Nevermore

Title: Nevermore

Author: David Niall Wilson

Genre: Paranormal, Suspense, Occult

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Lenore finds herself drawn to a tavern amidst a swamp, the Dismal swamp to be exact.  There she stares out the window at a specific tree; drawing.  Faces amongst the branches, one such face startles the young barmaid waiting on her.  She begins to tell Lenore the story of Thigpen an evil man who was killed the prior year.  As Lenore listens to Anita's story and continues to erase lines freeing the souls of those trapped within, Edgar is in the room next door writing when a story takes over and he writes the tale Anita is telling.  Together with Lenore, Anita, and a young boy named Tom become trapped within a tale of their own; they become pawns in a battle between good and evil, a battle against the Dismal Swamp itself.

I am a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan, especially the Raven, so much so that I have a tattoo on my calf making a reference to the writer.  So when I came across this novel and seen it included Lenore and Poe as central characters I decided, why not let's see.  This is the first book of his that I have picked up, and I have mixed feelings which seems to be happening a lot lately.  The story starts of incredibly slow, and confusing in the beginning as to what is happening and the importance of the events that are happening.  The middle part does pick up a little bit in pace in interest, but it is still a little difficult to get into.  It felt like there was a lot to the story that wasn't being told, more hidden beneath the words.

I liked the characters and personalities David gave to the characters especially Grimm.  I liked that a raven had personality and was as much a character as Poe or Lenore.  This would be great as a series as I could see Poe and Grimm acting in different capacities much like this story.  It is dark, magical, thrilling trip through time, magic, and even a little bit of love.  We see the romance between Lenore and Poe that fans may have thought about when reading "The Raven."  Which is enjoyed seeing a variation of Grimm's tale of The Raven included in this novel. 

I recommend this novel for those who like the paranormal, suspense, thriller, and magic.  Reading this book will make time disappear and make you want read more of Poe's stories with a different outlook on his tales.  I will give this a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

Prayers For The Dead

Hidden deep within underground caves, caves that should have been closed off, archeology students find a dead body.  Detective McLean begins his investigation only to realize it is the body of a missing journalist.  The murder appears to be a part of a ritual, but of what kind.  McLean has the uncanny feeling that there is something more hidden within this murder than what it appears to be.  As he follows his instincts and with the help of a remarkable and unlikely allies, the detective begins to track down this killer.  One who believes he answers to a higher power, one who believes he is doing good rather than evil.




This is a book that I had the honor of receiving from the publisher through NetGallery (if you haven't checked out NetGallery do so it's pretty great).




The story starts out very strong with the murder which readers see happen when they read the prologue.  Then the strength of the novel continues until the end.  There are moments when it feels like the story wavers a little bit and has elements that feel like they don't make sense to the story, but that doesn't take away from the story itself.  The story itself is an easy read, there isn't much that goes deeper than what the author is telling us which is a good thing.  Oswald takes time to get readers familiar with his characters especially if they hadn't read one of the previous novels before.  I like that I was able to pick up this book and read it without prior knowledge of these characters.


The characters are strong and interesting, it is easy to relate to them and hope things work out the way you want them to as the reader (some stories it doesn't which makes for a great novel).  There is a nice blend of both science and paranormal throughout this book that really keeps you guessing and entertained. Some things were a little humorous that you don't see in other mystery books such as the use of poop as evidence, but it makes you wonder how often everyday cops have to analyze poop in order to solve a crime?  Gross right, but funny nonetheless.


I simply loved reading this book and hope to go back and read the previous novels and eagerly anticipate the next one.  I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good book to read regardless of genre preference.  I would give this a rating of 4 out of 5 simply because there were moments when it seemed like the story lulled.

Heart of Evil

I have read a few of Heather Graham's novels in the past and have enjoyed a great deal of her books.  When I picked up this novel, I had such high hopes for it, but those hopes feel real short.  The story focuses on Ashley Donegal, who's family plantation is known for dining, atmosphere and legends.  They play host to re-enactments from the Civil War.  After one of these enactments a corpse shows up in the same situation.  She turns to a team of paranormal investigators which includes a previous love interest.  As the continue to investigate they find secrets buried deep within the plantation.  Will they be able to unravel these mysterious secrets. 

I found that this book seemed to fall short of the other books that I have read by Heather.  In this book the ghosts interact with the characters which is something that I have seen in the other books, but in this one it seemed everyone could see the ghosts not just a select few which seemed to take away from the feel of the book.  There are to many of them and the are too prominent in this book.  It is better when there is only one or two ghosts in the book but not a whole bunch.  It almost felt like being spoon fed everything rather than learning and developing as the story developed.  I almost didn't finish the book I felt so cheated. 

I have a huge fan of Heather Graham and have enjoyed many of her books in the past, I am dumbfounded at how much I disliked this book.  The writing almost did not feel like it was Heather writing it.  It felt completely different from the other book which had so much mystery and thrills in it where this one was almost predictable.  The romance in the book was incredibly cheesy and unrealistic.  The novel completely drags on and feels like it goes no where,  it so relentlessly slow that it took me months to read it rather than the day it normally takes me to read a novel.  I kept walking away from it, not feeling compelled to read it.  I kept with it because I had hoped it would get better, but it didn't.

While I would recommend Heather Graham's novels to other mystery lovers and those who like a paranormal aspect to their stories, I don't think I would recommend this one.  Sadly I give this novel a 1.5 out of 5.  This was far from one of Heather's better novels, and I do know they get better because I've read other books in the series.