Haunted House by Jack Kilborn and J.A. Konrath

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I'm a big Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath fan.  If you don't already know, J.A. Konrath is the author's real name, and he releases some extreme horror novels under the name Jack Kilborn.  I've read tons of both types of his books, and I do prefer the Kilborn fare, so I was really looking forward to Haunted House.

Haunted House brings together several characters from Kilborn/Konrath's past novels.  The author says you don't need to read the other books to make sense of this one, but it would definitely help if you did.  I was most excited to see Mal/Deb from Endurance and Sarah from Trapped.  

I loved the warm up to the arrival at the haunted house.  I appreciated the detail paid to each of the characters and felt that it really provided a great background for when they would join together later.  Basically, each of the characters has experienced some horrible type of situation in their lives, and are being recruited for a government project to learn about creating an antidote for fear.  This of course ties back to both Afraid and Trapped.  

Some people are reluctant to go, some are coerced, and some outright refuse.  They are summoned to the Butler House, a large plantation mansion which has had a bloody and violent history.  It is also known to be quite haunted.  But if the "subjects" spend one night there, they will receive $1 million, and in some cases, some additional help.

This is a Kilborn book, so of course the house is truly one of horrors.  There's torture, viciously broken bones, hands used as sandwiches, bloody masturbation, and a severed head giving oral sex to it's own body.  And that's just the beginning.  It was a gory thrill ride, with plenty of mayhem for the average Kilborn fan.

My review is not without a couple of criticisms however.  The involvement of Fran, Josh, and Duncan (from Afraid) just seemed like an afterthought.  The monkey has always been slightly ridiculous, but now it's got a GI Joe helmet and the world's smallest gun?   I feel that story arch may have been better left out.  And, the editing.  I spotted several errors, and while that doesn't turn me off a book totally, I'm an editor-of-sorts by day, and those things stand out like a sore thumb.  Mr. Kilborn, if you ever need someone to give your next story an early read, I work real cheap ;)

Overall, I really liked Haunted House, and am always looking forward to Kilborn/Konrath's next book!! 

Afraid by Jack Kilborn

I'm in a bit of a funk lately, mostly due to an extreme amount of stress at work.   Therefore, when I reach for my Kindle, or my remote, I'm sort of wanting to avoid any intense thought or concentration.  Therefore, I've been doing a lot of re-reads and re-watches, not to mention zoning out in front of mindless reality television.

I read Afraid sometime last year, when I was plowing through Kilborn/Konrath books at lightning speed.  Although I favored Trapped and Endurance (both of which I apparently remembered to write reviews about) Afraid was pretty damn good as well.  So in my re-read stage, I decided I'd give it another go and actually write a review this time.

Afraid involves some characters from other Kilborn works, most notably Taylor from Truck Stop, Serial, and Trapped.  Both Kilborn/Konrath and Blake Crouch's books have characters that move in and out of them, as some books take place before others and vice versa.  This particular book focuses on a special ops unit that has crashed into a small Wisconsin town.  The unit is programmed to achieve a specific objective, by any means necessary.  The group consists of various death row and psychiatric hospital escapees who have been modified to conform to these standards.  They've been enhanced both physically and mentally, being able to withstand extreme amounts of pain, as well as causing it.

Afraid involves many "townspeople" characters, and jumps back and forth between the viewpoints of different people.  The characters were well-developed, and Konrath/Kilborn showcases his incredible talent for providing detail, especially in terms of the violent parts of the story, of which there were many.  The plot has a lot of moving parts, but I didn't find it difficult to keep track of.  There are several components to the story -- from thriller to extreme horror to military history.  Definitely not a read for the squeamish -- the toe scenes and kidney-mauling definitely got to me -- but this one is classic Kilborn/Konrath, so check it out if you're a fan.

Stirred by J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch

Over the summer, I became completely obsessed with J.A. Konrath/Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch.  I devoured many of their books, and took a break, wondering if I had a mental disorder for loving the blood, torture, and carnage a little too much.  I never got too hooked on the Jack Daniels series; although she was featured in a few of Konrath's stories, I just couldn't ever picture/identify with her.  Kind of like Sookie Stackhouse in Charlaine Harris's books.  But, you know, with decapitations and such.

