Another shooting in an American school. I won’t mention the kid’s name in order to avoid giving any attention to such misguided acts. And, sadly enough, not mentioning the name will enable me to use this blog if I want next time, and the time after that, and the time after that…

I cannot begin to empathize with devastation of the parents who lost kids (although at this time, there are only two – one victim and the shooter). You send your kid to school, which should be – and still is statistically – the safest place for a child to be. I also feel sad for the parents of the shooter, and their huge sense of loss and responsibility for the unthinkable.

There will be the usual handwringing about causes and how we can prevent this in the future. But this will fade quickly, another case of Ebola, the upcoming election, some other tragedy, a great football game, a celebrity arrest; something will push it off the front page.

Nothing will be done until we address the culture of guns and gun violence. Nothing will happen until we address health disparities, safety nets for families, adequate childcare…

Some will insist on better means of predicting or profiling the potential shooters. But you can’t, there are no good models. Some shooters have been bullied, some have been bullies, some have been loners, some have been popular, some have had friends, some have struggled in school, some have been good students, some have dated, some of been on medication while others haven’t, some have been traumatized while others haven’t, some come from intact homes while others come from broken homes… All have been troubled kids, that part seems to be accurate. But in our wisdom to cut spending in schools, many resources have gone – including school counselors and school psychologists who could have caught this early. And maybe intervened in time.

Yep. Another shooting in an American school. And everyone’s heart aches.

October has its associations with colorful foliage (and if you’re old enough, burning leaves), caramel apples, increasingly early sunsets, and of course, Halloween. For many, the latter means prep work for trick-or-treaters and eating incredible amounts of candy. For others, it is the prime season for reading ghost stories. Naturally, being a horror writer and aficionado, ghost stories are my cup of tea – although to be honest, I don’t restrict my reading of them to one month of the year. I do have a couple of favorite horror novels that have predominant themes of ghosts and hauntings. Here are some that I can recommend – these actually gave me chills when reading.

A Cold Season by Alison Littlewood: Cass and her son Ben move to Cass’ hometown after her husband is presumably killed in action in Afghanistan. They move into an old mill which is being converted into condos and apartments, and that is when strange things begin to happen. Cass is shocked to find out that they are the only tenants in the mill and dark forces are after her son… The novel is very atmospheric and chilling to the bone. The scares are subtle and downright creepy. Believability takes a bit of a hit towards the end as Cass makes some cliché stupid moves typical of characters in horror stories, but these weaknesses are forgivable given the author’s skill at weaving together a stunning tale.

The White Devil by Justin Evans: Seventeen-year old Andrew Taylor is transplanted from his elite US high school to an all-boys, British boarding school for his senior year – because he has been a thorn in the side of former educators and his parents. Andrew’s adolescent troubles are nothing compared to the haunted corridors of Harror School where deaths, visions of a spectral pale white-haired boy, and a 200 year old mystery involving the poet Lord Byron surround him at every turn. Very gothic in style and quite unnerving…

Lost Boy, Lost Girl by Peter Straub: Novelist Tim Underhill comes to stay with his brother and nephew after his sister-in-law commits suicide. One week later, the nephew disappears and Uncle Tim begins an investigation. Is the boy a victim of a serial killer roaming the area? Told from multiple perspectives, the story unfolds about a neighborhood haunted house that had been the location of grisly goings-on years before. The boy, Mark, can’t resist checking out the house, and finds secret rooms and passages - and a ghostly presence. This one made my skin crawl.

The above three stories have landed on my all-time favorite haunted-house novel list. The top positions are reserved for the classics, however. Although, I must admit referring to books that are “only” 30 years old as classics may be offensive to some. Oh, well. My all-time favorites are The Shining by Stephen King and Ghost Story by Peter Straub. Everyone knows the plots of these two, so I won’t review them again but I strongly recommend checking them both out if you haven’t read them or if it has been 30 years since you last opened their covers. The haunted hotel in The Shining has become iconic in horror literature. And, the ghosts in Ghost Story are the most malevolent phantoms ever. Perfect for Halloween. 

