HIDDEN WORLD

HIDDEN WORLD. William Schoell. 2025. Raven Tale Publishing.

My latest, brand new horror tome.

Veronica Altura had gathered together a team to explore a lost city buried deep in the bowels of the earth, keeping secret her desperate reasons for doing so, but they were woefully unprepared for what they would face ten miles below the surface of the Greek island: Rat-like creatures that struck with surprising swiftness; huge reptiles with jaws that could practically swallow a person whole; and—worst of all—cannibalistic giants with a taste for human flesh and a ferocious, terrible demeanor. And literally hovering above everything was the most frightening horror of all, a demonic presence that wanted to make sure that none of them left this world alive.

Now available on kindle at Amazon! (Paperback coming soon!)

VIRAL

VIRAL. Robin Cook. Putnam; 2021. 

Brian Murphy and his wife Emma are trying to build clientele for their new security firm, but the Covid pandemic is getting in the way. During a vacation with their little daughter, Juliette, Emma is bitten by a mosquito and develops EEE (eastern equine encephalitis) and winds up in the hospital, then is sent home. While trying to care for his wife and daughter, who also has strange symptoms, Murphy has to deal with a staggering emergency room bill and the insurance company's denial of coverage. He comes to the conclusion that both the head of the hospital and the head of the insurance firm are greedy heartless bastards who live like kings while patients are sued, their homes taken, and some even driven to suicide. Murphy and a woman who lost her husband devise a scheme to get even and to make sure the horrendous greed of the American health care system becomes a top story in the news. 

Cook has written some good books and some bad ones, but Viral is just plain weird. The author is totally correct that our health care system is a mess, although it's bizarre that the book's protagonist would be surprised by any of this. Cook does reveal how hospitals jack up the prices to a ridiculous degree, and that not enough people bother to protest, and other things that may or may not be new to the reader. However, some developments are just contrived, and it's hard to believe that it would never occur to the hero to investigate Medicaid or bankruptcy protection. Instead his solution to the problem is criminal and immoral. 

The book details Murphy's problems with billing department clerks, hospital administrations, and insurance companies who collect premiums but do little for their customers. All of this is somewhat interesting, but little of it is thrilling. The book finally turns into a suspense novel of sorts in the final pages, but even these events seem a bit improbable -- everything goes without a single hitch. It's as if Cook just wanted to get the damn book over -- the ending is almost laughably flat. In order to make his point, Cook overstates things, stacks the deck, and compiles it all in undistinguished prose, with barely- dimensional characters, and very stilted dialogue.

Verdict: Read the fine print in your health insurance, but this is not an especially good read. However, without any hesitation I recommend Cook's Cell, a thrilling and suspenseful look at what goes wrong when smartphones are used as primary care doctors. **. 

THE LOVE MACHINE Jacqueline Susann

THE LOVE MACHINE. Jacqueline Susann. Simon and Schuster; 1969. 

Jacqueline Susann followed up her smash bestseller -- a highly entertaining potboiler -- Valley of the Dolls with this well-plotted anti-romance. Although the main character, TV personality and producer Robin Stone, is a man, Love Machine follows the Dolls formula with its story of three women who fall in love with Robin. Robin describes television itself as being a "love machine," but the term is used by the press and gossip columnists for Stone himself. 

Susann was excoriated by the critics, not only for her unapologetically undistinguished if functional prose style, but for the fact that a woman dared to write about sex in all its facets and employ four-letter words to boot. Admittedly Harold Robbins was never seen as any kind of great writer, but he was not necessarily taken to task for any vulgarity, as Susann was. Whatever her flaws as a writer, Susann was an excellent storyteller, kept things moving in a generally unpredictable fashion, and created believable, three-dimensional characters. Her dialogue also rings true more often than not. 

The three women who fall for Robin include the model Amanda, the actress Maggie, and the bosses wife, Judith. My favorite character, however, is Ethel, a plain publicity woman determined to have it all despite her lack of beauty, and who hooks up with a second-rate singer, Christie Lane, who becomes a TV star. As for Robin, you get the impression that Susann doesn't quite understand him any more than Robin understands himself, and there are chapters where he undergoes psychoanalysis and even travels to discover more of his background and what makes him tick. He has qualities that are both admirable and just the opposite. 

