Welcome to Catalina Island, home of solitude, wine mixers and missing persons. On Labor Day, Henry Cadmus, his wife Ruby and their daughter Moxie are on their way to visit his mother who has recently moved back to the island. Henry and his mother, although not being well off monetarily lived on the island for a short spell during his youth. After the two moved off of the island, Henry still tried to keep in correspondence with his mother. Although the two drifted apart and the letters were few and far between, his mother flat out just stopped responding to her only son.

Returning to the island is not something that Henry wants to do thanks to all of the bad memories he has from his short stay during his youth, but with his new family along with him now, he figures that all of the bad things that happened were all in his head. Stopping to get something to eat at the local diner, Henry keeps his eyes and ears open for familiar faces and problems. One local woman that enters the diner is a real estate broker and when Henry hears her voice, he recognizes her as a girl that tormented him when he was a child. When they arrive at their hotel, they hear a private investigator named Arbuthnot asking about a missing person. Not really putting the pieces together yet, Henry is able to obtain directions to the Shady Isle Retirement Community to go and find his mother, just to make sure she is okay.

That afternoon, Henry and Ruby take a hike out to Shady Isle. Finding a large gate in their way, Henry hits the button to get someone out of the buildings to come let them in. When no response comes, Henry and Ruby begin to make the long trek back to the hotel, but Henry is not done yet with his search for his mother. Stopping at the local police department, Henry is able to voice his distrust about Shady Isle, but it seems as if the officer that is taking the complaint is not interested. ‘People move out here for the solitude and quiet. If your mother wanted to talk to you, she would. Please be on your way.’ This does more than infuriate Henry, it motivates him to take action on his own, and what he will find will be far from what he expected.

Terminal Island puts you into the eyes of Henry Cadmus as he tries to find out what has happened to his mother, along with battling his memories of what the island had done to him in his youth. Private Investigator Arbuthnot fills in not only as an advisor on Henry’s quest but assures the young man that everything that did happen to him on the island was real, and that Henry would never believe in any of it until seeing it with his own eyes. Ruby, Henry’s wife, tries her best to keep a handle on the situation with her husband, but she reaches a point where she thinks that he has completely lost it and needs some sort of medical attention.

This is an interesting read to say the least. Most of the crucial parts of this book are written in flashbacks, and while I usually don't like those, they flow well with the story, so you understand what is going on and why it is happening. If you keep your eyes open, you will be able to see the ending coming, although they try to take a clever twist on it. If you are open to some disturbing imagery, a new god, Zagreus, along with a new religion that just seems flat out crazy, this book is for you.

A young man is found crucified and decapitated with the mark of the Gemini on his left palm. The work of the Gemini killer is suspected by the police force, but this cannot be since the Gemini has been dead for over a decade. Lieutenant William Kinderman is called in to investigate the heinous crime. Kinderman is not alone in believing that there must be a reasonable explanation for this gruesome murder, but is unable to put his finger on it before leaving the scene of this gruesome murder, a boat house.

William Kinderman is a highly regarded member of the police force, even though he is getting high up in his years of service and he is known for speaking his mind and saying what he believes before his mind has a chance to stop him. This earns him a reputation of being senile around the department, but even with this knowledge; Kinderman never lets it affect his work. Father Joe Dyer is fully aware of this quirk when it comes to the aging lieutenant, but never holds it against him. The two have been friends for many years and have always been able to find common ground to stand on, even when their respective religions cross paths.

Suddenly, a new murder has been called in, a priest is found decapitated in his confessional, yet none of the parishioners seemed to see anything. Kinderman is called to the scene once again, only to find the same M.O. that the youth suffered in the boat house. Trying to wrap his head around the two murders of two completely different victims, Kinderman turns to his friend Father Dyer once again. The father is laid up in the hospital, but willing to help as always. The father receives a new doctor, Vincent Amfortas, who is ready to retire to pursue his studies in pain suppression, and a line of questioning from Kinderman makes the doctor a prime suspect, until the lieutenant sees a familiar face from his past...

