Imatge de l'autor

Russell James (2)

Autor/a de Dark Inspiration

Per altres autors anomenats Russell James, vegeu la pàgina de desambiguació.

15 obres 102 Membres 9 Ressenyes

Sèrie

Obres de Russell James

Dark Inspiration (2011) 19 exemplars
Q Island (2015) 16 exemplars
Black Magic (2013) 13 exemplars
Cavern Of The Damned (2017) 9 exemplars
Sacrifice (2012) 5 exemplars
Dark Vengeance (2014) 5 exemplars
Forest Of Fire (2020) 5 exemplars
What Waits in the Shadows (2014) 4 exemplars
Return to Q Island (2017) 3 exemplars
Tales from Beyond 2 exemplars
Mammoth Island (2022) 2 exemplars
Dreamwalker (2015) 1 exemplars
Desolation Canyon 1 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Altres noms
James, R. R.
Gènere
male
Nacionalitat
USA
Llocs de residència
Florida, USA
Long Island, New York, USA
Educació
Cornell University
University of Central Florida
Biografia breu
Russell R. James was raised on Long Island, New York and spent too much time watching Chiller, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and Dark Shadows, despite his parents’ warnings. Bookshelves full of Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe didn’t make things better. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Central Florida.

After a tour flying helicopters with the U.S. Army, he now spins twisted tales best read in daylight.

He has published the paranormal thrillers Dark Inspiration, Sacrifice, Black Magic, and the upcoming Dark Vengeance with Samhain. He has published the short story collection Tales from Beyond and authored and edited the collection Out of Time. His short stories appeared at Daily Science Fiction, Tales of Old, Encounters and through Gypsy Shadow Press. He is a founding member of the Minnows Literary Group.

His wife reads what he writes, rolls her eyes, and says “There is something seriously wrong with you.” They share their home in sunny Florida with two cats.

Membres

Ressenyes

I love to read books about witches and dark books too and this was definitely for me. After reading Dark Inspiration which I thought was fantastic I was worried the sequel would not be as good but Russell James penned a fantastic sequel in fact I would lean towards saying this one was even better than the first.

The character development was great and there was never a dull moment. I was utterly hooked from page one.

If you like reading things that are scary, you will love this series.… (més)
 
Marcat
StressedRach | Jun 2, 2023 |
The Woodsman is taking children and the only ones that can see him are the friends in the Half Dirty Dozen. They try to tell their families and their peers about the Woodsman, but no one believes them as they think the friends are just making it up to get attention. The kids are now adults and they decide to have a reunion of sorts to take care of the Woodsman once and for all.

What to say about this book....well here it goes:

This book has a lot of reminders of the book IT by Stephen King as just like in that book, there is a monster killing kids and only kids can see the creature. Except like in the King book instead of the Losers Club there is the Half Dirty Dozen. There is a lot of similarities between the two books as in IT the friends in that book came back after 30 years to defeat the monster and also had become succesful which this book tends to go down that road too.

It is still a pretty good book, but it would have been better if not for so many reminders of the King book. Also the book goes back and forth between the past and the present every few chapters which was kind of annoying as it would have been better to just give a back story on the Woodsman in just a few chapters, then give the story of the friends as adults and their plan of what they are going to do to defeat the creature. It has some creepy parts here and there throughout the book, but nothing that really scared me.

This book would have been more closer to four stars if not for the King reminders, so giving it three stars.
… (més)
 
Marcat
BookNookRetreat7 | Jul 25, 2022 |
THE PLAYING CARD KILLER was one twisty-turny thriller of a ride!

Brian is tired of taking anxiety meds as he's been taking them his entire life. He decides to quit them cold turkey and see what life is really like. Unfortunately, his panic and anxiety attacks return and they seem worse than ever. Also, he can't sleep without having terrible nightmares wherein he's strangling people. When Brian learns that the victims he's seeing in his dreams are actually being killed, his anxiety ramps up to a previously unknown level. Is he murdering people while he's asleep in some kind of sleepwalking trance? How could he do such a thing? You'll have to read this book to find out!

It's hard to talk about this story without spoilers, but I'll give it my best shot. While I don't think this tale added anything new to the thriller genre, I do think it gave an unflinching look at anxiety and panic attacks. In fact, it personified them in the form of Mr. Jitters and that WAS new. To be honest, Mr. Jitters freaked me out. I've had personal, close up experience of what panic and anxiety attacks can do to a person and I've seen what the meds can do as well. There's nothing good about any of it and this book addresses those facts head on.

I loved the characterization in this book, especially that of Brian and Detective Weissbard. They came across as real to me, with real life concerns and problems. I could understand why Brian wanted to be off of his meds and why it was so important to him. The only problems I really had with this story was that Weissbard's boss was a caricature of a "bad cop" and I thought that came across as a bit silly, even though I did hate the guy. Also, the real antagonist of this story didn't seem quite real to me at first, but as the tale progressed, I warmed up to him and I could see where he was coming from.

Overall, this fast paced story flew by and I enjoyed it. I think fans of psychological horror, serial killer stories and police procedurals would enjoy THE PLAYING CARD KILLER as well!

Recommended!

Get your copy here: https://amzn.to/2EipCDL

*Thank you to Flame Tree Press for the paperback copy in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*
… (més)
 
Marcat
Charrlygirl | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Mar 22, 2020 |
Well, I have to say that I enjoyed every minute of this cracking crime/thriller!

I loved that, straight-away, Russell James introduces Brian Sheridan, who is currently on medication for anxiety-related problems. Brian decides to stop taking his medication as he thinks that he is living life through fog and haze which he hates. As a result, he is tormented by dreams of women being strangled, then left with a playing card tucked in their corpse. When he sees an apparent victim on the news, dead, Brian fears he may be the unwitting killer. Detective Eric Weissbard thinks the same thing and starts to build a case to get Brian convicted. But there's so much more to these murders…

Brian discovers that he has a brother, Tyler, with a penchant for murder. Tyler is willing to frame Brian for the crimes unless Brian wants to join Team Playing Card Killer.

Russell James’ sympathetic portrayal of the immensely likeable Brian was wonderful to read as his neuroses and delusions were laid bare and there was no hidden side to him. Brian is a troubled young man with an adoptive family with whom he barely has any sort of relationship. His girlfriend, Daniela, by contrast, is confident, and self -assured and she delivers Brian an ultimatum - either he continues with his medication or she will leave him.

I also liked Russell James’ fantastic character portrayal of Detective Weissbard who is talented, analytical and operates mostly and very successfully on gut instinct. However, he is disrespected by his colleagues and is assigned to chasing all the non-eventful leads and red herrings. That is until a jittery young guy arrives at the station, claiming to have detailed knowledge of the investigation that hasn't been revealed.

For me, THE PLAYING CARD KILLER explores some freaky imaginings and is full of creepy vibes. It's a fantastic thriller that surprised me with a mystery that borders on a grim horror novel. I was never quite sure exactly how far off the rails Brian had gone or where the author was going next with this disturbing but exciting story. The suspense was so great that I was on the edge of my seat because I was so absorbed with Brian and Detective Weissbard.

THE PLAYING CARD KILLER held my interest from start to finish and the way in which Russell James brought everything to a conclusion was just fabulous. I loved it and it has left me eager to read more from this author. I would recommend THE PLAYING CARD KILLER to anyone who likes this genre.

[Thank you to NetGalley, Flame Tree Press and Russell James for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.]
… (més)
 
Marcat
Manic-Midge | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Mar 17, 2019 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
15
Membres
102
Popularitat
#187,251
Valoració
½ 3.6
Ressenyes
9
ISBN
81
Llengües
1

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