Customer Reviews

Open Grave: The Book of Horror

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're wondering if this book is as good as its cover looks, the answer is yes, it is. The cool cover reminded me of the old EC Horror comics like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, and what's inside is worthy of that cover. Jeani Rector's new book is brimming with an assortment of dark treats about Ebola, voodoo, gypsies, Lycanthropy, and black magic. Open Grave is divided in two parts. The first part encompasses nine short stories and the second part, the meat of the book, is a novella.

Though on the short side (seven of the nine tales are between five to ten pages in length), the stories range from good to excellent. The first story, "Cat's Eye", about someone who wants to stand out, sets the tone for the book. The two longer stories, "Crystal Ball", about a gypsy's gift of a crystal ball to the protagonist, and "Ghoul", a creepy tale of voodoo, are the best of the book. The only story I didn't care for was "Monday Night Dive" in which two youths dive into a dumpster to find food. Jeani's strength lies in her longer stories, in my opinion, where she really gets a chance to show us she can write horror with the best of them. I also really enjoyed the variety of topics she dug into (no pun intended) in this book; she proved very knowledgeable on the subjects of voodoo, Navajo burial customs, and the occult.

Now for the "piece de resistance"; the title story, which is the novella, Open Grave. If you're like me and love reading stories about the occult, demons and black magic, then hesitate no longer, and pick up this book right now. This 165 page novella is an extremely engaging read. We are told the story of Rick Evans who finds himself dabbling in black magic and wishing he hadn't, but by that time, it's already too late. He discovers facts about his heritage that he could never have imagined and that could very well be the death of him. As the story unfolds, he falls under many spells, will be involved in necromancy and jeopardizes everything he holds dear in his life. This was a quick read with many twists and a monster of a third act where the truth is unleashed like a chainsaw upon a helpless victim.

The author has more than a trick up her sleeve and spins spine-chilling stories that will satisfy any horror reader with the wide array of tales found in this collection. The novella is a first-rate story about the occult--something I don't see too often these days--and worth the price of the book alone. I hope Ms. Rector decides to write a full-length novel sometime soon; I'm sure the result would be nothing short of spectacular.

Side note: I wish Amazon would allow half stars in their rating system; I give the first part of this book 4 stars, and the second part 5 stars for a total of 4.5 stars.

Alan Draven,
Author of Bitternest

This is a book of stories, short stories, horror stories, some with a twist, some with a shock, all good, but the real gem is the last one, the novella that gives the book its name. Jeani Rector takes you by the gut and leads you into the story. One page, two, you can put it down now, if you want, three pages and you're sunk, hooked into a tale of one young man's woe.

Rick Evans is a university student, barely getting by in both his last semester of school in Sacramento, California and his life, when one day he meets Carley McClintock and it's just about as close to love at first sight as it can get. Little do Rick and Carley know that their meeting had been planned by forces too dark for them to comprehend.

Doing research for a term paper, Rick goes to a candle store to buy a couple books on the occult. There he meets Raven and his life is going to take a drastic change and not for the better. Raven conjures up Rick's Grandmother during a séance. Seems Granny wants a little book she's hidden and she wants Rick to get it. He does and brings it to the bewitching Raven. What happens next will have you on the edge of your seat as you bumble along with Rick as he gets himself deeper and deeper under Rachel's power.

I liked this book very much. I especially liked the fact that it wasn't a woman who kept doing one stupid thing after another. There were several times I wanted to shout at the pages, "Don't do that, Rick!" or, "Pay attention, Rick!" or, "Look out, Rick!" but of course Rick couldn't hear me and he does just what he shouldn't. But you should get a copy of this book. If you like a scary story, there's a few frights here that will get your heart a pumpin'.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

"Open Grave-The Book of Horror" is a powerful read from cover to cover; one of the best compilations you're going to find anywhere! This anthology packs just as many scares within its ten-story (276- page) excursion as any bestseller on the shelves. Jeani Rector knows how to deliver a "top-shelf" collection of bone-chilling horror. "Open Grave" will chomp away inside long after the dark journey is over, perhaps beckoning you to experience the author's world again by diving into the grave for another round of nightmares!
Jeani mixes it up with this book, serving the reader more helpings of fear than the average palate can handle--and does so effectively by coming at you from terrifying angles you never imagined possible. She's simply that good. There will be times when you think you have the story all figured out. And that's when her genius trips you up. She leads you in a different direction and all you can do is marvel at her masterful touches. There are many more of them sprinkled throughout each selection, of course, but you'll have to grab a copy and learn for yourself just how dangerous that pen of hers can be.
You see, strong horrific tales are tough to construct, especially short stories. Sometimes they start off promising but end up losing their momentum after the halfway mark--flatlining--leaving the hungry horror fan disappointed. We've all read a few of those from time to time. The good news is: none of the tales in "Open Grave" flattens in the final moments. All of them demand your undivided attention until the riveting climax. Jeani achieves excellence by entertaining the reader with razor-sharp dialogue and an eerie sense of setting with each story. That's what great writing can do.
This book of scary shorts will remain a fixture on my bookshelf for years to come. Fans of the dark and disturbed will be doing themselves a favor by adding it to theirs--they won't regret it. Keep an eye on Jeani Rector everyone, because the future of horror is proud to unleash one of its latest and greatest storytellers.
Included in this anthology: Cat's Eye, Ebola Zaire, A Case of Lycanthropy, The Burial, Under the House, Ghoul (The Unabridged Version), Monday Night Drive, Cold Spot, Crystal Ball, Open Grave (A Novella)