Although Robin is neither gay nor bisexual, there is some interesting LGBT stuff, especially as Love Machine was published the very year of Stonewall. Robin becomes friends with a handsome gay Italian, Sergio, who is the caregiver for Robin's adoptive mother. He basically has a positive if somewhat patronizing attitude towards this character. Learning that Sergio undressed him after he passed out, he implies that Sergio may have had his way with him. Sergio asks Robin if he would take advantage of a drunken woman, and wonders why he would assume that he, Sergio, would. In another sequence, Robin has hot sex with a woman who turns out to be transgender, but learning the truth does not anger him. The book is, of course, full of a lot of typically sixties negativity about LGBT matters -- and the word "faggot" is used far too often -- but in other ways Susann was a bit ahead of her time. 

Although Susann can't resist going the soap opera route in certain areas -- one major character is a Kay Kendall-type whose fatal illness is hidden by her loved ones -- the book contains some sharp and satirical observations. I even confess I found the ending moving. 

Verdict: No literary genius, perhaps, but the woman could tell a good story. Much better than the film adaptation. ***. 

STAR TRAP Simon Brett

STAR TRAP. Simon Brett. A Charles Paris Mystery.  

Simon Brett began his Charles Paris mystery series with Cast, In Order of Disappearance in the seventies, but the title was the only worthwhile thing about that book and it's surprising that it wasn't the last in the series. The alcoholic actor Charles Paris did not make a terribly convincing amateur sleuth -- something that has always been a bit of a problem for the series -- but eventually Paris himself began to grow on the readers. So Much Blood, in which Paris does a one-man show at a festival in Edinburgh, had him again involved in murder and spending limited time with his mostly estranged wife. It was slightly better than the first book. 

Then Brett hit his speed with the third book in the series, Star Trap, in which he is hired for a small role in a musical based on She Stoops to Conquer. In addition to being in the cast, Charles is also told to keep an eye out for someone who might be committing acts of sabotage on the production. (One doesn't quite buy that anyone would ask this semi-drunk to do much more than remember his lines!) The star of the musical is an egomaniacal actor who has become famous as a lovable character on a very popular British sitcom, and it isn't long before he takes over the entire production, almost literally. Along with the suspense over what might happen to whom, and who is responsible, Brett examines the very nature of stardom, the behavior of actors who have hit the heights and are terrified of falling, and illuminates where everyone else in a production might fit in or not while dissecting what goes on behind the scenes. As the star makes wholesale changes the musical resembles She Stoops to Conquer less and less. Star Trap -- the title refers to a kind of trapdoor as well as being a pun on "Star Trip" --  is more serious and thoughtful than other Paris mysteries, and it is very well-written. I confess the ending was not entirely satisfying to me, but Brett does more or less wrap up everything  in a compelling fashion. The latest Charles Paris novel is A Deadly Habit. 

Verdict: Very engaging mystery with interesting twists. ***. 

A DEADLY HABIT Simon Brett

A DEADLY HABIT. Simon Brett. Severn House; 2018. A Charles Paris Mystery. 

British author Simon Brett has written a whole slew of mystery novels, some of which were stand-alone books, and others belonged to different series. Most of these are light-hearted "cozies." I think the best of Brett's series is the Charles Paris novels. Paris is a likable fellow in many ways -- an alcoholic actor who has had modest success but is unemployed more often than not -- but some of his qualities are not so admirable. Although still married, he is separated from his wife, essentially neglects both her and their daughter, and seems much more interested in acting, drinking, and being an amateur sleuth than anything else. Brett has written over a dozen books in this series, and in this, the latest, Paris is trying to reconcile with his wife and move in with her but the stipulation is that he stop drinking, and he does make a serious effort. (One suspects he wants to be back with his wife because he feels he is a bit "past it" for his frequent marital indiscretions.) He has gotten a small role in a West End production of a weird play about monks -- the star is a famous movie actor that he worked with back in the day -- and naturally there is a murder. Paris not only gets no help from the police, he doesn't cooperate with them at all, and even holds back important information from them, making him rather irresponsible along with everything else. But the book is both amusing and suspenseful as he carries out his investigation (although one might wonder why he bothers) and eventually stumbles into a solution. One wants to root for Paris' sobriety, although frankly the character is more fun when he's drinking. But the ending of this hints that Paris' love for a "Large Bells" (whiskey) is not something so easily overcome. For my money the very best Charles Paris novel is Murder Unprompted, but this one is good. 

Verdict: Paris' swan song? ***. 