Blatty’s Legion takes you on a journey into the realm of faith, beliefs and possession. Kinderman is challenged by an unknown force that will put him at odds with his department, friends and family.  Without knowing who or when an attack will be coming or who the intended victim will be, Kinderman has to look deep inside of himself and try to think as his foe would to protect the next target.

Legion is a fantastic read, a thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. You get to see the world from the eyes of a disgruntled doctor, an aging lieutenant along with the spirit. When Kinderman asks the spirit its name and the response is, ‘Legion, for we are many’, the hair still sticks up on the back of my neck. The novel will keep you thinking up to the very end of who the killer really is and how the murders were managed by one individual, even if he were supposedly locked up while they happened. Stay Scared.

Very few times can you ever find what you are looking for, if you are looking for it. When you lose your keys, your wallet or matching socks, they are never there when you need them when you make a conscious effort to find them. They always turn up in the most unexpected places and appear out of nowhere when you have given up your search. 

Dr. Montague is looking for something to expand his career, a legitimate haunted house. He has stayed in several homes that have had this claim attached to them, but none of them have ever produced anything concrete. Hearing the stories and reading the articles about Hill House, Dr. Montague is more than intrigued. Sending out many letters to find a group of people that would be as interested in possibilities of the paranormal, along with having some kind of background dealing with the same thing, the Doctor receives three letters back saying they will accompany him on this journey.

Arriving at Hill House, Eleanor Vance is excited but frightened at the same time. She has just stolen her sister’s car to go on this expedition and was going to have no regrets until she had seen how the house was looking at her. It was cold, dark and did not seem to appreciate her looking in its general direction, or it could have been the rude greeting she received from Mr. Dudley manning the front gate. However, regardless of her feelings, she is still ready to enter the home and see what the legends could produce in her presence. Being joined by a second visitor, Theodora, Eleanor finds that she may have a friend that she can depend upon while they are in the spooky house.

The two ladies take a walk outside of the creepy old house and find that there is a brook nearby that they should go and visit during their stay. A picnic needs to be had, for it is beautiful outside of the old house and no daylight should be wasted while they are investigating. Looking back at the house, the two agree that it looks very eerie. Making their way back to the spooky location, they find that two more guests have made their way in. Luke Sanderson and Dr. Montague have arrived and are ready to get settled in as well. Mrs. Dudley, the caretaker in the old house is very strict in her ways and lets the group know her schedule and will not deviate from it one bit. Everyone agrees, Mrs. Dudley maybe a little out of whack, but find humor in her dedications to the schedule.

The group gets together to discuss their past and what they are going to be doing in Hill House. Dr. Montague wants everyone to write down what they find in this haunted house, and he also lets them know not to worry if they encounter a spirit, as ghosts cannot hurt the living. Everyone gives a laugh and retires for the evening. The first night goes well for everyone, nothing out of the ordinary happens and some feel as though they enjoyed their finest sleep in ages. But the second night is where things get a little different as Eleanor and Theodora hear a knocking sound coming down the hallway that stops at their room…and waits for them to acknowledge they are still in the room. The women get very upset, but when the good doctor returns to the room, they both seem to be strangely calm and go about their business, until they are not able to find the two men in the morning for breakfast.

The Haunting of Hill House is a spooky tale that follows a group of four individuals that have never met before, but have to depend on each other to keep their sanity. Dr. Montague is the leader of the group, trying to provide rational explanations about what is happening. Everyone feels safe within the house, including Eleanor who the house has its eyes set on as messages are scrolled upon the walls calling to her. Eleanor keeps her cool for the most part, but when it gets to be too much for her, she gives in and starts to succumb to the haunting. Trying to protect everyone, along with his inheritance, Luke seems to be the sanest, but he can only keep it together for so long before the strange happenings start to get to him as well. Hill House is looking for someone, or something to sooth its eighty year old rage and there may be just the right victim now inside of its walls.

