Anthony Hains

The year is 1962. Twelve-year-old Cole Nightshade has always seen demons and his grandmother has taught him ways to cope with them. However, after her death and a disastrous stay in an abusive foster home, he is sent to the St Andrew's Asylum. The asylum has been many things in its long existence, a tuberculosis asylum, a boys' school and now an asylum for the insane and all of these iterations have produced many, often violent, deaths and many ghosts, the worst known as the Creeper. And Cole can see and hear them all.

The story is divided between two time periods, 1962 and the present. The asylum is now a tourist attraction and Chaz, a devoted ghosthunter, leads tours, explaining to interested crowds about the supernatural history of the asylum including stories about a young boy known as Twilight Eyes who could see ghosts and his encounter with the Creeper.

I will admit I expected little from Nightshade's Requiem by author Anthony Hains except, hopefully, a decent tale of the supernatural, something to entertain without asking anything much of the reader. Happily, there is much more than that here. Throughout the story, it is often unclear how much of what Cole sees is real and how much of it is hallucination, adding more to the mystery, not surprising since Hains is a professor emeritus of psychological counselling specializing in paediatric psychology. He describes the treatment of patients, especially children, during the period and it was often terrible. But along with this glimpse at the treatment of the mentally ill in the middle of the twentieth century, there really is a very good ghost and/or horror story here as well as an interesting coming-of-age tale and it kept me engaged throughout.

The book is aimed at a young audience but it is definitely one adults can enjoy. This is the first in a series and I will definitely read others. However, it should be noted that there is quite a bit of violence and abuse against children as well as some very gruesome scenes - none of this seems added simply for sensationalism but it probably wouldn't be a good choice for a child under twelve.

Thanks to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review… (más)

There's currently a giveaway at Horror After Dark for a signed copy! (Open to those in the U.S. only): http://www.horrorafterdark.com/2017/02/giveaway-disembodied-anthony-hains/

The Disembodied starts out like a coming-of-age story and then it turns into a psychological horror story of familial love and abuse that will keep you guessing to the very end!

Griffin is a boy on the verge of becoming a man, when he loses his father to a somewhat violent death. Luckily he has a sweet and caring grandfather that loves to spend time with him, and a close cousin to hang out with. Unfortunately, he is experiencing feelings of what his psychologist calls depersonalization disorder, but Griffin describes it as feeling like he isn't attached to his own body. His mom is worried, and his aunt is convinced he's possessed. So which is it? You'll have to read this book to find out!

The characters here were well developed. I really got to caring for Griffin and Tanner and I quickly got to the point where I couldn't care less what happened to either of their fathers. I think the best part of this story was its telling. The author did a great job of releasing bits of information steadily along the way which kept me interested and looking forward to whatever was going to happen next. A few of the twists I did guess, but I did not accurately predict where this tale was going to go, and I always love when that happens.

Even as a seasoned fan of horror, there were parts of this book that seriously disturbed me. Mr. Hains is a psychologist himself, which is probably why the bits about depersonalization disorder rang so true. However, there were certain characters that behaved very differently from what I would expect, (like Griffin's mom, for instance), and thinking about why she did what she did added a layer of sadness to this tale. I guess it's a sad truth that sometimes we like to bury our heads in the sand rather than face what's happening right in front of us.

Overall, The Disembodied was an excellent psychological horror tale, and even though it involved tweens, this is not a YA story, in my opinion. There are some ugly, ugly truths here and incidents of abuse that made even this horror fan cringe. That said, this book was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the mysteries as they unraveled. I think you would too! Highly recommended!

You can get your copy here: The Disembodied

Find this reviews and others like it at: http://www.horrorafterdark.com/

*I nominated this book for the Kindle Scout program back in the day, and when it was accepted and the book published, I was given a free copy with no strings attached. All of the opinions expressed in this review are my own.*… (más)

I have to admit that I had no idea what an Aswang was when Anthony Hains asked if I would like a review copy of this novella. I'd previously read his book THE DISEMBODIED and enjoyed it, so I said yes. I'm glad I did!

Two eighth-graders, Chloe and Spencer, have one thing in common-diabetes. Rather than spending all their time talking about boys or girls, they have to spend a lot of it calculating carbs and insulin dosages. One night they are each awoken by mysterious noises outside and the next day they discover that a nearby family has been slaughtered in the night. What killed this family and mutilated their bodies? Did the mysterious noises have anything to do with the murders? You'll have to read this to find out!

Even though YA is not really my thing, I thought this novella delivered the goods. We have a mysterious, scary creature, a few likable kids with some real problems, (diabetes is no joke), and lots of action in the last half, which was fun. The mythical abilities of an Aswang are wide and varied and as such leave a lot of room for imaginative storytelling; which is one of the reasons that made me wish this tale didn't end so quickly.

SWEET ASWANG was a lot of fun without getting too seriously bogged down with medical jargon or sappy teenagers stealing kisses on the front porch after dark. With a fast moving plot and a cool creature like the Aswang, this book was over before I knew it and I was sad to be finished.

Recommended!

You can get a copy here: Sweet Aswang… (más)

3.5 stars!

Currently there is a giveaway going on at Horror After Dark for this book!

3 signed copies of Dead Works are up for grabs! Click below to enter:
http://www.horrorafterdark.com/2014/09/giveaway-dead-works-anthony-hains-9-2-9-1...

Dead Works was a short novel of supernatural and and psychological horror.

Eric is a graduate psychology student jumping through the various hoops that such a doctor must, before becoming officially licensed. As such, he has his own clients to see, but he is required to periodically bring some of his cases before a group of other students and a supervisory psychologist. He chooses to bring two very strange cases to the group and discovers a link between them. Himself.

I liked how this story was told even though it was a little confusing at first. As the mysteries began to unfold, the reader learned more about Eric and two of his clients, Will and Greg. The beginning of this tale was slow, but my interest picked up as Eric himself began to be a larger part of the narrative. From there, the pace increased and moved quickly towards the finale. This is where the author began to shine because the denouement was both fascinating and heartbreaking.

Overall, this book was satisfying. The pacing issues at the beginning could very well be just me and might not bother another reader at all. I'm glad that I stuck with it, because the author masterfully weaved the ending. Even though this story didn't quite knock my socks off, (because I guessed correctly where it was going to go, but not the how), I will read more from this author in the future, because I feel like he is still honing his skills. Who knows what he might come up with next?

Recommend for fans of a mix of heavy psychological horror and the supernatural!
… (más)