John Dies at the End felt very much like a book that was written in pieces without a particular goal in mind, with weird episodic sections that didn't always tie together too neatly.  This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It comes together much more tightly, with a plot that's (mostly) coherent and character motivations that make a little more sense.

After the events of the previous novel, things haven't really settled down much in the town of "Undisclosed".  It's still a terrible town, with nothing much to recommend it.  David and John still are useless layabouts.  Only now, and infestation of weird spider-like parasites are taking over and zombifying people.  With humans mutating into super-killers and a government unable to quell the fears of the nation, the infected are quarantined in the hospital where they think the outbreak began.  Obviously David and John know better.

This book is slightly less insane than the first, but what it loses in crazy it picks up with a better story, even if it feels like a messed up comedy version of the Walking Dead.  There are still the swears and the reference to drug use as in the first, but it feels tamer, more accessible.  You certainly need to have read the first book to understand why John and David are special, and why David's dog Molly seems unusually clever.

Mia, Antoine and Midori are the envy of the world. They are the three lucky teenagers who have been randomly chosen to go on a trip to the moon  to commemorate the first landing.  As everyone tunes in to watch the takeoff, we find Oleg Himmelfarb in front of the TV at his nursing home, trying to remember something as the footage of the moon plays. No one is supposed to go back to the moon, he thinks. What is it they find on the moon again?

First off, 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad is not the best written book. Perhaps something is lost in translation from the Norwegian original. Nevertheless, this science fiction still has its merits and good entertainment value. Here's our joint review (contains spoiler):

Steven: It took way too long to get into the real story. The first 150, maybe even 200 pages, were just setting up who these characters were, but this background info, except maybe in the case of Mia, was not mentioned ever again in the rest of the book.  This book seriously violates the principle of Chekhov's Gun and it makes for a frustrating reading experience. None of the background info helps us care more about the characters because their backstories are irrelevant to the rest of the plot.
Like the bit about Antoine's girlfriend. The chapter from her point of view in which she feels that something bad has happened to him is quite pointless, since readers already knew about it.

Virginia: That is definitely my biggest complaint about this book too. Fortunately, for those who stick with the book, it does get better and progressively more intense. Once they were on the moon and mysterious and horrible things started to happen, we have a story. You kinda knew that there's no hope for these guys, and I'm glad they stick with that throughout, rather than taking the easy way out.  I like the ending. Feels right to me and it fits.


Steven: The book could have ended a couple of pages earlier, though.  Things are spelled out to us that may have been better left to the imagination.  I already know that a threat exists: it was explained to us more than once already.

Virginia:  Maybe it's priming for a sequel...  Well, like we said, despite its flaws and plot holes, the book is still worth recommending. One thing I know we both really like is that this book is one of the rare cases where even though we have a female protagonist, it's not about a girl, and so there's no girly-ness to it at all. 


Steven: The book also really reminded me of a Japanese horror Manga.  I haven't read many, but the ones I have read felt much like this: hopeless and bleak.  Come to think of it, it seems most Nordic entertainment that we get over here is like that.  Maybe this isn't unusual.  You tell me, Virginia.  You read Nordic authors.


Virginia: Yah, probably pretty grim, even for crime fiction. The main guys are generally more flawed, and  at least for the ones I've read, you don't really feel the triumph of solving a crime and a job well done at the end. Can't get enough of them though. 


Despite its flaws, we'll still recommend this sci-fi/horror to readers who enjoy Alien, Event Horizon, Solaris, or the more depressing Philip K. Dick works.

What do you get when you combine the current two most popular themes in teen fiction? The Hunt, by Andrew Fukuda.


In Gene's world, everyone is a vampire, and humans, whom they call hepers, are protected just like endangered animals. They are only released once a year for the Hunt, an annual event that demonstrates and consolidates the power of "the Ruler" (Sounds familiar? Yah, I know.)  Only a selected few are picked by lottery to participate in this delicious feast, and Gene's name was chosen. It would have been his lucky day, except he is actually a human. Of course he is.  Can he survive among the bloodthirsty fiends?


