Doom Patrol, Volume 1: Crawling from the Wreckage by Grant Morrison, Doug Braithwaite, Richard Case, Scott Hanna, John Nyberg and Carlos Garzón

(2016: graphic novel, collects issues 19-34 of the rebooted-in-1989 comic book series)

From the back cover

“Originally conceived in the 1960s by the visionary team of writer Arnold Drakes and artist Bruno Premiani, the Doom Patrol was reborn a generation later through the singular imagination of a young Scottish author─and the result took American comics in a wholly unexpected direction.

“In forging their new path, the reborn World’s Strangest Heroes left behind almost every vestige of normality. Though they are super-powered beings, and though their foes are bent on world domination, all that is conventional ends there. Shunned as freaks and outcasts, and tempered by loss and insanity, this band of misfits faces threats so mystifying in nature and so corrupted in motive that reality itself threatens to fall apart around them─but it’s still al in a day’s work for the Doom Patrol.”

Review

Doom, with its sly humor, unique, unsettling and intriguing characters, and smarty pants, abstract notions/genre twists, is one of my all-time favorite comic book series. It does not hurt that the artwork is stellar, straddling the line between Golden Age and then-Modern Age illustrations and tones; it furthers my enjoyment of Doom that the storylines are unpredictable and, at times, mind-bending. Worth owning and re-reading, this. Followed by the 2016 graphic novel Doom Patrol, Volume 2: The Painting That Ate Paris.

The Midnight Tour by Richard Laymon

(pb; 1998: third book in the Beast House Chronicles)

From the inside flap

“It is the summer of 1997. Many years have gone by since Janice Crogan’s summer of horror. The town of Malcasa Point has changed a lot─and so has the Beast House tour. Due to several popular books and movies about the infamous house of death, the tour is bigger and better than ever.

“The self-guided daytime tour, safe for the whole family, gives the sanitized version of the attacks and murders. If you want the real story, however, you can get it.

“Just take the Midnight Tour.

“Every Saturday night, for a hundred dollars, you and twelve other guests can participate in the special picnic, private screening of The Horror, and the tour itself.

“The tour starts at midnight. Your guide is the spunky young ‘Tuck,’ who knows everything about Beast House. As she leads you through the gloomy old house, she’ll be happy to tell you all the most grisly, shocking, lurid details about the beast, its weird anatomy, and the horrible rapes and killings that have been committed in the various rooms and corridors, in the attic, in the cellar.

“Don’t worry, the tour’s a little scary and disgusting, but it’s perfectly safe.

“Usually.”

Review

Warning: possible spoilers in this review.

One of the things I like about the Beast House Chronicles is how Laymon approaches each book from a different, often plot- and character-progressive angle. Sandy, one of the main characters in The Cellar, is a welcome, major player in this longer-than-other-Beast books. Like its previous Beast novel, The Beast House, there is plenty of violence, rape-happy monsters, other disturbing sex and humor. Again, there are some Scooby-Doo-ish, gung-ho characters. This time out, the vibe is more plot-oriented and characters’ personalities and characters get more airtime than the horrifying rapes and other sexual intensity.

If there is a big flaw in Midnight, it is that the ending is essentially, almost-word-for-word the same as the finish of The Beast House, with some rapeable characters being subjected the brutal, bloody and intoxicating (read the book before you judge that last word) desires of the “bad” characters.

This is worth reading and owning─if purchased for a few bucks. Followed by Friday Night in Beast House.

Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography by Chris Salewicz

(2019: nonfiction)

From the inside flap

“The original enigmatic rock star, Jimmy Page, is a mass of contradictions. A towering presence in the guitar world and one of the most revered rock guitarists of all time, in private he is reclusive and mysterious, retiring, and given to esoteric interests. Over the decades he has the exchanged few words with the press, given the level of his fame, and an abiding interest in the demonic and supernatural has only made the myth more potent.

“In the mid-Sixties Jimmy Page was London’s most-in-demand session man, playing on records by everyone from Donovan to the Who to the Kinks. In 1964 he accepted an offer to join the Yardbirds, where he replaced Eric Clapton and made blues-based music alongside Jeff Beck. Quickly tiring of the constraints of that band, Page, along with Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones, formed what would quickly become the biggest rock band of all time, Led Zeppelin would go on to sell over 100 million records in the U.S. alone. Songs like ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ ‘Dazed and Confused,’ and ‘Whole Lotta Love’ remain rock radio staples to this day. With their mountain of money, revolving door of groupies, and excessive drug-taking, Led Zeppelin wrote the book on rock ‘n’ roll until it all inevitably imploded.”

Review

Jimmy is an excellent biography about the storied multitalented musician and producer. Salewicz, for the most part, focuses on Page’s musical output, business life and his romantic/bad habits, only briefly mentioning his children, so if you are looking for details about his kids, you won’t find much here. This is worth reading, maybe owning, if you are a rock/Zeppelin/Page fan.

