by Killion Slade

 

This one will appeal to gamers, and especially to people interested in creating virtual reality games.

 

The story starts out with a spine chilling, horrific situation. We meet Cheyenne, one of three sisters with those distinctively American names like Dakota and Savannah (okay, the third sister is called Sheridan, like the hotel), named after places and generally only found in novels *rolls eyes*.

 

Cheyenne works in the gaming industry in what looks like a not too far off future and making virtual worlds is normal life to her. One particular game has given the users a lot of autonomy and aspects of the virtual world surprise her, as do the supernatural creatures who increasingly inhabit this developing cyberworld. Cheyenne is surprised by the popularity of zombies, vampires, werewolves and other mythological beings from the Horror end of imaginative fiction.

 

They go to a real life Scream House event with everyone dressed up in costume in an amusement park. Cheyenne worries about security at the event, foreshadowing that something has to go wrong. There are some funny episodes involving Sheridan's costume and I now know what a Ghillie suit is, something meant for hunters to hide out in bushes that could be very fun for such events!

 

Things take a horrific turn and there is a fair bit of graphic violence so people sensitive to gore and later on rape issues will want to consider this a trigger warning.

 

Basically this is a Paranormal story which is not a go to genre for me, yet it held my attention. Sometimes the writing seemed amateurish, but the grammar was reasonably good bar a couple of typos and I kept wanting to see where the plot would go.

 

It ends with a few things unresolved, so the story continues in the next book, but overall most things came to a tidy conclusion and I did enjoy the read enough that I'm considering getting the second book. Not a deep, intellectual read, but plenty of action and some interesting ideas about supernaturals.

Sandy works in the Atlanta RTMC’s B&B. She’s a working girl. She’s close to graduating from Georgia Tech and doesn’t owe a penny in student loans. However, she hasn’t had a relationship in years. She has her trusty cocker spaniel, Prince, and a three-point-five GPA. There isn’t time for a man in her life, but she won’t even attempt a relationship while she supports herself with sex work.

Vic is a straight man who happens to be a bitchin’ drag queen. He’s also a peacock, which makes living in the city uncomfortable, but when his alter-ego Vickie gets a standing job as hostess of the stage for one of the premier drag shows in Atlanta, he moves into midtown — though thankfully he finds a condo adjoining Piedmont Park.

Can a drag queen — certain he’ll never find a woman who can handle the fact his wardrobe and makeup is better than hers — convince the workin’ girl to give him a chance? And can Sandy let someone into a kink she only discovered because a client asked for it? She’s never experienced it with someone she cares about, but it happens to be Vic’s kink, too.

 

Review

 

I picked this one up because: straight drag queen and peacock shifter. Just take my money.

The heroine is a sex worker who deals in a lot of kink that is a bit much for me and even though the kink Sandy and Vic get up too is well explained, it just wasn't a great plot piece for me. 

Not bad. Not great. Better than the last one I read in this series. 

Also, supporting Cocky books.

The beauty of reading horror books is this: even though you’ve probably read this same thing or read the same horror book with similar plots, cookie cutter characters, etc, what really matters at the end of the day is; does it provide you with enough chills and creep factor to get you reading?

Thankfully, this one delivers!

The plot is pretty standard; haunted house that is on the market but nobody buys it. It needs a super cleansing and a group of people are gathered and led by a Professor who’s looking out for redemption. It seems pretty much like a typical horror plot out there but it’s well written and the flow is consistent. That being said, the real action starts about the last third of the book. Think of this book as an introduction to a cast of characters, and what their ‘gifts’ are like. Their background stories are provided, and everything leading up to the night at the house is well done. It prepares to reader as to what to look forward to (with some creep factor in between)

So let’s get to the creep factor. It’s definitely there. The descriptions and events happening is enough to give the reader chills and leaves it to their imagination. There’s plenty of loud noise moments, evil laughter, and things going bump in the night to contribute to the enjoyment of reading this book.

The characters could have been better now, perhaps because it’s an introduction to the group but there’s not much substance to them (at least to some) I was a bit disappointed in George and Leonard because they had a lot to contribute but it seemed to have fizzled out when it really counts. For the most part it’s mostly John, Jenny and Gabriel in the spotlight. They’re all pretty much likable and their own storylines are good to read to provide more ‘fleshing out’ of the character.

It’s a solid horror story with a good ending. Of course it looks like there’s a second book coming out and I’m going to go and read it. I enjoyed this one immensely.

In the Still of the Night: The Supernatu... I requested In The Still of the Night on the basis of the synopsis and the cover. The author’s name didn’t register with me until later. I immediately had a serious twinge of regret because I had never successfully finished one of this author’s books before. I had that thought my initial problems with Golemon’s writing were just stylistic differences. That that was why I couldn’t get into his Event Group thrillers. As it turned out, that was not the case. It was more that I just can’t stand to read a lot of this man’s writing. But I sucked it up, got the first book in this series, and dragged myself, kicking and screaming, through it. And then I sighed and started on this one.