For this book to work, readers will have to buy into the premise that Gene has successfully passed as a vampire for all this time until now. Since a good chunk of the book is spent on telling you all the things that you can and will do wrong that give you away as a human, the premise is a little hard to swallow.  There is also a crucial plot element that you wish you can't see from miles away. Having said that, it is nice to see the return to real vicious vampires. Like the ones in Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Killer (better movie than people give it credit I think).  The Hunt, when it finally happens, is actually pretty intense. The dynamics between Gene and the hepers is probably the most interesting part, and hopefully we'll see more in the next book.  What? You weren't expecting a sequel?


The Hunt is also available on audiobook. Check out a sample clip, courtesy of Macmillan Audio.

Given the final book in the trilogy just came out about two weeks ago, it's a good time to take a look at the book that started it all.

Another plane has safely landed at the JFK airport, but it shuts down suddenly and every light goes off. When all attempts to communicate with the plane fail, they call in various emergency response teams, including Dr. Eph Goodweather of Disease Control, fearing that something has happened to the people on the plane. Something did...and it's going to spread to people on the ground. Eph reluctantly teams up with a seemingly out-of-his-mind professor and Holocaust survivor and together they battle an ancient evil.

Pan Labyrinth's Del Toro has taken the classic vampire and given it a make-over and drained anything that is "romantic" about the concept. Instead, he gives us something totally gruesome and horrifying and definitely not for the squeamish. Everyone has his/her own demon to deal with literally, and the humans seem to be fighting a long losing battle right from the start. It's kinda hard to keep up with the big cast of characters, and there is only so many times you can truly feel scared and worried as you read about these vampire attacks.  Still, there are some great cinematic scenes and it's a good one to suggest to mature readers who are looking for something that will "scare your pants off" (what a kid told me she's looking for the other day)

It's a strange sensation, Isaac thought as he put his hands into the mirror box. It's like he has three arms. Being a big fan of optical illusions, he is really excited when he found the box the previous owners of his house have left behind. Isaac can totally see how this can make amputees feel like they still have both arms, and take away the phantom pain.
He wishes something can make his mom feel better. She's been in the hospital for a while now, even though she's admitted with something pretty minor.  
Then he saw it. The arm moves. No, not his own, but the one reflected in the mirror. It is now waving at him.  Isaac quickly withdraws his hands from the box, but the arm... It is still there. 
After just a dozen pages, I knew I want to booktalk this. The concept is awesome.  You can either take the mirror box angle, or the serial killer one (yes there is a serial killer on the loose).  The problem though, is that the story falters with too many implausible happenings, especially the stuff at the hospital. Even the bullies don't seem very realistic.  The hospital visits get repetitive and frustrating without progressing the storyline, and it is really difficult to believe that Isaac will get dragged not once but twice for some strange procedures in the hospital.  When the most believable thing in the whole story is the ghost, there is a slight problem.
Thank you Amulet Books for making this eGalley available on netGalley.
 
Do you booktalk mediocre books that you know will draw potential readers in?  Tell us in the comment section.

Gibbons remembers the walk to the execution chamber. He remembers the gathering of spectators: reporters, victims' families...all here to watch him die.  He remembers the doctor giving him the lethal injection and slowly losing consciousness. He remembers dying...So why is he now wide awake, struggling to get out of a body bag? 
Dr. Lee Hartnup is the town's only mortician, so he knows of a hush-hush secret: they're bringing one of the century's most notorious serial killers back here for burial. But that day when he goes in to prepare the corpse, there is no corpse. Homer Gibbons is sitting up, very much alive, scrutinizing his surroundings.  And then all of a sudden he lunges for Doc and takes a big bite out of his face.
And so it begins... This is the way the world ends.  Not with a bang…but a bite. 



