Review: The Shuddering

The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Do you know those kids that like to take so much time, effort, care and detail in building a sand castle on the beach only to find pleasure in dismantling and destroying it with vigorous enthusiasm? I'm wondering if Ania Alhborn was one of those kids...

"The Shuddering" is a story of five friends (well, three friends, one tag-a-long and one outsider) that are to spend a few days together, one last time, before they each take their fork in the road that leads to the rest of their lives. They do so at a luxurious cabin on a snow capped mountain owned by the father of twins, Ryan and Jane. Everyone had ulterior motives for which all others seemed to know, but ignored out of friendship (an attempt not to ruin this last outing). Who was to know that their hidden secrets and desires that would ultimately unfurl would pale in comparison to monstrosities they would have to encounter!

I realize how much a book has reached me when I find myself getting angry with the author. I found myself cursing the author several times while reading "The Shuddering". She would magically open a door into the lives of her complex characters; feeling intimate with their plight...all for the pleasure of gut punching you when she takes it all away!

"The Shuddering" was a great tale which will have you frustrated, excited and sometimes numbed by the scenes that unfold before you!

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Review: The Resurrectionist

The Resurrectionist by Matthew Guinn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Matthew Guinn has penned an astounding novel dealing with the ugly years of American medical history. A time when medical schools utilized shady practices in order to train their medical students...body snatching.

Jacob Thacker is a tarnished doctor forced to serve his penance as an administrative public relations director at South Carolina Medical College. The extenuating grunt work becomes front and center when the reconstruction of the administration building uncovers a mass of skeletons in its basement. Skeletons put there by a slave of the medical school named Nemo Johnston, "The Resurrectionist". The discovery soon turns into a public relations nightmare in which everyone is looking for a way to profit from it or cover it up. The school would do anything or sacrifice anyone to keep hidden a dark secret that is not so much a "secret" to its victims' community.

The more Jacob researches, the more sinister the story becomes and even though the crimes were committed 150 years earlier, someone in the present day is going to have to take the fall.

Rich in history, The Resurrectionist is a wonderful historical thriller!

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