HUSKER

HUSKER
2018
10
author: 
Marc W. Johnson

Synopsis: 

As a young teenager, running away after her mother died and never returning home, Jennifer Rollins’ fear of forfeiting her mind to the schizophrenia that took her mother has followed Jennifer throughout her life. Jennifer got some lucky breaks. She became a popular model, but her fears, and lifestyle in the fast lane finally take their toll. While Jennifer is recovering she receives news of her father’s brutal murder and comes home. Jennifer’s true nightmare begins. As she reconnects with old friends and her beau from high school, Jennifer sees horrific images, hears terrifying things and is sure her worst fears are now manifesting. While grappling with her sanity, Jennifer is convinced the killer is coming for her after, hidden away in the attic of her childhood home, she discovers a connection to the murders from the distant past. When she takes it to the police, knowing her much publicized history they dismiss her. As the police believe they are closing in on the maniac, and Jennifer wrestles with her demons, neither have a clue of the true horror about to descend.

Review: 

Writing this review has taken me a couple of days because it has several subjects I'd like to highlight. It's been difficult though, to put my mind together, because I can't reveal most of the scenes that will get you glue-stuck to the book. I couldn't leave it, and when someone talked to me I got upset because they were interrupting my connection with the story.

Well, that said.

Marc W Johnson is in my list of "Writers Extraordinaire". He is a screenplay writer, and you're going to find that influence on the book. Is it a bad thing? Hell, no. The writing is agile, fresh, always keeping you anxious to find out what's next.

I already liked the treatment of his characters in his second book LEGACY, but he has improved it in HUSKER.

Several books listed as "extreme horror" don't affect me at all. Because blood, torture and guts it's nothing that steals my sleep. The psychologic (psychotic, if you allow me) factor in the stories IS what turns into nightmare material.

Well, Johnson has conquered this quicksand territory with astonishing ease.

We have a confused Jennifer diving in her hurtful memories and pieces of her past with her father (who she never remembers being loved by) and her schizophrenic mother who took away her own life in a horrible way.

Amy, her unconditional friend tries to keep her pace during this trip to madness.

What happens in this book that steals your whole attention? Ah, connected perturbing murders multiply as the ghosts of the past hunt our protagonists. The tagline "Even the wicked seek vengeance" couldn't be more appropriate.

The gore scenes are very poetic through the voice of a very complex... character. Again, I can't reveal. Bloody verses and caresses will create a veil before your eyes.

The scene changing can be a struggle in many books but not in this one. He crafts it without a single pause between scenes. Only a couple times you find asterisks breaking the chapter. That is part of the shuddering element, together with the present tense, keeps you at the edge of your chair.

At the same time, we have the police officers trying to figure out what on Earth is going on, followed by the phantoms of their own fathers who have a lot to do in this explosive story.

Johnson lets you think you're the smart one and that you know how this macabre tale is going to finish. LOL, you're not. And I'm a very difficult one to surprise, believe me.

I can imagine the author writing like "I've got a hundred problems but to catch the reader off guard ain't one" *smirk*

And it is certainly not. I found myself several times talking to myself "it's this one! No wait, this one! Dammit, no, then what...?" And I got it all wrong, in the end, I could only laugh saying out loud, "Chapeau, Marc!!"

May I be 10000% sincere? I can't ruin the book explaining WHY this book turns into paths that will bring you such a horrific delight, I just can tell you "Believe me, and check it out by yourself."

Summarising: impressive extreme horror, justice coming straight from Hell, with several poetic licenses that mark the story with the most important of Johnson's prints: REVENGE, VISCERA and love for all BROKEN SOULS.

Fantastic. I had lots of fun with this book, and I honestly hope you give it a try and enjoy it as well.

Find the book on Amazon: http://mybook.to/husker

Barnes&Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/husker-marc-w-johnson/1129967587

And Google Books: https://goo.gl/Syg45n

 

Post by Mar G.-Amorena on 20/03/2019 - 12:29

OTHER BOOK REVIEWS

These Walls Don't Talk, They Scream

Kevin Holton

Holton knows how to confuse your mind. He plays with a background of sadness that makes you lose perspective of what is right and what is wrong. A witness who, after all, hasn't chosen its fate can only observe. And in observing, it decides... and condemns. Can you blame a cursed devil? Holton is a very intelligent mind, obviously, and it shines in his books (it's not the first one I read). Nothing is what it seems, he doesn't set you free without controversy in your thoughts. You read a terrible scene, smiling, and suddenly you think, "why am I even smiling at this?!" The characters have no more option than to look... Read More

