Jason Cavallaro's Best and Worst of July

Although I've read more this month than I ever have (18!), around half of those were for Splatterpunk award assessment, so I won't be grading those here. If you're curious about how that turns out, feel free to check out the KillerCon virtual con (www.killerconaustin.com). The following isn't a list of all of the Splatterpunk nominees, as I'd read a lot of them for previous months' installments of this column, but these are the ones that I squeezed in for my last-minute procrastination vote:

THE NEW FLESH: A LITERARY TRIBUTE TO DAVID CRONENBERG (anthology)
THEY KILL by Tim Waggoner
TOXIC LOVE by Kristopher Triana
RESISTING MADNESS by Wesley Southard (collection)
THS IS A HORROR BOOK by Charles Austin Muir (collection)
MIDNIGHT IN THE GRAVEYARD (anthology)
LAKEHOUSE INFERNAL by Christine Morgan
KILLER LAKE by WD Gagliani and David Benton

And here are the other ten:

1: THE LIVING DEAD by George Romero and Daniel Kraus. Stick with it. The final act is worth it. Grade: B
2: THE RAVEN by Jonathan Janz. I'd rank it upper-middle tier with his other books. Grade: C
3: THE SILENT PATIENT by Alex Michaelides. The newest in-vogue mystery/thriller. Surprisingly good. Grade: A
4: A LITTLE AMBER BOOK OF WICKED SHOTS by Robert McCammon. For the diehard McCammon fans only. Read BLUE WORLD if you haven't yet. Grade: B
5: THE MIDNIGHT CLUB by Christopher Pike. Believe it or not, my first Pike book. Loved it. Grade: A
6: THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morganstern. Reminded me of Michael Thomas Ford's LILY, which I actually liked more. Grade: C
7: WAKING NIGHTMARES by Christopher Golden. My second attempt at trying to get into these Peter Octavian books. Grade: D
8: BUBBA HO-TEP AND THE COSMIC BLOODSUCKERS by Joe Lansdale and Josh Jabcuga (graphic novel). Outstanding, except for the artist switch for the last issue. Grade: C
9: THE BUNKER DIARY by Kevin Brooks. Simple and effective YA book. Grade: A
10: PUNISHER: FRANKEN-CASTLE by Rick Remender (graphic novel). Certainly inferior to Ennis's Punisher run, but still fun. Grade: B

WORST OF THE MONTH: WAKING NIGHTMARES by Christopher Golden

As I stated before, this is my second Peter Octavian book. My first was THE GATHERING DARK. The only reason I read this one is because the JournalStone rep gave it to me for free after I bought a Gwendolyn Kiste novel from him at StokerCon. Plus, I'm an eternal optimist. Both the plot and the characters seemed a tiny bit contrived, which made me struggle through it. Lots of action though. Just not for me.

and then.....

BEST OF THE MONTH: THE BUNKER DIARY by Kevin Brooks

I handed out three A's this month, but it was either this one or Pike's THE MIDNIGHT CLUB that was going to win. THE BUNKER DIARY got my attention by being ranked #2 on Ginger Nuts of Horror's "The Top Fifty YA Horror Novels of the Last Decade." What legitimizes their list in my eyes is that my three favorite YA novels all made their top ten: Maberry's ROT AND RUIN, Pinborough's THE DEATH HOUSE, and Gaiman's THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE. I recommend those three books with all of my heart (especially THE DEATH HOUSE). The Carnegie-medal-winning THE BUNKER DIARY certainly deserves a spot in anyone's "best YA" list, but also deserves a spot in ANY best-of list. It is certainly the darkest YA book I've ever read, so if you are a reader that veers away from YA literature for this reason, have no fear: this book WILL affect you.

See you next month!

Reviews by Jason Cavallaro
jcavallaro42@gmail.com
Twitter: @pinheadspawn