In need of a classic haunted house book on your book shelves? The Haunting of Hill House is a great one to add to your collection. Shirley Jackson has written a great piece that continues to have people raving, years after it has hit the shelves, and it even became a Netflix TV series. The disturbing thought that someone in the afterlife could be stalking a living, breathing person and driving them a little crazy is one thing, but making sure that same person gets driven into madness without feeling bad about it is just scary. It may be a short novel, but it does not keep you wondering what anyone in the house, or the house wants in the long run as everyone gets their own brand of scares throughout the story. It is a fantastic read and something that should be added to any horror fan's collection. Stay Scared and Happy Reading.

Best friends William Halloway and James Nightshade spy the words above, on a sign being waved around their small town, a carnival was coming, but this late in year, being October and all, something had to be wrong. But none the less the boys are going to attend and see all that the freak show will provide. Being born just days apart, these two are joined at the hip, and nothing will ever change that. On their walk home, they devise a plan to see the carnival setting up, but nothing could have prepared them for what a little bit of sneaking around would manifest from the carnies.

The carnivals calliope (steam organ) beckons the young men to come down, playing its seductive tune, but when the boys arrive to watch the set-up, no one is playing it, the cold wind shrilling off of the pipes is the cause of the alluring sounds. The boys, although a bit freaked out, stay and watch as more of the carnival's set up comes to life. With the tents being erected, rides being unloaded, and the freaks all heading to their appropriate areas, nothing looks out of the ordinary, until one sheet of canvas is unloaded off of the train, and it seems to be eyeing the boys. But, it is getting late, so the boys decide it is time to leave and hit up the new attraction in the morning.

Have you ever wondered what happens in a carnival, how their performances always seem to be the same from year to year, how your ticket taker never seems to age a day from the last time you saw them? Something Wicked This Way Comes will be more than willing to answer your questions of why this seems to happen. The young friends Jim and Will are exposed to the carnival's secrets first hand and put into situations that no teenagers should ever be privy to. They are joined by Charles Halloway, Will’s father on their quest for knowledge of this carnival that seems to have alternative motives other than just entertaining the townies.

Being pursued by one of the carnivals proprietors, Mr. Dark, The Illustrated Man is on the hunt for the two boys. Sending his carnival brethren out into the town to find the children that threaten his very existence, there seems to be little chance of escape for the two friends. The carnival is always looking for new acts and attractions, any new one will do. Many colorful characters join the hunt, but it will only come down to Mr. Dark facing off against his new-found enemies.

This story is an altogether home run! Bradbury takes your common love of the carnival, adds some magic and evils it up a bit, and boom, you have a classic horror story. This was hard to put down once the boys are discovered mulling around the carnival site. The searching by the carnies and the instant retaliation by the boys is epic. You also have a father opening up to his son, showing him that getting old is not a bad thing. This one is a classic and definitely has my seal of approval, so get out and read this now and never look at a carnival the same way ever again.  

Welcome to Seattle, Washington Territory, early 1860’s. The rumors of great gold reserves in the Klondike have run though the young U.S. and Russian territories. Being closer to these reserves, the Russian’s open up a contest to whomever is able to build a drill that is able to penetrate a hundred feet of solid ice to recover this massive treasure. Leviticus Blue, a local on Seattle’s Denny Hill rises to the challenge and builds the most effective drill to date, the Boneshaker. Upon experimenting with his newest accomplishment, Blue changes the landscape of his home city, forever.

The Boneshaker does its job, boring underneath the town, but being built on an unsteady foundation already; the city quickly collapses again, this time releasing a gas called Blight. With the city in shambles and a gas leak that does not only kill its victims, a wall is resurrected around the city to keep the all of its horrors locked inside. Although Blight can be used to produce a drink called sap, it also turns its victims who inhale enough of the noxious gas into the walking dead, called Rotters.

Brair Wilkes, formerly Brair Blue, is questioned about her late husband’s work and his possible collusion with the Russians to release an attack on the country. Brair never says anything about the possible conspiracy and just tries to go on with her life as any normal person would, outside of the wall. Raising her fifteen-year-old son Zeke on her own, she has nothing left from the life she had previously known. Zeke watches as his mother tries to defend the family name and notices the toll it takes on her over the years, so he decides that it is on his shoulders to find the proof that will clear his family name.

