Here are 14 books that The Tome of Bill fans have personally recommended once you finish the The Tome of Bill series.
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I’ve read everything I could lay my hands on since I was young, and like so many others, I’ve always preferred to read about unusual characters, uncommon situations, or both simultaneously. The books I described here fulfill those requirements for me, even though they are superficially very different from one another. Now that I write my own novels, my over-arching goal is for each of my books to be better than the one that precedes it. I do my best to offer my readers interesting characters in compelling situations, and if my readers think I’ve succeeded, I will be a very happy author.
I have a soft spot for stories in which animals play a prominent role, and this book does that very well. Jerry McNeal is a police officer with a special talent. He senses when something bad is about to happen, and when he follows his intuition, he’s always right. When he runs off the road in a snowstorm, a large dog climbs into his car and keeps him warm until he’s rescued. Only later does he learn he was saved by a police dog who had died in the line of duty.
I love the partnership that develops between Jerry and the dog, especially since Jerry’s adjustment to having a ghostly partner is amusing. The book is short but well-written, with humor adding sparkle to the story.
Call it a premonition. Call it intuition. Call it anything you like, but Pennsylvania State Trooper Jerry McNeal simply thinks of it as "that feeling."
That feeling may come on without warning, so intense he can't breathe.
Or, it may be a gentle nag that pulls at him until he decides to do something about it. He never quite knows what "it" is until he gets there, but when he arrives, he always knows he's found what he is looking for.
During one of the biggest snowstorms of the year, Trooper McNeal feels that familiar stir. An unease that grows…
I’ve read everything I could lay my hands on since I was young, and like so many others, I’ve always preferred to read about unusual characters, uncommon situations, or both simultaneously. The books I described here fulfill those requirements for me, even though they are superficially very different from one another. Now that I write my own novels, my over-arching goal is for each of my books to be better than the one that precedes it. I do my best to offer my readers interesting characters in compelling situations, and if my readers think I’ve succeeded, I will be a very happy author.
This book checks all the boxes. I love books with interesting and off-beat characters, and I'm delighted if they’re in unusual settings. The setting is a remote island off the coast of Maine, inhabited only by the descendants of native people and survivors of a 1700s shipwreck. The setting in this book is a character itself, and I loved it.
The people are just as fascinating. Kathleen Halloran returns to the island after a long absence, and Molly Cooper, a lifelong resident who’s unhappy when Kathleen shows up. My favorite characters were elderly sisters Louisa and Olivia. There’s a long-time mystery, island “woo woo,” and some romance. The storylines are well-done, but the setting and characters made this book one of my favorites.
Nearly twenty-five years ago, Kathleen Halloran’s brother drowned during the last summer they ever spent with their grandmother on a remote island off Maine’s coast. Like a siren’s call she can’t resist, Kathleen is pulled back to Little Sister Island. She leaves her job and her girlfriend, packs up her few belongings, and moves into her grandmother’s cottage.Molly Cooper loves life on Little Sister, where the islanders take care of their own. Kathleen Halloran doesn’t belong here, and her arrival stirs up unwelcome memories for the islanders—including Molly’s brother. Molly is certain Kathleen will pack up at the first big…
I’ve read everything I could lay my hands on since I was young, and like so many others, I’ve always preferred to read about unusual characters, uncommon situations, or both simultaneously. The books I described here fulfill those requirements for me, even though they are superficially very different from one another. Now that I write my own novels, my over-arching goal is for each of my books to be better than the one that precedes it. I do my best to offer my readers interesting characters in compelling situations, and if my readers think I’ve succeeded, I will be a very happy author.
I always want to read a good story, but the characters must be compelling. The protagonist in this book is Leona Reese, a sergeant in the Saint Paul police department. She’s worked hard for that position, but when she ignores her vision problems and fails her shooting range test, she’s reassigned to another unit.
In her new assignment, she works with Thom, another investigator who is wheelchair-bound. He has an off-beat sense of humor about his condition, which adds humor to an otherwise serious book. Those bits of humor play off nicely against Leo’s ongoing vision problems while they work together to solve a murder. There are two books in this series, and I’ve heard a third one is in the works. It’ll be worth the wait.
Leona "Leo" Reese is a 33-year-old police patrol sergeant with over ten years of law enforcement experience. After she fails her bi-yearly shooting qualification due to a vision problem, Leo is temporarily assigned to the investigations division of the state's Department of Human Services. She's shell-shocked by her vision impairment and frustrated to be reassigned to another department, even temporarily. On her first day on the new job, she's saddled with a case where a woman at an independent living facility has been murdered by an apparent burglar. But all is not as it seems, and it will take all…
I’ve read everything I could lay my hands on since I was young, and like so many others, I’ve always preferred to read about unusual characters, uncommon situations, or both simultaneously. The books I described here fulfill those requirements for me, even though they are superficially very different from one another. Now that I write my own novels, my over-arching goal is for each of my books to be better than the one that precedes it. I do my best to offer my readers interesting characters in compelling situations, and if my readers think I’ve succeeded, I will be a very happy author.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its compelling characters, especially the protagonist, MC McCall. She’s a postal inspector. I knew postal inspectors existed, but I didn’t know until I read this book that postal inspectors are federal law enforcement officers.
