book review | Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula by Christian Klaver | 1

Author: Christian Klaver
Title: Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula
Series: The Supernatural Case Files of Sherlock Holmes 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy; Mystery
Pages: 61
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

“Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula: The Adventure of the Solitary Grave” by Christian Klaver isn’t the first Sherlock meets Dracula book that I’ve read, but it’s definitely among the better ones.

About the Book: Someone has taken Mina and Count Dracula is prepared to tear London apart to get her back. Luckily, his first step was to visit the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Apparently the count and the detective have common enemies…

My Opinion: It’s a messy book. Tracks are easy to lose, others are purposefully hidden in not the best kind of way. But as I said many times before, a well written character can save it all. Dracula is strange and interesting, Mina – even more so. Sherlock and Watson are more or less fitting the appropriate characters from my point of view.

It’s short enough to take the risk. A wobbly 4 out of 5.

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book review | How to Vex a Vampire by Alice Winters | VRC: Vampire Related Crimes 1

Author: Alice Winters
Title: How to Vex a Vampire
Series: VRC: Vampire Related Crimes 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy; Paranormal Romance
Pages: 360
Rate: 3/5 | goodreads

“How to Vex a Vampire” by Alice Winters is both the most annoying and the most amusing book of this year.

About the Book: Ever since he was a teen Finn was being stalked by an elder vampire. For a while he was gone and it seemed like Finn could finally live. But now he’s back and there’s only one way to deal with this. So Finn weasels his way into vampire crime department. Just in time before all hell breaks loose. See, not everyone likes vampires and humans coexisting. Some believe it’s only a matter of time until vampires try to assert dominance. So they made two types of drugs. One gets them blindly hooked. The other one sends them into wild bloodlust frenzy…

My Opinion: Banter is cringy, filler scenes are cringy, and dudes keep losing their pants. There’s no base to character development, they just switch gears as plot progresses, which is technically fine, it just makes for poor reading experience. But the plot itself is a saving grace, for it was interesting, and I wouldn’t be opposed to reading another one.

A 3 out of 5, sorry, I can’t get past the graphic “dog stole my pants and underwear” scene.

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book review | The Ice Man by Philip Carlo

Author: Philip Carlo
Title: The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer
Series: –
Genre: True Crime; Biography
Pages: 410
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

“The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer” by Philip Carlo is not an easy book to get into, but it’s definitely worth it. Dark, horrible, and absolutely fascinating tale of Richard Kuklinski, the ice cold killer.

About the Book: Fathered by a brutal man and not wholly there mother Richard witnessed his father beat his brother to death. Yet he doesn’t blame his upbringing for the things he did. In his words, paraphrasing, what he did, he chose to do. And the only thing he truly regrets is not killing his father when there was a chance. Other than that, it was all fair game. From rivals, snitches, bad guys in general, to passerby’s who just happened to be there when he was out to test his new toy, rowdy teens or just stupid drivers. The only taboo in Kuklinski’s book were women and children.

My Opinion: Rats eating people alive, body parts torn off, sharks, cyanide, an arsenal of weapons that allowed him to walk the streets for so long – no one suspected it could be one man doing so much work, from testing, training, to contract killing or outright justice slaying. Brutal to a point where it’s hard to wrap your mind around he went out of his way to save trafficked children, murdering rapists with pleasure. Never cheated on his wife, loved his children dearly, and at the end – did his best to lessen their involvement when it all came out.

It’s a tough book. This man here had golden traits to him that some good people are falling short on. But then, he was an absolute monster. Can only hope there’s no more of such walking the streets. A 5 out of 5, chilling tale indeed. Made worse by the truth of it.

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book review | All You Can Eat by Johnny B. Truant | Fat Vampire 3

Author: Johnny B. Truant
Title: All You Can Eat
Series: Fat Vampire 3
Genre: Urban Fantasy; Vampires
Pages: 125
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

“All You Can Eat” by Johnny B. Truant is the last book in the Fat Vampire series that I own, and I’m not sure I’ll be getting any others.

About the Book: Vampires do not like this new regime, all these rules, especially the new ones that favor humans. Defiance soon turns into an outright mutiny. And as Council fails at its core, opposition rampages the streets. Piles of bloodless ripped apart bodies. Rogue youngling vampires, freshly turned, going insane. Even the Death Squads, vampire military of sorts, is itching to take a stand in the new game…

My Opinion: This book is a stepping stone to the next, nothing more. So if you don’t yet love the characters, it offers little to keep you interested. What was meant as mysterious and weird comes off as dull and uninteresting. Meaning series ended poorly for me, as I currently have no plans to continue.

I’m done for now. Maybe next October. Currently it’s a 3 out of 5 and I’m off to find some other appropriate reads.

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book review | Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes | 1

Author: Drew Hayes
Title: Fred, the Vampire Accountant
Series: Fred, the Vampire Accountant 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy; Vampires
Pages: 300
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

The full title of Drew Hayes‘s book is “The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant“. And it sort of sums it up. But only sort of. Bear with me.

About the Book: In life, Fred was a frightful man, good with numbers, a boring accountant. In death, after he was turned and abandoned – a heinous act in the supernatural world – he remains a frightful vampire, good with numbers. A valuable accountant from whom other supernaturals don’t have to hide their, at the very least, odd looking expenses. But, oh, if only those were the only adventures he got. Instead… From a LARP going wrong to a sire returning.

Cats may always land on their feet, however, the same can’t be said for accountants.