MONSTER WORLD

A little shameless self-promotion here. My dinosaur-on-the-loose thriller is now available in trade paperback and hardcover as well as ebook formats 

"In this dramatic monster-chiller scientists use a time machine to bring prehistoric animals into the early 21st century and their base located on the Yucatan peninsula. Unfortunately, they also bring back the meteor that destroyed the dinosaurs---and now may destroy mankind. As all manner of prehistoric animals -- flying, crawling, and swimming -- create havoc in the complex and surrounding areas, the scientists try desperately to avert global disaster while dodging assaults from huge and very hungry animals, and facing sudden trips back to the Mesozoic era through dangerous, unexpected time loops."

"Energetic and thrilling, with interesting characters."

"Schoell puts the reader through a wringer, as you never know what's coming at you or the characters next."

You can buy this on amazon as a beautiful hardcover or trade paperback, or an inexpensive kindle ebook.

THE CHUCKLING FINGERS

THE CHUCKLING FINGERS. Mabel Seeley. Berkley Prime Crime; 1941. (Cover image from vintage Popular Library edition.)

Ann Gay goes to visit her cousin, Jacqueline Heaton, at the estate she lives at with her husband, Bill. Fiddler's Fingers, on the shore of Lake Michigan, is distinguished by finger-like rocky outcroppings not far from the house. Something is bothering Jacqueline, but she resists Ann's entreaties until the latter learns that there have been a series of unpleasant, even dangerous pranks, played on members of the household -- including on Jacqui and Bill's honeymoon -- and Jacqueline is afraid everyone will think she is the only one who could possibly be responsible. Jacqueline is even afraid that she might be going mad, but Ann is determined to prove her wrong and find out who the trickster is. Then there is a murder, and then another ... 

Mabel Seeley was apparently a popular American mystery writer back in the forties, although she is unknown today to most readers. However, she has recently been rediscovered. The Chuckling Fingers suffers from an over-abundance of characters, and the suspense only kicks in during the final 25 pages or so. Seeley's characterizations are pretty sharp, aside, alas, from her heroine, Ann, who narrates but who is colorless, and the equally colorless detective who comes to Fiddler's Fingers to investigate. I must say that the denouement is very satisfying, makes sense (in its far-fetched way), and Seeley does an admirable job of constructing this puzzle and explaining it. Unfortunately, in this book at least, Seeley fails to do what Agatha Christie could do effortlessly -- and that is entertain. The book is not necessarily dull, but despite its intriguing aspects, it never quite gets a solid grip on the reader. Nevertheless I might sample another Seeley tome in the future. 

Verdict: A lot of hard work if nothing else. **1/2. 

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW A. J. Finn

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW. A J. Finn. William Morrow;2018.

Anna Fox suffers from agoraphobia and lives by herself in an East Harlem townhouse. Her husband left her and took their daughter with him, but Anna stays in communication with them. She spends her time -- in addition to heavy drinking and pill popping -- watching her neighbors, including a couple across the way who have a troubled teenage son, Ethan. One afternoon Anna is helped by, and gets to know, Ethan's mother, Jane, but some time later she appears to see Jane being stabbed through the window of the other building. However, the police think it is all an alcoholic, drug-influenced fantasy. Ethan's mother shows up -- and is a completely different woman from the one Anna met before. The Woman in the Window is well-written and it initially holds your attention, but the twists in the story -- and the identity of the true villain -- are so obvious that it pretty much ruins your enjoyment of the novel and you're just turning pages to get it over with. There are way too many recycled ideas in the book, but once it got bought for the movies (on Netflix, at least) it was destined for bestseller-hood. Serious fans of mystery and suspense books will find this a major disappointment. 

Verdict: Badly overhyped -- paging Agatha Christie. **1/4. 

MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA Agatha Christie

MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA Agatha Christie. (1936). William Morrow trade paperback edition. 

Agatha Christie accompanied her second husband, Max Mallowan, on his archeological expeditions, and on occasion used these digs as the location for one of her mysteries. In this suspenseful story, an attractive middle-aged woman, who brought out strong emotions in the people around her, the wife of the dig's leader, is found murdered, and famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot determines that it had to be an inside job. The victim had been receiving threatening letters, but it is not so certain that they were genuine. There are numerous suspects, various motives and strange psychological attributes that Poirot and the narrator, a young nurse, must sort through to arrive at the solution. The book is very well-written with excellent characterizations, as well as Christie's colorful view of the location, circa 1930's. While one aspect to the solution is quite clever, Christie is at her most audacious when she finally unveils the murderer. When I first read this novel decades ago,. I thought this was so far-fetched as to be laughable -- and it would have been a relatively simple matter for the author to clear up one or two points that would have made it more believable -- but now that I take the character flaws of the victim into stronger consideration, I wonder if the book is quite as improbable as I thought. In any case, whatever you think of the denouement, this is a fascinating mystery. This story was featured on an episode of the series Poirot with the wonderful David Suchet. 

