Whilst responding to a call, newbie policewoman Amanda Sachs (who has never worked on a crime scene before) discovers a hand sticking out of some railway tracks! In her efforts to secure the scene, she manages to attract the attention of ex-head of NYPD forensics Lincoln Rhyme, who was forced to retire after being made quadriplegic during work on a scene. By combining Lincoln’s criminologist mind with Amanda’s body, the pair set out to gather as much evidence as possible about the crime. However, even as they work on this new scene, they discover another and, before long, they are tailing a brutal serial killer who manages to stay one-step ahead throughout, all the time luring the duo along behind him.

This tale is masterfully put together; the story of a physically disabled master-criminologist, striving to catch a vicious killer by making use of an inexperienced but dedicated new cop. By the time the end comes draws near, the terror becomes almost overwhelming as the physically helpless Lincoln finds himself a target of the sadistic Bone Collector. Widely considered Jeffery Deaver’s finest work and one of the greatest horror books of all time, The Bone Collector is clearly a masterpiece of the modern genre.

Probably not one of his King’s best books, Under The Dome is nevertheless a nice idea for a story.

A small community in Maine is going about its everyday life when, immediately and out of apparently nowhere, a colossal dome appears, surrounding them all and cutting them off from the rest of the world! As time goes by, the predicable consequences arise; the water starts running out, the air quality falls dramatically and, of course, a degree of anarchy starts bubbling up, fueled by the leadership of a morally dubious character, but in the name of safety and security. Of course, the religious extremists all pop out of the woodwork as well and go a little more nuts – Mist-style, though less frustratingly.

No prizes for spotting the satirical take on Bush’s America so far. Of course, however, it’s Stephen King – so it’s less political and far more horrifying that my short summary makes out. It’s also very cleverly written and filled with smart references for the more well-read Stephen King fans out there. What it also it, however, is very…very…long. Too long, one could say. So it’s definitely not something for the novel-a-day types; you could easily spend so long reading Under The Dome that you’d find somebody had actually built a dome around you as well – but by hand…using tissue boxes…having first blown their nose on each and every tissue. It’s long.

With October being the month of Halloween, it seems appropriate that this month’s genre summary should be horror!  So, what is it about some books that makes them known as horror?

The genre of horror fiction is the third of the commonly recognised forms of speculative fiction; acknowledged for around half a century as being works with a gruesome, suspenseful or frightening theme, specifically designed to scare or disturb the reader.  This is commonly achieved by introducing a supernatural or distressing element into a situation to which the reader can relate – everyday life, school trips or family holidays, for example.

Popular plot devices used throughout the horror genre include haunting by ghosts, invasions by zombies and attacks by homicidal humans.  For this reason, there is often a strong theme of violence within horror fiction, although this is definitely not always the case.  By playing to the power of the unknown, some of the best works of horror make intensely disturbing scenes few and far between; using suggestion and implication to coax the reader’s imagination and further build suspense.

One of the most famous works of horror every written is Stephen King’s The Shining; a book I shall review in my next post.