Steve Gerlach

The bulk of this book is the novella HUNTING ZOE which is an extension out of the book LOVE LIES DYING. Unfortunately I found LOVE LIES DYING to be significantly stronger and better. HUNTING ZOE involves two friends following the clues to find Zoe, the main character from LOVE LIES DYING. The friends believe that Gerlach based the original story on a real person and are intent on finding her. An interesting premise and it had some promise. There were a couple scenes that had real spook potential. However, I didn't find either friend interesting or engaging enough to care. Then it quickly became apparent that one of them wasn't quite right in the head. The connection to the characters from the first story wasn't here this time.

With regards to the other stories in the book, they may have suffered due to bad luck from my side. In between the novella and the stories, I read Kristopher Triana's TOXIC LOVE. An amazing book that I recommend but only if you like intense, graphic stories. Anyway, the intense and graphic nature of that book was still in my mind when I read the rest of this collection. Which meant that the story "Cellcandy" and "Dead of Night" both had minimal impact. Especially since Triana's book was a novel and these were short stories. There just wasn't enough there to start connecting to the characters. The impact was lost. Overall, a good collection but not as strong as I had hoped.… (mere)

Wow, this book is extremely gripping and exciting. It grabbed me from the start and didn't let go.

Almost all the action focuses on only two characters: John and Zoe, John's wife Helen's best friend. It starts not so innocently when John comes home late from work and finds Zoe laying naked on his couch. Zoe reveals that she is running from a boyfriend who has threatened and scared her and that she wants to hide with John and Helen until she can get back on her feet. The problem is that Zoe's past is catching up with her and John becomes involved in the battle.

As I was reading the book and got to the halfway point, I noticed that we had only seen two characters. Others were talked about and had personalities to love and hate but we had only seen two characters actually there and doing something. A third was introduced shortly afterwards but that was it. It definitely helps in keeping the readers off kilter. I know that was about the point that I started doubting a lot of what was happening and wondered what was true and what was not. There were several points where John was doing things that I wondered what he was thinking. Normally no one should be doing that. However, then I would realize that John was reacting to Zoe with his other head and wasn't thinking. Considering the amount of sexuality that Zoe was oozing off the pages, it then made perfect sense as to what he was doing. In fact, the whole book was very sexually charged. It was also complex in the actions taken and the underlying context. I very much enjoyed the book and encourage others to read it. Much better than RAGE, the previous book I read by Gerlach.… (mere)

Gerlach's first novel is a great little look into the mind of someone on the edge of reason, and takes a hard and unflinching look at the mental state of a person with this kind of deadly potential without resorting to the simple "he's crazy" attitude many books with the same theme take.

It's always a little hard for me to gauge the reaction of other readers to books like this, as my own sensitivity is a little numb when it comes to this type of deeply penetrating psychological horror story, but I think that the story of the main character's slow slide, as well as final act of rage, will disturb and chill most anybody who reads it.… (mere)

Slow start and unbelievable male hero. He should be more sure of himself and suspicious.
Yesterday I struggled some more and during my daily RSS-skimming I read http://bookriot.com/2012/05/10/abandoning-books-with-no-remorse/
and recognized there are books, which I had left abandoned and this might be one of them.
I read Autopsy 1: Flesh of the Dead and liked it, but of course it is much shorter.
And I went to the trouble to get Rage as a used paperback, as there is no ebook edition yet.
So maybe Rage is better? Maybe not. I'll read and see.

In the next days I will skip fast through the chapters on this one to see the big twist at the end or whatever.
So far only one star.

And it stays at one star. There are two twists, one I guessed, one I did not see coming but both did not do anything to make the story interesting for me.
Also with one twist guessed and the rather obvious ending no real surprise. No spoiler from me, but how to describe what could have been without spoiling? No, nothing comes to mind without revealing plot.

The characters are rather dull and the main male person is simply stupid.

As I did only fastforward through the pages reading here and there I do not consider this finished but abandoned.
Consider this a warning not to waste your time.
Grab a Cody McFadyen instead or a Mo Hayder.

But due to the underlying theme I am still looking forward to "Rage".
… (mere)