March 2012 – reading report

This past couple of months have been a little slower than their 2011 counterparts, with an average of only 4 read books per month. I’ve completed abandoned my Sherlock Holmes marathon for the time being, after having read the first five books featuring the famous detective. Perhaps I will pick it up where I’ve left it some day, but for now I will pursue other genres. Anyway, I’m really glad that, with the exception of the Sherlock Holmes books, I’ve managed to review all the books I’ve read so far.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle

Kindle edition
First published: January 1st 1902
Rating: 3/5

Holmes and Watson are faced with their most terrifying case yet. The legend of the devil-beast that haunts the moors around the Baskerville families home warns the descendants of that ancient clan never to venture out in those dark hours when the power of evil is exalted. Now, the most recent Baskerville, Sir Charles, is dead and the footprints of a giant hound have been found near his body. Will the new heir meet the same fate? (Goodreads)

The Big Jump, by Leigh Brackett

Kindle edition
First published: 1967
Rating: 3/5
New star-drive engines promise to open up the galaxy to human-kind. But the first ship to use the engines disappears and a sole survivor returns…alone and dying of some strange type of radiation.
No one can figure out what has happened to the ship or the crew. Nor does anyone know what happens to a ship travelling using star-drive technology.
Does some unknown horror await us out there? The only way to find out is to go out again. And Arch Comyn is determined to be the one to solve the mystery. But is he, and the rest of mankind, ready for whatever awaits us beyond the Big Jump? (Amazon)

Dead of Night: A Zombie Novel, by Jonathan Maberry

Audiobook: 13 hrs and 49 mins
Narrated by: William Dufris
First published: October 25th 2011
Rating: 4.5/5

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A prison doctor injects a condemned serial killer with a formula designed to keep his consciousness awake while his body rots in the grave. But all drugs have unforeseen side-effects. Before he could be buried, the killer wakes up. Hungry. Infected. Contagious. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang…but a bite. (Goodreads)

Apartment 16, by Adam Nevill

Paperback: 452 pages
First published: May 21st 2010
Rating: 4.5/5

Some doors are better left closed… In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever. A young American woman, Apryl, arrives at Barrington House. She’s been left an apartment by her mysterious Great Aunt Lillian who died in strange circumstances. Rumours claim Lillian was mad. But her diary suggests she was implicated in a horrific and inexplicable event decades ago. Determined to learn something of this eccentric woman, Apryl begins to unravel the hidden story of Barrington House. She discovers that a transforming, evil force still inhabits the building. And the doorway to Apartment 16 is a gateway to something altogether more terrifying… (Goodreads)