Reviews for DEADRAISER
The Reading Bud
BY HEENA RATHORE P.
Book Review: Deadraiser – Part 1: Horror In Jordan’s Bank by Stephanie C. Lyons-Keeley & Wayne J. Keeley
Author: Stephanie C. Lyons-Keeley and Wayne J. Keeley
Series: Deadraiser Series
Genre: Horror, Paranormal, Occult
Edition: Ebook (PDF)
Pages: –
Publisher: –
Rating: ★★★★★
Blurb:
Necromancy is an ancient black magic used for the purposes of communing with the dead. It is believed that practitioners of the dark art may harness the ultimate power of life and death and raise the departed for their own nefarious, malevolent purposes. It also is alleged that a true necromancer may realize the ultimate gift of mortality.
DEADRAISER is the tale of a present-day practitioner who achieves what others have been unable to do for centuries — to raise the dead. The problem is that he must sacrifice innocent victims in order to maintain his power.
Enter Fanchon (Frankie) Manning, daughter of the late movie star Erika Manning. She is the ideal sacrificial lamb for the Necromancer’s perverse desires. The only thing that stands between the Necromancer and the girl is Christopher McGuire, a lost soul who long ago has ceased believing in anything. In order to save the child, he must somehow rediscover his faith and summon the courage to take on the darkest, most sinister being imaginable.
REVIEW
Deadraiser by Stephanie C. Lyons-Keeley & Wayne J. Keeley is one smasher of a book!
Staying true to its genre, this book kept me up at nights and gave me the chills.
The plot is really great and I enjoyed reading each and every single chapter. There was a mix of newspaper articles, journal entries, pages from the unpublished manuscripts, etc, and all these things took the plot and the setting of this book to an entirely different level.
The basic concept of the book is so unique that I was really intrigued and scared by it before even starting it. I’ve never read anything that was directly based upon Necromancy, and the fact that this book was entirely based on it really thrilled me. And after reaching the third chapter, I was sure that I was in for one hell of a reading experience.
I like the pacing, and the tension built-up was brilliant too. I also liked the flow of the authors’ writing, especially considering that it is a co-authored book. Right from the brilliant opening to the cliff-hanger of an ending , for me, this book scored a perfect 10 on all the fronts.
The characterization is not extraordinarily great, but considering the genre, it was pretty good. At least it was good enough for me to want to read this story without putting it down even for a second.
I’d recommend this book to all the Horror readers and also to those readers who want to read a nice scary read for Halloween. This is one horror book you wouldn’t want to miss!
Horror Review: Deadraiser Part 1 by Stephanie & Wayne J. Keeley
Although I found the telling a little awkward at times, with some jarring transitions between journal and narrative points of view, Deadraiser: Part 1: Horror in Jordan’s Bank was an effectively creepy horror story with a nice twist at the end.
Stephanie C. Lyons-Keeley & Wayne J. Keeley poke a bit of gentle fun at small town stereotypes and clichés, but make good use of the somewhat backwards town where cell reception is spotty at best, where news and gossip are still printed each morning, and where bumbling sheriffs, crotchety old docs, elderly priests still play an essential role. Like most small towns in these kinds of stories, there’s something rotten at the heart of it, and the tendrils of evil spread throughout to ensnare Frankie and Chris.
Nightmares, ghosts, and demonic possession all play a role here, as does the concept of being chosen or foretold or chosen to play a role in the battle between good and evil. Human monstrosity plays just as big a role, however, with everything from greed and arrogance to tragic birth defects casting a shadow over the small town of Jordan’s Bank.
An effective old school horror story, Deadraiser has some really powerful scenes that are sure to captivate fans of the genre. The characters themselves don’t get a chance to really shine in this first installment, but they’re established well enough for us to care about what happens. Personally, I would have preferred the cliffhanger twist at the end to be a little less definitive, but it certainly cranks up the tension for the next chapter.
Kindle Edition
Published September 5th 2016
Book Review: Deadraiser (Part 1: The Horror In Jordan’s Bank)
I’m going to start off by saying that the story is outstanding. Authors Stephanie C. Lyons-Keeley and Wayne J. Keeley really captured the feel of the small town and the townspeople within. The book is a bit tongue-in-cheek, totally aware of how stereotypical the small-town characters are (the bumbling sheriff suspicious of the newcomer, the ne’er do well kids, the vulturistic journalist, etc.) and chuckling with the reader over it. Everyone was distinctive and developed; every action and line of dialogue was something only that character would have done or said. I especially liked Damon the caretaker; he creeped me out from the beginning.The book effortlessly jumps from character to character and back and forth in time, but I was never confused. It all felt natural, and the narrative flowed well. The authors nailed the tone and atmosphere, which made the dream scenes and death scenes effectively scary. I gobbled this book up whole chapters at a time, and looked forward to getting my next chance to read some more. I may or may not have put my toddler to bed a half hour early in order to finish this book; I won’t confirm or deny. Don’t judge me.