Stirred called to me, being that I was entirely concerned about the Luther Kite/Andrew Z. Thomas ending in Break You.  The thought of someone being isolated, force fed, mutilated, etc. but still being kept alive, really freaked me the fuck out.  The premise of an ending to all of this was quite promising.

You can definitely read this without having knowledge of the previous Jack Daniels stories, but it's definitely more enjoyable if you've read about Lucy, Donaldson, Kite, and Thomas.  Where Daniels floats from story to story, I find the "killers" more intriguing and unbreakable. 

Stirred picks up 7 years after Thomas was imprisoned, his love Violet, and his son, Max, taken away from him.  Luther Kite is truly planning an awesome revenge against Jack Daniels and others who have wronged him.  Daniels on the other hand is retired and hugely pregnant, essentially engaged to a former fugitive.  She seems uninterested in being a mother, and more focused on her former life of solving crime.  Unfortunately, she needs to be constantly protected by friends and confidantes, for fear that a former killer seeks revenge.

At the same time that Luther concocts his elaborate plan, Lucy and Donaldson are plotting as well.  Shells of human beings, rotting away in a prison hospital, they stockpile drugs and plan their escape.  They, too, seek out Daniels, but also wish to inflict pain on Luther, who burned them terribly after their first escape from a hospital.

What ensues is a mix between Seven and Saw: The Final Chapter, where Daniels must follow clues, and then finds herself in an abandoned city, going through a series of traps set to mimic Dante's Inferno.  Everything is contained in these games, from strangers to friends to lovers to her own baby. 

Although slightly unbelievable at times (a grizzly bear, really?) Stirred was a wonderful collaboration between Konrath and Crouch.   They claim that this is the last Kite/Thomas book, but the ending certainly leaves it open for a sequel.  I've read a fair amount of horror in the last few years, and Konrath/Crouch are the only authors that continue to kill it hardcore.  Rock on, horror brothers.

Break You by Blake Crouch

*Spoilers ahead!*  Break You is the third installment in the Andrew Thomas series.  Violet and Andrew thought they made a clean escape back to their secluded home in the Yukon.  Raising Violet's infant son, and nurturing a burgeoning romance, it seems as if they've put the past behind them.

But the monster lurking behind them has waited for them to feel such comfort so that he can pounce.  Andrew and Violet find themselves living back in a nightmare, which will present painful challenges to save infant Max, and themselves.

They endure incredible amounts of torture, both inflicted by the omnipresent Luther Kite, and each other.  There's less of an actual story behind Break You and really more pain, suffering, and humiliation, all while I'm left to worry about the safety of two infants.  Kite is one tough cookie, but I guess Break You proves that Violet and Andrew are pretty unbreakable as well.

Break You is a novella, and shorter than the other Andrew Thomas stories.  I didn't like this one as much, because I just couldn't seem to picture what was happening.  The knife fight between the women was contrived and fairly unbelievable.  And although I love the intricate and exciting descriptions of torture that Blake Crouch can work up, as Break You wore on, I found myself questioning whether anyone could actually live through any of this nonsense, nonetheless say that it barely even hurt him.  I also had a hard time picturing the landscape; although I found the desert, the Yukon, and the Outer Banks to be so intricately described, I just couldn't wrap my head around the Detroit urban wasteland. 

I'm looking forward to Stirred, a collaboration between J.A. Konrath and Blake Crouch, which will serve as a sequel to Break You, and a continuation to the Andrew Thomas series.  Both Kite and Thomas appeared to have at least a pulse at the end of this one, so maybe we'll see them heal up and come back for the next book.

Locked Doors by Blake Crouch

In a frenzy earlier this year, I basically read every Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, and J.A. Konrath book that I could get my grubby little hands on.  I didn't get around to writing too many reviews, because I was just reading them too fast and never thought to stop and write about them.  Now I've gone back for some re-reads and to write up some thoughts.

Locked Doors is the sequel to Desert Places and is the second book in the Andrew Thomas series.  *Spoilers ahead* because there's pretty much no way to talk about this book without spoiling the last one.  Seven years previous, Andrew thought that he left his brother, Orson, dead, and his friend Luther Kite to freeze to death in the snowy desert.  He has created a new identity, hiding out in a cabin in the Yukon and cooking at a local restaurant.