In the Still of the Night was an awkward read. For a writer that is as well-known as he seems to be, his writing is positively painful to read sometimes. It’s filled with unnecessary details (not world building, either. Just flat-out unnecessary details.) And, though much more minor this time, there are still inconsistencies. However, most of these problems were in the first fourth of the book. And, somehow, the middle of the book was almost completely different!

The middle of In the Still of the Night is the best portion of the book. Golemon's writing miraculously loses its awkwardness and the story becomes easy (easier, at least) to read, and rather engrossing. I found myself rooting for the characters, wanting to know how things ended, and anticipating the ending. There was tension, intrigue, and all sorts of fun stuff. The writing was so different in fact, that I wondered what in the world had happened. But I just decided to count my blessings, in the end, and finish the story.

But, alas, the almost goodness of the middle portion slowly degraded as I neared the end. While it never again achieved quite the same roughness of the first fourth, I found that I was unable to continue to enjoy the book. Goleman has, to me, an inability to write scenes which immerse the reader in the experience.

I will say that I was happy that In the Still of the Night seemed less like a mash-up of better known novels, and more of a unique take on a vaguely familiar tale. However, I have learned my lesson and will never again willingly pick up another one of the author’s novels. While his writing style is, undeniably, accessible, it has the overall charm of a talented high schooler’s attempts at a novel. By this I mean: It’s obvious the talent for story telling exists, but the chasm between the talent for telling stories and the ability to write engagingly is rather large.

Overall, In the Still of the Night was much, much better than The Supernaturals, and I know that many people have reviewed it positively. I’m just not one of them.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for review consideration.

So there was this book on Netgalley that looked excellent. It had a synopsis that immediately piqued my attention. I requested it , saw that it was the second in the series, and request the first one – The Supernaturals – from my local library. And somewhere along the line, I recognized that the name David L. Golemon sounded very familiar. Two minutes on Goodreads, and I had my answer. Golemon is the author of the Event Group thrillers. I have two of those books, and I don’t think I’ve ever managed to finish either of them. Oh dear…

But I had said I’d review the second one, so I needed to read The Supernaturals first. So, I bravely told myself that maybe this series would be different. I can occasionally be hit or miss with thrillers, but am fairly easy to please with supernatural stuff. I hoped I’d start reading The Supernaturals and be swept away by the story. This would be the Golemon book that I finished and loved!!

Well… it’s the Golemon book that I finished, at least. I deserve a cookie.

The Supernaturals is a fairly well-written book in most respects. There are a few consistency errors that bugged me, like the broken neck that became a broken leg. I liked the characters – or at least the idea of the characters. I loved how the book started off with stuff happening immediately. I thought that the initial idea that the author presented for the house (that it could look so cheery and beautiful while the evil was dormant) was really neat. But just because it’s fairly well-written doesn’t make it a good book. A book like The Supernaturals needs to sell on the tension, the atmosphere, as everything builds to the big showdown.

It didn’t. Not even a little bit.

The Supernaturals was the most flat, boring slog of a haunted house book that I’ve ever forced myself through. Still, up until the very end, I was going to give three stars. “Not for me, but not necessarily bad either”. Then we hit the ‘big reveal’, and I just got irritated.

Okay, so, look, I’m not a writer. Never claimed to be one. But common sense would tell me that when you’re writing a haunted house horror novel, you don’t just badly try to mash Hell House and The Haunting of Hill house together and pretend you wrote anything original. Because that’s what The Supernaturals is, in my opinion. When the pieces all came together for The Supernaturals, my mouth dropped open and I stared aghast at the page. This was… this was Hell House’s ending, with a dash of The Haunting of HIll House as topping. Not it’s exact ending, mind you. Not saying Golemon plagiarized it. But it’s like buying a pair of knock-off Nikes. Yeah, they might look great, but soon you realize they’re just a pale imitation and soon you have blisters and your feet hurt, and you realize you should have saved up for the real things.

It’s interesting, because I just finished my second read of the third book in the Newsflesh Trilogy. Blackout isn’t, by any means, a great book. It’s definitely the weakest of the trilogy. Rather mediocre, all in all. But, it’s delivered in such a way that keeps your attention on it. You can feel the tension rise as things get revealed. You care for the characters – even the side ones that are barely in it. The presentation more than makes up for the somewhat weak story. But in The Supernaturals, David L. Golemon takes the bones of a great story (if you ignore that ending), and presents it in such a flat, monotone way that you have to force yourself to turn the page.

And I still have to read the second one.
Joy.
Maybe it’ll be better?
Sweet baby Cthulhu, I hope so.