Category Archives: Writing

Review for The Day Of The Door by Laurel Hightower

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I have a few reviews incoming. I thought I’d posted them here, but it was only on my substack, which doesn’t get any traction. I’ll post them here. I’m sorry for flooding your inbox.

Before this review, I knew this book was about childhood trauma. I did not know the depths it would take me to. I continue to deal with childhood trauma from abuse, physical, mental, and other.

I feel a bit of a kinship with the MC, Nate Lasco. I dealt with abuse, not on the scale of his siblings and himself, but enough that I understood where he was coming from. The pain of dealing with childhood trauma is something I work through daily.

Laurel does such a fantastic job of writing trauma. It’s one of the reasons she’s one of my favorite writers. Writing trauma of any sort is challenging. It can come across in many ways, but Laurel does it and makes it feel real. You think about what Nate and his siblings went through. Having lost a brother, not to violence, but knowing I can’t talk to him when I’d like, something that Nate mentions in the text, is traumatic by itself.

Nate hasn’t spoken to his mother since a scene at the opening of the novel. Reading that opening will give you the reasons why, but I don’t want to spoil it for you.

He and his siblings went through something traumatic. Something that changed the paradigm of their family.

Having dealt with a parent who treated me the same way, I found myself loathing the meeting. It brought up a lot of thoughts, things I didn’t want to go through. This book helped me deal with a few things I didn’t want to.

Our lives after childhood are influenced by that childhood. How we deal with our adult lives is different. Nate and his siblings deal with this.

While reading this book, I thought of the Netflix show Haunting of Hill House. The trauma in that show and how the siblings deal with it is similar to how the Lascos deal with it. Also, my siblings and I have dealt with some of our issues.

This novel pushed me to some uncomfortable places. Laurel posted on TikTok about comments she’s received about the book. Dealing with trauma was something she brought up.

Trauma follows you into your adult lives, relationships, and careers. It’s how it works. How you deal with it matters.

The sequences of fear in this story, from the coming together of meeting their mother to the grief of their brother and the scenes in which the reality of the haunted aspects of their lives come together, struck a chord with me.

I loved this book and gave it five stars on Goodreads. It’s one of the best depictions of adults dealing with their childhood trauma. I suggest anyone who’s dealt with childhood trauma of any sort check the CW and TW for this book. I would suggest anyone who’s working through their childhood trauma to read this book.

Review for Tom Clancy Act Of Defiance by Andrews and Wilson

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I read Red October years after it came out. It’s the only one of Tom Clancy’s books I didn’t read in the 80s. I read Red Storm Rising in paperback and Patriot Games in Hardcover. I did the same with Clear & Present Danger and Cardinal Of The Kremlin, my favorite of Tom’s novels. I always read ahead of my grade. I read Red Storm in 6th grade.

I saw The Hunt For Red October in the theaters the weekend it came out. It’s still one of my favorite 80s movies.

Let’s get into Act of Defiance. I will limit my spoilers as much as possible. If you’ve read Red October, that’s good. It will help you with Act Of Defiance. There are many callbacks to it throughout the book. There are also callbacks to Patriot Games and Clear & Present Danger, but Red October is front and center throughout the novel since this is about another Russian submarine.

It begins with how many of Tom’s books start. They set you up with an idea and chase that idea throughout.

While Red October was our introduction to Jack Ryan, Act Of Defiance begins with an idea but also tells us something about Red October that we didn’t know. This pushes the story in a vastly different direction.

Marko Ramius knew what he had and the possibilities of his boat, The Red October; this novel starts before the Red October. The Captain of the Belgorod knows what he has as well. He’s determined to make Jack Ryan pay. A theme and story that I will let the reader discover.

While Red October is mainly about Jack Ryan finding his way, Act Of Defiance is about his daughter, Katie Ryan. She does most of the same things her father did in Red October. The callbacks to the book and the movie are fantastic. I enjoyed them.

The cat-and-mouse game starts as the hunt is underway for Belgorod. It’s a different game with the same consequences as Red October but with far worse intentions.