I also enjoyed the book’s other characters, McCall’s friends and co-workers, as well as the people she meets while she’s working. The author made the characters distinctive from one another, which made my reading experience so much more enjoyable. The plot lines were strong and held my interest, but I most enjoyed reading about McCall and those around her. This is the first book in the series, and I’m very much looking forward to reading all of them.
"Judy Kerr may be the new mystery kid on the block, but Black Friday is a crime novel you won't want to miss. This engaging debut will not only have you guessing as you move deeper into the story, but perfectly sets up the next in the series. Highly recommended!" MWA Grandmaster Ellen Hart, author of the Jane Lawless series
US Postal Inspector MC McCall has it all: a loving and supportive life partner, a nice home in St. Paul, and the job of her dreams. When she is assigned to a newsworthy joint task force headed by the FBI,…
My writer’s journey has been circuitous. Originally, I’d intended to become a screenwriter, until I was bitten by the acting bug. Appearing often in film, television, and on Broadway, I found myself drawn to audiobook narration. After so much exposure to so many genres from so many authors, I decided to return to writing. Zombie Bigfoot is a novelization of a screenplay of mine, inspired by SkyMall magazine I read during a scuba diving trip. One page had a Bigfoot garden statue… the adjacent page had a garden flagstone with a zombie coming up out of the ground. I looked at those two images and thought: “How has nobody done this?”
I felt I needed to include at least one non-fiction book in my recommendations, and this title is a favorite. It is truly “encyclopedic” in its scope, encompassing first-hand accounts from all over the globe, as well as historical context, cultural references, physical evidence, and more.
The author specializes in a number of cryptid subjects, and the level of research is impressive. Organized alphabetically and packed with photos, The Bigfoot Book is a go-to reference for all things Sasquatch. At 685 pages in length, you get a lot of bang for your buck!
Does a hulking, hairy, 800-pound, nine-foot-tall, elusive primate roam the woods and forests throughout North America - and the world? Audio- recordings exist purporting to be the creatures' eerie chatter and bone-chilling screaming. Whether called Sasquatch, Yeti, Bigfoot or something else , bipedal primates appear in folklore, legends and eyewitness accounts in every state of the union and many places around the world. The fascination with the man-beast is stronger than ever in today's pop culture.
My writer’s journey has been circuitous. Originally, I’d intended to become a screenwriter, until I was bitten by the acting bug. Appearing often in film, television, and on Broadway, I found myself drawn to audiobook narration. After so much exposure to so many genres from so many authors, I decided to return to writing. Zombie Bigfoot is a novelization of a screenplay of mine, inspired by SkyMall magazine I read during a scuba diving trip. One page had a Bigfoot garden statue… the adjacent page had a garden flagstone with a zombie coming up out of the ground. I looked at those two images and thought: “How has nobody done this?”
Another heavy hitter in the realm of Horror Comedy, Rick Gualtieri is a skillful wordsmith who knows how to build tension with chuckles sprinkled throughout. I met him recently at a book signing and we traded books. Naturally, I grabbed one of his with “Bigfoot” in the title.
Filled with action and humor, Bigfoot Hunters is a roller-coaster rampage when a troop of enraged Sasquatch cut loose, racking up an impressive body count. I don’t often laugh out loud when I read, but this one pulled quite a few giggles out of me.
When Harrison Kent suggests an outing to a secluded campsite in Colorado, his friends are all eager for a few days of fun and adventure. But what awaits them is far more terrifying than they ever bargained for.
They learn that Sasquatch is real, but these are not the shy creatures of myth & legend. A madness has claimed them, erasing their once peaceful nature and leaving in its wake a ravenous horde of cryptids that's about to descend upon the unsuspecting residents of a remote town.
My writer’s journey has been circuitous. Originally, I’d intended to become a screenwriter, until I was bitten by the acting bug. Appearing often in film, television, and on Broadway, I found myself drawn to audiobook narration. After so much exposure to so many genres from so many authors, I decided to return to writing. Zombie Bigfoot is a novelization of a screenplay of mine, inspired by SkyMall magazine I read during a scuba diving trip. One page had a Bigfoot garden statue… the adjacent page had a garden flagstone with a zombie coming up out of the ground. I looked at those two images and thought: “How has nobody done this?”
