The Smell of Ink/Lukten av Trykksverte

I recently read the supernatural thriller The Loch by Steve Alten and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Marine biologist Zachary Wallace once suffered a near-drowning experience in legendary Loch Ness, and now, long-forgotten memories of that experience have begun haunting him. The truth surrounding these memories lies with Zachary’s estranged father, Angus Wallace, a wily Highlander on trial for murder. Together the two plunge into a world where the legend of Loch Ness shows its true face. My Thoughts on the Book The Loch is one of those book you have to take for what it is - a fast-paced and engaging supernatural thriller, and it was a lot of fun reading it. Fair enough, there were a few times when I rolled my eyes a bit, such as the whole (Black) Templars thing, death penalty in the UK (spoiler alert - the last execution in the UK was in 1964), and the overall Dan Brown-vibes at times. While the plot and the story-line was a bit over the top at t...

At long last I've read psychological thriller/horror novel Brother by Ania Ahlborn and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Brother follows a teenager determined to break from his family’s unconventional—and deeply disturbing—traditions. Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard. But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he’s ...

As I've heard so much about The Secret History by Donna Tartt, I couldn't resist reading it and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and for ever. Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic, Donna Tartt's cult bestseller The Secret History is a remarkable achievement - both compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful. My Thoughts on the Book I really enjoyed reading The Secret History and it's one of those books that sucks you in. It's a sort of reverse-mystery, as we know from the start that a group of college students murdered one of their fellow students, a bloke nicknamed Bunny. The author's ...

Recently I read the dark academia novel If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio and today I'm posting my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Oliver Marks has just served ten years for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day of his release, he is greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, and he wants to know what really happened a decade before. As a young actor at an elite conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same characters onstage and off – villain, hero, temptress – though he was always a supporting role. But when the teachers change the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into real life. When tragedy strikes, one of the seven friends is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless... My Thoughts on the Book If We Were Villains was a well-written novels that suck...

Recently I read the psychological thriller The Furies by Katie Lowe and today I'll post my review of the book. Although I've switched to focusing on horror and paranormal on this book blog, I wanted to review The Furies, as it has a bit of a dark academia vibe to it. Description from Goodreads This page-turning, harrowing debut is the story of a girl trying to fit in, whose obsessive new friends and desperation to belong leads her to places she'd never imagined...dark, dangerous, and possibly even violent. In 1998, a sixteen-year-old girl is found dead. She's posed on a swing on her boarding school's property, dressed all in white, with no known cause of death. Whispers and rumors swirl, with no answers. But there are a few who know what happened; there is one girl who will never forget. One year earlier: a new student, Violet, steps on the campus of Elm Hollow Academy, an all-girl's boarding school on the outskirts of a sleepy coastal town. This is her fresh s...

I recently read the horror/thriller novel Penpal by Dathan Auerbach and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Penpal began as a series of short and interconnected stories posted on an online horror forum. Before long, it was adapted into illustrations, audio recordings, and short films; and that was before it was revised and expanded into a novel! How much do you remember about your childhood? In Penpal, a man investigates the seemingly unrelated bizarre, tragic, and horrific occurrences of his childhood in an attempt to finally understand them. Beginning with only fragments of his earliest years, you'll follow the narrator as he discovers that these strange and horrible events are actually part of a single terrifying story that has shaped the entirety of his life and the lives of those around him. If you've ever stayed in the woods just a little too long after dark, if you've ever had the feeling that someone or something was trying to hurt...

As I've read a few of the other books by Bryce Gibson, I couldn't resist reading the thriller Perennials. Today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Summer in South Carolina-a time of ripe peaches, crackling bonfires, trips to the lake, and the rural legend of a creature known as the Lizard Man.This year, a very real monster is lurking about. The victims all have one thing in common-they share their names with plants.Soon it becomes apparent that seventeen-year-olds Dusty Miller and Nandina Bush may be next on the killer's list. "That was when I realized that the red I saw in the driveway wasn't blood. It was a scattering of rose petals. Deep down, I knew, right at that very moment, that what all of us had been afraid of for the past several months had already happened. The serial killer had finally made his way to Crow County."- Dusty Miller My Thoughts on the Book It's a bit of a slow burn book, especially with Dusty and Nandi...

Recently, I read the Swedish horror/thriller novel The Lost Village by Camilla Sten and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense. Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened. But there will be no turning back. Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds b...

Earlier this year, I read the horror/thriller novel The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads A genre-defying new novel, inspired by Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein, which brilliantly explores the eerie mysteries of childhood and the evils perpetrated by the monsters among us. 1978: at her renowned treatment center in picturesque Vermont, the brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth, is acclaimed for her compassionate work with the mentally ill. But when she's home with her cherished grandchildren, Vi and Eric, she’s just Gran—teaching them how to take care of their pets, preparing them home-cooked meals, providing them with care and attention and love. Then one day Gran brings home a child to stay with the family. Iris—silent, hollow-eyed, skittish, and feral—does not behave like a normal girl. Still, Violet is thrilled to have a new playmate. She and Eric invite Iris to join their Monster Club, where they...

