Book Review: SKIN DEEP/ORDINARY MONSTERS, by Frank Martin

Frank Martin
SKIN DEEP: A Vampire Story of Love
ORDINARY MONSTERS: High School and the Final Solution
Burning Willow Press, 2016
85 / 88 pages
Horror

I truly enjoyed the taut tales by Frank Martin. The publisher was quite creative. They combined two novellas, and separated them with a handful of pages of dark comic strips. The cool thing about the book design is when you finish reading one story, you flip the book over, end over end, and there is the second one. Ready to go. Clever, fun design. Two thumbs up to BWP.

SKIN DEEP is a fast paced vampire tale. It is about two sisters, parents, and expectations. Laura, the "favorite" is a track star, destined to do great things. Her artistic sister, Jessica has dreams that leave her parents worried about her future. However, when Laura meets a dangerous stranger it is up to Jessica to attempt saving the day. But does she have it in her to rescue her sister from a hideous vampire?

ORDINARY MONSTERS once again revolves around family, and secrets. It starts out like any High School story. Reckless boys with crushes on girls, and parties. When learning about Nazi Germany and the holocaust, Liam and Eric (who I very much imagined as Christian Slater the entire time I was reading the novella) find themselves in the midst of a legend from the past. Eric's family has secrets. And whether he wants to learn them or not, Liam will find himself face to face with . . .

Frank Martin has put out two chilling novellas. They are gripping, and dark. I imagined them each like a half hour horror show on the SyFy channel. Totally unique, and compelling, I truly enjoyed the books. I have no idea what the eBook version is like -- but I have the paperback, and am proud to shelf if with the rest of my collection!

Phillip Tomasso
Author of The Severed Empire Series,
and The Vaccination Trilogy