zieht. Allerdings haben die Halbwüchsigen von Thetford ihren Außenseiter John Coal maßlos unterschätzt. Man sollte es sich zweimal überlegen, bevor man sich mit ihm anlegt.

„In jeder Stadt, in jedem Viertel gibt es so ein gruseliges altes Haus: heruntergekommen, zugewuchert, vernachlässigt und vergessen. Bewohnt in der Regel von einem gruseligen alten Mann, der mehr oder weniger den gleichen Eindruck macht.“ (S. 9)

John Coal ist Thetfords Sonderling und die Hauptfigur in diesem Roman. Eigenbrötlerisch lebt er vor sich hin, doch dann legt sich die Stadt-Jugend mit ihm an. Zugegeben, die Jungs haben ihn gehörig unterschätzt. Denn einem Mann der Serienmörder, blutrünstige Monster und depressiv-verstimmte Vampire überdauert, spielt man besser keine boshaften Streiche.

Die Geschichte beziehungsweise die Geschichten werden dem Leser und den Jungs direkt von John Coal erzählt, weil er als Protagonist und Erzähler auf zweierlei Weise das Ruder an sich reißt.

Gleich zu Beginn stellt John verwundert fest, dass er der Außenseiter der Stadt ist:

„Es hat ein paar Monate gedauert, bis ich herausfand, dass der gruselige alte Sonderling in meiner Straße ich selbst war.“ (S. 9)

Im Anschluss berichtet er davon, wie ihn die Jungs sekkieren und bis auf’s Blut auf die Nerven gehen. Wie eingangs schon erwähnt, haben sie sich bei John eindeutig verschätzt, denn er lädt sie - eher unfreiwillig - in seinen gemütlichen Keller ein. 

Die Passagen um John und die Jungs werden boshaft-charmant und mit einem schelmischen Zwinkern geschildert. Er genießt es, ihnen Angst einzujagen, sie zu verblüffen und deutlich überlegen zu sein. Sobald er sie gefangen hält, fängt er an, seine Lebensgeschichte zu erzählen. 

Bisher hat er einiges mitgemacht! Er berichtet von einem Serienmörder in seiner Jugend, der ihn auf die gefährliche See getrieben hat, von schaurigen Orten, denen er als Handelsvertreter gerade so entkommen ist, und davon, wie er die Mutter seiner Tochter nicht nur in sein Herz geschlossen hat.

Johns Leben wird anhand von Kurzgeschichten erzählt, die insgesamt überaus aufregend und teilweise gruselig zu lesen sind. Besonders gut hat es mir gefallen, als er den Jungs von seinen Reisen als Handelsvertreter erzählt. Diese Geschichte war tiefsinnig, ungewöhnlich und hat mir Gänsehaut beschert. Weniger konnte ich mit dem Abenteuer auf See anfangen, weil hier doch der blutrünstige Charakter im Vordergrund steht. 

Meiner Meinung nach hat Danny King eine exzellente Mischung geschaffen. Einerseits ist die Rahmenhandlung um John und die Jungs geheimnisvoll, auf ihre Art gefährlich und aufgrund des lockeren Stils höchst amüsant. Andrerseits rundet er durch die unterschiedlichen Themen den gesamten Roman zu einem Best-of-Horror ab, was dieses Buch zu einem originellen Schauer-Schmankerl macht. 

Denn es ist fast alles dabei, was das Horror-Herz begehrt: Das Grusel-Haus, die Monster, der Mörder und natürlich sind sogar Geister inklusive. Ich habe mich ausgezeichnet unterhalten und in Johns Horror-Haus sofort heimisch gefühlt.

Insgesamt ist „Das Haus der Monster“ eine originell-gruselige Melange. Es lädt zum Fürchten, wohligen Schauern und angsteinflößendem Lachen ein, und darf hoffentlich weitere Gäste zum Gruseln begrüßen.

