J. P. Cane

Category: Book Review

  • Review of The Company of Death

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    JP Cane
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    The most enjoyable novel I’ve read this year. Original, page-turning, fun and scary. The personification of death, skeletal and robed, has lost its horse, scythe, and purpose in Elisa Hansen’s post-apocalyptic world. Death must reach New York in order to set the world right and resume its life-reaping ways. Told with multiple points-of-view characters, the…

  • Review of The Vampire Memoirs

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    JP Cane
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    I enjoyed reading this because of it’s a simple straight-forward reluctant vampire tale told from the perspective of Mara, a 1,600-year-old woman recounting her life. She’s not the glamorous, wealthy, worldly vampire one might expect in this kind of story, nor did she participate in consequential historic events or meet those who shaped them. She’s…

  • Review of The Scribbled Victims

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    JP Cane
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    The Scribbled Victims tells a familiar tale of the vampire tradition in a way that’s different, emotionally compelling, and doesn’t shy from the horror of the vampire condition. I appreciate that Tomoguchi’s vampires need human blood to survive, though as the author shows, one cannot live on blood alone.

  • My Thoughts on Werewolves and Shape Shifters

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    JP Cane
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    Werewolves and Shape Shifters: Encounters with the Beast Within is not a mere book, but a thick tome of wonderful, frightful shapeshifter stories. Editor John Skipp lovingly collected 30-plus pieces, introducing each with a remarkable photo-realistic illustration and brief insightful commentary. My hat’s off to his masterful effort.

  • My Thoughts on Portrait of a Town

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    JP Cane
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    Reading Portrait of a Town: Cape Charles, 1940-1960 was like spending time with a dear friend as she shows you around the town she grew up in. You can imagine her taking you by the arm as the pair of you stroll down the streets.