Review by,
David Boyle-
Author of "Blood Works"

Reality is not so scripted. Nor is it simple.
Let me tell you about reality. -P. 113

Jeani Rector has done it again. She has taken subjects like cats, viruses, mental illnesses, Native Americans, office politics, violence, religion, dumpster diving, nature's phenomena, diamonds and even genealogy and amplified them into realistic horror. Unlike some of today's writers, these stories are written so naturally that you can almost perceive that "Yes, this could happen to me today." No fantasy, no make believe, only true dark realistic horror. At the same time she has successfully (and strangely enough) written these nine short stories and one novella in a fashion that recalls the glory days of Warren Publishing magazines like Eerie and Creepy.
In Cat's Eye, the first story, you are the unwitting witness to the boring person who wants to stop being a "non-entity" and basically ignored. You want to desperately stop this person from committing that horrific act that will eventually get a lot of attention. You feel it coming yet you are powerless to stop it. This story serves as a great appetizer for the ones to follow.
In Ebola Zaire, a young woman's hope to go to America vanishes in a quick strike by dark factions of the natural course of life. America, and the world for that fact, avoids the greatest and most unpredictable terror(ist) known to man, Mother Nature.
A Case of Lycanthropy plays out as a modern court battle over the supposed silly idea that werewolves are real. Tell that to the victim of a simple lady named Susan.
A Native American gothic piece, The Burial, relives a tale of a young man coming of age and his courage to sacrifice the real for the imposing dark forces that threaten the Navajo way of life.
Under The House was so (unfortunately) realistic that you nearly dismiss it as a horror tale and feel that you need to contact CPS and the cops. This is what makes the horror, and this book for that matter, so astonishing real that it mirrors true-life so well. You then start to wonder about the rest of the details, like who will she stay with and will the dad get to her too. Under The House is a subtle horrific cliffhanger.
From this next story, all I can think about when I think about all that I've possibly done wrong or anti-Christian in my life is the sentence that is repeated a couple of times within the literary work and that is: "Hell is now aware of me." The Ghoul is a super fantastic retelling of the idea of Voodoo-ism and its hold on it's practitioners, as well as, non-practitioners in the area known for its use: New Orleans. It also plays on the theme that Voodoo is an equal opportunity religion and does not distinguish between white and black, male or female. Furthermore, it illustrates the need for proper background checks because the last thing anyone needs is a psychotic just recently released from the crazy farm voodoo queen that suits as your co-worker. The Ghoul will definitely give you the chills.
Monday Night Dive takes dumpster diving to new claustrophobic heights. Also, if you love fat juicy rats, this one is for you. While Cold Spot turns a natural occurrence, some bullying and the heighten sense of personal fear to darker levels in a lovely little place you could easily call Mayberry. The last short story (of the nine), Crystal Ball, is actually one of greed, stalking, and the prior perception of the acts that must be committed to come. Diamonds are a woman's best friends. Men will kill to have them.
Finally, the gem of the entire book is its namesake, Open Grave. Nothing satisfies the sincerity of Rector to scare the living crap out of you more than this quote from the preface of this stand-alone story:
There is a dimension harboring corrupt forces that would prey upon the living as if a malignancy, and if these shadowy phantoms find their way through the cracks in time, they will grow just as tumors do in the living. They are cancers that gradually possess their living counterparts, and the damage they do is slow but fatal.
This dark diamond in the rough is a true page-turner. You find that you want to know what is going to be revealed next just as quickly as you've discovered something new. You automatically know that the work on this story was tremendous evident by the amount of detail that is adhered to within. This simple fact makes me exhaustively jealous that I did not write it. Maybe that is a horror story itself?
Furthermore, as I read Open Grave, the novella, I felt like I was watching a prequel or sequel to the film, The Skeleton Key. Obviously there are significant differences. However, Rector magnificently handled the whole Satan-ism/Voodoo-ism theme in this story just like in that popular film.
The premise of this story as the back cover suggest is that "Rick Evans doesn't believe in ghosts." However, don't' get hung up on that because it's a hell of a lot more than seeing his grandma's spiritual essence. It is about the price people pay for messing around with a narcissistic complex gone completely wrong for over 100 years at their own family's expense, it is about blacked-out genealogy and hidden agendas, it is about God and the fallen angels, it is... a lot more than I want to tell you from this point. You have to read it yourself. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Unless of course like me, as well as the protagonist, you keep wondering what happen to Raven. A story on her life alone could be suggested, no requested. It's like "Who shot JR?" or "Where is Jimmy Hoffa?" Everyone wants to know.
Another storyline that begs to be suggested from Open Grave is the one on Elizabeth, Rick Evan's grandmother. Now that will also make for a fascinating tale spanning a century and more.
For that matter, the entire saga of Open Grave begs to be put on film itself. But that's just a critic begging for more of Jeani Rector's work.
If you want to curl up with a fantastic book deep into the dark hours of the night, this is it. Don't forget to empty out your bladder and check your senses at the door before you start reading because once you do, you will not be able to put it down, not to mention your new heighten perception of all those bumps in the night. This book is exciting and full of supernatural adrenaline.
The work of Jeani Rector is truly splendid and should be celebrated in every public, as well as private, library as it is in mine. Rector, like in her previous distinguished book of horror, After Dark, which is still available from PublishAmerica.com, does a masterful job in writing Open Grave which by the way includes an excellent cover by the notable comic book artist Bruce Cashman. For those that don't already know, she ranks among the best the horror genre has to offer. Open Grave is truly an excellent addition to the eclectic collection of master horror pieces and a first-rate read.

