tobin_elliott's reviews
555 reviews

Midnight Black by Mark Greaney

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Geez, fourteen books in, what can I even say at this point? This is a consistently excellent series.

I will say, in the first few chapters, I was a little worried, as Greaney had Gentry doing some stupid stuff, but I think it was intentional, based on where he was mentally. 

Seriously, excellent series that, fourteen books later, I still heartily recommend to anyone who enjoys this type of story.

Ugly Stories About Terrible People Doing Horrible Things Vol by Tobin Elliott

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Once again, the time has come for me to review a book that I wrote. Once again, for the benefit of those who have accused me of "looking like I eat meth for breakfast" and of being a "f*****g parody of a male writer" for being so bold as to review and give my books a five star rating, I will state, for the record, this review has nothing to do with the content held between the covers. 

No, this review, yet again, is for the audiobook version, and my incomparable narrator, Jenn Johnson.

Jenn dives into these ten stories, and literally becomes, not the narrator, not even the storyteller, but the living embodiment of the stories. I have no idea how she does it, but she adds an indefinable quality through her voice that raises these stories to heights I could never accomplish with my words.

Jenn's absolutely incredible, and a wonderful person as well.

Oh, and you get to hear my sweet-as-salt voice on the story notes for each one...or you can skip those and avoid the inevitable headache.

I should also point out that, even if you're reading this a couple of years down the line, I have free promo codes for anyone who wants to give this a listen in exchange for an honest (no, not a glowing one, but an honest) review.

A Path Through the Forest by Alisha Galvan

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

I simply cannot understand why this book has such a low overall rating.  I don't have a clue who Alisha Galvan is, but holy crap, I need to read more.

The stories in here are all dark, and very often quite bleak. There's also times where it feels like something referenced in one story aludes to one of the others, though that could just be my brain stitching them together.

Overall, aside from the odd spelling error (and the two egregious uses of "should of" instead of "should've" or "should have" in the "Soulmates" story that I'm willing to let slide due to the sheer brilliance of these stories), this is a shockingly good collection of shorts. Honestly, normally in a single-author collection—even the best of them—I'll find a couple of stories that don't do a damn thing for me.

Not here. 

Every one of these stories carries a gut punch. These are stories I'm angry that I didn't write. They're very, very good.

Again, I have no idea who Alisha Galvan is, and I honestly don't even remember how this collection even caught my eye, but I'm so glad it did...because Galvan?

Yeah, she's one to watch.

The Sea Magician by Kenneth Robeson, Lester Dent

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This one was a bit bizarre, and kind of felt thrown together at the last minute. It starts with Johnny in an extended sequence, and the balance of the book likely has as much Monk and Ham as it does Doc Savage. Savage comes across as a secondary player in his own book. Considerable time is spent with the side characters.

There was, as per usual, no doubt as to who the hidden villain was. I mean, it's usually obvious, but this one pretty much screamed it.

Overall, definitely not one of the better Savage yarns.

The Local Truth by Carlos E. Rivera

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I took a long time with this novel, because, quite frankly, I loved what the author was doing, story-wise, and I kind of wanted to just hang out with these people, both in their kid forms, and as adults.

Rivera takes his time in this first novel of the trilogy, offering up a lot of questions, setting up a few mysteries, and answering very little. The pacing is, quite frankly, all over the place, and normally that would upset me but somehow, dammit, the author makes it work.

And that inspires both jealousy AND admiration in me. This is the type of book I'd love to write, but am completely incapable of doing so...meanwhile, Rivera makes it look easy.

Make no mistake, from the first page to the last, this novel, while engaging, is all set-up. There's actually no real climax here, which is fine, because I know there's two more thick books that follow it. Normally, I'd be a touch worried, but throughout the 600ish pages (counting the I AM THE DOOR novella that closes out the last hundred pages or so), the reader gets a sense that Rivera not only knows everything that's going on, but that he has to weave it slowly, carefully, so it all comes together down the line. I feel like I'm in very good, very knowledgeable, very capable hands here, and I'm eager to get through the next two novels.

And, a small note about I AM THE DOOR. Same town, different time frame, and this story? Holy cow, it's vicious, in the best sense of the word. It's horrible, it's nasty, and I loved it. When Rivera wants to bring the pain, he can bring it.