Boneshaker puts you into the eyes of the Wilkes family, as you follow young Zeke sneaking under the wall and into the main city of Seattle that has been ravaged by the destruction that his father had caused with his machine. Not knowing who to trust, or what a Rotter really is, he teams up with who he thinks is trustworthy at the time, using his Grandfather's good name to fall back on if he gets into trouble. His mother, Brair also joins the journey as she searches for the only thing that matters to her at all in this life, her son. They both are in for more than they bargain for from the start, but are able to find allies, and meet the only man that is able to keep whomever is still alive in the city alive, Minnericht.

This book takes you on a fantastic trip into the past with technology that is before its time, but is able to run with what they had available to them. You meet several different characters in the Wilkes' quest for the truth and get an all-around feel for the hardships within the city. Being to Seattle several times in my life, the use of the ‘underground’ which is real in the city, just makes the story come to life just that much more. Boneshaker is also a steampunk genre novel, so if that is your arena and you combine that with trying to survive Zombie attacks, then this is the book for you. Either way, this is a solid read, make sure you check it out.  

Welcome to the Big Easy, a place of joy and spiritual beliefs that could be taken to the extreme by any faction. Now add in a book that possesses the power to add in the extra step, the Necronomicon. Now welcome to the Big Uneasy, a city full of Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, Ghouls, Succubi and Trolls. That is what had happened down in New Orleans once this book was delivered to the local museum and a clumsy curator cut himself and his blood activated the powerful spell book.

Dan Chambeaux, was a private investigator in the city before the change took place, now after being gunned down in the street, he is a Zombie investigator. Still taking the same types of cases as he would as if he were alive, Chambeaux continues to work out of his old office of Chambeaux and Deyer Investigations. This office is catered perfectly for the changes that have befallen the city. His partner is Robin Deyer, a lawyer and the only human on staff and there is Sheyenne, Chambeaux’s ex-girlfriend who was poisoned and has returned to become a ghostly receptionist. The workload for the group has never faltered, especially after the city turned upside down. If anything, they have never been busier taking in every request that has come their way. The only problem is that when working for an Unnatural, you do not know what kind of payment you will receive. 

Although he is working for many different parties, Chambeaux is still investigating two top cases in his spare time. He is desperately looking for the man that gunned him down, along with the person that poisoned his girlfriend turned ghost. Getting a new case from a Miranda Jekyll, who is looking to divorce her husband and not get shafted by the lawyers, Chambeaux is thrown into a larger case than he had expected. Trying to find any dirt he can on Miranda’s husband, Chambeaux has to trail one of the top salesmen for her husband's company, Jekyll Lifestyle Products and Necroceuticals (JLPN). Brendon Morris is a fan of Chambeaux and the lawsuit that was brought upon the large company since JLPN is the largest and only distributor of cosmetics for the Unnaturals that run around the Big Uneasy, but one of their previous batches caused massive allergic reactions, almost causing death, well second death to their users.

Death Warmed Over will leave your head shaking as the unnaturals around the town are at each other’s throat for one reason or another, but need to band up to keep from being run out of the city by the Straight Edge extremist group that wants them all gone, and it turns out the Straight Edge group has a leader that may be more powerful than anyone could imagine, which is bad news for the unnaturals because all men, even dead men can be defeated at this enigmatic leader's hands.

This is just a fun little read as you follow Chambeaux (Shamble as the locals call him) on his investigations around town. You meet several colorful characters, mostly dead or undead depending on your point of view and find out that their problems are just the same as the living. The cases that are depicted in this book range from faulty spell books, vegetarian vampire protection, divorce, drunk ghost hauntings, and a mummy that wants to be paid for his service in the museum. Although you do not get the horror or thriller feel from this book, you get to enjoy much more interactions between the characters and though you may shy away, there is a pig that is more than willing to snuggle with your leg. Enjoy and keep reading!