Crawl Space

Dona Fox

"Crawl Space" is a short story by Dona Fox. She is one of the most disturbing horror authors I have read and as such, she doesn't disappoint with this little piece. The word "disturbing", actually, is a very small one in this case. The madness locked in a woman's mind has no boundaries when it comes to discerning real from insanity. A doll, which will bring you countless sleepless nights, takes the reins in this bloody, psychological, horrific tale. When you finish it, you won't be able to decide if what you feel is either sorrow... or panic. Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crawl-Space-short-horror-story... Read More

Shadowmancer

Jeremy Mac

This book is a disturbing quick read. What starts looking like a simple teenager story ends up being an obscure tale electrifying the reader's spine. I didn't expect what I found in this title. Mac is very easy to read, so pleasurable, I can see why he gets so many good reviews. The entrails of the story are centred in that fine line separating power and danger. The way you would lose control of your darkest side without realising you're giving away the reigns. The book is fresh, agile, you don't notice time flies as you're turning pages. All of it sewed with lots of sex, black humour and alcohol. Perfectly... Read More

Legacy

Marc W. Johnson

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be without a shadow of a doubt, "shuddering". Johnson knows how to keep you awake. Playing with dialogues, he makes you jump from one scene to another without giving you the option to stop, because... you don't want to stop. An amazing bloody plot which speeds up your mind page after page. You watch as the characters find their own doom. A curse... perhaps a gift? Humour black as night, filled with sarcasm, the author tells you a story of friendship, deceiving and thirst for blood. Something I loved about this book is how real the characters are, you even feel... Read More

Awakening

Douglas L. Wilson

This book is certainly the sequel of "Affinity's Window" and for starters, I'll say that if you thought it couldn't get better, well, it does. The first page already made me clench my teeth (obviously I won't tell you why). Wilson shows, this time, a wide skill for the police and crime material, making it the main wire in the plot, dragging the characters into a storm of events they cannot control from minute one. The author takes every single terrifying element from the first novel and makes them bloom in this piece. Little details sewing a complex web expose a deep hole where the characters fall, one after another... Read More

Affinity's Window

Douglas Wilson

This is the first piece I've read by this author. I'm greatly surprised. Ghosts and demons, pure paranormal threads are my thing in horror. I love them, and Wilson takes those terrifying strings and twirls them together, in such a loving way that you lose conscience of what side you are on. He plays in two superimposed dimensions, jumping from one to another without making the reader feel lost, you just keep on and on, and never see the moment of putting down the book. This tale is indeed, scary. He's an amazing narrator, so you can really feel the pain and anguish in the little girl. The fear... as well as the... Read More

Dark Intentions (First book of the trilogy "The...

Jonathan Edward Ondrashek

In this first book of the trilogy, Ondrashek soaks with blood the idea of the "typical" vampire. Just turning the first page you already have a good dose of gore and that grabbed me, you bet! He is an excellent writer and creates fresh, agile... dark threads. Darker than you expected, that's his secret weapon. He doesn't fall for the average superhero story, all the characters have a low side which shines at some point, showing their cards. The author makes the best of such a great imagination, moulding disturbing creatures in the reader's mind. He's very easy to read, very pleasurable, no matter how bloody is... Read More

The Queen of Bones

Gregg Zimmerman

I don't know how to start talking about this book, because it provokes many different feelings, shadows. The excellent skills of Zimmerman to evoke deep emotions in the reader are present all the book long. You get completely absorbed by the story. You can feel the wet grass, the smell of the concrete, the warmth of the blood. Our protagonist, Sara, is... such a tireless, hopeless fighter. Physically and psychologically as well. She gets tortured and mistreated in all possible ways by many of the nasty characters appearing on the thread. She is also sick, physically conditioned, multiplying every single pain in... Read More

LOW

Mike Duke

Well, I had to take a couple days to write a review of this book, because it implies too many important concepts. The most important, in my opinion, is how this book DISTURBS you. But not in a regular way. Not in a bloody, gore way. Duke made a Black List of the most painful human feelings (guilt, regret, reproach, resentment, thirst for revenge) and turns the knife in each one of them to make you feel them, one by one. Slowly, enjoying himself. Sin and guilt, the foundation of Hell. Can you possibly be redeemed after sin? If someone forgives you, if the Gods forgive you, will you be free? What about your own... Read More

Embrace the Darkness

P.J. Blakey-Novis

This book is a collection of short stories. It's the first piece I have read by this author and it has greatly surprised me. The stories are short but very disturbing, those spine-chilling kind of... each one in a very different way. Broken minds, impossible nightmares, surrealist situations and, what I liked best, fair and not so fair fates for the characters. Novis happily dances on top of the grave of "The goody wins, the baddy is defeated" typical stamp, carving out his signature: "Do you think you know how this is ending? Hold my beer." The author owns such a marvelous imagination, every plot is... Read More