Verdict: Christie doesn't kid around! ***

THE DEMON'S DEN

 

THE DEMON'S DEN. The Hardy Boys # 81 (1984). Franklin W. Dixon (house pseudonym). 

When a boy who is tall for his age is kidnapped from a camp, the chief suspects are members of a cult who fear the oncoming apocalypse. Frank and Joe, however, think the head of the camp may be involved. The cultists believe the boy was taken by the “devil,” whose minions are as “tall as trees.” Meanwhile Fenton Hardy, our heroes' private eye dad, is trying to find a scientist who was involved in dangerous genetic experiments. The fellows wind up deep in the Canadian wilderness, where some of the frightened loggers actually believe in the stories of Paul Bunyan, and his equally large son is supposedly ruling over the territory. Undeterred, Frank and Joe proceed in finding Bunyan’s – or “the devil’s” HQ – coming across outsized footprints and the like. As usual, there is a more realistic explanation for things involving a race of supermen. This is an above-average latter-day Hardy Boys adventure. Gary Lang’s cover illustration depicts Frank and Joe the way they would actually look, like handsome young men who are mature-enough looking to not only be taken seriously by those they question during their investigation but who certainly look as if they can acquit themselves nicely in a fight with desperadoes. 

Verdict: This has its silly aspects, but it's an exciting adventure story for kids of all ages. ***. 

NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF

NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF. The Hardy Boys # 59.(1979). Franklin W. Dixon (house pseudonym). 

In this excellent adventure story for kids of all ages with many interesting facets, the boys investigate a supposed werewolf curse affecting the son of a construction contractor. At the same time some of the man’s buildings have been sabotaged, meaning he could go out of business. One of the fellow's employees is a native American who is hoping to find a missing bejeweled axe that belonged to his ancestor. A phosphorescent wolf – shades of Hound of the Baskervilles  -- appears at different times to menace assorted characters. There are many suspenseful and exciting sequences that range from dark forests to isolated mansions to high beams on skyscraper frames. In addition to Frank and Joe Hardy, we have lovable, chubby Chet Morton, who develops a crush on the contractor's pleasingly plump daughter. 

The first 58 books in the Hardy Boys series were published by Grosset and Dunlap, who lost the contract to the Wanderer books division of Simon and Schuster. The series continued in both paperback and hardback format for quite a few years. It was then replaced with The Hardy Boys Case Files, a somewhat edgier series for older readers. When that series wrapped up its run, we had The Hardy Boys, Undercover Brothers, where they became agents and the stories often were turned into trilogies. Currently Frank and Joe still have their own series in "The Hardy Boys Adventures" (as well as a new television program). The cover of Night of the Werewolf is typical for the time as if portrays the boys as looking a little too young and much less tougher and competent than they actually are in the stories. 

Verdict: One of the better of the post-58 books in the series. ***.  

FICTION: EVERY LAST SECRET

EVERY LAST SECRET. A. R. Torre. 2020; Thomas and Mercer. 

Cat Winthorpe, an entitled woman who married her boss, is nervous about her husband, William's, new employee, Neena Ryder, who also moves in next door with her own husband. Like Cat, Neena also improved her life by marrying up. Neena's plan is to ultimately ditch her loving husband and hook up with handsome William, and she does everything she can to make it happen. Meanwhile, Cat, who suspects what's going on, is equally determined to make sure it doesn't happen. With alternating chapters told from the pov of each lady, the book speeds along and generates some suspense as you wonder which woman will ultimately achieve her goal. However the story's general lack of substance, and the negative nature of virtually all of the characters, may make some readers give up on the novel halfway through. 

Every Last Secret is what I refer to as TVature, "literature" inspired more by television -- such shows as Pretty Little Liars, for instance -- than by real-life, although I have no doubt superficial women like Cat and Neena exist, lord save us (not that William is any better). Ms. Torre's writing is competent (if undistinguished) but it is alarming when she writes in her author's note that she loves (italics hers) these characters, as Cat and Neena are both borderline sociopaths. The mental universe they inhabit is ultimately pathetic. However, Every Last Secret has a very satisfying conclusion and the book will be a page-turner for some. 

