More of wot I have read...

Insomnia by Stephen King

King’s writing style tends to lean towards action and violence, often graphic and gratuitous, rather than a steady building of suspense and tension that I prefer. I thought his choice of main characters was inspired and I was looking forward to learning how they viewed the world, but they too seemed to become more inclined towards heroic activity than you would have credited them with. I was not totally convinced with the supernatural elements that King tried to convey in this book and this inevitably frustrated me. I just think I don’t get on with his writing style, but I know many others do.

'Ralph Roberts has a problem: he isn't sleeping so well these days. In fact, he's hardly sleeping at all. Each morning, the news conveyed by the bedside clock is a little worse: 3:15...3:02...2:45...2:15. The books call it "premature waking"; Ralph, who is still learning to be a widower, calls it a season in hell. He's begun to notice a strangeness in his familiar surroundings, to experience visual phenomena that he can't quite believe are hallucinations. Soon, Ralph thinks, he won't be sleeping at all, and what then? A problem, yes - though perhaps not so uncommon, you might say. But Ralph has lived his entire life in Derry, Maine, and Derry isn't like other places, as millions of Stephen King readers will gladly testify. They remember It, also set in Derry, and know there's a mean streak running through this small New England city; underneath its ordinary surface awesome and terrifying forces are at work. The dying, natural and otherwise, has been going on in Derry for a long, long time. Now Ralph is part of it. So are his friends. And so are the strangers they encounter.'


Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

I found this book much more my cup of tea and I was drawn in immediately, attracted by the playful writing and the sympathetic and qwerky characters. Even though the idea is not necessarily a new one, the interpretation seemed fresh and exciting. I particularly enjoyed Koontz attention to detail and his almost poetic style of description.

"The dead don't talk. I don't know why." But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Odd Thomas thinks of himself as an ordinary guy, if possessed of a certain measure of talent at the Pico Mundo Grill and rapturously in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, Stormy Llewellyn. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it's a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice, and Odd's otherworldly tips to Pico Mundo's sympathetic police chief, Wyatt Porter, can solve a crime. Occasionally they can prevent one. But this time it's different. A mysterious man comes to town with a voracious appetite, a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers, and a pack of hyena-like shades following him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. His most ominous clue is a page ripped from a day-by-day calendar for August 15.

Today is August 14.

In less than twenty-four hours, Pico Mundo will awaken to a day of catastrophe. As evil coils under the searing desert sun, Odd travels through the shifting prisms of his world, struggling to avert a looming cataclysm with the aid of his soul mate and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll. His account of two shattering days when past and present, fate and destiny converge is the stuff of our worst nightmares—and a testament by which to live: sanely if not safely, with courage, humor, and a full heart that even in the darkness must persevere.


Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

As a sequel this book suffers from the fact that we know many of the secrets we didn’t in the first book, and taking it on a step sometimes pushes the boundaries just a bit too far. There is not a lot extra that we find out about the characters we like and the new characters seem even more outlandish than before. It could be trying too hard.

Every so often a character so captures the hearts and imaginations of readers that he seems to take on a life of his own long after the final page is turned. For such a character, one book is not enough — readers must know what happens next. Now Dean Koontz returns with the novel his fans have been demanding. With the emotional power and sheer storytelling artistry that are his trademarks, Koontz takes up once more the story of a unique young hero and an eccentric little town in a tale that is equal parts suspense and terror, adventure and mystery — and altogether irresistibly odd.

We're all a little odd beneath the surface. He's the most unlikely hero you'll ever meet — an ordinary guy with a modest job you might never look at twice. But there's so much more to any of us than meets the eye — and that goes triple for Odd Thomas. For Odd lives always between two worlds in the small desert town of Pico Mundo, where the heroic and the harrowing are everyday events. Odd never asked to communicate with the dead — it's something that just happened. But as the unofficial ambassador between our world and theirs, he's got a duty to do the right thing. That's the way Odd sees it and that's why he's won hearts on both sides of the divide between life and death.

A childhood friend of Odd's has disappeared. The worst is feared. But as Odd applies his unique talents to the task of finding the missing person, he discovers something worse than a dead body, encounters an enemy of exceptional cunning, and spirals into a vortex of terror. Once again Odd will stand against our worst fears. Around him will gather new allies and old, some living and some not. For in the battle to come, there can be no innocent bystanders, and every sacrifice can tip the balance between despair and hope. Whether you're meeting Odd Thomas for the first time or he's already an old friend, you'll be led on an unforgettable journey through a world of terror, wonder and delight — to a revelation that can change your life. And you can have no better guide than Odd Thomas.


The Husband by Dean Koontz

I received this book for my birthday from my wife and it is a real page-turner. I didn’t want to put it down, drawn as I was into the horror as Mitch’s world is turned upside down and everything (well almost everything) he though was good turns bad. At the end it had my pulse beating faster as I willed him on. I have really enjoyed the few books I have read by this author and I will look out for more of them now.

What would you do for love? Would you die? Would you kill?

We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash. Landscaper Mitchell Rafferty thinks it must be some kind of joke. He was in the middle of planting impatiens in the yard of one of his clients when his cell phone rang. Now he's standing in a normal suburban neighborhood on a bright summer day, having a phone conversation out of his darkest nightmare.

Whoever is on the other end of the line is dead serious. He has Mitch's wife and he's named the price for her safe return. The caller doesn't care that Mitch runs a small two-man landscaping operation and has no way of raising such a vast sum. He's confident that Mitch will find a way. If he loves his wife enough… Mitch does love her enough. He loves her more than life itself. He's got seventy-two hours to prove it. He has to find the two million by then. But he'll pay a lot more. He'll pay anything.


BloodBowl by Matt Forbeck

If you approach this book with the same attitude as the game of BloodBowl them you probably won’t be disappointed. It is never going to win any literary awards but then that never was its aim. It’s just a bit of fun.

He should have stuck to fighting dragons…

Dunk Hoffnung’s life is going nowhere fast and being an adventurer is definitely not all it’s cracked up to be. The pay is terrible, the conditions harsh and the only people you meet are generally monsters and they’re more interested in eating your flesh than sitting down and sharing their feelings…

When sports agent Slick Fullbelly spots Dunk bringing down a Chimera with a spear from a hundred paces, he’s sure that his search is over. Slick works for the Bad Bay Hackers, and they need a new thrower. Dunk is about to be plunged headfirst into the insane world of Blood Bowl, the fastest, meanest sport in this dark and brutal fantasy world. Dunk puts down his sword and steps off the battlefield…… onto the football field.


DeadBall by Matt Forbeck

This is more of the same, bad jokes, terrible puns, and wild action that is absolutely nothing more than a bit of fan fun.

Would-be star quarterback Dunk Hoffnung is back and, unfortunately, he's not smelling of roses. His dreams of fame and stardom within the ridiculously violent game of Blood Bowl have all come to nothing. But a good player never says die (though they have been known to say "Ouch" or "Look, take the ball! Just don't hurt me!" or "Not in the face!") and he's determined to make his name… in the Albion leagues. All he has to do is survive the dirty tricks, the sneaky cheating and the exploding footballs. And that's just the players on his team.