Clive Menard is just an ordinary guy living an ordinary life. But when a talking spider crawls inside his head, things get a lot less ordinary…and people start dying.Could an itsy-bitsy arachnid be behind the killing spree terrorizing Clive’s community? To evade a sharp detective and find a murderer among friends, Clive must shake the cobwebs loose and piece together the puzzle of his life, all … life, all without falling prey to a dark force beyond his comprehension.
A genre-twisting dark comedy, What Hides Within is an EPIC Finalist and Independent eBook Award Runner-Up for “Best Horror.”
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Just looking at the creepy cover makes me cringe, yet I open it with sweet anticipation, looking forward to a great scare with same laughs, which I know Jason Parent is more than willing to provide.
With a name like Clive, I foresee some bad things coming his way. Will he be the victim or the perpetrator? We shall see.
The doctor cut open his head to remove…something…only to find everything is okay. He stitched him back up, offered an apology, and wanted him to go away. I’m sorry, but that wouldn’t work for me, and I don’t think it will work for Clive either. OMG! The nerve of the idiot moron doctor! If I was Clive, I probably would have killed him on the spot.
That is the present…NOW…let’s go to the past and find out how and why he got into this spot to begin with.
Detective Samantha Reilly was a hardened detective leading the investigation into a young girl’s death. She was inured to the brutality humans inflicted upon each other. Knowing Jason, I see more dead bodies on the horizon and a truly evil killer.
As soon as we went under the bridge, I knew where Jason was taking me. Now, I’m waiting for the twist.
Chester and Derek…OMG…I laughed so hard I cried. I love that Jason Parent packs so much action, along with the darkness and laughs, leaving me wanting more.
Chester, I wonder what’s going to happen to Chester. Every time I think about him, I try to imagine the details of his home, how and what he eats, and his dining accommodations. I wonder what Chester hopes to accomplish.
I shivered and freaked out a little. Spiders are one of my favorite critters to read about because they make me so uncomfortable. Talk about stepping outside my comfort zone.
Well, that didn’t go the way I thought and that is one of the reasons I love Jason Parent’s writing. He mixes genres seamlessly, dark horror and comedy with lots of action, and creates some amazing villains. Can’t hear so well? Have a stuffy nose? Well…
Jason, you did it again. Took me to a place filled with suspense and tension and a pace that kept me reading, wanting to know what was on the next page, and the next one…
I can hardly wait to get my hands on Victoria, Book II and the final book in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of What Hides Within by Jason Parent.
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Something Wicked
*** I was given this ARC, in exchange for an honest review. ***
When I was contacted about reading What Hides Within, I was really intrigued. This is Jason’s debut book, but with a new cover. I am not sure what the first cover was like but… I personally think that this cover definitely matches the story’s creepy/horror factor. I don’t know who designed it, but that was genius.
Before I even started reading this, I wondered if it was going to be like Spiderman with an arachnid involved.
Just that this time the spider talked to the main character and crawls inside his head, then people start dropping like flies.
What could be more intriguing than that? And who or what is behind all of this?
So, once I started reading the book, I realized that something wasn’t quite right because Clive shows his crazy side right away and I was like, wait what?! Things are not as they seem in this horror ride of an adventure, if you’d like to call it that. There are some sick and twisted themes and events in here that I can only call marvelous because I love horror and I am happy to say so.
No one and nothing can be trusted, as it should be in horror. I found myself wondering what would happen next and I was also extremely pleased about that. Plus I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard while reading something so gritty and horrifying.
It. Was. Glorious.
Magical Even.
I think I even spilled some tears laughing as I woke my neighbors from it, while reading into the late night hours. TOTALLY WORTH IT.
I loved pretty much everything about this book, even though I hate spiders with a burning vengeance. Nasty little things. Cue scrunched up face. The only thing that I didn’t like was the ending.
That ending though. WHYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!!!
Why you gotta do me like that Jason?
After everything we’ve been through….. WHYYY???
I think I might be scarred for life.
I’m stabbing you with my mind.
I love twisted plots. This one I almost had figured out! Great creepy story.
Spiders!!! I don’t like them! But by opening this book, I asked for it, and I got exactly what I deserved.
This is the story of Clive and his deliberate trip, by boat, through the biggest spider web he had ever seen. Why he would destroy such a thing of beauty, I don’t know, but he sure did pay for it. Shortly after the web-destroying boat ride, Clive feels something blocking up his ear. Yeah… you know what that was, don’t you?
I liked the character of Clive with all of his juvenile humor and sarcasm. I also liked the character of Reilly, a police detective investigating Clive and his roommate for murder. This was quite a feat, because Reilly had been desensitized to violence and its results and I didn’t like her at all at first.
The pacing of this story was excellent, however I did correctly predict the outcome and for that I did deduct one star. The ending was fantastic, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more about the character featured in the last chapter of What Hides Within.
Overall I enjoyed this debut effort from Mr. Parent and I look forward to reading whatever else he has to offer.
I couldn’t finish this book. There was to many crappy things happening. I didn’t like the main character at all.