However, he checks the news frequently to see of anything that surfaces regarding himself, Orson, or Luther.  Most of these searches are fruitless, until he discovers that people he knew in his "previous" life are being kidnapped and killed.  He finds himself on the run once again, in search of the elusive Luther Kite.  Meanwhile, a young detective, Violet King, is also on the hunt for Kite, having been set on his trail by evidence left at a murder scene.

Soon, Andrew, Violet, and Beth (Andrew's best friend's wife) will find themselves in quite the precarious position with the Kite family.  As with most of Crouch's works, it's a fight to the death and often a surprise to see who survives in the end.  Locked Doors is followed by Break You.

Seed by Ania Ahlborn (2011)

It's been a while, since I wrote a book review.  What happened is that I raced through pretty much the entire collection of Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch, and then needed a break from the onslaught of blood, guts, and general creepiness I had subjected myself to.  After a few weeks of trashy romance novels (my guilty pleasure), I decided to delve back into the world of horror fiction and was glad to stumble upon Seed.  The description related this story to works of King, Crouch, and Kilborn, and of course, I was instantly hooked.

Seed is the story of a young family: father Jack, mother Aimee, 10-year old Abigail, and 6-year old Charlotte/Charlie.  Jack harbors dark secrets from his childhood, which culminated in him running away from home at the early age of 14.  One evening, while driving home late at night with his family, he swerves off the road to dodge what he thinks is an animal.  No one else sees the animal, except for Charlie.

After the accident, things begin to change.  Jack begins to see the evil in Charlie that he saw in himself as a child.  In conjunction with the current story, we also get a slow and steady reveal of Jack's childhood.  Charlie becomes scarier and more intimidating, as her older sister and mother shrink away from her.  Jack, however, is intrigued by his changed daughter.

This book had a level of creepiness that is sincerely difficult to achieve.  I read some sentences/scenes repeatedly, as I loved how they were written.  I find it's challenging to paint a child as an antagonist, a la Damien and Reagan, but Ahlborn hit the nail right on the head.  I flew through this book in two days, and literally could not put it down.  I would highly recommend.

Desert Places by Blake Crouch

I got turned on to Blake Crouch while reading J.A. Konrath/Jack Kilborn's array of extreme horror novels.  He collaborated with Blake Crouch on Serial and after I plowed through all the books he had to offer, I knew Crouch was next for me.

Desert Places is the first in a series of Andrew Thomas novels, Thomas being a writer and the main character in these books.  Desert Places starts out hard and fast -- popular horror novelist Andrew Thomas checks his mail one evening to find an interesting piece of correspondence.  It states that there is a woman buried on his property, covered in his blood and killed with a knife from his house.  At first, Andrew dismisses this as a crazy piece of fan mail, but decides to check it out, just for fun.

What he finds is that there actually is a woman buried on his property, and as he follows the other instructions in the letter, he digs himself a deeper and deeper hole.  He meets the writer of the letter, and finds out that this is no psychotic fan.  This person's interest is even more complicated and close to home.  The two will go on a journey...even when they are not together.

Although not as truly sick as Kilborn/Konrath's works, this book was exciting and demented, and left me wanting more.  There were some truly scary parts of the book (the HI MOM! one being the creepiest for me)  You'll be glad to know that there are at least two more Thomas books, which extend this exciting story.

















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Endurance: A Novel of Terror (2010)

When I finished Trapped I didn't waste a moment downloading Endurance and getting right to reading.  Once again, the amount of research and detail that Kilborn/Konrath puts into these books is incredible.  Endurance contains crazy explanations of inbreeding/birth defects, amputee logistics, American history, and just general backwoods craziness.

West Virginia certainly isn't going to be giving Jack any awards for this book, as it intricately details the stereotypes that the state has become known for.  Endurance is the story of a women's triathlon that takes place in rural West Virginia.  Several women arrive to find out that the room they reserved is not available, but that a little-known bed and breakfast has vacancies.

