Welcome to Litsy!

I first read this about 10 years ago so thought it was time for a re-read. I'm not as easily impressed as I was back then, so I'd probably rate this at a 3.5🌟 now. There's not much backstory given (there is a reason for that that the reader finds out later) & it makes the narrative a bit disorientating as the reader works out what is happening. The twist is still good though.

2015 review: A promising start to what looks to be a good YA series.

Elsinore Robotics maker of humanoid androids powered by true artificial intelligence are continually in competition with their rival, Norwegian Technologies. The last public contest was between their model, Fortinbras, and Elsinore‘s HAM(let) v.1 & Hamlet was victorious. Shortly afterwards he was found deactivated at Elsinore, possibly by rogue malware. Hamlet v.2 mourns the loss of his progenitor, & he becomes obsessed by thoughts of revenge.

A book of 13 haunting stories which all involve fishing of some description. Now I'm not the least bit interested in fishing but I do like a book which deals with hauntings & water. These were mostly a mixed bag, with the one about a Victorian serial killer, & another about a group of friends out fishing in a boat with a broken radio being the standouts for me. (Continued)

The third book sees Harry, Hermione, & Ron about to start their third year at Hogwarts. On the way there they encounter Professor Lupin, their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, when a Dementor, one of the feared guardians of Azkaban searches the train. Harry seems to be the worst affected of anyone. It seems that a prisoner named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban & is after Harry to take his revenge for what happened to (continued)

Sophia Galich was twelve when she starred in her older sister Layla‘s amateur horror movie 'Vermillion' filmed in the house their parents were renovating. Originally owned by a rich couple who held wild parties & seances until the tragic death of the wife, it stood empty for years before the Galich family moved in to renovate it. The movie gained a cult following online alongside a website which people use to travel 'The Path'. (continued)

The Brontes & werewolves - even before starting it, I knew this would be either a triumph or a disaster. It's definitely going to polarise opinion as it's a required taste, but I loved it. I particularly like the way that the author wove actual events into the supernatural narrative, such as when Branwell paints over himself in the portrait of himself & his three sisters. (continued)

A short but definitely not sweet book, The Patient follows newly qualified psychologist, Parker, who has taken a job working at a mental hospital. The book is written in the form of blog posts detailing Parker's contact with a patient named 'Joe' who is a forty-one-year-old man who has been at the hospital since he was a young boy. Few people have contact with him & he seems to be incurable, but Parker thinks he may be able to get through to him.

1913 sees the deaths of Scott and his 4 companions who set out to reach the South Pole only to find that Roald Amundsen had gotten there first. Demoralised, defeated, & despite their efforts suffering from varying degrees of frostbite & malnutrition, they fail to return. Fellow explorer Cherry-Garrard hikes out to One Ton depot as agreed but sees no sign of them. (continued)

17-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up on the ground of a dimly lit warehouse & realizes with growing horror that she is about to star in the reality TV hit, Alcatraz 2.0. Justice has been outsourced to the private sector & a shadowy figure, known only as The Postman, is the controller of a show where convicted killers are shipped to Treasure Island in San Francisco's Bay area & picked off one by one by a group of masked serial killers. (continued)

I wasn't expecting a lot but this turned out to be a nice little read. It's got a former psychiatric hospital converted into student accommodation as a base, alongside spooky goings-on (night trips into the old part of the building which still retain the cells & operating theatre of the old place, disappearing emails, automatic writing, the MC having visions of the Warden of the asylum, etc). (Continued)