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A stranger can lurk behind the eyes of someone you know. The mask of a friendly face can hide a serial killer. In a small Louisiana town, when the killer known as the River Rat is finally captured, that fact will rock a community. But what lurks behind the mask of a serial killer?For the terror has not ended. Something is loose out there. Something that can hide in plain sight. Something old. Something with a hunger for blood and screams.Thomas' debut novel, and Bram Stoker Award winner, is a ta...
"The Jack didn't change a person: it stained them, darkening their desires, their vices and their souls."Bam! Intriguing, right? For sure. I don't know what I was expecting, but I knew it was going to be awesome!The River Rat, a serial killer, has been captured. But during the scuffle one of the officers, Ted, has been stained by his contact with the murderer.Hallucinations, doubts, and darkness are driving poor Ted down a dark road he doesn't think he can turn off of. Can he cleanse his body an...
I loved this gory, suspenseful, intense, supernatural, chiller that’ll leave you with goose bumps and gasping in awe. Lee Thomas wrote such a mind-blowing fantastic novel that it is no wonder he won such a deserving award for it. The story is a combination of the serial killer mystery Silence of the Lambs, with the possession of The Exorcist or The Exorcism of Emily Rose, with the drastic bloodshed of the Saw and Hellraiser movies, with the creepy fright of … [insert the scariest movie you’ve ev...
Review to come.
Probably a notch above standard horror fare--the story was intriguing, especially for a debut novel, but suffered from stock characters and pacing. Almost nothing happens for the first 200 pages, and then too much happens in the last 100. Some of the prose is cringeworthy, but Thomas takes an original concept and pairs it with a high and bloody body count, which makes the bad writing palatable.I read the 10th anniversary print edition, which I do not recommend, because it is riddled with typos.T...
Bram Stoker and Lambda award winning author. Pretty good novel. Very graphic but had a really interesting premise. It makes me want to search out more of his books.
An excellent read. The author really knows how to weave a great story and he's a master of phrasing and lyrical prose. If you love psychological horror, you'll love this book. While the story is horrific, it doesn't rely on cheap trick, cliche, or gore, rather on truly wonderful storytelling. It took me forever to find a copy of this book to read and the search was well-worth the effort. One of the best I've read all year.
Psychological ThrillerThe beginning of this book, a kind of explanation of its birth, mentions the movie Fallen. After reading the book, the parallel is clear. However, Stained is even more twisted. A deep psychological and paranormal thriller. This well written, horrific tale is spellbinding yet terrifying. You might want to keep the lights on.
An excellent page turner! What's more, Thomas really understands the intricacies and peculiarities of Louisiana culture. Not just another police procedural, though--at the heart of this story is a chilling idea about where evil comes from, how it is passed on. One hell of a metaphor for the cycle of violence. I read the 10th anniversary edition, which includes an afterword by the publisher, and I agree with what he says there: in a sense, the book is The Jack, itself, and you can put the book do...
There's a serial killer of young men loose in Marchand, Louisiana, and the town has been seized by fear and paranoia. Ted Lewis, recently returned to town, accidentally helps being the killer to justice but the deaths don't stop there. Has the evil spread to Ted and is it forcing him to commit atrocities against his friends and neighbors, and if so is there any way to stop it? Lee Thomas has created another well written mix of serial killer mystery and supernatural horror. Recommended
Have to shareThis book was wonderful except I didn't care for how it ended or I would have given it five stars. I'm sure many of you will love the ending as well so if you love sick, twisted stories, this one is for you.
At last the River Rat killer has been captured, and so a town can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Except, nothing is quite so straightforward. Contact with the Rat will leave you Stained!Something ancient lurks, but victims aren't so much possessed as they are 'stained', their souls darkened, tainted by evil. It is an excellent premise for a novel, although the pacing is a bit skewed; everything moves slowly for 200 pages and then a breakneck finale. The edition I had was also littered with...
How many times have you had an awful thought that just flitted away after a moment? What if that thought wasn't your own but was a centuries-old entity that could take your deepest and darkest side and control it and force you to act on it. That is exactly what "The Jack" is in Stained. While this idea has been explored before, it feels new and original in this book. From the way "The Jack" is transmitted like a disease to how Lee Thomas keeps you guessing throughout, this book gives me vibes
This mystery grabs you right off. Then just as sudden, the bad guy is caught. Or is he? Can evil transfer from one person to another with each being more cruel and vicious? But who has it transferred to, and can it be stopped. As the first book in a series, you won't find all of the answers and take little pleasure in being right about the answers you do find.
