Stained

Rating:
Summary: Stained by Lee Thomas
Review: Great read. I bought this on the advice of a friend & could not put it down till it was done. The plot is tight, and Mr. Thomas makes you really care about the characters. He is also really very good at setting the action. The reader feels like they really know the town. Try this book. You are going to love it.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding First Novel from an Author to Watch
Review: Stained is a great first novel, one part supernatural horror, one part murder mystery. Lee Thomas does a superb job creating the fictional Louisiana town of Marchand (apparently based on Nachitoches) and its inhabitants, all of whom seem closely related either by blood or town history. But unlike other "evil comes to small-town America" novels, Stained doesn't go the route of questionable prejudices. There are no ancient Indian burial grounds or the desecrated bones of black slaves causing the evil to happen, which is a refreshing change. Instead, we get evils closely tied to what lurks inside the people who actually live there: child abuse, misogyny, violence by those who feel beneath or out of place. Lee Thomas is a tight plotter, setting everything up beautifully before knocking it all down. He is also a natural master of the red herring--he ought to try writing a straightforward mystery or police procedural some time. I'd buy that in a heartbeat!

Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: This year, some of my horror reading material has included books by Doug Clegg, Jack Ketchum, Richard Laymon, Peter Straub and Brian Keene to name a few. This book rates right up there, and in many ways, was the best read of the bunch.
The book is equal parts a murder mystery, a supernatural thrill ride, and a horrific journey into the dark parts of the human mind. Ultimately, the book is about people and their relationships with their family and friends, while dealing with unresolved issues from there past that continue to haunt their present. A well written and well paced debute!