But, and I have no idea why, my inner goblin just wasn’t feeling it.

I tried zombie stories. I’ve been reading a lot this year and am looking forward to season two of The Walking Dead starting tonight.

Maybe that was the problem. Too much of a good thing. After a while my spook-o-meter was barely registering. I needed something that I wasn’t familiar with, something that would creep me out, but not so much I’d have to sleep with the lights on for several weeks after finishing.

Vampires are cool. But I tend toward either the classic version or one’s with an interesting twist like Guillermo Del Torro’s The Strain. Which reminds me, I need to read book three of the trilogy, but it’s one of those I know will scare me a little too much, and I was looking for a some frighteningly fun middle ground.

I did find an interesting book in the store where I work. It’s called Renfield: Slave of Dracula. It seems like it would be a great companion piece to Stoker’s work. Much like Mary Reilly to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Which brings me to the cure for my apparent malaise.

In another I-could-just-kick-myself-for-never-reading-sooner moment, I read Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of the dark side of man personified and exposed. I had no idea it would go so quickly, and not just because it is a novella, with most editions being less than 100 pages.

I even made the effort to pull down Valerie Martin’s book to read as I liked the movie and hoped the book was better – and it is. It is also a short novel and easily read in one or two sittings.

My recommendation is that if you have never read either, read them together. If you’ve only read Dr. Jekyll, then I highly recommend you re-read it with Mary Reilly. You will not be disappointed.

Both are dark and disturbing. One exploring the inability to deal with the evil within, the other giving voice to the victims of such evil. The perspectives of the main characters in each book help give a more complete view of how people and society deal with something that lives within us all.

Dr. Jekyll thought he could banish it, destroy it. His folly only made things worse, amplifying the darkness inside all of us and becoming a prisoner to it.

Mary Reilly, before working for Dr. Jekyll, had her own experiences with a man who could not contain his demons. Yet she does not become fear’s captive. Interesting since this is set in Victorian times and women’s roles in society were such that her strength and character stand out against the backdrop of such a sexist society.

I feel it is no coincidence that Valerie Martin developed her story from a woman’s point of view. How better to showcase and manipulate the theme of duality? Stevenson’s work is nearly without a female presence, whereas Martin’s Reilly is all feminine as it is told in the first person.

Reading these two books was exactly what I needed. I am more in the Halloween mood than I was last week.

I might even go buy some bags of candy today.

Or maybe not. Unless I can hide them really well, including from myself, it might be better to wait until the night before – or even the day of. My scale, and dentist, will thank me.

Don’t Breathe A Word by Jennifer McMahon
ISBN: 9780061689376
Harper Paperbacks
Mystery, 464 pages

FTC Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

Psychological games abound in this mystery-thriller by Jennifer McMahon. Although I found myself taking notes toward the end in order to keep some things straight in my mind, the plot really isn’t that complicated. But it required me to concentrate in order to better deal with some heavy-duty revelations.

The ending is good. Very good. It’s not sappy or happy and left me questioning who the real victims are and if my feelings of sympathy toward certain characters are misplaced or well-deserved.

What helps is the author keeps the reader at a distance with her choice of POV’s. It’s never in the first person, so no one ever really knows the true thoughts or motivations of any of the characters. It would bring too much clarity. She compliments the readers intelligence by letting them decide what to believe, what to fear, and what to take away at the end.

McMahon’s storytelling is powerful enough to give us enough information, but does not hand-hold anyone.

When I got to the last page, I literally yelled, “Noooooooooo!” I was shocked more than surprised as I saw it coming, but didn’t want it to. I guess the best endings are the ones that make you emotional in some way: mad, happy, sad. They should evoke an emotion so strong it lingers long after you’ve finished reading it.

That my friends is a great story, and an even better storyteller. I can’t wait to read McMahon’s other books.

I am not a huge mystery reader, but Don’t Breathe A Word has made me want to read more. That is if I can continue to get novels that are as good as this one.

The Declaration by Gemma Malley (Book One in the Declaration Series)
ISBN: 9781599902951
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Young Adult Fiction/Speculative Fiction, Ages 13 & up

In order to better diversify my reading (and home library), I’ve been trying to read other genres. This book is one that has me kicking myself in the keister for not doing this sooner.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book in one sitting. ONE. As in I didn’t realized I had, until I finished and looked up to find my cats very grumpy from lack of attention. Maybe I should change my rating system from stars to a “grumpy kitty meter”. If I did, The Declaration gets 5 out 5 Shredded Shoes.

The premise for this dystopian novel derives from the author wondering what a society would be like if humans could live forever. However there remains the issue of population control.

In the year 2140, this is managed by the Declaration, an oath taken by those wanting immortality:

Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children, and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status. – From the back cover

The story is told from the point of view of Surplus Anna: a young, indoctrinated, yet authentic voice. The realization of what is really going on in the world would not have the dramatic impact it does, if the main narrator were anyone else.

. . . captured when she was young and brought up in a Surplus Hall, a place where she is taught to hate herself and her parents; to be told again and again that she owes a debt to society, to Mother Nature, whose generosity she has abused by her very existence. – Description of Anna by the author

To help her enlightenment is Peter. Another Surplus, but not like any Anna has known before. He’s spent most of his life on the “outside”. What unnerves her most is that he knows things about her that he shouldn’t. Luckily, seeds of doubt have already been planted in Anna’s mind, so it isn’t too hard to accept her sudden decision to turn her back on the only life she’s ever known.

The author states that “The Declaration is, I hope, a story that will challenge its readers, that will stay with them, that will make them think about the freedoms and privileges we take for granted and about the price paid for these. But, ultimately, The Declaration is Anna’s Story.

This story does stay with you. Makes you wonder how many of us are willing to accept our true role on this planet, and whether or not it should be an infinite one. What price would any of us pay in order to have a longer life? Would we accept a Fountain of Youth if what we had to sacrifice, is youth itself?

Another highly recommended read. I can’t wait to get my hands on The Resistance and The Legacy.