Little do they know that the B&B is populated by generations of genetically mutated men, and their psychotic mother.  Convinced that the family is a carrier of presidential genes, the matriarch, Eleanor, encourages rape and inbreeding in order to continue their bloodline and strive to create the next President.  But with presidential heritage comes problems.  All of Eleanor's kin suffer from hemophilia, and require regular blood transfusions in order to stay alive.  And since they don't desire to get transfusions the legal way, they kidnap and imprison people from their creepy-ass inn.

The vibe of this book was so creepy and the detail made me feel like I was actually there.  The ending opened it up for a sequel, and Jack wants his readers to let him know if we want one.  Dear Mr. Konrath, if you're listening, a sequel would be awesome!  Looks like "support unrated horror" is spilling into the literary world ;) 


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Trapped: A Novel of Terror (2010)

I rarely read a book and think to myself, "they should really make a movie out of this."  Since Hollywood has run out of ideas, they pretty much make a movie out of every book anyway.  But this time is different.  Dear movie producers, pleasepleasepleaseplease make a movie out of Jack's Kilborn's Trapped.  If only I could just see how they make "the pet," my life may very well be complete.

As I mentioned before Jack Kilborn is the horror pen name for J.A. Konrath.  Several of his horror novels were previously unpublished, but the glory of Kindle has made them available for the world.  Trapped was meant to be the sequel to Afraid but even after numerous cuts and edits, the publishers nixed it.  When you download it on Kindle, you get both the original and uncut versions, and the author encourages you to review the book and choose the version you liked better.

I have to be honest, I actually like the cut version better.  Not because of any of the sex and violence that got chopped from it, but the stories just made more sense.  I preferred the army general story to the whole Chinese dude backstory, and Sara being trapped in the box by her sadistic cousin just made more sense than the kidnapping deal. 

Trapped is the story of a couple, on the verge of divorce, who run a sort of halfway house/rehab program for troubled teens.  Unfortunately the center is closing, and a camping trip one of the last times they will have to spend with the kids.  The kids in question are inner-city Detroit fuckups, who have been saved from jail by committing themselves to this program.

Sara and Martin are the couple, and they have brought along their baby, Jack.  Martin knows this island from trips he took with his brother when he was younger, and swears its a good time.  But as soon as they arrive, things start going wrong.  Martin disappears, and when Sara and one of the teens go searching for him, things go horribly wrong.  They discover that the island is inhabited by cannibals, as well as a sick doctor running demented experiments.

I will give it to Kilborn/Konrath, he seriously does his freakin' research for these stories.  The details of the cannibals, torture, surgeries, etc. were amazing and really just sucked you into the story.  I laid awake at night a couple of times, trying to picture the "pet" and Subject 33's torture device.  If loving these stories makes me a sick individual, then get the straightjacket ready, because I can't wait to get to the next one!

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Random: New Obsession - Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath

Up until recently, I have been in graduate school for the last two and a half years.  There are lots of things you give up when getting your masters' and one of those casualities is leisure reading.  Commuting and down time in the evening is replaced by reading textbooks and journal articles instead of the gory tomes I love so dear.

I become a bit obsessive with certain authors and types of literature.  I went on a chick-lit spree a couple of summers ago, reading every Jennifer Weiner-esque book I could get my hands on.   Last summer revolved around my discovery of Jack Ketchum, and I found myself standing in line at Borders weekly, plucking up another Ketchum paperback.

For Christmas, I recieved the Amazon Kindle.  I am not into shilling any company, but this is literally one of the best gifts I've ever gotten.  I can read books everywhere, even standing on the subway or sweating on the elliptical, without struggling to keep the pages open.  Additionally, many horror novels on the Kindle are cheap or even FREE. (I'm not kidding)  And this is how I discovered Jack Kilborn/J.A. Konrath.

This man has written many books, a number of which have gone unpublished.  Several of his previously unpublished works are now available on Kindle for rock-bottom prices.  Although he writes many mysteries and thrillers nowadays, most of his rejected and sliced up works were down-and-dirty horror.  I've been wanting to post more book reviews on this site, and Kilborn's books are just the right place to get started.  I'm in the midst of reading Trapped and I literally can't put it down.  I'm sitting at my desk in my office, and my sleeping Kindle is in my bag, taunting me.

If King's works aren't nasty enough for you, and you've already plowed your way through Ketchum's books, then make Kilborn your next stop.  His writing is definitely not for the weak of heart....or stomach.


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