Just a guy on the internet telling others about the awesome books and comics I've read. And why you should too!
By B MURACA
Hello book addicts! We are moving towards a podcast format for The Book Rant. It allows me to be more creative, and more ranting! You can subscribe on Youtube, episodes will be uploaded weekly, I also have other content like trailer reactions. However, this podcast will cover mangas, comics, and books. So let’s get into it!
Episode 1, INTO THE WOLVES DEN, by Jon Athans.
By B. MURACA
You guys finally get to see my ugly mug and hear my voice that makes Moe from The Simpsons sound like a fairy godmother. ;p ENJOY!!
By B. MURACA
How’s it going my fellow book addicts? We are back, and we are here to rant about Chasing the Boogeyman, by Richard Chizmar. This was not your typical horror novel about a serial killer causing chaos around a small town as investigators tried to bring him down. It was written as a true crime story, and told by the author as a first hand account during the summer when it took place. The author revealed everything and wrapped this book up in one of the most amazing endings I had ever read. While I was disappointed that some parts were not true and only added for entertainment (yes, how unfortunate more gruesome things did not already happen in the real world) this nonetheless is a must-read for both horror fiction and true crime fans.
The author himself was the main character in the book (I know, massive ego, right?). The good sir gave us an insight on what life was like for him after college and how he brought to life his magazine, Cemetery Dance. Chizmar was a genius in this. He told a great story as he promoted more of his own work, and how much of a stud he was between having a fiancé and just as beautiful co-writer who helped him on his investigations in the plot of the book. Jokes aside, the police and other journalist he worked with in this story were all heroes. At times they conflicted with each other, yet the story was never weighed down by subplots of drama. Chizmar kept things moving, and the details he wrote out kept readers on the edge of their seats.
While no murders were described as they happened, the descriptions of how the bodies were found and what was done to them, and how it affected the community left the reader feeling shaken. The poor girls who were murdered in the book felt like family with everything Chizmar gave us about their lives, and who they were in their neighborhood, the kind of hobbies they did. One of the greatest tactics he used to bring dread onto the reader was making it obvious who the victim was about to be, but then went on to give them a background story that showed off who they were. In a dreadful, yet exciting way it felt like reading an obituary a week before the person died. The killer’s identity also remained hidden until the amazing ending that unfolded from this novel, but we were given a lot of other suspects in the meantime. Just when it looked like the case was solved the story twisted around and Richard and his friends were looking at other clues.
The book also came along with plenty of photographs of the characters and settings where the murders took place. All of this is even included in the ebook version, so no matter how one reads this, it’s going to be a hell of a time.
Snatch your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Boogeyman-Novel-Richard-Chizmar/dp/1982175168
By B.N. MURACA
Hello my fellow book addicts, back again after yet another hiatus. Mental health problems can be a bitch, and all I can do is apologize and keep coming back bringing you more stuff. I was recently told by a Youtuber, “No one reads blogs anymore.” To which I think is utter bull. This blog is no different than scrolling through tons of Amazon or Goodreads reviews and reading those. This website just offers another opinion by a guy with no social life typing away at a keyboard. Now then, let’s talk about Bobbit Rock!
Detective Isacc is our main character living in the city of Callahan, having lost his wife prior to the novel’s beginning. However, author Joseph Landing does not drive away from sharing all the gory details and emotional despair of her death, as well as how it affects Isacc throughout the story. His department and him are investigating a string of murders that keep happening, and joining the crew is a young, bright girl who I fell for as a character as much as I had with Isacc. Pushing away from the typical cop drama where someone hates the new recruit, she is welcomed in and quickly proves herself to be as tough as the rest of them despite her heart-warming personality, which at times is a light for Isacc to follow in the story that a poor guy like him needs.
