Ross Jeffrey lives up to the hype

Books finished during February 2020:

• Tome by Ross Jeffery
• To Wake the Dead by Richard Laymon
• The Origin of the Crabs by Guy N. Smith
• Brainquake by Samuel Fuller
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
• Joy on Demand by Chade-Meng Tan

I hit a little book candy this month with The Origin of the Crabs and Brankquake because, well, I just love those kind of books. Brainquake is really just a hardboiled mystery from Hardcase Crime, but its story has a lot of depth and the atmosphere of it all is just a lot of fun.

But then I read Tome. Holy shit. This novel brought originality and the dread of what I look for in hardcore horror together to make a memorable experience for me. There are a lot of books I drill through just trying to see what happens, or maybe just to chase down the ins and outs of a given character, and because of this I'm often guilty of finishing a book and wondering, ‘What just happened?’ But in this case I took my time, and every page turned itself on its own momentum. I loved it, while at the same time I was a bit tortured by it. And I guess that's about the best you can ask of a scary story.

If you're into horror, definitely take a run at this one.