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Book Review: Lie or Die by A. J. Clack

cover art for Lie or Die by A.J. Clack

Lie or Die by A.J. Clack

Firefly Press, 2024

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1915444417

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition (pre-order)

Buy:  Amazon.com

 

 

 

Kass broke the friend code by kissing her BFF Thea’s ex. To prove she’s trustworthy, Thea insists they audition together for a new, livestreaming reality show based on their favorite game, Mafia, called Lie or Die.

 

Lie or Die’s version of Mafia lasts for four nights and consists of ten players. Among them are two Agents, who work together to kill of the other players, a Detective, who has the opportunity to learn the status of a player of their choosing, and a Judge, who moderates play. There’s a Kill Window each night, when the Agents can kill a player, and an Accusation Window, in which the players can accuse up to two players of being agents. Only one player can be eliminated per round. The accused must defend themselves in the Courtroom and hope they can get enough votes to stay alive, or face “execution” by electric chair Survival in Mafia is based on players’ ability to identify deception and lie effectively, and Kass is very good at both of those. If she teamed up with Thea, they would have a good chance of winning. Kass lacks the necessary charisma in her audition, but goes with their friend Lewis to take Thea to the studio. Shortly before the show starts, one of the players has a serious allergy attack, though, and the director asks Kass to step in and Lewis to join the studio crew. Kass is intimidated by the other contestants, also young adults, who all seem flawless and confident to her, but agrees.

 

The set for Lie or Die is a closed set. Once the contestants are in, they aren’t coming out until they are eliminated. Their cell phones are confiscated and the  judge, Cohin, is an AI, so while the contestants are constantly being recorded, they don’t have any direct contact with the outside world while the game is going on. The game also has a secret agenda to accomplish, and it’s there that things start to go very wrong. Is Kass being gaslighted, or has the game become murderously real? Clack had me turning in circles trying to figure out what the motivations were for the story’s events. I am going to be honest, I did not see the ending coming..

 

While the motive behind the show was not believable, and I couldn’t bring myself to care about Thea and Kass, who were terrible to each other, this is a whirlwind of a book, and I was impressed at how well Clack did at differentiating the characters, given the short time span so many of them had on the show.

 

As a side note, I have to give Taylor Swift props: she is everywhere now. Kass and Lewis have a game where they share messages using Taylor Swift lyrics, and when all else fails, they’re able to use it as a code to plan their escape.

 

Lie or Die is a dark, fast, and twisty read with a dash of humor and a little romance, that will keep readers on their toes. Start it on the weekend, as you won’t want to put it down until you’re done. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on March 4, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review The Virgin by Wol-vriey

Content warning: unless you have a strong stomach you may want to skip over this review.

 

The Virgin by [Wol-vriey]

The Virgin by Wol-vriey  ( Amazon.com)

Burning Bulb Publishing, 2020

ISBN: 9781948278232

Availability: paperback, Kindle

 

Wol-vriey’s latest effort, The Virgin, is unquestionably his best to date, and also the most likely to offend people; this isn’t the kind of book you want your mother seeing you read.  It’s highly creative and original, but fair warning: it revolves around a reality show where rape is expected of the contestants, although the contestants willingly signed up for the show knowing this.  This is true hardcore, if you can handle that, read on.  If not, don’t bother.

“The Virgin” is a reality TV show broadcast on the “dark web” to whatever sleazy individuals are willing to pay the exorbitant fees to watch it.  It involves five ladies (virgins, obviously) who are placed in a Hollywood style mock-up town somewhere in America.  (if you’ve read Wol-vriey before, you can make a pretty good guess where he put the town)  The ladies have to survive and avoid getting raped for three hours, as there are ten “suitors” in the town trying to track them down for forced sex.  The ladies are not defenseless: each of them is given a choice of one weapon to carry with them, and there are plenty of weapons scattered throughout the town.  That’s one advantage to the ladies: they have some defense in the beginning, while the suitors have none.  Once everyone is in the town, anything goes, and it’s a question of survival.