I'm excited about the next couple of books.

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

4.25

I absolutely adored the first entry into this series, A TAINTED CUP, and I quite enjoyed this one.

However...

This one did seem a bit overcomplex at times, as well as going on a little longer than it really needed to. I love how much screen time Din got, however I felt the scenes where he takes a couple of booty calls weren't really needed and didn't do anything to advance the plot. 

Ana, unfortunately, had spans and spans of pages where she wasn't involved. Yes, I get that Din is her eyes, ears, nose, and essential observer on the ground, and I'm also guessing that if Ana was overplayed, she'd lose her mystique and scene-stealing qualities...but dammit, give me a bit more of her!

Overall, it actually works out to a relatively Sherlockian mystery, albeit with fantasy elements, and it was fun, but it didn't quite hit the high of the first book.

Bad Wolf by Tim McGregor

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Here's the thing I think I like most about Tim McGregor's writing: he defies expectations. He writes horror novels that don't have a trace of horror in them until well past the halfway mark. And the horror that he finally brings is never really what's expected.

Instead, it's so much better than what you expect.

I went into this expecting...well...a werewolf novel. And eventually, after the halfway mark, that's what I got. But this is far more a police procedural, and a gritty, raw one at that, with all the hallmarks of a McGregor story...excellent writing, well-defined, realistic characters, and a tight, logical plot that just flows, without relying on stupid decisions.

I'll even say, the one element of werewolf lore that he included (that I won't spoil) that I rolled my eyes at? Yeah, he blew that up later, to my great satisfaction.

This may be more police procedural than horror, and it may be more cops than wolves. But in the end, it's an excellent werewolf novel that delivers so much more that what I expected.

Demiurge: The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales of Michael Shea by Michael Shea, S.T. Joshi
Did not finish book. Stopped at 46%.

I tried.

I enjoyed the first story, but then, it began a slow slide downhill, seemingly constructed of shoggoths and HPL references, and the seamy underside of California.

When I read "The Presentation" and realized I'd been so uninterested that, seconds after finishing it, I couldn't tell you what it was about, then did pretty much the same with "The Battery" I knew it was time to bail.

Shea has a good narrative style, but very few of these stories grabbed me in the way a Lovecraftian story should. 

DNF, no rating.

Death In Silver by Kenneth Robeson, Lester Dent

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

3.25

This one was a more claustrophobic adventure, almost as though Doc Savage had suffered a budget cut.

Instead of spanning the globe and ending up in a more exotic location, this one never leaves the New York/New Jersey locale. And, it also cut out Renny, Long Tom, and Johnnie altogether, though it did once again bring in Pat Savage long enough to be captured and spend the bulk of the novel off stage. Seriously, Pat Savage is sorely underused in this series.

Still, for all that, it was a fun one, and Doc got caught off guard a couple of times. But overall, this one was different enough from the previous nineteen that I had to go check to see if it had been penned by Lester Dent. It had. So I'm wondering if there might have been a bit of writer fatigue going on.

A Look Back by Bernie Wrightson

5.0

As far as I know, my discovery of Berni (or, eventually, "Bernie") Wrightson began back around 1977 when, bored, I shelled out sixty cents for The Original Swamp Thing Saga that reprinted the first two issues of the comic. And, while I loved the story, it was easily Wrightson's art that blew me away. I read it, then I read it again, then I would go back and just stare at the artwork, page by page, panel by panel. 

I'd never seen anything like it.

Five years later, I rediscovered him with his collaboration with Stephen King on his CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF.

By then, I was an absolute fan, and anywhere I could find something of his, I grabbed it. I still believe his best work is his illustrations for FRANKENSTEIN.

Interestingly, I had, until a few months ago, been completely unaware of this book, until I discovered it in the library of a friend. This book is mindblowing in so many ways.

First, this is literally only the first ten years of Wrightson's output—so he hadn't even gotten to that Stephen King book yet. And second, as I read this, eight years since he passed away, and something like 47 years since this book was published, it's mind-blowing to know what he accomplished after this.

There's so much of his art here! And what's better, almost all of it has some sort of commentary from him...whether what he was thinking, or why he abandoned it (and some of those are wonderful, even only half completed).

Just a gorgeous book by one of the premier talents of my generation.