Book Review: Vicious by Brandon Massey

One of my favorite authors, Brandon Massey, has done it once again:

He's written yet another truly exceptional book, Vicious.

Now this book wasn't released through his traditional publisher. It is self-published, released through Massey's own Dark Corner Publishing.

The story's heroine is a young woman by the name of Kym. She's at that point in her life, where, at the age of thirty, she is thinking about why she hasn't found the right man, the direction of her life in general...

You know how we ladies like to ponder such things...

Well, she has a younger college age sister, Ashley, and they don't get along very well. The sister attends college in the state of California, and their father usually drives the sister out to school and flies back. But this time, their father has business plans, and Kym volunteers to drive her sister cross country to USC. Kym figures that this road trip will give her and her sister some time together, some time to bond. Kym also wants to use this a chance to get away from things... to think about things going on in her life.

But they didn't anticipate running into problems on their trip... Problems with a crazed predator. During the middle of their trip, somewhere in the state of Texas, Kym realized that they are being stalked and followed. The man following them is a crazed predator, who roams the freeways in a beat-up pickup truck with a possessed pack of dogs, hunting for travelers far away from home.

This time, he has his sites set on Kym... and he will do any and everything he can just to get to her.

One thing I like about Brandon's writing is that he kicks things up a good notch with each book he writes. Excluding his horror anthologies and short story collections, this is his fifth full length novel.

And each one just gets better and better... and better.

Now this was Brandon's first time writing from a female character's point of view, and I must say that he did a great job. But what I like most about this novel, as in all his novels, is his uncanny ability to weave various storylines into an already good horror story. I enjoyed the sibling rival storyline, the nicely placed backstories, the family relationship storyline, the supernatural twists, and Kym's overall ponderings about her life, much of which I could relate to.

But Brandon also did something spectacular here that I have experienced in his other books, but NOT to this degree...

Dude got over into some SERIOUS serious sensory overload. I was not expecting that at all. It definitely added to the fear factor of the book!

Now, the majority of this novel was set in the dry deserts of Southwest. I've never been to the deserts of the Southwest, but after reading this novel, I know how that desert smells, feels, tastes, looks and sounds... I felt like I was there, right there in the midst of the action. There is no way you can tell me I wasn't right there. He has such an amazing feel for visualization and description that I caught myself yelling quite a few times...

"Run girl... RUN!!"

"Shoot that fool, girl... SHOOT him!!"

*Ladylee looking around to make sure no one heard her yelling*

LOL!!

In addition to his great storytelling, Brandon ALWAYS leaves the reader with the most unpredictable endings... Endings one could never guess, no matter how hard one tries!

Goodness!!!

So if you are looking for a fast paced action packed read, check out Vicious by Brandon Massey!

I promise, you won't be disappointed!