My Opinion: Book reads as a collection of tightly knitted short stories. Each one – different, interesting. So the book title is wrong with the “uninteresting” part of adventurous tales. There’s a host of very great characters too, colorful and loveable bunch. For example, my favorite, of course, is the gay weresteed. Now, why’s that I won’t reveal.

A worthy October read. Solid 4 out of 5. Will read more.

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book review | Tastes like Chicken by Johnny B. Truant | Fat Vampire 2

Author: Johnny B. Truant
Title: Tastes like Chicken
Series: Fat Vampire 2
Genre: Urban Fantasy; Vampires
Pages: 201
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

Ah well, I feel compelled to continue series I began, unless they were utterly terrible. And since Johnny B. Truant‘s Fat Vampire series were not terrible, I’m onto second one, “Tastes Like Chicken“. It was oddly very good.

About the Book: A mysterious being, a vampire only in name, is brought before Reginald. He makes a mockery out of the precautions vampires took and foretells their genocide about to come at his hands. In this strange game of chess, where the only choices given are die by enemy’s hand or your own, vampires have 30 days to evolve. The way humans did.

My Opinion: A very well written myth and history, I really enjoyed all of that. And since the book is fairly short, there’s not much time for boring fillers, such as traveling places to discover answers that didn’t require any traveling. The minus goes to weirdly uncomfortable bits. 

A 4 out of 5, will read more.

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book review | End of Watch by Stephen King | Bill Hodges Trilogy 3

Author: Stephen King
Title: End of Watch
Series: Bill Hodges Trilogy 3
Genre: Horror; Mystery
Pages: 432
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

And so it ends, Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King, with a book of perfect title – “End of Watch“. Both the book and the whole trilogy had its moments.

About the Book: Brady Hartsfield, also known as Mercedes Killer or Mr. Mercedes, after a failed attempt to blow up a concert full of children where he got his head bashed in, ended up in a hospital, somewhere deep in his failing body, somewhere far away in the shreds of consciousness. But the surrounding factors ended up helping him become something more… Angry visitations from Bill, medical staff that hated him, experimental drugs he got put on, it all moved something. And so now he has telekinesis, he can move objects, enter minds, entrance you with electronics. Mercedes Killer is rising from the ashes as the Suicide Prince, manipulating teens into the unspeakable. How many lives can he take before Bill can find the source?

My Opinion: By now I understand that the detailed description of the side-track events is King’s style. If we’re about to witness something happen to someone – we’ll get their whole inner world in that moment and sometimes even beyond. At times it works well, makes the tales movie-like. Other times it’s just overbearing onto the rest of the story, since it really adds little to nothing. But saying that, I must still stress that characters are superbly written and the story itself is solid enough. By the end it even picked up, there was no more time to sidetrack.

As a result of that, I can give it a 3 out of 5 where I thought it won’t go over 2. Not my cup of tea, but I’m sure someone will enjoy it.

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book review | Hunting Whitey by Casey Sherman

Author: Casey Sherman
Title: Hunting Whitey
Series: –
Genre: True Crime; Nonfiction
Pages: 368
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

Not gonna lie, I had no clue who James “Whitey” Bulger was up until reading “Hunting Whitey” by Casey Sherman. A life and death book of a legendary South Boston mob boss.

About the Book: A ruthless mob boss, self proclaimed gentleman, and a loving father to his children. James “Whitey” Bulger’s name is mentioned along side such notorious ones as Al Capone or Vito Genovese. This is a book of his long overdue capture, long and tough years in prison, and death by murder.

My Opinion: A pretty good book, well written, with plenty of details and names (an important factor for fact-checking). I’m just surprised I had no clue who this man was, since he was second most wanted man in the USA, just after Osama bin Laden.

While the book is good, and I approve of it for October, if you just want a tale of mobsters and gangsters, I’d go with something more fun, like one of those Hollywood Godfather books (there’s a few “former” gangsters who wrote amazing memoirs). But this one gets a solid 4 out of 5.

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book review | Finders Keepers by Stephen King | Bill Hodges Trilogy 2

Author: Stephen King
Title: Finders Keepers
Series: Bill Hodges Trilogy 2
Genre: Thriller, Horror Literature
Page: 434
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

Mh, still a no. I liked “Finders Keepers” by Stephen King, second book in Bill Hodges Trilogy, about as much as I liked Mr. Mercedes. Which isn’t much.

About the Book: Obsessed with characters, fictional world, Morris Bellamy commits to robbery and even murder. But those aren’t the reasons he’s in prison. No, this torture was just a drunken error. And the only thing that keeps him alive all this time is his treasure. The notebooks he stole from his most loved and hated author. Notebooks that are safe, waiting for him. Notebooks that have been found by a boy who read them too and now burns with the same obsession Morris feels… 

My Opinion: This isn’t the first book by King on insane readers. Makes one wonder, doesn’t it? Anyway, the book is written very well. Characters are on point. But the problem is with the middle. Good start, strong ending, with almost nothing other than air in between. Sure there’s a little bit of insight into character inner workings. And some tension due to some mean fellas. But that’s about that. The rest is pushing time and pages.

Saying which I still can’t claim the book is bad, and will give it a solid, firm 3 out of 5. 

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Promo | Elijah Kamski

Elijah Kamski, father of androids, portrayed by the amazing Neil Newbon (who also portrayed Gavin Reed in the same game) in the unbelievably good game Detroit: Become Human. Painting is based on an image of Neil Newbon where he claims to be the Patron Saint of Jetlag. But knowing Kamski, he seems to fit Patron Saint of Heartache more, seeing how much grief he gives the player…

Patreon| Neil Newbon’s IG