Before I picked up Michael Koryta’s latest novel, Those Who Wish Me Dead, I had a strong feeling I would like it tremendously since I am a huge fan of three of his earlier works: The Ridge, The Cypress House, and So Cold the River. All three were highly acclaimed literary works with unusual story lines, fascinating characters, and an undercurrent of the supernatural that was quite unique. Those Who Wish Me Dead takes different course as Koryta tackles the action-adventure thriller.

Jace Wilson is thirteen years old and finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He witnesses a double murder and just barely escapes from the hired killers who were committing the dirty deeds. Jace needs protection from these killers and he is given a new identity and hustled away to a location everyone hopes will be off the grid. He is sent to Montana to spend the summer in a wilderness survival experience operated by a young couple, Ethan and Allison Serbin. The Serbins run this experience every summer for troubled teens, so what better way to hide a kid than in the middle of nowhere? These folks are up to the job as Ethan is a former Special Forces kind of guy and he knows how to survive. Unfortunately, the Blackwell Brothers – who are the professional hit men – find out the boy’s location and they start tracking him down, leaving a high body count in the process. The race for Jace’s survival is on.

This is a compelling and riveting piece of work. The thrills start in the first few pages and adrenalin kicks into high gear. There is no doubt that Koryta is in complete control. There are no false moves and I literally couldn’t stop reading – I had to know what was coming next. The characters are engaging and nicely drawn. Jace and the Serbins are believable characters, and I was emotionally connected to them. The threat to all three is palpable. There is also a forest fire fighter who is thrown into the mix, and she has a complex history that adds another taut dimension to the flow. The best characters, hands-down, are the Blackwell Brothers. These two rank up there among the best psychopathic characters ever crafted. They have an interaction and communication style that is off-the-wall creepy. Koryta’s portrayal of these guys is top-notch.

The suspense and the thrills are unflagging. Just when you think you have it figured out, there are plot twists that throw you off balance. Oh, did I mention the forest fire that is threatening everyone in the “cast”? Well, there is one of those too. Don’t start reading this close to bedtime because you won’t get much sleep.   

Dead Five’s Pass by Colin F. Barnes is a wintery tale about a pair of mountain rescuers dispatched to find four young climbers headed to a location where two other young climbers met a gruesome end only a few hours before. The rescuers, Carise and Marcel, find a previously unknown cave filled with strange glowing symbols and housing a beastly presence in the form of tentacles sprouting hooks and spikes that latch on to and yank the unwary to certain death. Rarely does anyone escape the cave alive – and those that do have been damaged in terrifying ways. There is a subplot involving the now-ended romantic relationship between Carise and Marcel – and the unborn baby that they lost. This creates some minor tension between the two which is quickly lost when the pace of the story escalates.

Overall, Dead Five’s Pass is a decent, if not fairly predictable read. The frigid atmosphere of the Canadian Rockies provided a good setting for the bleak story line. The tension is established early and you will be set for the ride. The characterizations are somewhat wooden, but they are serviceable for the plot. The thrills really pick up when Carise and Marcel enter the cave for a second time (see below for a comment about this). The action becomes nonstop and what the couple finds deep within the cave added an extra chill to the read.

The book does have a number of gaffes that gave me pause while reading. First, Carise and Marcel engage in incredibly stupid behavior – namely going into the cave for a second time. I found myself thinking, “Oh, come on” and groaning at the too-often used horror cliché at taking a stupid course of action (at least they didn’t split up while underground). Second, the author struggles with weather continuity. At times, it is snowing, at other times it is not, then the characters are in the midst of a blizzard… and people are flying helicopters in blizzards with no visibility – in the Rockies, no less. Third, Carise and Marcel discuss a theory that the presence of adolescents in the cave has somehow awakened the creature. The young climbers are described as “kids” and teenagers. However, they are also graduate students and medical students. At the very least that would make them in their mid-twenties – young but not teens. These types of things nudged me from the narrative flow and had me wondering what the Darkfuse editors were thinking when they were reading the work.

So, overall, a good read, but not outstanding like other Darkfuse titles.