The Dark Half by Stephen King

The Dark Half
Stephen King
1989, 1990, Hodder & Stoughton, London
045052468X
468p.

A writer is forced to admit his use of a pen name to write violent and profitable novels. He takes the opportunity to publicly 'kill off' his pseudonym in order to fully pursue his own, less popular but less violent, writings. But the pseudonym does not stay dead.

This book starts off as wryly amusing, and then very quickly turns violent and horrible. A couple of passages made me feel almost physically ill, and the last section had to be read all at once as it was terrifyingly suspenseful. The other great passage is the opening scene in which an eyeball is excised from the brain of an 11 year old boy - King can paint with words.

Virulent: The Release by Shelbi Wescott

Virulent: The Release
Shelbi Wescott
2013, kindle ebook, Amazon
352p.

Lucy and her family are due to go on holidays when a terrifying virus tears through her community. She becomes separated from them and must find her way back home while the world falls down around her.

This was an ok epidemic novel for teenagers.  I personally found the writing to be a little immature for me.  I prefer epidemic stories to be more about the virus, but this one was based around human survival. And it's part one of a trilogy.

Dark Highways by Megat Ishak

Dark Highways
Megat Ishak
2013, Fixi Novo, Malaysia
9789670374406
265p.

A collection of short stories set in Malaysia - I picked this up at a Borders on my recent trip to KL.  The main themes of these stories are horror, magic, violence, and betrayal.

I quite enjoyed reading these stories as an insight to Malay culture.  My favourite stories were 'Mr. Bolero', about two professional killers and set in the near future; and 'Cloud Sparkle', which is a horror story about killer clouds!

Overall I found the theme of betrayal, specifically female lover betrayal, to become a little tiresome but it's just a part of the collection.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
1818, 1993, Modern Publishing, Australia
187548115X
213p.

When young scientist Frankenstein is exposed to new theories of nature at university, he discovers a way to animate a being he has created from parts of deceased persons. The being is hideous - a monster feared and reviled by all who see him. This of course makes him a mite put out and he begins a rampage of violence against his creator.

This was as fantastic as I was expecting. The seminal horror novel, I can see why this has inspired story-tellers for years since it was first published. I was surprised at the level of understanding of the human mind as rendered by the author.

Link to journal at bookcrossing