Review: Under Ground by S.L. Grey

Under Ground by S.L. Grey

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Release date: 16 July 2015

Rating: **** and a half

Back cover blurb: THEY'RE TRAPPED FIFTY FEET DOWN . . . AND SOMEONE WANTS THEM SIX FEET UNDER. The Sanctum is a luxurious, self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground in rural Maine. It's a plush bolt-hole for the rich and paranoid - a place where they can wait out the apocalypse in style. When a devastating super-flu virus hits the States, several families race to reach The Sanctum. All have their own motivations for entering. All are hiding secrets. But when the door locks and someone dies, they realize the greatest threat to their survival may not be above ground - it may already be inside . . .







Under Ground is the first of Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg's collaborative efforts that I have read, and it sure won't be the last.

The Sanctum is a luxurious self-sustaining survival condominium situated underground in rural Maine, set back away from main roads, it is designed to be hidden away from the world at large.

When a super-flu virus hits the United States those families that have bought in to the Sanctum quickly make their way to guaranteed safety. But the Sanctum is barely finished; the elevator doesn't work, there is no wi-fi connection, and the 'state of the art' medical centre has no employees, let alone any usable equipment.

Greg Fuller, owner of the Sanctum is extremely apologetic about the 'teething glitches' of the property, but he assures his patrons that they are now safe from the outside world and don't need to worry.

Unfortunately Greg is the one that needs to worry, when he is seemingly murdered in the middle of the night but one of the Sanctum's occupants, the families begin to point fingers at each other. Will, Greg's right hand man is thrust reluctantly in to the spotlight and left in charge of the Sanctum, but his job becomes increasingly difficult as the days go on.

Things begin to go wrong inside the Sanctum, and I'm not just talking about it's residents relationships with each other...

As the Virus outside begins to subside, the Sanctum seems like less of an attractive option for it's residents, but something or someone is preventing them from leaving alive...

Without giving too much away I really enjoyed my first S.L. Grey novel and I was all set to give Under Ground 5 stars but I was left slightly shocked and quite confused at the ending, so I knocked off half! But don't take my word for it, go and check it out for yourself. 

Under Ground is available from 16 July 2015.

You can pre-order it now from Pan Macmillan or Amazon online.

      Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Day Four by Sarah Lotz

Day Four by Sarah Lotz
Publisher: Hodder
Release date: 21 May 2015
Rating: ****
Back cover blurb: Four planes. Three survivors. One message. It seemed like the end of the world... but it wasn't. This, however, just might be. The trip of their dreams becomes the holiday of their nightmares: DAY FOUR is Sarah Lotz's extraordinary, unmissable follow-up to the book that made headlines around the world, THE THREE - perfect for fans of The Shining Girls, The Passage and Lost. Four days into a five day singles cruise on the Gulf of Mexico, the ageing ship Beautiful Dreamer stops dead in the water. With no electricity and no cellular signals, the passengers and crew have no way to call for help. But everyone is certain that rescue teams will come looking for them soon. All they have to do is wait. That is, until the toilets stop working and the food begins to run out. When the body of a woman is discovered in her cabin the passengers start to panic. There's a murderer on board the Beautiful Dreamer... and maybe something worse.

Day Four is the follow up to one of my favourite thriller/horror novels of last year, the Three. I'm not one that's easily frightened, thankfully I've never suffered with nightmares or such like. However, Lotz's writing is so authentic that even I felt sligtly creeped out by certain events.

the Beautiful Dreamer is a Foveros cruise ship, Foveros are an ailing company, who have suffered a lot of bad press in previous months. So when the Beautiful Dreamer's generators fail, the company are reluctant to draw attention to their crisis.

Days pass before they admit defeat and send out a tender to try and summon help. Meanwhile the ship is slowly running out of food, the toilets and plumbing are beginning to break down and people are beginning to see things that they shouldn't. 

The crew put it down to exhaustation and illness, but Celine Del Ray is determined to convince the passengers that something more sinister is at bay.

With a medium, two suicidal elderly ladies and a delusional murderer all introduced as passengers on board the Beautiful Dreamer before the ship stalls, you know you are in for a bumpy ride. The characters introduced after are equally as disturbing. Without wanting to give any more away, I had better leave it there.

Day Four is claustrophobic, terrifying and brilliant. It will you have you gripped from it's very first pages and leave you wondering if you really need to go on that cruise afterall..... 

Day Four is available to buy now from Amazon online and all good shops.

    Thank you to Good Reads and Hodder for sending me this novel to review as part of the Good Reads First Reads giveaway programme.

Review: The Three by Sarah Lotz

The Three by Sarah Lotz
Publisher: Hodder & Staughton
Release date: 22 May 2014
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Black Thursday.  

The day that will never be forgotten. The day that four passenger planes crash, at almost exactly the same moment, at four different points around the globe. There are only four survivors.  

Three are children, who emerge from the wreckage seemingly unhurt. But they are not unchanged. And the fourth is Pamela May Donald, who lives just long enough to record a voice message on her phone. 

A message that will change the world.  

The message is a warning.

  
02 January 2012.  

Dubbed Black Thursday by the media.  

Four almost simultaneous plane crashes across the globe; 

Maiden Airlines goes down in the Florida Everglades 
Go! Go! Airlines seemingly vanishes into the sea
Dalu Air in to a shanty town in Africa
Sun Air into a creepy 'suicide' forest in Japan. 

They're here ... The boy. The boy watch the boy watch the dead people oh Lordy there's so many ... They're coming for me now. We're all going soon. All of us. Pastor Len warn them that the boy he's not to??-- The last words of Pamela May Donald (1961 - 2012)

I'm not sure exactly how much I can say about The Three. I don't want to give anything away - at all.

That is how much it enthralled me, and I want others to experience the same.

It's one of those novels, where the less you know about it, the better.

Others may disagree, but I would just recommend that you pick it up.

Trust me, you won't be able to put it down until you've finished.

Even then, you will still be thinking about it.

The Three is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

 

    Thank you to the publishers who approved my request on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.