Russia is not the power it was with Marko Ramius and the Red October. A group decides they want to change this. We’ve seen this scenario play out since the fall of the Soviet Union. It’s been in books, movies, and video games.

It is done very well in Act of Defiance. It’s one of the better tales with the trope. I think this is a trope now.

While the novel played out, I enjoyed Katie Ryan’s character. I hope more story ideas come from Red Storm with her in it.

I blew through most of this book in a day. But I read quickly. I always have. I give this a five. It’s well written, the story is good, and the placement of Katie Ryan reminds me of her dad, Jack.

Review for I Excess Of Dark by Red Lagoe

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I’m not sure what’s been happening with horror lately, but I’ve read a lot of books with grief themes.

I’ve read a few books by Red and loved them. This book hit a little differently.

I attempt to find myself in the character while doing a review. This book is close to home.

My brother passed away a few years ago. It was sudden. It took us by surprise. I think about him often. He popped up a lot while reading this one, as did my father-in-law, who passed a few years before my brother.

This story opens with the main character and her family going on a trip. She thinks about their trip but has the idea that they’re going to die. This is a thing with her, something she and her mom fought about.

The grief and thoughts of grief. The pain of being left and thinking she did something to cause it fills this story.

I thought about my brother and wished I could have been there more for him. I never thought I caused his death. It was a fluke thing, but we all dive into the deaths of our loved ones in different ways.

I wanted to bring them back and solve the problems we had with them while they were alive. Those thoughts permeated my mind while reading this. I think about my brother once a week anyway, but this book brought it out more.

I enjoyed this book, even with the emotions I felt while reading it. A good book will always bring out emotions. I loved how Red dove into the underlying issues with her mom. How she found a way to bring things back. How she was able to confront her mother. All of these things made the character believable. It gave the story a richness that made me blow through it.

I can’t wait to reread this one.

I have been sick off and on for the last month.

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Fun title, eh?

Since the middle of December my wife and I have been fighting off colds of one form or another. Luckily none of them have turned out to be Covid. This is by sheer luck.

My wife broke her ankle just before Thanksgiving, she got sick around then but fought it off. My sister stayed with us and none of us were sick at the time.

It’s been snotball rolling down a greasy hill since. She got sick with what we think was bronchitis, but the doctor said it was just a cold. I’m calling bullshit on that.

I got bronchitis after my wife recovered. She got sick, then after my recovery from bronchitis, I got sick again. We’ve passed this back and forth a few times.

We were almost out of the woods, then last week, I had a cough. Possible bronchitis. Doctor gave me prednisone and an inhaler for asthma, which I don’t have. Th inhaler had steroids in it already. This exasperated everything. I got sicker and started coughing up rainbow colored crap. Ya know, if rainbows were all green, yellow, and red. I may have whooping cough. Which is apparently going around.

I have read a lot this year, and recently finished Red Lagoe’s book, “In Excess Of Dark”, which I’ll be writing a review of in the next week.

I’m also moving along with a mentorship I’m a part of. It’s been amazing to have someone go over my writing like this. I’ve never had someone who truly knew how to edit go over my work. It’s been an incredible process.

I’m going to rest now. I’m on powerful cough medicine that makes my head swim and it’s taking effect.

My Political Thriller novel experience.

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I wrote a political thriller during lockdown in 2020. I published it on Election Day 2022.

It’s the book that keeps trying.

A guest at the bar recently bought it for his father, who read it in a weekend and loved it.

I’ve only heard from family and friends that they enjoyed the book. It’s never been someone I don’t know.

The book, like my other published work, sold well overseas. It’s never taken hold of anything but it’s been interesting watching it go up and down in sales.

I think it’s time to go back and write the second book, and finish another book in that world.

I know everyone knows me for my horror stuff, but this book meant a lot to me. The guest at the bar’s father’s words of encouragement meant a ton to me.

I’ve never had anyone who regularly reads those types of books tell me how much they enjoyed it. It’s a different feeling to have that.

I always wondered what it would feel like to have someone enjoy my books and want to talk to me about them. It’s invigorating.

I’ll leave you today with this. Keep writing. You may find your readers in the unlikeliest of places.