You may know Maberry from his teen books Rot & Ruin and the recently released sequel Dust & Decay. And just like in those books, there is nothing hot, sizzling or romantic about the zombies in his latest adult offering either. You've got to read some of Maberry's first-rate descriptions of the living dead. The words assault all your five senses and you just want to touch your face to make sure everything's intact.
The book doesn't feel like a mere gore fest though, because you feel pretty connected to the characters that got thrust into this apocalyptic world. Dez, the dysfunctional (understatement) cop whom you don't want to mess with, Billy the reporter who will do anything for a piece of news, JT, Dez's partner and the father-figure, and Dr. Volker, who in his twisted sense of logic and justice created the zombies in the first place. Maberry also creates a whole background story as to why Gibbons is turned, and it will satisfy conspiracy lovers. I also like how we get the narration from Doc after he's been turned into a zombie. It adds a nice "insider" look.  There is a fair bit of swearing in this book, but given the circumstances, well, do you blame them?
And this chilling piece of horror fiction brings me to a TechCrunch blog post I read about a new app called Booktrack.  The app boasts to add a soundtrack (sound effects and ambient background music) to the book you're reading. In their promo video, it shows how as you're reading the word "nightclub", you'll hear a bunch of people chatting and mingling, like you would in a nightclub. Really?  You think readers seriously need that?  It's like those kids' toys. You just have to press one little button and it plays a whole minute of noises for you.  Umm... I think we're capable of doing that ourselves, thank you very much. I definitely had no trouble picturing Maberry's zombies, and in fact, wished that they weren't so burnt into my brain right now.


To be released in October 2011. Thanks for making this advanced copy available, St. Martin's Griffin, imprint of MacMillan, and thanks Netgalley.

A book I was really looking forward to after reading lots of good things about it on the web, with endorsements like "full of old-school vampires who would rather tear your throat out than kiss your face off" (from the Book Zone) or as the publisher puts it, "make a Darren Shan novel look like a romantic comedy", you've got to wonder what kind of book this is.
Jamie Carpenter was constantly reminded that his dad was a traitor to the country. He remembered the night they came for him and the menacing shadows in the tree. He resented his dad. It's because of him that he and his mom had to keep moving to get away from the gossip. Somehow each town they stop had a way of finding out.
Then one night on his way home, he's attacked by a girl of inhuman speed. It's obvious that this girl could kill him pretty effortlessly, but she hesitated, and that's when Jamie got rescued by a large man who introduced himself as Frankenstein. When they got back home, his mother was gone. Kidnapped. Jamie wanted nothing more than to go find his mom, but Frankenstein forced him into the car and drove him to Department Nineteen, a top secret government agency that specialized in the supernatural, and Jamie found out that his father used to work here, and someone wants revenge and payback and is going to hunt Jamie down till he gets it.
A non-stop action book, with an abundance of gore and some pretty disturbing scenes. A lot of interesting details, especially when it flashes back to the story of Van Helsing and Stoker and the first Dracula, and how Department 19 was created in the first place. Those gothic scenes were great.  Love the old-school vampires. What a relief from you-know-what!  Love the stakes and the weapons the guys carry. It makes me feel like watching From Dusk Till Dawn again. I also like the slow transition of Jamie from being completely helpless and clueless to taking matters into his own hands.  Somewhat predictable plot-wise, but it didn't really take away from the enjoyment of the book. And what a cover! Love it!

I don't know if you can ever get used to seeing dead people, but after so many years, Callum at least knows to expect them and not be too surprised by their appearances.  You know what is scarier than seeing ghosts though?  It's not seeing them all of a sudden. Callum was walking home through the forest and there were always ghosts gathering there, but today, nothing. It's dead silent. Then as he tried to hurry home, he heard a piercing howl. He had no interest in finding out what could be so terrifying that even the ghosts had to hide.
Callum started running.
When he got inside and had calmed himself down, he thought perhaps he'd imagined it all.  Afterall, it could just be all that murder talk he'd been hearing about all day.  The kids were discussing the gruesome details today...something about the victims' eyes being torn out and stuff. He's sure a good night sleep would make everything better, but of course, you already know that is not going to happen.
The cover, as you can see, is a bit over the top, but it is a decent page-turning horror story, which is hard to come by in books for that late elementary / early high school group. The "hunt" begins almost right away, and it's hard to stop reading as you watch this nightmare unfolds for Callum, his grandma and his new friend Melissa. The murders are pretty gory, but the scariest scene is definitely when Callum literally comes face to face with the hunter with just the window of his house between the two. It's bone-chilling scary.  The characters are okay, but I'm sure character development is not the key here,which is just fine for this type of story.