Recently, I ended up reading the YA novel One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classm...

As I've read a few other of Bryce Gibson's books, I couldn't resist The Resort and today I'll post my review of this thriller novella. Description from Goodreads A fun and fast paced teen thriller… Imagine The Island of Dr. Moreau and The Ruins meets The In Crowd. With an island full of teenagers and no internet access, there is the overwhelming sense that all hell is about to break loose. Living on a tropical island is a paradise that most people dream of, but seventeen-year-old Mackenzie Walker is torn between staying there and the idea of having a normal life on the mainland. Spring Break is when boatloads of thrill-seeking high school and college students flood the resort, but it’s not an endless party for Mackenzie. He’s stuck working. When a frat guy winds up dead, the blame is placed on a dangerous hazing ritual, but Mackenzie’s eccentric father is convinced that it was murder. Mackenzie and his friend, Kristen, set off to discover the truth, but what the two of...

Siden jeg allerede hadde lest  Menn som hater ulver tidligere, klarte jeg ikke å motstå Norske tilstander av Lars Lenth. Nå har jeg lest romanen og i dag kommer omtalen. Beskrivelse fra forlaget Familiedrama, rasisme, vindmøller og et forblåst hjørne på Stadlandet - Lars Lenth er tilbake med et samfunnsengasjert eventyr om norske tilstander. Advokat Leo Vangen er forelsket. Anita Fostervold fra Stadt virker som alt han har drømt om, men det er før han treffer moren, 84 år gamle Agnes Fostervold - eks-akademiker, rasist og Rolling Stones-fan. Hun driver vindmøllepark på Hoddevik-fjellet og asylmottak i det gamle familiehotellet i Selje. Nå er mottaket tomt. Myndighetene har skrudd igjen krana. Matriarken vil selge både hotellet og vindmølleparken. De skadeskutte barna posisjonerer seg. Men for at salgene skal gå i orden, må Agnes Fostervold først kvitte seg med den afghanske familien i kjelleren, og leieboeren i steinbua på nabotomta - en lite samarbeidsvillig mann i bar overkropp...

I fjor var jeg såpass heldig at jeg fikk tilsendt et leseeksemplar av romanen Når sannheten banker på av av Lucy Clarke. Jeg har til slutt lest den og i dag kommer omtalen. Beskrivelse fra forlaget Etter at Elle lånte ut huset sitt, har ingenting føltes helt som det skal JEG ER I HUSET DITT Det virker kaldt. Noe har skjedd. En ubehagelig følelse av at noen følger med på alt hun gjør. JEG ER I HODET DITT Kanskje er det noe Elle innbiller seg? Hun er forfatter, og fantasien er tross alt et av hennes fortrinn. Og likevel. Hver eneste trussel later til å bunne i noe personlig. Som om noen har avdekket hemmelighetene som tar nattesøvnen fra henne. OG NÅ VET JEG HVA HEMMELIGHETEN DIN ER Elle blir mer og mer redd og føler seg paranoid. Huset blir et fengsel. Noen er i ferd med å bryte seg inn i hennes fortidige liv. Og hun har gitt vedkommende anledning. Mine tanker om boka Det er en sånn psykologisk thriller hvor en lurer på om fortelleren har en skrue løs eller ikke. ...

Earlier this year I was fortunate enough to recieve an ARC of the horror novel The Midwives by Duncan Ralston through Netgalley. I read it shortly afterwards and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads A killer on the loose. A writer on the run. A town plagued by an ancient evil. On tour with his latest book, true crime writer Martin Savage discovers one of his most-dangerous subjects has escaped. The so-called "Witch Hunter," a delusional murderer of women and their unborn children, holds a deadly grudge. He'll stop at nothing to get his revenge, and destroy everything Martin cares about. With nowhere to run, Martin and forensic psychologist Sheila Tanner flee to the town he left when he was a boy, after his mother was locked away in a psychiatric facility. A town hidden deep in his past, where no one would think to look for them. But things are not what they seem in Barrows Bay. The idyllic island holds terrible secrets. An ancient evil lived here...

Last year I was lucky enough to recieve an ARC of Region 6 by Ian James Krender through Netgalley. I've now read it and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads It is four decades since the Allies lost World War II. Life in Britain–now known as Region 6–is harsh for most, but many have thrived, perceiving the Nazi regime as a decisive government that has brought peace and prosperity to a continent. They view the resistance as terrorists. Thomas was born into a working-class family tainted by distant Jewish heritage. After witnessing his parents’ brutal murder and facing a lifetime of low-paid factory work, he joins the resistance movement. Brave, and a natural leader, he is rapidly promoted, eventually gaining a seat on the British Liberation Army Council. Stephen has led a privileged life. Born into a wealthy family, he has enjoyed the fruits of National Socialism. After graduating from Cambridge, he joins the Gestapo and is placed undercover to spy on Th...

