damppebbles's review
4.0
**THREE AND A HALF STARS OUT OF FIVE**
When a call goes out on Twitter for book bloggers who like to indulge in the darker side of fiction, I leap arms waving, into action. Well, I leap thanks to a lovely book blogger friend tagging me (thanks Kate!). I adore horror fiction but don’t tend to indulge as often as I’d like. So I jumped at the opportunity to read this novella of two short dark tales.
The first thing to say is that the paperback version of this book is gorgeous. Both stories have their own cover and you need to flip the book over to see the cover of The Niche. ‘Not much good for reading, though’ you may be saying to yourself. Not the case I can assure you. The stories are back to back. The reader can read their first story of choice (in my case Jack Squat) and when finished flip the book over, open the cover of The Niche and off you go again. My daughter thought I’d finally lost the plot when she saw me reading what she thought was a book upside down!
My preferred story of the two was The Niche. My heart ached for terrified schoolboy, Billy Lender, as the bullies wore him down with their cruel, brutish behaviour. My heart sank even further when Billy began to hear voices. Never a good thing in horror fiction!
Jack Squat felt as though it’s meant to be the lead story in the collection. I enjoyed it but found certain aspects of the piece bordering on comical. It may be because I have children and certain bodily functions are hilarious rather than, well, anything else but I couldn’t help but giggle a little. It is dark, it’s quite gory in places but it didn’t win me over as much as The Niche did.
Would I recommend this book? I would. It’s a very quick read which I finished off one Sunday afternoon while the kids were hurtling around the local soft play! I think I had expected a little more ‘dark’ than I actually got but that tends to be the case with most books I read. I enjoyed the author’s style and would read another of his books if the opportunity arose in the future. Enjoyable but didn’t knock my socks off.
Three and a half stars out of five.
I chose to read and review an ARC of Two Dark Tales: Jack Squat and The Niche. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.
When a call goes out on Twitter for book bloggers who like to indulge in the darker side of fiction, I leap arms waving, into action. Well, I leap thanks to a lovely book blogger friend tagging me (thanks Kate!). I adore horror fiction but don’t tend to indulge as often as I’d like. So I jumped at the opportunity to read this novella of two short dark tales.
The first thing to say is that the paperback version of this book is gorgeous. Both stories have their own cover and you need to flip the book over to see the cover of The Niche. ‘Not much good for reading, though’ you may be saying to yourself. Not the case I can assure you. The stories are back to back. The reader can read their first story of choice (in my case Jack Squat) and when finished flip the book over, open the cover of The Niche and off you go again. My daughter thought I’d finally lost the plot when she saw me reading what she thought was a book upside down!
My preferred story of the two was The Niche. My heart ached for terrified schoolboy, Billy Lender, as the bullies wore him down with their cruel, brutish behaviour. My heart sank even further when Billy began to hear voices. Never a good thing in horror fiction!
Jack Squat felt as though it’s meant to be the lead story in the collection. I enjoyed it but found certain aspects of the piece bordering on comical. It may be because I have children and certain bodily functions are hilarious rather than, well, anything else but I couldn’t help but giggle a little. It is dark, it’s quite gory in places but it didn’t win me over as much as The Niche did.
Would I recommend this book? I would. It’s a very quick read which I finished off one Sunday afternoon while the kids were hurtling around the local soft play! I think I had expected a little more ‘dark’ than I actually got but that tends to be the case with most books I read. I enjoyed the author’s style and would read another of his books if the opportunity arose in the future. Enjoyable but didn’t knock my socks off.
Three and a half stars out of five.
I chose to read and review an ARC of Two Dark Tales: Jack Squat and The Niche. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.
amothersmusings1's review
4.0
Charles Lambert's dual novella 'Jack Squat' and 'The Niche' are wonderful quick reads in a delightfully designed flip over book.
Dark, intriguing, entertaining and only slightly gory, I thoroughly enjoyed these stories and although the book could be placed in the horror genre (which I'm not particularly keen on) I found it was quite light on the horror/graphic side which made for a comfortable read, yet still managed to keep you in suspense and allowed to feel the dread of scary anticipation.
Excellent quick reads, small but powerful, I would happily recommend and would certainly read more by this author again.
I would like to thank fellow reader and friend - Rachel Hall - for very generously sharing her Goodreads win with me.
4 stars
Dark, intriguing, entertaining and only slightly gory, I thoroughly enjoyed these stories and although the book could be placed in the horror genre (which I'm not particularly keen on) I found it was quite light on the horror/graphic side which made for a comfortable read, yet still managed to keep you in suspense and allowed to feel the dread of scary anticipation.
Excellent quick reads, small but powerful, I would happily recommend and would certainly read more by this author again.
I would like to thank fellow reader and friend - Rachel Hall - for very generously sharing her Goodreads win with me.
4 stars
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