December 20th, 1970 two black Cadillacs pull up to the Belasco house, also known as 'Hell House' with an investigation crew of four that are ready to find and unlock the secrets of the house's cursed past. Leading the charge, Dr. Lionel Barrett, a physicist that is dabbling in the studies of parapsychology and he is ready to disprove all of the stories and hearsay that the 'Mount Everest' of haunted houses has to offer.  

The second researcher, Barrett’s wife, Edith, is along for the ride to assist and support her husband during his venture and she is not ready for what the house has in store for her. Third on the team is medium Florence Tanner, a spiritualist and ex Hollywood starlet who knows that she can find and unravel any deep dark secrets the old house can throw at her with her knowledge of love and how it affects the deceased. The fourth and final member is, Benjamin Fischer, who is a physical medium and the only survivor from a failed investigation back in 1940.

Current house owner William Deutsch has heard all of the stories about the Belasco house and wants to know once and for all if it is haunted or not before he dies. Hiring the best in their fields, Deutsch has assembled the best chance of finding out the true secrets the house is still holding on to. Two past investigations were conducted with the same type of crews in 1931 and 1940, with both ending in tragedy, and the last time around, eight people entered the house, and only Fischer walked away alive. The man behind this evil venue, Emeric Belasco, is said to be the driving haunt that remains in the house. A large man by any standards, standing 6’5”, Belasco earned the nickname from his patrons as 'The Roaring Giant'. Belasco was infamous for throwing large parties where his guests would never want or get to leave the house again. 

Welcome to Richard Matheson’s Hell House, a story where you follow the four investigators as they try to battle and survive unseen forces in the house. They do not all see eye to eye on their opinions of what or who may be tormenting them, but they all can agree that something strange will be working them to their last nerve. The house knows their individual weaknesses and is more than willing to prey upon them, if it is skepticism, pride, longing, or even the thought of love, the house will pull no punches. From the first entrance of the group into the house, strange things from footsteps to voices that cannot be explained haunt the group and the events only escalate from there.

Pick this book up and give it a read. Great ghost stories are hard to find and a story, so captivating is next to impossible. Matheson has a great story telling style that does not allow you to get too much information upfront but is more than willing to give you enough clues, so you don’t feel so bad at the end of the book. This is one of the greatest horror novels I have read to date, you feel for every character, even your villain, which is no easy feat for any writer.

Note to readers – You may have seen movies that share the namesake of Hell House. None of these come close to what this book delivers.  You may see some similarities, a group enters a haunted house, something attacks the group, and people die. The attacks and rebuttal from the group is what makes this book stand on its own. Don’t let Hollywood persuade you on this one. Give it a read and decide for yourself.

We all live and learn from our memories. Some of them have changed our lives for the better, others continue to haunt us. Needless to say, our memories change our lives and for the lack of a better way of saying it, they make us who we are today.

The same can be said for Danny Torrance. Remembering what he encountered in the Overlook Hotel many years ago, Danny is still prone to dreaming. But unlike most of us, Danny’s dreams come to harm him. Three years after the Overlook burned to the ground, supposedly taking all of its horrors with it, Danny is visited by Mrs. Massey, the woman who died in the tub in room 217. Calling for help, Danny can still find help from old friend Dick Hallorann. Dick gives his shining student a steel box, to hide all of the bad away, not in the box of course, but in his mind.

Twenty years later, Danny is now living his life addicted to the bottle, just like his father. Getting into barroom brawls and hooking up with which ever woman is longing or drunk enough to take him home. The alcohol keeps the shining at bay, at least for the time being. Danny’s eyes open up on his latest one-night stand where he awakens to find the woman’s son walking over to the coffee table and trying to have a taste of the cocaine that was left over from the night before. Removing a few dollars from the woman’s purse and moving the drugs out of reach from unknowing hands, Danny has hit rock bottom and tries once again to start his life over again in a new location.