The plotline itself is quite original. Authors have used reality shows before, but this is truly a new concept, although a sick and twisted one.  If this was just a standard hack and slash, it would have been good, not great.  The other elements Wol-vriey thought of and added in are what push this to the next level, and make for great storytelling.  For example, the money pot for the ladies is $10 million, but the catch is, it has to be split among the ladies that survive and avoid sex.  One person survives intact, she gets the ten million.  Two survive, they each get five.  Three survive…you get the idea.  Not only do the ladies have to contend with the suitors, they have excellent incentive to kill each other off.  There are “safe spaces” built into the show, a few churches where you can take a 15 minute break and not be touched.  To counter that, there are also traps built into many of the buildings, to prevent the contestants from hiding for the duration.  Rats, spiders, rattlesnakes, acid vats…they all make an appearance, keeping the story from becoming a standard kill-fest.

The book contains everything you’ve come to expect from Wol-vriey: gore, graphic sex, and his trademark dark humor that shows up at times.  Example: why is the show three hours long?  If you’ve ever heard a Viagra ad, you know the answer.  The writing is fine and pushes the story along at a brisk clip, but it’s the creativity that sets this one apart from his other efforts, and from most horror stories in general.  Highly recommended, but only for hardcore horror readers who want the limits pushed.  Other readers who prefer tamer material would do best to take a pass on this one.

 

 

Contains: violence, extreme gore, graphic sex, profanity, rape.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

Posted on September 1, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Orbit Books,2017
ISBN-13: 978-0316379403
Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD

Mermaids? Scary? If you’re familiar with Mira Grant(aka Seanan McGuire), author of the Feed series, you know she’s capable of some horrific storytelling. In Into the Drowning Deep, the sequel to her novella Rolling in the Deep, Grant has reinvented a creature that most people don’t take seriously into a terrifying monster. The novel is scientifically based, utterly plausible, and rich in characterization– and it will make the reader cringe every time a dark corner is turned. Into the Drowning Deep is as frightening as Aliens and as mind-bending as Jurassic Park, with the lyrical prose only Grant is capable of writing.

The plot goes something like this: Imagine, an entertainment corporation that seems part reality-show machine and part “Umbrella Corp,” sent a cruise ship into the heart of the Pacific, towards the Mariana Trench, in search of a fictional beast they believe will steer millions straight through televisions into their pockets. Except, of course, something goes wrong and everyone on board goes missing. Only a secret video and splatters of blood remain.

Victoria is a marine biologist whose sister was one of the victims on that first boat. Now, Imagine wants Victoria to be a part of the second voyage, to prove that mermaids actually exist. She’s grouped with a college professor who’s devoted her life to cryptozoology, the woman’s husband and Imagine guru, a pair of deaf twin sisters who are geniuses in their given fields, and a plethora of other characters. Not one of the secondary personalities is poorly drawn; everyone has a backstory that works here without it overwhelming the story.

The ship has its own mysteries, and things obviously go wrong, but not in a typical “bad horror movie” way. The creatures find them and all hell breaks loose, but not in a manner that’s expected. Fans of Grant’s Feed series know that blood and gore will not be avoided, yet it is not exploited, either. Despite the carnage, the cast and crew of the ship remain committed to solving this sci-fi horror mystery of the hows and whys of the mermaids, and not just surviving them.

With very few parts that lag, Into the Drowning Deep rolls through the currents fast and hard, pushing the reader to keep up. While deftly pacing the story so the reader knows what’s going on and why, Grant also captures the lives of the characters in a manner that most cannot. Even the unlikable people evoke sympathy from the reader, and the suspense is genuine because of it. While not as hardcore and explicit as Michael Crichton, the science rings true. It is fascinating, teaching the reader about the mysteries of the deep sea and what we don’t know– yet.  Recommended.

 

Contains: gore, violence, sex.

 

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Posted on May 26, 2018 by , Reply
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