Thomas Emson

Skarlet started out rough for me, as I found some of the dialog in the beginning to be unbelievable and coarse, but I am glad I stuck with it! The pace quickly picked up and drew me into a whirlwind ride through London's dark and devastated streets as a Vampire plague spread across the unsuspecting and disbelieving populace. While many of the premises are trite and somewhat overdone, there is no doubt that the major themes are timely as we are definitely a world in crisis, lacking trust in show more our governments and facing unnamed threats from multiple corners; terrorism, drugs, disease, fear. Not to mention the recent trouble with zombie-like attacks in Florida and Texas stemming from some sort of designer drug. It's pretty easy to allow your imagination to carry you away into a world where blood-sucking maniacs are spawned by a zealot chemist's experiments with ancient DNA. With an October release date, Skarlet is sure to keep you cozily wrapped in terror as you while away your cool Fall nights. show less

4 Stars
*this is an advanced readers copy*
Jake Lawton, an angry ex-Soldier accused of a horrible war crime, finds himself the target of false accusations again when a new drug, Skarlet, being distributed kills its users. When those killed rise up and bring terror to London the myth of vampires becomes reality. When it seems that all hope is lost for humanity Jake teams up with his foes, not to prove his innocence, but to put a stop to those who are behind the evil and to save the lives of the show more people he has come to care for. Those who are trying to resurrect old demons will stop at nothing to rebuild their Babylon.
It’s very hard to find a vampire story with an original plot but Mr. Emson managed to do so. I will get my one big complaint out of the way first. It didn’t grab my full attention right away. That could be because it jumped around quite a bit and there were a few times that the transition from time periods blurred. The pacing did smooth out towards the middle and then I was turning pages rapidly. Besides the brief lull I did enjoy this novel.
I appreciate it when an author can make characters that I loathe enough that I want to throw the book and characters that I like enough to hope for a happy ending. A vampire novel has to have action and this one had its fair share which kept me on the edge of my seat. Mr. Emson stuck with a lot of the old tried and true vampire lore and that works well with this plot and didn’t take away from the unique story line. I absolutely recommend this one to anyone who likes vampire novels (especially about vampires that aren’t cute and cuddly). show less

In all fairness, there are probably a couple of points I should express before I start this review. #1: I'm not a great fan of short stories and, #2: Werewolf horror ranks only slightly higher on my list than supernatural horror. (I'm not a big follower of either.) So, dear reader, armed with that information, you'd guess that I wasn't too enamored with "Leaders of the Pack: A Werewolf Anthology", wouldn't you?

Well, you're wrong. This tasty little compilation is filled with a number of show more entertaining, albeit fairly short stories, each dealing with the werewolf mythos. Many of the stories are prequels or background illumination about characters or series' that some of the authors have already created. Of these, some were much better than others because the reader is sometimes required to have that previous information in order to fully appreciate characters and/or plot lines. Not having this information in advance is certainly not a "deal-breaker" and shouldn't affect many readers, so don't let that stand in your way of a satisfying reading experience. While I'm at it, I'd like to note that each story is preceded by some really stylish illustrations compliments of Michelle Merlini. Patrick Cornett's cover is pretty cool, too!

Six of these authors are probably a little more well known than others (at least to this reviewer), so let's start with them:
Glenn Rolfe: Rolfe pens a really solid story that's part of his Gilson Creek series. Made me want to check out the series.
David Wellington: It's werewolves vs. vampires in Wellington's story. It was even too far-fetched for me. I expected more from Wellington.
Jonathan Janz: First of all, I was thrilled when I found out a Janz story was included in this compilation. He's one of the top 3 horror novelists working today and I never miss one of his books. His story is set in the 1940's and, as usual, creates wonderfully memorable characters in an exquisitely well-crafted plot. This story is the cream of this crop.
Ray Garton: When I think "werewolves", I often think "Garton". This "campfire" story has a lot of scary, gory, and craftiness woven into it. It's really good.
Graeme Reynolds: I think Reynolds has arguably the best werewolf series in print - the High Moor books. This story is part of that series (living somewhere between books 2 and 3) and adds even more depth to the set. In this entertaining yarn, a young English girl is sent away by her confused and terrified father after she "turns" in front of him.
Jeff Strand: Strand's story is the most disappointing of the better-known authors. It seemed "phoned-in" as it explained a werewolf's dilemma of deciding to kill a family of four as a werewolf or a human.

Now for the lesser-known (again, at least for me) group of six:
David Watkins: Watkins' story is part of his "Originals" series and is set in medieval times. It's an interesting tale with a decent number of "didn't see that coming" moments.
T.W. Piperbrook: Another author with a story from his series. In this case, it's a prequel to Piperbrook's "Outage" books. The story revolves around a young boy and girl fleeing from a pack of werewolves during a power outage affecting a small community.
Thomas Emson: Just a fair story that switches back and forth between 60 A.D. and the present as a female gas station attendant learns about her lycanthropic history.
Nick Stead: This is another story that's part of a series that's actually quite good and can stand alone without the need for much backstory. It stars, "Slayers" (those who hunt down and kill werewolves), a few vampires, and a sympathetic boy who's believed to be the last of a bloodline.
Matt Serafini: This was probably my 2nd favorite story because it was so "Twilight Zone-like". The plot deals with an unhappy husband and wife who relocate to a private community connected to her new job. Hmmm, many of the neighbors seem to have an affinity for the full moon...
Paul Kane: Kane's story deals with an abused wife and her son on the run. Things are going well for them until a friend tells her that she and her son have been discovered. Is it the husband or someone else? A really solid story.

If you like this type of horror, then you'll want to grab a copy of this anthology and enjoy some stories from some of the best in this part of the genre'. It comes close to making me a believer in short stories and werewolves...

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

19th Century London...a savage killer flees from a mob and plunges into the Thames, where he drowns. His soul departs his body, but even Hell rejects him - he is a Pariah, bound forever by curses in the place he died...Unless someone sheds blood in his name...21st Century London...an innocent boy flees from a mob, and escapes into the undiscovered underground tunnels beneath his tower-block home. Down in the darkness, a voice calls to him. The voice is mesmerizing, hypnotic, and urges the show more boy to spill blood in his name...And a fabled killer is unleashed again. But this time he's stronger and far more terrifying than when he coated the East End in blood in the 1880s, and gained the name Jack the Ripper...

My Thoughts:

I have met Thomas Emson at an author event/vampire night and he really is a nice guy. I have also read his werewolf novels which were brilliant. This book I felt had not quite got that same edge. I had high expectations with this book and felt let down.

It features the crimes of Jack the Ripper but with a supernatural element. Anybody who is a ‘Ripper’ fan will be dissapointed. The story actually turns out to be a battle between angels and demons, not the Dan Brown type but more like Sam and Dean Winchester in an episode from Supernatural. I mean this in a positive way.

The book has plenty of gore and lots of bad language including plenty use of the ‘C’ word so be warned if you don’t like very course language.

Don’t be put of though as the book is a good horror read and Thomas Emson is a brilliant writer I just felt that this book was not his best. show less