Stumbling into a little place called Teenytown in Frazier, New Hampshire, Dan (he is a grown up now) finds a miniature train set up that takes kids on the rides of their lives for a few minutes. Dan meets a maintenance worker named Billy who is willing to take a chance on the middle-aged man, but first he will have to meet up with the boss, Casey Kingsley. Casey is a recovering alcoholic and can see that Dan will be a challenge but is willing to take the young man on for a few months. Being able to spot his own kind, Casey waits patiently for Dan to approach him about his addiction to the bottle.

Across the country in the Midwest a group is starting to grow in numbers. The group True Knot is a clan that has been together for many, many years. Always looking for new recruits and a way to feed, the True Knot has been locating young adolescents with the gift of the shining and draining them of it. Steam, the byproduct of these gifted children's lives is what this group feeds upon to keep themselves young and alive. The lack of this Steam causes the members to cycle, phasing in and out until their bodies give up and they perish. The group is running low on their life force and is looking for a way to replenish it and quickly. A young girl named Abra Rafaell Stone is their next target and they will stop at nothing to get to her.

Doctor Sleep is the follow up to Stephen King’s, The Shining, at least the follow up story of what has happened to Danny Torrance. Danny was just a young character in the first book and had little that he could personally do to defeat the evil forces that were trying to punish him. Now he is older, wiser and trying to help out people when he can and becomes a janitor at the Helen Rivington House/Hospice, and he is utilized to help comfort the dying patients in the hospice, giving them all a piece of mind when the end comes. Young Abra Stone is a gifted youth who has tried for some time to hide her abilities given to her by the shining, however, she is not ever in complete control and makes strange things happen from time to time. True Knot is led by Rose (The Woman in the Hat). Rose is looking for one thing and one thing only, the survival of herself and her group and will do anything to protect them as supplies run lean.

Dan teaches young Abra how to control and embrace her powers by putting up barriers and traps to keep True Knot from finding her. Abra is much stronger than Dan in these respects, but she is still a kid and wants to do as much damage as possible to anyone that would want to harm her. Trying to keep her in line, Dan sets up an elaborate plan to pull the True Knot out of hiding at the Bluebell Campground, (the former location of the Overlook Hotel), and try to disperse of the threat that Rose is putting on the young girl. A battle is brewing and only one will come out on top, which one, well you will have to read to find out.

Stephen King delivers with Doctor Sleep. Could some things have been different, could the story line have gone a completely different way to make this an epic? Of course, it could, but that is not the way he was going to go with making little Danny Torrance a grown man. Honestly, what would you do if you had ghosts attacking you in a creepy old hotel, in the middle of winter, with no way to get out? Danny tries to put his past behind him by quieting the gift that has been a burden in his youth, by the use of alcohol. Not saying that is the right way to deal with problems, but if doctors are not able to help you, a little self-medication might be right up your alley.

I liked Doctor Sleep, showing Danny grown into Dan and then watching as Dan grows as the novel persisted was great. Going from a loner, boozer, fighter, to a teacher is a great transition as he continues to help young Abra prepare for the worst. Great characters keep the main two in check with Abra’s parents being hesitant that a thirty plus year old is trying to help their daughter, along with the folks from Frazier trying to keep Dan on his toes, while keeping him dry. ‘Stay away from the woman in the hat, she will eat you alive.’ I will keep that advice in mind for years to come.  

Have you ever purchased something that has changed your life? A new car, a new home, a pair of shoes? When you take that plunge to buy that one thing that seems like it will be life changing for you at the time, you feel like you are on top of the world, but sometimes there is regret shortly after your excitement has died down. Buying something that will be beneficial to you in the long run is always the way to go, but every once in a while that crazy impulse buy could leave you longing for your money back.

Retired rock star Judas Coyne is always on the lookout for something out of the ordinary. Having to still live up to the persona he left on stage years ago for his image and his current girlfriend, Jude is always willing to pay for something that others would shy away from and his manager Danny Wooten has found that one item that nobody else could have, a personal ghost. The offer on the web site says that the ghost is attached to the seller’s uncle’s suit and she needs to get rid of it because he is scaring her daughter. Jumping at the opportunity to purchase something so strange, Jude hits the ‘buy now’ button and ends the bidding in one click. 

