Review: Tomie

Tomie by Junji Ito
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my first experience of Junji Ito's work and it was as weird and wonderful as everyone suggested.

Creepy and awful, Tomie likes to inspire love in men and jealousy in women, and it often ends with her being chopped up and/or murdered in other fantastically gory ways, only for her to regenerate from her wounds.

Some of the chapters connect, others stand on their own, but all have the same kinda vibe.

Tomie's an awful character, and this collection truly inspires sympathy and pity for those unfortunate to come across her.

Some of the artwork is fantastic; some is lost in the amount of black-and-white gore splattered on the page. Overall, there's an eerie quality to it all that drives the story onwards.

I liked it a lot, but don't think I could read this level of torment again.

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Review: After the Forest

After the Forest by Kell Woods
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent debut from this Aussie author, full of forest friends, magic, witches, and gingerbread.

I enjoyed the mix of old and new with this one. There are some familiar themes with new twists and the whole thing felt very dark and foreboding. Really enjoying sinking into it.

Some of the characters were a bit cliche - like beat down Greta and her gambling brother - but they had enough spirit of their own to overcome the sameness and carve a story of their own. Greta was a fierce spirit and I liked that she kicked back a bit.

There were a lot of different ideas here so it did seem to go for a long time, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me as I was always entertained.

For a debut, this was a fun read and a great twisted fairy tale. I'll look for more by this author.

With thanks to the publisher for a copy

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Review: Clown in a Cornfield

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A classic slasher flick featuring a homicidal clown killing of bratty teens - what's not to love?

Don't go into this expecting a marvellous work of literature, but if you have expectations of running, screaming and gruesome deaths, this should tick the box for you.

I mostly hated all these characters, which made for a lot of fun when they started dying. There's a little preamble at the start, setting the scene with new girl Quinn meeting everyone at school and being freaked out by overbearing adults. Then it jumps into its first murder and the rest come hard and fast after that.

There's nothing particularly fresh here, but it warms the Halloween heart with its familiar formula. I was happy to just disappear into the cornstalks for a bit and watch the chaos.

The perfect Halloween read, really.

Not one for those looking for fresh ideas and novel execution, but perfect for fans of 90s slashers trying to get a nostalgia hit.

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Review: I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A well-written delve into the activities of the Golden State Killer. Thoroughly addictive!

This unpacks the many, MANY crimes of the serial killer who was active from roughly 1975-1986 in the Sacramento area and surrounds. This dude was so prolific he was known by several different monikers - it took a while for detectives to connect the crime sprees in the different areas to the same person.

I have a bit of a morbid fascination with serial killers (and true crime books would hardly sell if I was alone in that) so it was amazing to see the details laid out here as they were. There's something about puzzling over clues and trying to solve the unsolved that stirs the blood, and there were so many red herrings in this case.

There's an abundance of detail here, and the author treats the victims with such compassion. It's a testament to her character that she became close with many of the authorities that worked on the case throughout her many years of research.

I did get a little confused by the time jumping, since this opened with his later, most heinous crimes then tracked back a little haphazardly through other crimes attributed to the same man. I wanted a tidier timeline to help me make sense of things. Fortunately, now that the killer has been unmasked, these details are readily available online.

This is an updated edition that includes news articles pertaining to the killer's arrest, though I wanted more than just the bare bones of his being arrested. Still, their inclusion is a satisfying end to a book that details such bald-faced atrocities.

Well written, insightful and interesting, this is a great true crime novel that will lead you down a rabbit hole. Highly recommend.

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Review: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Definitely a pointless money grab, but it's been on my shelf since 2010 so it's nice to finally tick it off!

This lil story follows Bree, a young vampire that pops up briefly in the Twilight saga. Here she's running with a vamp pack and getting close to Diego while they try and work out what their secret leader, 'her', is up to.

Now it's a novella so only 175 pages or so, but there are no breaks at all. It's quite a breathless (haha) sort of narrative, with run-on action that isn't even really that interesting. It doesn't have any big reveals or shocking moments so while it just keeps going there's not really a lot of excitement in it.

The biggest focus seems to be on the whole 'sunlight doesn't actually kill us' thing which honestly just seems more like Stephanie Meyer patting herself on the back for coming up with something so clever.

There's the gratuitous appearance of the Cullen fam through the eyes of a stranger that will have fans getting excited, but ultimately there's just not a lot of substance to this story.

Even the romance was pathetic - easy come, easy go.

Very much a pointless addition to the Twilight fam - you're not missing anything if you skip it.


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