Isacc is convinced the murders are being committed, or are at least connected to something that is not human. The Wretched Man. He is not sure if this monster who you see on the cover is even real, yet we as the readers see Isacc being traumatized and brought to despair by this beast more than once in the book. Meanwhile, Callahan continues to erupt into madness as the story continues on, with the town people becoming more afraid and rioting, even attacking the police department eventually, leading the remaining cops to go from solving crimes, to fighting for survival. As more military enters the town, the officials sent to try and fix the situation are more cruel and corrupt than the last. No one is immune to the paranoia caused by the Wretched Man, or whatever is wrong in Callahan.
This is a fast-paced action, horror novel that does not stop for gritty descriptions, and instead keeps your head stuck in the book wanting to see what the hell is going on in this town, and how much worse things can get. That is another thing worth mentioning in this book, as just when you think things cannot possibly get any worse, and the deaths cannot become anymore gruesome, boom, Mr. Landing shocks us with something new again and again. There were a lot of characters I didn’t want to lose, but sadly met horrible, untimley deaths, that at times came out of nowhere. If you love this book and these characters as much as I did, you will be screaming at your book, on the edge of your seat hoping someone else is not about to die. Even though the book is told entirely from Isacc’s point-of-view, the author did so well in illustrating the personalities and backstories of the other characters through their interactions. This was a reread for me, which even if I love a book, does not tend to happen as I already know the ending and twists.
Bobbit Rock was different though. It is so fast-paced and cinematic for an indie novel I had to read it again.
Snatch your copy at: https://www.amazon.com/Bobbit-Rock-Psychological-Horror-Novel-ebook/dp/B07Y8MY1FS
By B.N. MURACA
How goes it my fellow book addicts? I imagine you continue your search for the next story to thrill, scare, and rip your heart out. Allow me to introduce you to Clown in a Cornfield, by Adam Cesare.
Two words: holy moly! This is some book! Clown in a Cornfield took all traits of past and modern slasher movies, while also zoning in on teenager drama and their relationships to the older adults in Kettle Springs. A huge problem with most slasher stories is that they suffer from flat characters that are just chopping blocks for the blade-wielding killer to cut up for a couple hundred pages. That is not the case here though.
Quinn Maybrook is one of my favorite protagonists. Like Jill Valentine from the Resident Evil video game series, Quinn is a down-to-earth girl who had had her fair share of trauma in life, but even when coming face-to-face with the terror she was brave and took on any challenge that came her way. She was not someone who just spent the book running away and screaming. She, along with other characters such as Cole and Rust, are not afraid to pick up a gun and use it as a means for survival at their young age. There are of course times when these kids are hiding in dark barns, or cold, weed-flooded cornfields to escape from Frendo, the mass-murdering clown, but it made this reader fist-pump the air when they would find weapons to fight back and take on these monsters.
There is so much praise for the story too and how it was written. Many horror books and films give readers scenes into the past to show what was the origin of the evil that terrorizes everyone in the story. A traumatic past event before the current ones of the book show what may have caused this killer clown to start slaughtering teenagers. The reason, without giving away too much, was more than one thing. Boy oh boy, are there some twists this story took as well. This slasher story connects to America’s current political climate, without getting political. How does Cesare do that? The book showed a healthy dose of both the younger and older conservative citizens in Kettle Springs, and why each side can be emphasized with. Just like the audience feeling bad for Freddy Kruger being burnt alive, they may understand what caused Frendo to go on an insane killing rampage, while at the same time rooting for Quinn and her friends to survive the night. What makes the story feel even more like a movie is that no one is safe. Every character is in danger, and not all of them make it to the final page alive, or with their limbs still attached. This is a brutal, dark, action-packed horror story that needs to be adapted by Sam Rami ASAP. The killing scenes were shocking, even when you saw them coming. If gore horror is your thing, Adam Cesare is an excellent writer to keep up with!
Get ready for another survival horror story as the whole school is in a war for survival against Frendo the Clown!
Get your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Clown-Cornfield-Adam-Cesare/dp/0062854593
The Book Rant 