Sunday, January 04, 2015

Top Horror Novels of 2014


#3

Castle of Sorrows by Jonathan Janz



Janz is the literary love child of Richard Laymon and Jack Ketchum (with a little Joe Lansdale DNA in the mix), with all the terror that implies. His novels just get better and scarier, and Castle of Sorrows is his best yet. If you love to lose yourself in horror yarn, Janz has become to go-to writer. Try him out. You won't be disappointed.


#2

Snowblind by Christopher Golden



Golden is a solid storyteller who doesn't write enough horror. But if we get something as good as Snowblind, Golden can take all the time he wants between scary novels. The greatest compliment I can give this book is to say I felt like I had opened a classic Stephen King novel from the 80s. That isn't to say Golden mimics King, but that he has a large and complex cast, expertly delineated, and a menace that uses isolation as its tool. This is a horror masterpiece and it would have been number one on my list if not for...

#1

Revival by Stephen King



King has been an important writer in my life since I first read The Stand and Salem's Lot 30+ years ago. It wasn't the horror that first attracted me to him—although that was a big draw-but it was his characterizations, the way he dug deep into the heads of his cast and showed me that he understood how I thought that turned King into a favorite. That's why I read him. He also tells a crackling good story. Those two elements more than make up for his occasional shortcomings. In the case of Revival, I loved everything about the novel a lot more than I liked the ending. I could have easily read about the two main characters for another 200 pages. As with a lot of King, I will read this one again and probably come to like that ending a little more.

No comments: