Hell House av Richard Matheson - en moderne klassiker, og hadde vært bedre uten de erotiske partiene

---

     Something flapped behind her, and she whirled, to see the 

spread and blankets landing on the rug.

    There was something underneath the sheet.

    Florence stared at it. It was a figure of a man. She 

started toward the bed, tightening as she saw that the figure 

was nude.

---

Norskættede Richard Matheson døde i 2013, og etterlot seg noen moderne klassikere som Hell House og I Am Legend. Han skrev også manuskriptet til Duel som var regissert av Steven Spielberg. Matheson var en forfatter de fleste har et eller annet forhold til.

1922 av Stephen King - King på sitt beste når det gjelder karakterbeskrivelser

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     'I never said-'

'Henry!' I called. 'Come over here a minute!'

    Henry came with his head down and his feet drag-

ging in th dust. He looked worried, maybe even guilty,

but that was all right. 'Yes, sir?'

---

King er mest kjent for horror, men han har skrevet mange andre sjangre også, blant annet fantasy. Han beviser gang på gang at han ofte mestrer de fleste sjangre. For min del synes jeg han er best når han skriver horror og thrillere.

Der krepsene synger av Delia Owens - sårbar roman med krimelementer

Eksemplar fra Bonnier Forlag, mot en ærlig anmeldelse

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     Kya stirret på den gamle flaska og forsøkte å se søstrenes

ansikter for seg. Og så sa hun høyt: "Hvor er du hen nå, Ma?

Hvorfor holdt du deg ikke sammen med oss?"

---

I september leste jeg Der krepsene synger, da boka var filmaktuell. Etter å ha sett filmtraileren, fristet boka mer enn filmatiseringen.

Something Wicked This Way Comes av Ray Bradbury - stillferdig og stemningsfull horror med stor effekt

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    There, on the precipice of earth, a small steam feather

uprose like the first of a storm cloud yet to come.

    The train itself appeared, link by link, engine, coal-car, and

numerous and numbered all-asleep-and-slumbering-dreamfilled

cars that followed the firefly-sparked churn, chant, drowsy

autumn hearthfire roar.

---

En merkelig lukt henger i luften. En lukt som minner om lakris og sukkerspinn. Hva er det som skjer?

The Ghost Hunters av Neil Spring - boka er mer enn hva den gir seg ut for å være

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     He gave a shrug. "I suppose every psychical investigator wants

to find a new medium, to develop and test them and to unwell 

them to the world.'

   'Harry, did you always intend to expose her as a fraud?'

    'Oh yes,' he answered coldly. 'From day one.'

---

Hjemsøkte hus. Det kan være et noe oppbrukt tema i horrorsjangeren, men hva gjør vel det? Hjemsøkte hus fascinerer!

Red av Jack Ketchum - har du lyst til å være sur for noe? Les denne!

---

The old man whose name was Avery Allan Ludlow drove up

the hill to the house and thought that the boy was right about

one thing.

    He didn't have much.

    He had the store and the house and the two small parcels of

land each of them stood on and that was about all.

---

Jack Ketchum, som egentlig heter Dallas William Mayr, døde i 2018. Han døde av kreft, men usikker på hvilken krefttype det var. Uansett er det et trist tap, for han var kjent for å skrive provoserende bøker, og Red er en av dem.

Kiss the Girls av James Patterson - svært spennende og mye mørkere enn filmatiseringen

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    CASANOVA HAD struck again.
    Another student, a bright beautiful woman named Anna Miller, had been abducted from a garden  apartment she shared with her lawyer-boyfriend near the State University of North Carolina in Raleigh. The boyfriend had been murdered in bed, which was a new twist for Casanova. He left no note, and no other clues at the crime scene. After a mistake, he was showing us he was letter - perfect again.

---

Hvorfor har jeg ikke lest noe av James Patterson tidligere?

Burnt Offerings av Robert Marasco - et godt eksempel på brakkesyke

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    "Oh, Ben, no," Marian pleaded. "We'll find it, I know we will."
    Marian had told Miss Allardyce to expect them around eleven. To allow for Saturday traffic and the probability that they would get lost somewhere at the end of the island, Ben suggested they leave the apartment before eight.
    "Cautious, as always," Marian said.
    "Hell, someone here's got to be."

---

Er det trygt å leie et feriested for noen måneder?

The Mothman Prophecies av John A. Keel - dokumentasjon om et kjent fenomen

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    'Jim was working on the river that night,' Mrs Lilly added. 'And Linda woke me up with a terrible scream. She cried out there was a man in her room. I told her she was dreaming. But she screamed again.'
    'He walked around the bed and stood right over me,' Linda declared. 'I screamed again and hid under the covers. When I looked up again, he was gone.'
    'She came running into my room,' Mrs Lilly said. 'She cried, "There is a man in my room! There is!" She's refused to sleep alone ever since.'

---

Filmen er nok bedre kjent enn selve boka, selv om boka og filmen er svært forskjellige.

Frankenstein av Mary Shelley - fin bok om å føle seg utestengt fra resten av samfunnet og selvforakt

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    'For some weeks I led a miserable life  in the woods, endeavouring to cure the wound which I had received. The ball had entered my shoulder, and I knew not whether it had remained there or passed through; at any rate I had no means of extracting it. My sufferings were augmented also by the oppressive sense of the injustice and ingratitude of their infliction. My daily vows rose for revenge - a deep and deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had endured.

---

Utrolig flaut å ha hatt denne boka i hylla i så mange år, ulest, spesielt siden jeg er den horrorfreaken jeg er, men bedre sent enn aldri.

