Updating with:
#35 Daniel Easterman - The Judas TestamentI picked this up on the basis that it seemed to be in The De Vinci Code territory. As it turned out, it had those elements and was a pretty darn good thriller, to boot. I'd read more from this author and I'm keen to read his horror novels, under another pen-name now.
#36 Peter Straub - Floating DragonI swear that I have an unconscious desire, going back many, many years, to succeed in getting all the way through a Straub novel before I die. I've tried over the years, I really have, but I've never gotten beyond the first few chapters. Finally! I did it! Yay me!
This wasn't the best horror novel I've read, but it was free of the irritations that normally vex me in a Straub novel to ensure I made it to the end. I enjoyed it.
#37 Dean Koontz - The TakingKoontz has usually served me well over the years (I still say Watchers is one of THE best horror novels out there) but he does come up with a clunker or two, now and then. This wasn't exactly one of them, but it wasn't his best either. Firstly it had very odd pacing - the first third was taken up with the two main characters driving into town, during which journey not a lot happened. Secondly, I had problems with the main premise which involved me having to accept that 99% of the world's population are bad/evil people. I think most people are just ordinary - neither very good nor very evil - so I couldn't really buy into it.
#38 Stephen King - CellI haven't really enjoyed King's novel for over a decade now, but the blurb on this one looked interesting, so I decided to give it a go. I enjoyed it - in many ways it was a harking back to his earlier works. Not terrific, not his best, but a good story all the same.
#39 Brian Keene - The RisingI bought this on the basis of several reviewers of Cell on Amazon saying it was a better novel covering the same premise/plot. Plus, by that point I was in the mood for a really good zombie apocolypse novel. And, boy, did I get it! This is the best horror novel I've read in years. A real harking back to the best of King and McCammon. Any book that gives you a zombie fish and a zombie baby has to be doing it with style.
You can kill as many people as you like, including zombie babies, but don't touch the dog.
#42 Katherine Kerr - A Time Of WarI forgot to add this one in earlier. Let's see...I read it last week and can't for the life of me remember a single, solitary thing about the plot. Which probably tells you everything you need to know.
Having a bit of a mini heatwave here today, so I'm off to have a lovely salad, a long cool glass of Pepsi and settle down with the rest of the new batch of reading I got today. Yay!
LabRat