Lake Monsters (a.k.a. Dark Twilight) by Joseph A. Citro

 (pb; 2001)

From the back cover

“Downsized from his job and dumped by his girlfriend, Harrison Allen longs for a fresh start. Alone with no prospects or plans, he relocates to a borrowed house on Friars Island in Lake Champlain to relax, contemplate, and begin redefining his life. Then he hears about the monsters.

“Creatures─perhaps similar to those of Loch Ness─are said to inhabit the murky waters and fogbound marshes of his new island home. His interest piqued, Harrison becomes preoccupied with finding them. But his innocent questions provoke a surprising response: the islanders won’t discuss monsters. After Harrison meets the lovely local schoolteacher, Nancy Wells, events inexplicably turn menacing. He suspects he is being watched; he is warned away from an abandoned monastery; and somehow he incurs the wrath of a murderous local bully. Then people begin to disappear and die. . .”

Review

Lake is a good, steady-build mystery horror B-movie of a book, with mostly interesting, multilayered characters─even the local bad guys are afforded some relatable, consistent emotions and actions, given their bents. Lake is an “old school” work with a few surprising mini-twists, written with masterful, word-economic focus and a sense of humor (fans of The Police song “Synchronicity II” may appreciate its structure), a novel worth reading─and owning.

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins

(hb; 2018: children’s picture book)

From the inside flap

“It’s Penelope’s first day at school, and she can’t wait to meet her classmates.

“But making friends is hard to do when they’re so delicious!

“Readers will gobble up this hilarious new story from award-winning author-illustrator Ryan T. Higgins.”

Review

This dark-humored children’s book hits the sweet spot between amusing-to-adults and amusing-to-appropriate-for-children. By making Penelope a sweet-natured T-Rex child─who quickly learns to not consume her classmates, a lesson without any lasting harm─and the other characters’ mild response to her actions, Eat is a perfect-for-its-genre read: it sports a simple (but not simple-minded) story arc, easy-to-spot and multilayered moral lessons, and laugh-out-loud funny, surprising moments. I especially love Walter the goldfish and the end-line of this inspired book. Eat is a charming, funny and memorable three-minute read, one worth owning (if you are into this genre and darkly funny mindset).

The Beast House by Richard Laymon

(pb; 1986: second book in the Beast House Chronicles)

From the cover

“The house known as Beast House has become a museum of the most twisted and macabre kind. It is a monument to its own infamous past. On display inside was wax figures of its victims, their bodies mangled and chewed, mutilated beyond description. The tourists who come to Beast House can only wonder what sort of terrifying creature could be responsible for such atrocities. Surely nothing human.

“Bur some people don’t believe the beast even exists. They are convinced Beast House is a huge hoax, an elaborate tourist trap, Nora and her friends don’t believe. They are determined to find the truth for themselves. They will dare to enter the house at night, when the tourists hae gone. When the beast is rumored to come out. They will learn, all right.”

Review

Beast is a vast improvement on its predecessor, The Cellar. Beast is a great, fun B-flick of a splatterpunk─extreme horror─novel. It is a fast-paced, waste-no-words work, with its violence, rape-happy monsters, other disturbing sex and humor. Its characters, some of them seen in The Cellar, are stock and sometimes Scooby-Doo gang stupid and gung-ho. These observations are an amused appreciation, not a criticism in this case. Beast is one of the most entertaining B-movie horror books I have read in a long while.

Followed by The Midnight Tour.

Death Angels by Åke Edwardson

(pb; 1997: first book in the Chief Inspector Erik Winter series)

From the back cover

“Meet Erik Winter: a bachelor gourmand with a palate for obscure jazz and Lagavulin─and Sweden’s youngest Chief Inspector. Despite his new promotin, it’s been a tough year─on the heels of losing a childhood friend to AIDS, he now must contend with the parallel murders of young British and Swedish tourists in Gothenburg and South London. Winter and his British counterpart, Steve Macdonald, find clues leading straight into the dark heart of the black-market entertainment trade. But when they hit a dead end, Winter plays a hunch that the bloody fottprints at the crime scenes suggest a macabre performance─a taint intended for Winter himself.”

Review

Death is a mostly lean, entertaining police procedural with a quirky lead character and a semi-philosophical, nostalgic bent─Edwardson allows his characters occasional, brief indulgences of wandering, non-essential-to-plot thoughts, making the characters more than pieces on a storyline chessboard. If you are a minimalist-writing reader, you might want to make slight adjustments your expectations, or not bother trying to read this sometimes-melancholic book. 