Psycho av Robert Bloch - skremmende og nyskapende i sin tid

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The minute Norman got inside the office he started to tremble. It was the reaction, of course. Too much had happened, and too quickly.  He couldn't bottle it up any longer.
    Bottle. That's what he needed - a drink. He'd lied to the girl, of course. It was true Mother wouldn't allow liquor in the house, but he did drink. He kept a bottle down here, at the office. There were times when you had to drink, even if you knew you had no stomach for liquor even if a few ounces were enough to make you dizzy, make you pass out. There were times when you wanted to pass out.

---

Psycho ble utgitt i 1959, og året etter ble boka filmatisert av selveste Alfred Hitchcock ...

Single White Female av John Lutz - farlig besettelse

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    "Sam?" 
    "Yeah." Resigned.
    "Who is she?"
    "A girl, is all."
    Allie was thrown by the simple evasiveness of his answer. He was speaking to her as if she were twelve years old. She didn't like what was welling up in her but she couldn't stop it. She couldn't even put a name to it. "Christ, is that what she is, a girl is all? Is that what you've got to say, like some goddammed adolescent caught two-timing his steady?"
    "I'm sorry. God, I'm sorry. But really, that's all she is to me."
    "Sam, that's so shabby. So fucking banal."
    "So maybe I'm banal. I'm sorry about that too."

---

Det er bedre å bo alene, eller?

The Woman in the Window av A.J. Finn - stor underholdningsverdi, men ikke noe mer enn det ...

---

HE STANDS FRAMED IN THE DOORWAY, hands thrust in his pockets, a battered bag slung over one shoulder. "What's going on?" he asks again as I release my grip on Ethan.
    Norelli uncrosses her arms. "Who are you?"
    David crosses his in turn. "I live downstairs.*
    "So," says Little, "you're the famous David:"
    "Don't know about that."
    "You got a last name, David?"
    "Most people do."
    "Winters," I say, dredging it up from the depths of my brain.
    David ignores me. "Who are you people?"
    "Police," Norelli answers. "I'm Detective Norelli, this is Detective Little."

---

Å leve med agorafobi må være fryktelig kjedelig, eller?

Atonement av Ian McEwan - et skikkelig slit å komme seg gjennom

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    He looked so huge and wild, and Cecilia with her bare shoulders and thin arms so frail that Briony had no idea what she could achieve as she started to go towards them. She wanted to shout, but she could not catch her breath, and her tongue was slow and heavy. Robbie moved in such a way that her view of her sister was completely obscured. Then Cecilia was struggling free, and he was letting her go. Briony stopped and said her sister's name.

---

En liten misforståelse kan fort bli stor.

Not Without My Daughter av Betty Mahmoody - kan man stole på den man elsker?

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    How long must we endure? I could not bring myself to think in terms of years. Moody would not - could not - do this to us. He would view the filth around him, and it would sicken him. He would realize that his professional future was in America., not in a backward nation that had yet to learn the lessons of basic hygiene and social justice. He would change his mind. He would take us home, discounting the possibility that the moment my feet touched American soil I might grab Mahtob by the hand and run for the nearest attorney.

---

I denne boka forteller Betty Mahoody i samarbeid med William Hoffer, om sin traumatiske opplevelse som fange av sin egen mann i Iran.

Speak av Laurie Halse Anderson - viktig budskap, men fortellerstemmen treffer ikke

---

I miss the bus because I couldn't believe how dark it was when my alarm clock went off. I need a clock that will turn on a 300 - watt bulb when it's time to get up. Either that or a rooster.

When I realize how late it is, I decide not to rush. Why bother? Mom comes downstairs and I'm reading the funnies and eating oatmeal.

---

Man bør aldri tie.

Vampire Academy av Richelle Mead - moderne vampyrer er visst ikke noe for meg

I snapped. "I did do my duty!" I shouted, jumping up from my chair. Dimitri and Alberta both flinched but left me alone since I wasn't trying to hit anyone. Yet. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of you" - I made a sweeping gesture around the room -"could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."      Through the bond, I felt Lissa trying to send me calming messages, again urging me not to let anger get the best of me.  Too late.

Moderne vampyrisme er dønn kjedelig ...

Rebecca av Daphne du Maurier - fortidens spøkelser og mange undertoner

Hvor mange ganger hun måtte ha skrevet til ham slik. Hvor mange små beskjeder, skriblet på halve ark, og lange brev, når han var ute og reiste, side etter side, ark etter ark, om det som angikk de to alene. Jeg syntes jeg hørte ekkoet av stemmen hennes i huset og nede i hagen, skjødesløs og familieær, akkurat som skriften i boken hennes.

Lenge har jeg grudd meg til å skrive om denne klassikeren. Har ikke grudd meg til å skrive om en bok siden The Catcher in the Rye som jeg anmeldte i januar. Å skrive om klassikere, og spesielt klassikere som er høyt elsket, er virkelig ikke lett, men jeg skal gjøre et forsøk.

Beautiful Creatures av Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - savnet mer mystikk

I didn't recognize the car. I had never seen it before. You can't imagine how impossible that is, because I knew every single car in town. There were no tourists this time of year. They wouldn't take the chance during hurricane season.      This car was long and black, like a hearse. Actually, I was pretty sure it was a hearse.      Maybe it was an omen. Maybe this year was going to be worse than I thought.

Kan man elske noen før man har møtt den utkårede?

Kjærlighetens galskap av Mattthew Quick - de "gærne" har det godt, eller?

Når jeg løper, later jeg alltid som om jeg løper mot Nikki, og da føles det som om jeg kutter ned på ventetiden til jeg får se henne igjen.

Ærlighet varer lengst?