The House At The End Of The World by Dean Kootz

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The House at the End of the World is suspenseful and freaky. Dean Koontz has invented a brand new horror. Unlike any of his others. Katie lives alone on an island. On another island lives a family. The third island houses some facilities. Environmental research possibly.

The inhabitants of the three islands accidentally become involved with each other. Mysterious things happen at the research facility. It’s all hush-hush. Things are going wrong surrounding the research facility. Katie has been seeing and hearing odd things.

Two people learn what is happening and what must happen to stop it. Katie and a young girl from the family living on the other island find each other. They must try to get to the mainland and as far away from the research facility as possible as fast as they can if they want to live.

Dean Kootz fascinates me. His ability to come up with new and original horror is limitless. It seems everything happens for a reason and is true in the end.

Rise, The Iron Fists Book One by Margot De Klerk

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Rise takes place generations after an apocalyptic event. The world in Rise is very different from ours. This detail is critical when reading this novel. The author, Margot De Klerk, has created a complex and scary world mixed in between destruction and rubble. This is a dark place to live.

Technology is gone. Most people are poor and struggling. De Klerk plunges the reader right into this ugly world. People do what they must to survive. Gangs run everything. A different type of order exists than we live in now. Fighting, killing, foul language, sex, and slavery are all a part of this world.

Harley is the central character in Rise. The reader sees life through her perspective. She does the best she can to survive. Harley is a waitress In a hotel bar. One of the better jobs in this society. Since Harley works in a popular bar, she interacts with many different types of people. Some good, some evil, but it’s hard to be sure who to trust.

Harley is in her mid-twenties. There are love interests, but none are series. This is a dark tale. Once I realized how different Harley’s world is from my own, I was hooked. Harley gets up every day and does whatever she has to to get through that day.

I enjoyed this book. Rise is a gritty and suspenseful story. I’ve never read anything like this. I am hoping Harley’s story continues. I’m addicted to her now.

DARK RIVER RISING, A Winston Radhauser Series, # 13 by Susan Clayton-Goldner

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Dark River Rising is a stand alone novel even though it is number 13 in the series. The author writes each book so the reader understands everything. Much of this novel is a flashback covering three years. This is Ava’s story. A 13 year old corpse that went missing on her tenth birthday. The detective to catch the case is Detective Winston Randhauser, nicknamed Wind or the Cowboy Detective, who lives and works in a small town named Ashland, Oregon.

Detective Radhauser gets a middle of the night call about a body discovered by a homeless man. This starts an intense investigation. This victim is one of the detectives cold cases which raises the already tense investigation to a new level.

This novel highlights the best and worst people found in todays world.

The characters are well developed, and realistic. As I read this book I felt I knew all of them personally. Life is messy even when everything appears perfect. This is an ongoing theme. As Detective Rafhauser works this case he shares his thoughts and memories. Ava, the victim, does the same. The story is heart wrenching page-turner. There’s a lot going on and everyone’s lives get intertwined during the instigation.

Each Radhauser book I read I feel is my favorite. This one absolutely it. Dark River Rising is a fictional book. The story it tells isn’t. This one will stay with me and I will never forget Ava.