I knew there was a chance that I would be disappointed when I decided to purchase Sawfish, given what I've read from the author in the past. However, I really like his ideas, and this sounded like the perfect sort of relaxing monster novel to listen to. It's been a while since I had one of those, so I decided to give Mr. Chesler another chance.

I wish I hadn't.

Sawfish has a great concept. It sets up perfectly to be this rip-roaring, monster-of-the-deep sort of novel. It had the potential to be so-bad-it's-good. Instead it was just bad. The sawfish was cool, don't get me wrong. The problem is that the author spends way too much time on the two main characters. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except in this case both of the main characters are unlikable idiots!

For fans of The Walking Dead, Raymond is an evil Eugene. At least that's how I pictured him in my head. It didn't help that the narrator had that sort of nasal tone which built the ticked-off nerd image in your head. (The narrator was a perfect choice for this book, actually. I think it made it feel a bit more believable being told in that particular tone.) He wants revenge and then he wants to get back the attention he feels he rightly deserves. He's a toe rag.

But I will give Rick Chesler this: Even though Raymond is a douche, I still found myself rooting for him. When he's going up against the sawfish, I was hoping he'd win. He's not a likable character by any means, but you do find yourself cheering for him occasionally.


Elise is worse than Raymond is, and that's saying something. It's been a while since I disliked a female character as intensely as I disliked her. At least he had intelligence going for him, even if his personality and ego often overruled it. I spent too much of the book actively hoping something gruesome happened to her.

My favorite chapters were the sawfish attacks. The characters in them were often throwaways, but I didn't care. Those were the sections of the novel that I wanted to read more of. Anything so that I wouldn't have to listen to Raymond whine, boast, and plan.

Most of the ending was pretty good. The location and how things got rigged up was unique. The author did a great job of painting the scene in my mind. But the last few pages ruined it for me. My opinion already wasn't high on the book, and then we have something completely unbelievable happen from one of the characters. The twist wasn't believable. Not even a little bit.

Overall, it was a great concept and was voiced by a good narrator. I just didn't care for the actual execution or the characters. Can't recommend it.

This got picked out for the monthly Horror Aficionados Group reads and I have to say I was delighted with it!

Jeff strand does an Fantastic Job with this book. While I was reading it I really felt like I was reading it from Tobys perspective like he was sitting there and telling me his tale I even had his voice in my head that of a child. To a man. Toby isn't a normal child you can tell right away he is very troubled. But it doesn't mean you don't feel a care for him or for Owen “The monster he befriends” They have some awful stuff happen. Toby screws up BIG TIME on more than one occasion and Owen screws up too But they’re always there for each other despite it all.

An intense story with a heart that captured me from page 1. all in all I really enjoyed this book and found I just couldn't put it down.

"If you require content warnings: this particular story contains upsetting scenes, monster sex, vagina dentata, breeding, reluctance and charm magic."

Ok, I'll admit that Im a little bit of a freak and I'm really digging Monster Erotica. There are a few things that I love in my strange and unusual category; monsters, weird and hot sex, maybe a little taboo and ridiculousness. But what will really make me read something is a warning label about content and/or banned due to content. This is a recipe for a freaky fun read. 

This short story is about a siren who's on the hunt for her next meal. She lures a fisherman into her clutches only to discover he's somehow different. He's got magic coursing through his body and she decides to breed with him. He catches glimpses of what she really looks like but doesn't turn away. 

Overall this was a good read. The one sex scene we got was good(it's only 30 pages, what do you expect). The story was interesting but I needed a little bit more dirty from the story. Some of the things I didn't like was that it kept changing POV's without warning and the sex was good but not terribly hot. I will be reading more from J.M. Keep and I've already recommended this to a friend who I know likes monster erotica. 




Vagina dentata (Latin for toothed vagina) describes a folk tale in which a woman's vagina is said to contain teeth, with the associated implication that sexual intercourse might result in injury or castration for the man involved. Thank you Wikipedia

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