Tag: velocicoaster

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#BookReview: The Ozark Howler by David Wood

Solid Creepy Creature Feature Thrills. If you’re a Creature Feature kind of person, or perhaps an XFiles or Buffy the Vampire Slayer or similar type show fan, you’re going to love this book. Yes, it is deep in the Dane Maddock Universe, but Wood is generally careful these days of not adding in *too* much to any given story that you need to know about beforehand, and here it basically amounts to one or two characters from other books directly showing up + a few references to the immediately prior book where Maddock himself updates his relationship status. Spoilers for those books, but mild. If you’re really particular, always start at Book 1 of a given series anyway, or perhaps in the case of this sprawling universe, start from Original Publication Date and read through the series that way.

But for old and new fans alike, this particular entry really is classic Maddock and Bonebrake. Two long time buddies getting wrapped up in yet another Indiana Jones type investigation, this time more on the cryptid/ creature side with some historical/ archeological connections rather than the more pure historical side ala the prior book, March 2026’s Kingdom Of Pirates (the one that sets up the references here to Maddock’s relationship status). The creature at hand is one of the creepiest and most terrifying of the series to date, and in fact there are certain scenes that those of the more faint of heart may want to skim through a bit. For everyone else though, they’re the exact type of gory, gritty creature feature adventure/ survival tale that at least some readers will be *right there* for, and those readers in particular are truly going to love this book.

The fact that this book leaves enough dangling – while telling a complete tale in its own right, to be clear – that it is almost blatantly obvious that either the next book Woods releases or perhaps one of the next books Woods releases will be a direct sequel to this one is really just icing on the cake, as these threads are left perfectly dangling such as to entice readers to be ready for the sequel without feeling like any real form of cliffhanger and certainly not one story cut in half. This is absolutely a complete tale within itself – indeed, one of the elements that helps it feel this way is *also* one that blatantly sets up the “a sequel is coming soon” feeling – and that sequel is sure to have even more epic and direct action than this one did, which means it will truly be one hell of a ride.

After all, this book was extremely fun in all that it did. Topping this? It’s going to be like fighting over which Orlando coaster is better – Velocicoaster or Guardians Of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

I for one can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Ozark Howler by David Wood was originally written on April 14, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Beauty Of Rain by Jamie Beck

Beck’s Most Powerful Book To Date. Somewhat surprisingly, I seem to either own and/ or have read every single book Beck has put out to date – and I think there’s only four (the Cabot trilogy + In The Cards) that I haven’t actually read yet. So I can absolutely speak with a degree of authority on that title here in particular. With her move towards women’s fiction over the last few years, after spending her earlier career in romance novels, Beck has seemingly been working to exactly what she pulled off here – a balls to the wall, full out emotional rollercoaster that has the sheer power of the best coasters around, even Universal Orlando’s Velocicoaster (my personal standard for most powerful coaster online today).

To be clear, those struggling with suicidal ideation should absolutely steer clear of this book, as that subject plays a substantial and substantially heavy role in this tale – and which Beck herself makes clear in a forward to the book.

Also, this book is nearly black hole heavy, with a few jokes and other lighter moments thrown in, but the emotional weight of all that has happened before this book and is happening during this book truly is some *heavy* stuff – and indeed that is one of the things that makes this book so great. Because even while it is indeed so heavy, it never feels oppressive or hopeless. Quite the opposite – Beck does a tremendous job of showing the hope even in the depths of such tragedy and misfortune.

Overall, if you’re looking for something more light and fluffy, go with one of Beck’s earlier books. But if you’re ready to see some hope even in some of the darkest times that normal people do in fact experience… maybe you’re ready for this book. Very much recommended.

P.S.: While this book does in fact mention COVID, it is in the period before the events of this book, and while the events that play out in that period are significant here – COVID never really is, thus I did *not* deduct a star there.

Also, the struggles of parents of Autistic children is a major storyline in this book, and for my fellow Autistics as well as our parents, I want to point out just how *real* that story does in fact play out. Yes, at times it seems like Beck may be following that agency that claims to “Speak” for Autism (yet is actually the Autistic community’s KKK, according to many of us) and their “hopeless” commercial (one of the things we hate so much about them), but I need to stress here that there is no mention of that organization or even that idea. There is no child endangerment or abuse here. No so-called “Applied Behavioral Analysis” that so many of us in the community consider to be active child abuse. Certainly no filicide that is all too rampant among far too many parents. Instead, Beck shows a very real view of a parent just trying to do her best for her Autistic child. And indeed, even when looking for positive, Autistic Adult created and/ or inspired resources for parents, *even as someone who was once plugged into various Autism advocacy networks*… it was shockingly difficult to find something so basic “Here’s some resources if you think your child may have Autism” from the more respected organizations. And y’all… that’s on us. We need to create those resources to help these exact types of parents and prevent them from becoming the parents who actively harm their children.

But again: Unless you’re struggling with suicidal ideation… read this book. It really is Beck’s Most Powerful Book To Date.

This review of The Beauty Of Rain by Jamie Beck was originally written on July 10, 2023.