Death is a unique-in-tone, excellent novel, one that took me a few chapters to get into. Once I did, I was immersed in its characters and storyline. This is worth reading, possibly owning if you are into melancholic, quirky characters and sometimes philosophical books.  Followed by The Shadow Woman.

The Winds of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

(hb; 2009: second book in the Heroes of Dune duology)

From the inside flap

“Paul-Muab’Dib─cheered as a hero, worshipped as a messiah, hated as a tyrant─has vanished into the endless deserts of the planet Dune. Blinded in an assassination attempt and grieving after the death of his beloved Chani, Paul abandons his newborn twins and leaves his galaxy-spanning empire in the hands of his young sister, Alia.

“And the greatest empire in the history of mankind begins to crumble.

“Living in self-imposed exile on Caladan, Lady Jessica and the faithful Gurney Halleck receive word that Paul has vanished and is presumed dead. They race to Dune, the heart of Muad’Dib’s empire, where they find a planet in turmoil and Jessica’s daughter, Alia─along with the resurrected Duncan Idaho─willing to impose more and more extreme measures to maintain order.

“Fueling the flames of dissent, the outspoken rebel Bronso of Ix─at one time Paul’s closest friend─releases hateful treatises and disrupts sacred ceremonies, doing everything he can to destroy the myth of Paul Muad’Dib and reveal the unvarnished facts about the man who─through his jihad and corrupt priesthood─is responsible for more deaths than any other person in history.

“Working with Princess Irulan, Paul’s self-appointed biographer, Jessica tries to uncover the truth about her son. As winds of rebellion brew and treachery occurs both from outside the government within, Jessica discovers that her son had plans that extend far beyond history and that Maud’Dib may have knowingly planted the seeds for his own downfall.

“Drawn from secret to secret, from revelation to revelation, Jessica at last will come to the truth about her son’s prescience and visionary plans, a truth that will force her to choose between the memory of her son and the future of the human race.”

Review

Winds is one of my favorite extended-series Dune novels. It, in highly entertaining, plot-twisty fashion, spans the time period and events between Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. It effectively explores its iconic characters at an effective but relatively fast pace as they make wild-time transition changes, changes that will reverberate big time in later Dune novels. Like many of the Dune books, this is worth owning.

Hyde by Daniel Levine

(hb; 2014)

From the back cover

“Mr. Hyde is trapped, locked in Dr. Jekyll’s surgical cabinet, counting the hours until his inevitable capture. As four days pass, he has the chance, finally, to tell his story─the story of his brief, marvelous life.

“Summoned to life by strange potions, Hyde knows not when or how long he will have control of ‘the body.’ When dormant, he watches Dr. Jekyll’s high-class life from a paralyzed remove. Soon, their mutual existence is threatened, not only by the uncertainties of untested science, but also by a mysterious stalker. Hyde is being taunted─possibly framed. Girls have gone missing; someone has been killed. Who stands, watching, from the shadows? In the blur of this shared consciousness, can Hyde ever be confident these crimes were not committed by his hand?”

Review

Hyde is a chatty, often entertaining POV-reversal take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Levine succeeds in making Hyde a sympathetic character─a victim driven by damage-control circumstances, blackmail and a dominant, uptight personality that is Dr. Jekyll. This is worth reading if you can put up with semi-regular rambling between important plot points and character exchanges. To its credit, Hyde’s tone and other elements match those of its source inspiration book despite its considerably longer length. This is worth reading, checking out from the library.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty

(hb; 2019: nonfiction)

From the inside flap

“Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. The best questions come from kids. What would happen to an astronaut’s body if it were pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral?

“In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, Doughty blends her mortician’s knowledge of the body and the intriguing history behind common misperceptions about corpses to offer factual, hilarious, and candid answers to thirty-five distinctive questions posed by her youngest fans. . .Doughty details lore and science of what happens to, and inside, our bodies after we die. Why do corpses groan? What causes bodies to turn colors during decomposition? And why do hair and nails appear longer after death? Readers will learn the best soil for mummifying your body, whether you can preserve your best friend’s skull as a keepsake, and what happens when you die on a plane.”

Review

Cat is an entertaining, humorous, succinct and informative read, one worth owning─and rereading in a refresh-your-memory way. If you are looking for a relatively light take on a typically heavy subject, this is a book you should make time for. Highly recommended, this.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

(hb; 1886)

From the inside flap

“It is about the strange a London lawyer named John Gabriel Utterson who investigates occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the evil Mr. Hyde.”

Review

Strange is a superb-for-its-time, sketched-out and memorable short read, one that deserves its characters-iconic status among readers. The writing is occasionally chatty but otherwise it is a true classic, not just a chatfest, hot-air book that a bunch of so-called “intellectuals” deemed to be great. Worth reading and worth owning for a few bucks. It has inspired a lot of offshoot stories and movies, too many to list in this mini-review.