I am amazed how some authors have such twisted imagination to pen gory, creepy thrillers that slowly draw its readers deep into a fictional world and leave them speechless because passing time with them is such a thrill…yes this one is that good

“When did you last Google yourself”. Aren’t you a bit curious?

This is the story of a wealthy businessman, Will Frost, who after being woken up in the middle of the night by a mysterious caller goes online to find a site in his name showing photos inside his home along with six other houses he has never seen before. A murder was committed in the first house and then he is told his daughter has been kidnapped and to save her he needed to visit each of the houses before the police shows up. Given tidbits of information Will is then on a wild chase around the world and founds himself running the deserted streets and smack into violence and murder…..is it scary…maybe…maybe not…

What a read. This psychological thriller has kept my full attention throughout. This story is so full of tension and intrigue I simple had to push on to see what would happen next. There is so much action and so many unexpected twists and turns to keep us on our toes, I had little chance to get off. It is such a very hard story to put down. Vividly said, the images described are imprinted in my mind. I definitely wouldn’t want to be in Will shoes.

Mr. Parker’s background as a TV script writer shines in this story and shows how skilled he is in portraying action and his characters’ emotion with the right words. Ok, I admit this story is far-fetched borders implausible but it makes for a very entertaining read. I love how the suspense exceeds the last words….Maybe a sequel….hope so..

I received “Scare Me” as a complimentary book from Lume Books with no obligations to write a review.

I'm sorry to say that this one turned out to be too dry for me; it's very much an academic history, though it certainly contains some interesting facts. I was particularly struck by the fact that in 18th century China, if a man wore his hair in a way other than the tonsure and queue prescribed by the Manchu rulers, not only could he be punished, but so could his landlord and neighbors - presumably for not having brought him into line themselves. We tend to talk about Asian societies as being "collectivist" but I hadn't before encountered a concrete example of this being ingrained in law, so that letting one's neighbors alone to mind their business could be quite a dangerous choice. Also, readers should be prepared for descriptions of judicial torture in open court - yikes.

I made it to around page 80.

Ultimately this was a pretty confusing read, and that’s not good when it comes to middle-grade reading, as the basic storyline should be easy to follow. The story even started as though a chapter was missing.

Given that the famed author R.L. Stine is adept at stringing a yarn or two together, I kept thinking it was going to become crystal clear. I enjoyed the illustrations and some of the concepts involved but if the Scare School is going work in graphic novel form, the storylines have got to be WAY clearer than this.

Reading this book was like watching a bad B-movie. A cliché selection of people are driven to stop at a motel to get out of a storm, including an actress and a writer. Each of them has their own background and secrets. Hallucinations and other strange phenomena begin to happen and each of the guests gets told by some form of ghostly figure of someone they know that they must "Confess!"

The rest is mostly a jumble of confusing acts of violence for no discernable reason and the end has a tie to 'the next book' (yawn!)

I can't say that my time was well spent on reading this one, but at least in finishing it I know I didn't miss any exciting twists or explanations. All told a fairly dull read.

This was the Goodreads Classic Horror Lovers Tales to Chill Your Blood group read in October 2017. I listened to it on Kindle. This volume contains five stories: "Green Tea" "The Familiar" "Mr. Justice Harbottle" "The Room in the Dragon Volant" "Carmilla" I will go through and discuss each story separately.

"Green Tea"--I have read this story before. It's interesting, although the way it's written is a bit on the dry side. It's told with detachment, which I suppose makes sense as it's told through letters written by Dr. Martin Hesselius, a paranormal investigator. The interesting component was the concept of green tea as a substance that can cause a person's third eye to open and to allow them to see into the spirit world. The unfortunate clergyman who is the focus of the story is able to see a monkey that continues to haunt him until it drives him crazy. It could have been more suspenseful, honestly. 3 stars "The Familiar"--A psychological horror story about a man who is being haunted by a figure from his past as a sea captain. Another use of the trope of a person being driven mad by his perception of something no one else can see. I was not particularly impressed by this story. 2.5 stars "Mr. Justice Harbottle"--a story about a judge who is haunted by the spirits of those he wrongly condemned to death. Nice build of suspense. I think the writing is much better in this story than "Green Tea" and "The Familiar". Ironically, I read the original version of this story, "An Account of Some Strange Disturbances in Aungier Street" (1853) out of another ghost story volume I was reading in October. I like that it deals with the concept of spiritual consequences for the wrong that one does, even when the person seems to be powerful in this life. The judge was not just a corrupt official, but he was also a degenerate who treated those around him poorly. 4 stars "The Room in the Dragon Volant"--This is more of a suspense story. It reminds me of something Robert Louis Stevenson might have wrote. It's one of the longer stories in the volume, with some involved storytelling. It's not a ghost or horror story, although there initially appears to be supernatural elements. Lots of nice twists in the story that did impress me. 4 stars "Carmilla"--Another reread for me. A very famous novella about a female vampire with some very obvious homoerotic overtones. Carmilla chooses exclusively female victims and uses her allure to develop their attraction to her. Carmilla is a create of simultaneous seductiveness and repulsion to her newest victim, Laura. Readers can plot this story out and see over time that there is something very wrong about Carmilla. The story builds to an exciting climax as Laura's father and other concerned parties work to deal with the evil vampire. This is old school vampire horror. Carmilla is the bad guy. Readers who enjoy the romantic angle cannot escape the fact that Carmilla is a sexual predator who is endangering the life of Laura. This was written during the Victorian age, in which sexual values were highly pruritanical, so it couldn't have been written any other way without national outrage. However, it was a night springboard for plenty of later vampire stories that focused more of the erotic aspects and less on the evil monster component. First time I read this, I found the flowery descriptions tedious. I enjoyed this a lot more this time around, maybe because I listened to the narration. 4 stars. Overall, I would give this 3.5 stars, which is an average of my individual ratings. Le Fanu is a good writer, but his style isn't my personal favorite. He's not the most active writer and I don't find his writing particularly scary (other than a couple of moments in Carmilla). However, he has some interesting ideas and concepts and his storytelling has been influential to the genre of classic horror.