Breeding Ground by Sarah Pinborough

Matt and Chloe live in a small town in the English countryside. It is there where they lived and loved, and prepared to bring a new life into the world. However, Chloe starts changing – and it isn’t regular pregnancy changes. When Matt realizes that Chloe is not the only woman acting strange he starts to worry, but even his girlfriends altered behavior and appearance doesn’t prepare him for what comes next. In one sentence, spider-like parasites that use human women to breed and any human to feed on.

I have mentioned here before that every now and again I like to read a good horror novel, the kind that keeps me awake all night because it was just so creepy. When I found a copy of this book tucked away in the horror section of a local used book store that’s what I was hoping for. However, I must say that it didn’t really live up to the scariness I was looking for. That being said, it wasn’t a bad book.

Breeding Ground, while not being really scary, still had a couple creepy and uncomfortable moments. If I had to compare this book to something, I would say it is much more The Faculty ‘figure out what’s going on as you stumble around freaked out’ and far less Rob Zombie’s Halloween ‘mind fuck’ (excuse my language).

The characters we’re a mixed bag. The main character Matt is easy to like, but some of the other characters were a downright pain to put up with. In all honesty, I was glad to see some of them go. There is a lot of conflict between some of the characters, while the rest just want to band together and find a way to survive. Needless to say, there is never a dull moment between the players.

As for the book as a whole, once it starts moving, it moves and is really easy to read. I say this having read the book in just a few hours. I kept reading because I wanted to know what the characters were going to have to face next and what they were going to learn. Pinborough was rather creative in finding ways to raise the shock factor, gruesome as they may have been, and also finding things that would benefit the characters in their quest to survive amongst this new species.

I recommend this book if you’re looking for something to read that’s on the creepy side, though I warn anyone who is quick to cringe to brace yourself for some of the more grisly parts. Personally, I will be keeping an eye out for some of her other works as well as the follow up to this book, Feeding Ground.

 

Cold Kiss

Michael Bowman’s life was turned upside down four months ago when he was turned into a vampire. He was no longer a surgeon, no longer living with his detective wife who now looks at him with cold eyes while he’s forced to live a life he never would have signed up for.

When Michael’s friend Adam goes missing, he’s got to try to find him. After all, if it weren’t for Adam, who knows how Michael would’ve turned out. Michael is willing to do just about anything, but what he thought would be asking a few questions turns into a hunt for deranged, cold-blooded killing William and an attempt to get out of the grasp of The Society – a cultish society that let’s no one go willingly.

I picked up Cold Kiss today because I was looking for something scary to read. I had the day off from work, it was gray and stormy, and I thought it would be perfect for a shivering in my boots read. While Cold Kiss turned out to not be the least bit frightening, it was still a good book, and it was fun to read a Zebra Horror again (I really don’t know what it is about these books that I love so much – maybe its the covers). I didn’t realize until after I had finished the book that it’s actually a sequel – the first book is the story of Michael’s turning – but, I found I wasn’t lost at all reading this one, it reads just like a standalone.

Cold Kiss was an easy read, I found myself hooked into the story quite quickly and had finished it in about three hours. The whole time I wanted to know what was going to happen with the Society members, I wanted to know how Maggie’s (Mike’s wife) investigation was going to relate to the bigger picture, I wanted to know what was going to happen with The Society, The Family, and those involved, and I wanted to know what would happen to William – would Adam get his revenge, would Celestine turn out to be just as insane?

Michael and Maggie were great characters who had suffered something of a tragedy. Michael’s life was so suddenly stolen and Maggie had to face a life-changing decision. My heart actually hurt for them. Maggie though, she’s definitely my favorite – she is so classicly strong (thanks to having been written before the recent vampire literature charge, I’m sure). When I was reading I realized something about the characters – either you loved them, or you hated them, there was no ‘ehhh, I dunno how I feel about this person.’ Even the insurance agent, with the three pages or so he appeared in – such a small part, but I adored him.

As for the ending, well I’ve sat here for a couple hours trying to decide how I feel about the ending. I’ve decided to like it more than hate it. I knew that things would have to turn out a certain way with William, and I’m glad that that was settled – he was an ass. As for Celestine, Lilly, Darla, and the others from The Family and the fate of The Society, it would have been nice to see a Terminator style bring-down, but I was not to be satisfied on that front. I was actually kind of pissed off when Celestine and Lilly drove off into the sunset. As for Mike and Maggie – well, I was happy for them to be sure!

Bottom line, Cold Kiss was enjoyable and well written – even if it didn’t have me cowering in the corner – and I heartily suggest reading it (if you can find a copy: hint, hint – used bookstores!).