David L. Robbins (2) (1950–)

A good, but not great spook-filled Halloween story involving a headless horseman who occasionally haunts and murders the good folk of Spook Hollow, PA. The book follows the four members of the dysfunctional Grant family. New to the community, the Grant family is here because they left the hustle and bustle of Philadelphia and moved to Spook Hollow to attempt to reconnect as a family - especially husband, John and his wife, Laurie, who seem to be heading down the dark road to divorce. show more
Teenager Kip Grant and his older sister, Shery, aren't too happy about the move until they each meet a member of the opposite sex to whom they become attracted.
When things literally start to go bump in the night, the family begins to question the old folktale about the horseman searching for his head. Suddenly, even stranger things start happening, including the murders of a couple of townsfolk.
Author David Robbins has just enough scares and horrific scenes to keep this book moving forward. Certainly, there is a tremendous amount of suspension of disbelief needed to enjoy this book, but if you can do that, then you'll find this an enjoyable Halloween read. show less

Scarlet Shannon went berry picking on Harkey land. A mistake that will cost dearly as the Shannons and Harkeys have been feuding since time out of mind. She is caught and raped and the truce which had been in place for decades collapses. Now her younger brother Chace is out for vengeance.

Blood Feud is my first read by prolific pulp author David Robbins. At first, I was very impressed. The narrative moves right along and Robbins has a style that is smooth and professional. He makes the book show more feel like a western, mixing in apt turns of phrase without ever overdoing it. His characters are standard pulp type, but Chace and his twin sister Cassie have some depth to them. Chace in particular is a surprising lead. He has a startling lack of empathy and is much darker than your standard western hero and in many ways is downright unlikeable. Kudos to Mr. Robbins for that.

The problem I had with the book (and it is a big one) is that in about the middle, the book makes a severe change in gear. Chace takes out his vengeance on those that done his family wrong. From there I was expecting the situation to spiral out of all control (as that is what the synopsis implied), but that doesn't happen.

Chace hightails it to Galveston and falls in with a whole new crowd of prostitutes, gamblers and a rabble of street urchins. A story about a boy on the run getting a job at a brothel could be an interesting one, but for this book at this stage, it felt like a huge left turn. The setting, tone and cast of characters change and the book feels completely derailed. The main plot seems to have been wrapped up and it feels like the author really is not clear where it to go.

I really had trouble finishing the book. The beginning is excellent, but it falls to pieces. Situations introduced in the beginning are left unresolved. Chace has many adventures in the big city that would have made an interesting couple of books, but felt wedged into this one. The book would have benefited greatly from a tighter focus on the feud and the fallout of Chace's actions.

I am planning on reading other Robbins books. The first half of the book, while it was still batting a thousand, demands some respect for the author. But the second half of the book felt like a series of stumbles that prevent me from recommending it. show less

I read this book for 1 reason only. I was planning on reading Horror the entire month of October in celebration of Halloween, and I wanted a book for each monster typically associated with the holiday; zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts etc. I chose The Wereling for my werewolf read.

You can imagine then how disappointed I was when I discovered there wasn't a werewolf in this book. Despite the title, "The Wereling," the blurb on the front boldly proclaiming "HALF MAN, HALF BEAST," the show more mention in the summary in the back about a "creature possessed," and the big, menacing wolf eyes glaring at the reader right on the front cover; this is actually a murder/suspense novel.

It starts creepily enough. The prologue is set in 1881 in a spooky little village that is haunted by a vicious werewolf. It is killed by a silver bullet, and the spirit of the wolf retreats to regain strength, so it can feed again in the distant future. In its monologue, it decides to leave the outer appearance of it's next victim unchanged. I don't know why I didn't put it down here, on the fourth page, but instead I continued.

100 years later, Harvey Painter is a young man struggling to make a living for himself. Stuck living with his single mother whom he doesn't get along with and a job that doesn't pay well, he has nothing to do but while away his free time in his bedroom, obsessing over werewolf movies and monster magazines. When he sees an advertisement for an expensive, high-quality werewolf costume, he cannot contain the urge to purchase it even though it will cost him most of his savings. Well, you can see where this is going.

I can live with that though. So long as the book is a good read all is forgiven, right? Unfortunately the writing isn't great. The dialogue was silly at times, the character's actions nonsensical, and the book was just littered with obvious grammatical and typing errors. I felt like I was reading a bad horror movies from the 80's. Except without the werewolf.

I can't say I would recommend this one. It did read fast, it was one of those bad books I couldn't put down, but I think I was mostly just eager to get it over with. I'm sure there are better 'werewolf' books out there. Avoid! show less

Silly well-paced schlocky horror. I enjoyed it quite a bit for exactly what it was; the book equivalent of an above average B movie.