The survivors of what has come to be known as The Catskill Cataclysm are not out the woods yet. As the last known members of The Hidden, they are marked for extermination. Their allies—Chan and Danni, and the Troika—are hunting them as well, but the Hidden do what they do hide.

Something new surfaces in the South a Manhattan-size iceberg. And embedded within it is a long lost Nazi U-boat. Back in the day, the Third Reich claimed part of Antarctica for its own. Was the sub on an exploratory mission? It carried a strange artifact that it was ferrying home when it was trapped in the ice. The bodies of the crew are perfectly preserved from the subzero temperatures… but they all were murdered.

Could the appearance of the sub have any relationship to the Catskill Cataclysm? Unlikely. But then, there are no coincidences.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book as much as its prequel, but I can’t. While there were problems with the first book, they pale in comparison to those in this one. Especially when it came to the characters. While I still liked Chan and Danni, I found Lexie to be totally unlikeable.

How can that be? Probably because precocious children are rarely likable, and Wilson doesn’t seem to do children well. Some of the other characters felt the same way. That never bodes well.

The ending seemed rather rushed, sort of tacked on. So much going on and then that’s it. Because the book is considered part of the “Secret History,” I still held out hope that there were be some sort of connection to the characters from the rest of the books, which a loved. No dice.




( Mount TBR 2024 Book Links 1-50 )


51. The Upwelling (The Hidden #1) by F. Paul Wilson
52. Xeno by D. F. Jones
53. Grant's Tomb: The Epic Death of Ulysses S. Grant and the Making of an American Pantheon by Louis L. Picone
54. Wolfsong (Green Creek #1) by T.J. Klune
55. The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny by Michael Wallis
56. The Last Policeman (Last Policeman #1) by Ben H. Winters
57. Krampus: The Yule Lord by Brom
58. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
59. Lexie (The Hidden #2) by F. Paul Wilson

Vampires have always lived in Eastern Europe. But with the fall of the Soviet Union, they began to spread across the continent, then the world, turning whole populations into vampires--or human cattle. Having overrun India, the far East, and the great cities of North and South America, the forces of Night are now spreading into the countryside to consolidate their conquest.

In a town on the New Jersey shore, the vampires have just arrived, along with their human henchmen, the cowboys, who round up human cattle for the overlords in return for the promise of eternal life---later. For the vampires wish only a few of their own kind to rule, and feed. The rest of humanity are to be helpless herds, the source of the blood of life.

Falsely accused of abuse, Father Dan is drunk in a basement waiting for the end. His superior has betrayed the local Catholic congregation and become a vampire. Sister Carolyn has become a formidable killer of cowboys and vampires. Dan's niece, escaped from the conquest of New York, has made her way south to find him. Brought together by Rabbi Zev Wolpin, who is shaken by the vampires' fear of the cross and holy water, they plan their resistance. Against all odds, they discover that there just might be a way for humanity to really fight back. But first they will have to kill the vampire king of New York.

I became a fan of Wilson’s after reading The Keep years ago. There are similarities to this story, but differences, too. This book takes the vampire legend back to its roots, back to the vampires of Stoker and King. There’s nothing romantic about these creatures.

I loved all three protagonists. Father Dan, who reluctantly becomes the local leader in the fight against the vampires. Sister Carolyn, whose loss is what propelled her to take on their foe. And Dan’s niece, Lacey, who has made her way to her uncle’s side. Oh, and I guess the fourth of our intrepid band would be the rabbi, Zev Wolpin, who brings Dan back to his congregation, and who is his conscience.

What made the book so readable for me is that the pace is just the right speed; no dragging out of fights, yet the reader is given time to learn about the people, both those fighting against the vampires, and those working for them.

My only quibble would be the ending. It was satisfying, but I would have loved to know what happened next.




( Mount TBR 2024 Book Links 1-25 )

26. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
27. The Lighthouse Keeper Kindle Edition by Alan K. Baker
28. I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away by Bill Bryson
29. The Road Not Travelled : Alternative Tales of the Wars of the Roses by Joanne R. Larner
30. King's Fool by Margaret Campbell Barnes
31. The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
32. Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism by Diana B. Henriques
33. Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde
34. Legends by Robert Silverberg (Editor/Contributor)
35. The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next 1) by Jasper Fforde
36. Echoes of an Alien Sky by James P. Hogan
37. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
38. The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
39. The Hike by Susi Holliday
40. The Opal-Eyed Fan by Andre Norton
41. Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith
42. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
43. Yankee Privateer (Lyon Family #1) by Andre Norton
44. Say Goodbye for Now by Catherine Ryan Hyde
45. Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson







OCT - "Wicked Good Reads" - An ode to Girlxoxo's annual WGR event. Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Creeptastic or Magical books.

Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson

On the night of July 15, 1903, Nikola Tesla powered up his 190-foot tower in Wardenclyffe on Long Island's north shore. The bolts of energy radiating from the apical dome were visible as far away as New Haven, Connecticut. This was the first and last time anyone would witness such a display. Three years later, broke and unable to secure further funding, Tesla abandoned the Wardenclyffe tower and his dream of worldwide wireless power. He returned to Manhattan where he promptly suffered a nervous breakdown. 

So say the history books.   

But new evidence has surfaced that a shadowy fraternal order stepped in and provided generous funding after J. P. Morgan reneged. Witnesses state that testing of the tower continued but only on foggy days when the discharges would not be noticed. The final test took place on April 18, 1906. Around dawn, in heavy fog, the tower was charged to maximum capacity; across the Atlantic, in Abereiddy, Wales, two copper prongs attached to a 50-watt lightbulb were thrust into the ground. The bulb lit.  Tesla had proved that worldwide wireless power was possible.

Why then, at the moment of his greatest vindication, did Nikola Tesla abandon his project? What could possibly have transpired at Wardenclyffe that day to so rattle him that he would deny the world his transformative technology? We may never know.

An interesting read, but only peripherally part of the Secret History, though there were some hints that do speak of characters and situations in some of the other books. I do like how Tesla’s history was folded into the story, melding true history with the “secret history.” I knew very little about the man, but may now delve more into his life.

And it was really nice to have a book that’s part of the History that’s not about Repairman Jack! Considering how much time is covered, one would think that other characters would surface. Here, some finally did. Charles Atkinson does a great job of narrating the story, first as an apprentice, but soon as so much more, as he becomes deeply involved with the project.

And I’m wondering now if, someday, we might read more about Charles. That would be a good thing.




Mount TBR 2022 Book Links


Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

( TBR Book Links 1-25 )
26. The Yorkists: The History of a Dynasty by Anne Crawford
27. With Face Aflame by A.E. Walnofer
28. The Gypsy Morph by Terry Brooks
29. Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton
30. Wardenclyffe (The Secret History of the World) by F. Paul Wilson







A modern Gothic tale (published within 50 years ago, published 1973 or later)
1. Wardenclyffe by F. Paul Wilson

F. Paul Wilson concludes his medical thriller trilogy featuring Rick Hayden and Laura Fanning as they confront the entities responsible for the supernatural events of Panacea and The God Gene.

Something sits in a bunker lab buried fifty feet below the grounds of Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

The product of the Lange-Tr technology confiscated from the Germans after WWII occupies a chamber of steel-reinforced ballistic glass. Despite experimentation for nearly three-quarters of a century, no one knows what it is, but illegal human research reveals what it can do. Humans with special abilities have been secretly collected--abilities that can only have come from whatever occupies the underground bunker in Lakehurst.

And so it sits, sequestered on the edge of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, slowly changing the world.

While I do like the two main characters, well, mostly Rick, it was refreshing how much of the story revolved around several other characters. They add depth to the story, and keep the story from just being about Rick and Laura relationship.

All their stories are intertwined, but they still give a fresh perspective on what’s going on with Rick and Laura, and definitely added to this next chapter in what is slowly moving toward an unexpected ending.

While we never really know what was held in the underground bunker, Wilson gives us enough hints to take a good guess. And while all’s well that ends well, given that the three ICE books are part of Wilson’s Secret History universe, Rick and Laura are in for a very unpleasant surprise in the coming year.




( Mount TBR 2019 Book Links )

Rick Hayden and Laura Fanning of Panacea return in this next thriller by F. Paul Wilson and come across another impossible medical scenario--the gene that makes us human. Or does it?

Rick's brother, Keith, a prominent zoologist at NYU, suddenly liquidates his assets and walks out of his job never to be seen again.

The only clues they have are his brother's book which mentions "the God Gene"--a gene found only in primates that spontaneously appears in the evolutionary record and controls brain development--and the mysterious death of odd, blue-eyed primate brought back from East Africa.

Rick and Laura's search takes them to an uncharted island off the coast of Mozambique and the edge of evolutionary science.


I enjoyed this second book somewhat more than the first, mainly because the main characters, this being their second go-round, are more fleshed out. Rick and Laura are beginning to rub off on me.

The other characters are better done, too. Rick’s brother, as well as the charter boat crew, are more than cut-out characters. Their motivations are more clear than in the first book.

And of course there are the “dapis,” the name given to the blue-eyed primates. They really do steal the show. But, as in the first book, much is left unexplained: how did their island go so long undiscovered? How in the world did the dapis end up on their unique evolutionary path? There are guesses, but nothing can be proven. I’m hoping all is revealed in the third book of the trilogy.

I didn’t catch in the first book that this series is part of Wilson’s “Secret History of the World,” part of the “Adversary” and “Repairman Jack” series story lines. It’ll be interesting to see just how these book fit into the rest.





( Mount TBR 2019 Book Links )