Verdict: No great classic by any means but some readers will undoubtedly be entertained by the twists and turns of the plot. ***. 

ELEVATION Stephen King

ELEVATION. Stephen King. Scribner; 2018.

In this interesting if unremarkable novella by King -- a homage to Richard Matheson (to whom the book is dedicated) in general and his novel The Shrinking Man in particular -- hero Scott Carey (the name of the hero of Matheson's novel) discovers something very strange is happening to him. According to his scale he is losing weight rapidly, but his appearance isn't changing at all. His doctor is utterly baffled, but Carey is afraid that sooner or later his complete lack of mass -- despite what he looks like, a pot-bellied middle-aged man -- will send him soaring into the heavens. Carey's neighbors are a lesbian couple who are trying to run a restaurant in King's fictional Castle Rock but encountering difficulties due to prejudice. It's not just that they're a gay couple but that they're married. Carey makes it his business to help them, even though one of the women comes off like a stereotypical man-hater with a chip on her shoulder. In this testament to how friendship can overcome all barriers, the two women eventually become concerned friends of Carey's.

While the gay aspects of the book, however well-meaning (especially after King's nasty depiction of a gay male couple in Needful Things), are a bit awkward, his heart seems to be in the right place. The book is as well-written as anything by King, but some readers might be a little put off by the ending, which is somewhat moving but also a little comical and inexplicable. It's a good, fast read, but by no means a King classic.

Verdict: Worth an hour of your time if you don't expect too much. **3/4. 

NEVER SEND FLOWERS: JAMES BOND

NEVER SEND FLOWERS. John Gardner. Putman's/Berkley/1993. 

This James Bond adventure was promoted as "007 hunts a serial killer!", serial killers being very much in vogue at the time in popular fiction. While the ultimate villain in this -- a deranged actor named David Dragonpol -- does kill several people, the only real "serial killer," a murdered woman's brother, is out of the picture when the story begins. Bond meets and works with a Swiss agent named Flicka von Grusse, whom he eventually develops deep feelings for. Dragonpol has built a museum inside his mansion which recreates different periods in history via the use of holograms and animatronics, so it's no wonder that his ultimate goal is to kill Princess Diana and her boys when they take a trip to EuroDisney in Paris. 

Although most of Gardner's Bond novels seem well-thought out and well-constructed, this time Gardner seems to have written the book on the cuff, with little pre-planning, giving the whole thing a haphazard and perfunctory feel. It is the weirdest James Bond novel ever written, culminating in an utterly ridiculous scene when Bond fails to spot Dragonpol at a key moment, making 007 seem incompetent.  Never Send Flowers is still entertaining and has some suspenseful moments, but if you want to sample Gardner's Bond, this is not the novel to start with. Read License Renewed instead. 

Verdict: 007 treading water. **1/2. 

JAMES BOND: LICENSE RENEWED

LICENSE RENEWED. John Gardner. 1981.

After the debacle of Colonel Sun by Kinsley Amis -- the first 007 novel since the death of creator Ian Fleming -- James Bond was reintroduced and reinvigorated by John Gardner in this excellent thriller which began a whole new series of Bond novels by Gardner. In this adventure Bond is up against the potent combination of Anton Murik -- a nutty physicist who is outraged that the world has rejected his new ideas for nuclear plants as “unsafe” -- and Franco, one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. To gain money to build his devices and prove the scientific community wrong, Murik, with Franco's aid, comes up with a scheme to take over several nuclear power plants and cause simultaneous melt-downs unless a massive ransom is paid. Of course, he has no intention of letting Franco keep his share of the money, and hires Bond, whom he thinks is a mercenary, to assassinate the terrorist. Then there are the two women in Murik's life: his niece Lavender Peacock, who seems to be on the side of the angels; and his girlfriend Mary Anne Mashkin, who appears not only to be Murik's partner in business but in other ways as well. Murik is the Scottish Laird of Murcaldy, although he may not have the right to the title. (In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Ernst Stavro Blofeld also pretended to be something he was not.)

The climax takes place on a giant starlifter aircraft in which Bond has a chilling fight to the death with Murik's lieutenant Caber, and there are exciting sequences at festivities in Perpignan in the French Pyrenees (including a fashion show in which Lavender is a model). Murik almost approaches the level of a classic Bond villain, although Franco is not developed nearly as well.

Verdict: Suspenseful, well-paced, and well-written, overall this is a Damned Good Show! ***1/2.