A good friend and fellow writer introduced me to Hunter Shea at a brewpub in New York City, and I quickly discovered he was a titan in the realm of creature features. The Jersey Devil, a mutated megalodon, the Loch Ness monster… Shea loves his cryptids!
Hurling the ultimate wilderness creature into the urban jungle was inspired, and this story is just as fun as you’d expect. Packed with humor and over-the-top mayhem, this book is a hoot and I tore through it in a day.
It’s hunting season for best friends Shay and Vito. This year, with a bad economy and Shay out of work, it’s more important than ever to bag a deer so they can feed their families. Tucking their truck in their secret spot outside a state park in the Catskills, they settle down, waiting for a deer to come to them.
Discovery
What they get is a giant creature that outruns a speeding deer and savages it with its bare hands and jagged teeth. Someone hidden in the woods shoots it with a tranquilizer dart. Shay knows what the…
I’ve always admired epistolary novels—stories told in the form of diaries, letters, or other mass media. They seem so real and so much more believable than plain narratives. When dealing with fantastic subjects, like paranormal phenomena, any technique that can draw the weird back into the real world helps me become more invested as a reader. It’s a quality I’ve also tried to capture as a horror writer. Moreover, the epistolary format pairs well with unreliable narrators, often filtering stories so as to make them more ambiguous and disturbing. From the many epistolary works I’ve read over the years, here are my picks for the most compelling—and creepy.
I know the concept of a sasquatch attack on a remote commune sounds silly on the surface, but Brooks crafts it into a realistic, serious story. As a believer in the possibility of Bigfoot, I was fascinated to see how disastrously an encounter between humans and cryptids could conceivably go.
The naivete of the settlers in the wilderness is even more distressing than the hostility of the animals. Unsettling news reports (of which the characters remain unaware) interspersed with diary entries underscore their desperation and peril. I thought the situation was completely credible. Really, we ought to have more sasquatch horror books.
'TRUE TERROR' Guardian 'NAIL CHOMPING SUSPENSE' Total Film ______________________________________ As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier's eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now.
But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town's bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing - and too earth-shattering in its implications - to be forgotten.
In these pages, Max Brooks brings Kate's extraordinary account to light for the first time, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own extensive investigations into…
My writer’s journey has been circuitous. Originally, I’d intended to become a screenwriter, until I was bitten by the acting bug. Appearing often in film, television, and on Broadway, I found myself drawn to audiobook narration. After so much exposure to so many genres from so many authors, I decided to return to writing. Zombie Bigfoot is a novelization of a screenplay of mine, inspired by SkyMall magazine I read during a scuba diving trip. One page had a Bigfoot garden statue… the adjacent page had a garden flagstone with a zombie coming up out of the ground. I looked at those two images and thought: “How has nobody done this?”
I’m a big fan of Horror Comedy, and one name I kept seeing over and over in that category was Jeff Strand. I saw that he had a Bigfoot book and I grabbed it. It wasn’t at all what I expected! Strand’s books are often filled with zany humor, but this story was something quite different.
Dweller follows the friendship between a boy… and a monster. There are plenty of thrills and chills, but if you don’t come away from this novel with a tear in your eye, you’re made of sturdier stuff than I. Poignant and powerful, this book has a lot of heart.
When Toby Floren was eight years old, he discovered a monster living in the woods behind his house. A ghastly, frightening creature with claws, fangs, and a taste for human flesh. As he ran out of the forest, Toby felt that he'd been lucky to escape with his life.
Years later, Toby finds comfort with the creature. It's his own special secret--something that nobody else in the world knows about. Somebody to talk to. Somebody to confide in. Sure, Toby has concerns about his own sanity, but really, what boy wouldn't want to be best friends with a monster in…
Scary books and movies hooked me early in life and never let go. I’m fascinated by the themes that are explored in all of the various sub-genres of horror. I’m intrigued by the lore that’s created, and I’m impressed with the imagination of so many horror creators. Horror remains and always will be one of the most popular genres of storytelling.
I read this as a teenager, just as I was diving into the horror genre. I already knew at this point that I wanted to be a storyteller. What struck me while reading It was the jumping back and forth between time periods.
I had never read a book structured that way, and it seemed that every chapter ended on a cliffhanger, forcing me to keep reading. There aren’t many books that I would say I had a hard time putting down (I get bored easily), but It was certainly one of them!
This tie-in edition will be available from 16 July
TIE IN TO A NEW MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, IT: CHAPTER 2, ADAPTED FROM KING'S TERRIFYING CLASSIC
27 years later, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back...
Derry, Maine was just an ordinary town: familiar, well-ordered for the most part, a good place to live.
It was a group of children who saw- and felt- what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one's deepest dread. Sometimes…