Last year I was fortunate enough to recieve an ARC of the thriller Cold Waters by Debbie Herbert through Netgalley. I read it shortly afterwards, but I haven't published my review until now. Description from Goodreads From USA Today bestselling author Debbie Herbert comes a thrilling story of murder and madness set in the darkest corner of Alabama. Everyone thinks fourteen-year-old Violet is a murderer. After a summer-night swim with her best friend, Ainsley, Violet is found confused, wandering in the forest—and Ainsley’s never seen again. But without a body, murder charges won’t stick, so Violet is sent away. After more than a decade in a psychiatric ward, Violet returns to her broken-down hometown of Normal, Alabama, to claim her dead mother’s inheritance and help her overworked sister care for their unstable, alcoholic father. Violet, still haunted by that night eleven years ago, endures horrific flashbacks and twisted hallucinations while townsfolk spit accusations—and for...

Last year I was fortunate enough to recieve an ARC from Netgalley of the novel Stasiland by Rolf Richardson. I read it shortly afterwards and today I'll post my review. Description from Goodreads After a messy divorce, Ed Blake is trying to forget the past by spending the summer driving around Europe in his silver Porsche. He gets no further than a small town on the river Elbe when he is arrested for a crime he did not commit. Although in what is now a united Germany, this is the former Communist East, once ruled by the feared secret police, the Stasi. This is Stasiland. The past has not gone away, Germany's political tectonic plates are shifting, maybe heading for the sort of chaos last seen in the 1930s. Ed finds himself pulled into a whirlpool of violence as right-wing extremism starts to shake the foundations of Europe. This is a novel about here and now. What happened to Ed Blake could happen to you. My Thoughts on the Book It was an interesting thriller wit...

I came across the novel Orkney Twilight by Clare Carson on sale last year. Now I've read it and today I'll post my review of the book. Description from Goodreads Jim is an undercover policeman with alcohol issues and the gift of the gab - but he never talks about his past. His daughter Sam is a rebellious eighteen-year-old with an inquisitive streak. She is determined to find out the truth about her father. On holiday in Orkney, beneath an endless midsummer sky, eighteen year old Sam shadows her father Jim as he runs secretive errands across the island. What did he take from the old watchtower on the edge of a cliff? Why is he so interested in Norse mythology? And why does Sam have the eerie feeling that she too is being shadowed? When Sam finally discovers the truth, it will draw her into a dangerous world of deception and double-dealing... and bring her closer to her dad than ever before. Set between the eighties communes of south London, and the remote coastlines of...

For et par måneder siden var jeg såpass heldig at jeg fikk tilsendt et leseeksemplar av romanen Venneforespørsel av Laura Marshall fra forlaget og i dag kommer omtalen av boka. Beskrivelse fra forlaget Louise Williams får en venneforespørsel som får hjertet hennes til nesten å stoppe. Du har fått en venneforespørsel fra Maria. Maria Weston har vært savnet i mer enn 25 år. Hun ble sist sett på en avslutningsfest på skolen hun hadde gått på, og alle har siden da antatt at hun er død. Spesielt Louise, som hele livet har båret på en forferdelig hemmelighet. Det kommer flere meldinger fra Maria, og Louise føler seg tvunget til å gjenoppta kontakten med gamle venner som hun lenge forsøkte å imponere. Hun forsøker å finne ut av hva som skjedde den skjebnesvangre kvelden, og hun skjønner at det er mye hun ikke ante. Det eneste som er sikkert, er at Maria Weston forsvant den kvelden. Og at ingen har hørt fra henne etter det før plutselig nå ... Mine tanker om boka Venneforespørsel er ...

Jeg har tidligere lest Stallo av Stefan Spjut og for et par måneder siden var jeg heldig nok til at jeg fikk tilsendt et leseeksemplar av oppfølgeren Stalpi fra forlaget. I dag kommer omtalen av boka. Beskrivelse fra forlaget "Skutersporet var en strek over myras hvite ark, og der nede løp ulven. Som en grå spøkelseshund trådte den frem og tilbake i snødrevet som ble pisket opp av rotorbladene". To menn fanger en ulv i en svensk skog og kjører den sørover i natten. Ti år er gått siden Susso Myrén la ut på en ufrivillig og farlig jakt. En jakt som ledet til at barnerøveren Lennart Brösth og trollsekten hans ble oppløst, og Brösth sperret inne. Nå bor Susso i et hus dypt inne i skogen, med et gammelt ekorn som eneste selskap. Når Brösth rømmer fra psykiatrisk sykehus, kan selv ikke trolljegere føle seg trygge. Stalpi - det samiske ordet for ulv - er den etterlengtede oppfølgeren til Stefan Spjuts uhyggelige spenningsroman "Stallo". Vi tas med til Myrén-slekt...