-Juan Manuel Perez, history teacher and author of six poetry chapbooks, including Dial H For Horror (2006), plus one full contemporary multi-culture poetry collection, Another Menudo Sunday (2007), and the soon to be published O' Dark Heaven, a full collection of dark poetry.

I WAS ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT WHILE READING "OPEN GRAVE". THERE WERE TWISTS WHICH KEPT ME READING AND WANTING MORE INFO. IT WAS A GREAT SHORT NOVEL.

Open Grave is a chilling anthology of ten stories one of which, the book's title, is a recondite novella for the connoisseur of the occult.
The collection travels where few horror writers dare and down roads no normal humans visit. For example, even those of us hardened by our reading of noir tales look away when we encounter a face with an empty eye socket. Not so Jeani Rector. In her first and possibly most grisly tale, Cat's Eye, we are obliged to keep our eyelids open while we grit teeth and become drawn into the void. With morbid fascination we are compelled to look and read on to the gruesome end.
Other short tales cover such macabre topics as the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire; following a young woman's terrifying experience. The story typifies the way Jeani Rector puts effort into researching her subject matter. We feel we were there, not only in Zaire, but in another story with the Navajo and their Chindis spirits in the hot deserts of Arizona; a touching coming-of-age revelation, in which a grave ceremony goes wrong, in The Burial. Another well-researched story delves into Voodoo. Ghoul, is so realistic I felt my hairs quiver even though the view point is cunningly through the eyes of a disbelieving psychiatrist, who has to accept the fantastic to save his own life. Monday Night Dive is a freaky original story with a surprise ending about grabbing thrown-out food from High Street stores.
I was mildly disappointed with Cold Spot. It has promise of a gritty horror but in my opinion misses and becomes a child's morality tale. Nevertheless, it is worth the read for it contains my favourite droll line (yes, there is humour in horror): `Troop didn't feel ten years old any more. Suddenly he felt nine.'
Under the House is a frightening story of how a young girls hides from her vicious father. Can she remain hidden only inches from him for long? Maybe, but worse awaits her.
I thank Jeani Rector for Crystal Ball. Once again authenticity is so strong I felt compelled to dig out a genuine unadulterated quartz crystal I'd harboured in my attic and gazed into the milky oddity inside it. Then, as Keja advised, I rubbed my hands before holding the crystal. After a few moments a revelation occurred to me about how to add panache to one of my own stories. There can be no greater accolade for a story than it inspires other tales.
The novella, Open Grave, is a well-structured long story, playing on the mind control of Rick, a university student, by a black-haired siren who lures him into a bizarre life. There's a genuine feel for student life in this story, of trust, betrayal but then twists into the macabre. A worthy horror story in itself.

As a reader of many horror books, it was with great pleasure that I sat down, opened this book, and begin reading. I did not stop until I had finished. This writer is definitley one to watch. Reading this compilation of short stories and one novella was gratifying and left me wanting more! Looking forward to reading more from this writer.