When the suit arrives at Jude’s home, he notices that it comes in a black heart-shaped box.  Thinking nothing of it at the time he removes it and takes a good long look. His girlfriend Georgia likes the look of the suit and picks it up, pricking her thumb on a hidden pin and offers to put it on if that is what he wants. Jude declines the offer, telling her that he has purchased not only the suit, but the ghost that was supposed to be buried in it as well. He puts the suit back in the box and puts it on the shelf and goes along with his day, but when he is found in his garage by Georgia sleeping in his car with the engine running, Georgia takes matters into her own hands and burns the outdated garment.

That does not discourage the ghost in any manner as he starts to focus all of his powers on the destruction of Jude. Putting images in Jude’s head of killing his girlfriend, along with toying with Georgia’s emotions, Jude is about to have a rude awakening. When Jude comes to the conclusion that there is nothing in his power to help him get rid of the ghost himself, he decides to take a road trip and return the ghost to its rightful owner, the seller. But during his trip with Georgia, the ghost is right on their heels at every turn. 

A disturbing page turner by Joe Hill that will leave you shaking in your boots. As you get to understand the family and history of Craddock McDermont (the ghost), you start to understand where the true problem lies. One thing that comes with every good ghost story is the truth that is hidden behind it. With the family past in the novel, it is easy to see why Jude’s ex was crazy and ended up killing herself and why Jude is the easy scapegoat. A marvelous ride that will leave you a bit shaken as the pages come to an end and hey, that is what it is supposed to do. Joe Hill does a fantastic job capturing your emotions in this novel and leaving you in awe in the end. Stay Scared.

I've always found it interesting how there are people we encounter in our lives that we simply gravitate toward. It doesn't always happen, but when it does, you know it in an instant. You know that you have to know this person, spend time with them and have them in your lives. 

Sadly, sometimes those people are destructive and unhealthy for our lives and it takes time to get them away from us. But even then, they sometimes return, or we seek them out ourselves. We simply hope that somehow, they have figured out how to change the worst parts of themselves, and the magic we had together can finally return and it is that gravitation toward an unhealthy relationship that is at the core of the final book in the Phineas Poe series, Hell's Half Acre. 

Following the events of Penny Dreadful, Phineas Poe is simply lost in life. But there is one person that seems to give him purpose, Jude. Yes, the woman that removed his kidney so long ago and managed to captivate his heart for a brief time continues to haunt him, putting him on the hunt for her once again. Thankfully he finds his darling Jude in San Francisco but reuniting with his lost love will not be easy. For she has shacked up with a wild sociopath and Phineas will have to go along with this man's sinister quest for satisfaction by way of a snuff film if he ever wants the love of his life near him again.

Well, Will Christopher Baer truly saved the best for last when it came to his Phineas Poe trilogy, simply because this is the darkest and most depraved Poe novel of them all. Yes, never mind that his kidney was stolen in Kiss Me, Judas or that he went deep into the Game of Tongues in Penny Dreadful, this is the crown jewel of this series because it truly leaves everything on the table, especially thanks to our villain, John Ransom Miller.

Miller is about as twisted as it gets. He loves to watch people suffer, he loves pain and he loves screwing with people and Jude's reasons for being drawn to him are what pull you in as a reader. Especially since it's a well-known fact in this series that Jude is not a person who ever takes the time to obsess over anything. Of course, if I say anything past that, I will reveal too much of the intricate plot that Mister Baer put together and that would be doing you and the story a disservice.

Just know that this is a satisfying end to the series, one that leaves you turning the pages because you have to know how it ends for Phineas and Jude and while the content in between will leave you squirming in your seat, the ending and the journey toward it are completely worth it. It's a shame this is the end of the line for Poe’s story, but all good things must come to an end, and I'm just glad I got the opportunity to enjoy this incredibly dark and unique story.