Whenever I run across a book with a jack-o-lantern on the cover, there's a really good chance I will buy it. That pretty much sums up how I got my hands on the 1992 horror novel Hell-O-Ween by David Robbins.

When I write reviews, I typically do a little research on the authors if I'm not already familiar with their writings. To my shock, I learned David Robbins has written many westerns under several pen names, including Ralph Compton, David Thompson, and Jon Sharpe. More than likely I have probably read one or two of his westerns. David has always written several other horror novels, including Prank Night and The Wraith.

Hell-O-Ween centers around eight high school students going into the "Caverna del Diablo" (a.k.a. The Cavern of the Devil) late at night to play a cruel trick on the class nerd. However, things go horribly wrong and six of the eight teenagers are murdered by 7' tall nude demons.

Final Thoughts

I have a bad habit of buying Dean Koontz thrillers each and every time I stumble across one at a thrift store, which has resulted in me accumulating many duplicates. Strangely, I have only read two or three Koontz novels over the years. That's why I wanted to read The Bad Place as one of the 13 Reads of Horror! because at least I'll have had read at least one book from my Koontz collection in 2019.

Originally published in 1990, The Bad Place centers around Frank Pollard, a man who's deeply afraid of falling asleep because if he does, he will wake up the next morning somewhere else with no clue of how he got there. And, there's a twist - he always finds something weird, such as blood on his hands. Could it get any weirder?

To solve his nighttime activities, Frank hires Bobby and Julie Dakota, a husband and wife security duo, to follow him around at night to unravel the mystery. Sounds simple enough. Right?

Final Thoughts

I don't have a clue how long I have owned an old paperback copy of The Pet by the late author Charles L. Grant but I have had it quite a long time, and I'm going to take a wild guess I'd probably bought it at a thrift store.

The Pet (pub. 1986) centers around Donald "Don" Boyd, a seventeen-year-old who would rather be spending his time with animals than doing typical teenage stuff, such as playing football. His father (Norm) is the principal at the local Ashford, New Jersey high school and he's always giving Don slack about not having a girlfriend and questing  his choice of wanting to attend a veterinarian school. To make matters even worse, Norm is frustrated with the teachers' contract negotiations and takes out all of his anger on Don. Add in some bulling from a few football jocks, I guess you can say Don's life isn't exactly perfect.

Late one autumn night, Don runs into the serial the killer "The Howler" and barely survives the encounter. The Howler is later found dead in a park. The authorities come to the conclusion that Don killed The Howler in self-defense, which leads to everyone calling the boy a hero. The truth is Don is not even close to being a hero.

It seems a black horse, which looks oddly similar to the horse in a poster on Don's bedroom wall, was the one that saved him that night. And this is no normal horse! The horse is supernatural and will attack anyone who threatens Don's well being.

Final Thoughts

I've been starring at my computer screen for several minutes pondering whether or not I bought Joe Hill's Stranger Weather last year or early this year at my local library for $2. I guess the older I get the more my memory starts to disappear. Or I might just need some more sleep!

Stranger Weather contains four short novels by Joe Hill (a.k.a. Stephen King's son) - Snapshot, Loaded, Aloft, and Rain.

Set in 1988, Snapshot centers around Michael Figlione, a kid who finds himself crossing paths with the "The Phoenician" who uses a Polaroid Instant Camera to erase his victim's memories.

Loaded centers around a mall security guard named Kellaway, a racist who's down on his luck. Then one morning a shooting incident occurs at the mall that will change his life forever.

Aloft centers around a group of friends going skydiving. After something goes wrong with their plane, they have to jump out sooner than expected, which leads to a bizarre trip through the clouds.

Rain takes place in Boulder, Colorado and centers around a storm that rains splinters (or needles).

Final Thoughts

I have many books in my library (a.k.a. - cheap bookshelves and closets) that I'd purchased at used book stores or thrift shops and I picked put these titles because I loved their covers. One of these titles happens to be "The Place" by T.M. Wright, a 1989 horror-fantasy that I've been meaning to read to read for quite a long time.

The Place centers around the Galway King, his wife Ella, and their children, Justin and Greta, coming across a "terrifying" event in the woods that leads a madman, Harlan DeVries, to hunt them down. To deal with the trauma, Greta goes to her imaginary world called The Place, where she believes she would be safe. However, The Place's bright blue sky has turned black-red and the magical felines there will no longer talk.

The evil of the real world has found its way into The Place and Greta must find a way to survive.

Final Thoughts