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| January |
| May Scion of Ikshvaku by Amish Tripathi |
| February |
| June The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher |
| March |
| July Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson |
| April |
| September An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris |
| October Crestwood Lake 2: Satan's Revenge by Mark R. Vogel |
| November Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury |
| December |
| August |
| Suspense Central Selections for 2019 *2019 selections for Suspense Central are listed below by month. If you have difficulty seeing a title and/or author, all selections are listed on our meetup site. |
| Recaps, comments |
| Nightwise by R.S. Belcher Thursday, August 1, 2019 - 8p Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace, 10 Triangle Plaza (Route 17 North) · Ramsey, NJ Full line-up of 2019 titles is listed below - please scroll down This group meets on the first Thursday of each month to discuss a specific mystery, horror, or intrigue novel. Join Moderator Aurelia Long as we discuss this month's featured selection. This month's Suspense Central discussion will tackle the featured selection Nightwise by R. S. Belcher. R.S. Belcher, the acclaimed author of The Six-Gun Tarot and The Shotgun Arcana launches a gritty new urban fantasy series set in today's seedy occult underworld in Nightwise. In the more shadowy corners of the world, frequented by angels and demons and everything in-between, Laytham Ballard is a legend. It’s said he raised the dead at the age of ten, stole the Philosopher’s Stone in Vegas back in 1999, and survived the bloodsucking kiss of the Mosquito Queen. Wise in the hidden ways of the night, he’s also a cynical bastard who stopped thinking of himself as the good guy a long time ago. Now a promise to a dying friend has Ballard on the trail of an escaped Serbian war criminal with friends in both high and low places—and a sinister history of blood sacrifices. Ballard is hell-bent on making Dusan Slorzack pay for his numerous atrocities, but Slorzack seems to have literally dropped off the face of the Earth, beyond the reach of his enemies, the Illuminati, and maybe even the Devil himself. To find Slorzack, Ballard must follow a winding, treacherous path that stretches from Wall Street and Washington, D.C. to backwoods hollows and truck stops, while risking what’s left of his very soul . . . . |
| August Nightwise by R.S. Belcher |
| The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher 6/6/19 recap Chris H We continued our weird west theme for June with The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher. Six-Gun Tarot takes place in a cattle town named Golgatha, Nevada in 1869. Golgatha has some dark secrets. Hiding in its abandoned mines is the darkest secret of all. The book is a miz of steampunk, horror fiction, dark fantasy, fantasy fiction, Western fiction, and Historical fantasy. Jonathan Maberry thought it "a hell of a lot of fun" - the rest of us, not so much. Overall, the book was well received, but the majority found the flashback scenes especially jarring. It was often difficult to determine if an event was happening in the current time frame or retelling a past event, often taking the reader out of the story. Grades ranged from B+ to C-, but all would welcome reading a sequel. |
| Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 7/1/19 recap Chris H Our pirate theme for the month was well represented by what may be the ultimate pirate adventure, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Great start for Shiver me Timbers in July. The exploits of Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver are legendary. In fact, it was clear that Treasure Island is the gold standard for pirate lore and has influenced most pirate themed books, movies and the like that followed. Some examples named: Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Captian Blood. Kathleen at one point stated "I thought that was a Disney song!" when she read yo ho, yo ho! in Treasure Island. Everyone attending enjoyed the book on it's reread, in that all had read it years ago for school. Great to revisit a classic. |
| September - 2019 |
