Apocalptica

The first in a trilogy, Ghost Road Blues by Jonathan Maberry concerns a small Pennsylvania town known for their haunted hayrides and all things Halloween. The entire book takes place during a long Halloween night, where 3 escaped convicts crash their car in the town, and all hell breaks out. A supernatural tale of good vs. evil, the book is just fine, but pales in comparison to books like Dan Simmons' Children of the Night or Stephen King's The Stand.

Academia

Love books about college professors (English ones) and their acerbic attitudes, and Gone by P.F. Kluge is another in a long line of such. Found it compelling reading for about 90% of the way through, until the bottom fell out at the end and the book lost all credibility for me. Too bad, because until then it was amusing and interesting, a story of a famous author hired by a small Ohio college who never writes again. And that was okay by him.

Criminality

American Skin by Ken Bruen. Not a Jack Taylor book, but an enjoyable enough romp. Throw together an Irish criminal on the lam in the New York, a clueless mob boss, his psychotic girlfriend, a hitman extraordinaire, and a climax in Phoenix and you've got a quick read that made me alternately laugh, smirk, and repulse.

Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn --- Stephenie Meyer

What can I say? Read these books one right after the other -- just finished the last one and if I was 20 years younger, I would probably read them all over again. As it is now, I'm staring at the other books that I've lined up to read next and thinking (girlishly) "no. no. no. you'll never capture my heart like Edward and Bella have!" I've never been one for romance fiction or vampire fiction (see Anne Rice), but this had me from the beginning; it really is quite ridiculous and I do feel embarrassed about it.

Can't wait to read the next one - wish I was married to a vampire; wish my best friend was a werewolf. Yes, I really did just write that - it's very embarrassing.

Pyres -- Derek Nikitas

Pretty brutal read centering around a teenage girl who's father gets murdered while she's with him in the car (not giving anything away). It's fairly dark for my taste - a little too realistic in terms of the violence and the stupidity that people carry with them. Saying that, I couldn't put it down. Excellent first novel, can't wait to read more by this author.

I feel like it's 1999

Heartsick - Chelsea Cain

Haven't read a serial killer book in a longgg time - why does it feel like a thing of the 90's to me? This book has a winning, plucky heroine of the 00's (a little more wild and street smart than the winning plucky heroine's of the 90's) combined with a pill popping, haunted, aging detective who's come back out of a forced sabbatical to solve a rash of killings.

This sounds like everything you've read before, and maybe it is, but it's a very enjoyable - read in one sitting - page turner. If you like this sort of thing, definitely worth a read.

See Jack fix things

The next in the long line of hugely thrilling and subtly supernatural Repairman Jack books, By the Sword by F. Paul Wilson lives up to the hype and promise the other Jack books dictate. Never thought I'd like reading a book whereby an ancient Japanese Samurai sword plays a key role. Also involves secret sects and mystical monks. And, thankfully, a waaaay lesser supporting role given to girlfriend Gina. Three pages tops. Lots of action and surprises to be had.

Read Jack: Secret Histories right after this. Enjoyable yarn starring Jack as a young boy. Didn't even realize it was a young adult book until I was three quarters of the way through and happened to read about it on the intraweb. Another hit from the hitmaker himself.