I wanted to give this book 5 stars, but I’m frustrated over the ending: the authors unnecessarily ended the story on a cliffhanger. In so many of our favorite series, there is an overarching conflict that spans the entire series. Smaller conflicts are put forth that the protagonist has to weather. Katniss has to survive the Hunger Games, but President Snow is still looming and a rebellion is brewing. Harry Potter makes it through his first year at Hogwarts and defeats Professor Quirrel, but Voldemort is back and gaining power. Eventually, the protagonist has to address that overarching conflict in later books, but satisfies the reader by completing the smaller arc in each preceding book. This doesn’t happen in Deadraiser. The overarching conflict is unresolved, and so are most smaller conflicts (one is resolved by the death of a character, but nothing the protagonist actively contributed to). So the ending feels abrupt and unsatisfying, like the authors are trying to stretch out the story for more money. If they are, it’s a smart move, business-wise, but it left me feeling resentful enough to make a whole thing out of it in the review.
In the end, I still recommend this book to old-school horror fans and lovers of the Occult, and look forward to devouring Part 2.
About A.M. Novak
A.M. Novak is a horror enthusiast, and all-around fever dream engineer. When she’s not wrangling her two hell-spawn demons posing as children, she’s scribbling down nightmares for the masses in a caffeine-fueled frenzy. Follow her shenanigans on Twitter: @BookishPlinko
Pillow Talking’s Review of DEADRAISER
Someday Productions LLC and Pillow Talking are pleased to present the following review of DEADRAISER Part 1: Horror in Jordan’s Bank by Horror Reviewer I.M. Nosferatu
DEADRAISER Part 1: Horror in Jordan’s Bank by Stephanie C. Lyons-Keeley & Wayne J. Keeley
Review by I.M. Nosferatu
Pre-Launch: 99 cents
Launch Price (after September 18, 2016): $2.99
TO ORDER: DEADRAISER
The producing/writing husband-and-wife team of Stephanie C. Lyons-Keeley and Wayne J. Keeley have expanded their creative collaboration to include co-authored novels. The first out of the gate, published by Someday Productions LLC, is a horror/thriller titled DEADRAISER Part 1: Horror in Jordan’s Bank. As a connoisseur and reviewer of all things horror, I am pleased to report that Part 1 is devilishly satisfying and as I wont to say, Rippersmooth in both execution and creative content.
The novel is a throwback back to epic horror novels like The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, and the very underrated Harvest Home by Tom Tryon. If Part 2 is even half as good as this installment,Deadraiser promises to rank with the best of them and I will be happy to put it on my list of the 25 Horror Novels You Must Read Before You Die.
Part 1 focuses on Fanchon (Frankie) Manning, daughter of the late movie actress, Erika Manning, who was found brutally murdered with her boy toy in Hollywood. At the critical age of 15, Frankie returns to her mother’s home town of Jordan’s Bank, Massachusetts in an attempt to resume a normal childhood. The town is alive with dark secrets. Some things (and people) are better left buried. But there’s a Necromancer afoot — a practitioner of the black art of dead raising. No one in Jordan’s Bank is safe, especially Frankie. The only thing standing between Frankie and her soul’s hell fire damnation is her mother’s former agent, Chris McGuire, who has his own issues with religion and faith.
The set up is exceptional and the character development is strong and rich. The chapters are relatively short, but filled with action and the pacing is brisk. The mashing of past and future is an excellent technique and the book moves like a Quentin Tarantino film.
The authors were crafty in making this a four-part series. Series sell better than one-offs. I also am glad that the publisher and/or authors changed the name of the title from The Necromancer to Deadraiser in the pre-launch period. Apart from the fact that there are a gazillion titles with the word Necromancer in them, the one-word title, Deadraiser, perfectly captures the tone of the book.
My only criticism is that Part 1 ends, of course, with a cliffhanger and we are left with a mere teaser from the prologue of Part 2. Hopefully, it will not be too long before Part 2 is released. The last thing we want is more wait times like those between The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones seasons.
DEADRAISER Part 1: Horror in Jordan’s Bank is a must read!
I.M. Nosferatu hails from Gehenna (look it up). He has an encyclopedic mind for horror, sci-fi, paranormal, and the occult. He has myriad other hobbies and interests which may not be appropriate to print here (or to divulge at all), but his mission in life (and death) at least for our purposes, is to find good (or as he puts it “sick”), spine-chilling, blood-curdling media in the horror genre and tout it to the world. He is a straight shooter and calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. He will not suffer fools, sycophants, ass-kissers, brown-nosers, and other suck-ups. Pillow Talking is thrilled to have him on board as a guest blogger despite having never met him face-to-face and dealing solely through emails (at odd hours of the night).
If you have something in particular you would like for I.M. Nosferatu to review, you may contact him (if you dare) at IMNos4A2.gmail.com.
TWITTER: @IM_Nosferatu
DEADRAISER is a page turning supernatural whodunnit that leaves you on the edge of your seats. A wonderful piece that will translate well to the silver screen — Alfredo Quinones,Producer/Writer/Director, Ronin Film Studios, Inc.
