Subterranean Heartbeats

Diana Kemp-Jones

This review is by Jeri A. Sax for Midnight Scribe Reviews and was copied by request to Jandy's Reading Room.

Beyond the fragile veneer of the everyday world lurks a frontier not open to ordinary exploration. No willing pioneers trek this land, only the waylaid few sucked into a domain where shadows have substance and nightmares spring to life. It is a realm with only one road to travel, a road with neither beginning nor end, a road which leads to a place bordering the edge of oblivion...

"How did you find this place? I mean . there aren't any maps or anything."

Noah frowned. "I don't really know. I crossed the cornfields and found the road. It was like a voice calling me . I can't really explain. I wanted to see what was here. After I crossed the road, I never once got lost. I came right to this place."

Taken from Chapter 1 - The Arcade, Noah explains the feelings I encountered of being drawn further and further into this book. An exciting collection of short stories, Diana Kemp-Jones begins by opening the door to a distant world, drawing you slowly into a new reality and thrusting visions of an alternate universe that may open up just beyond your own back door. While dealing with a variety of subjects from the eerie attraction of a young girl to a bakery in the bad section of town, the contrasting personality of sisters battling the depths of their own souls, or an odd shadowy entity reeking of the foulness of despair and anguish, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat and thirsting for more. The plots of each tale twist and turn in a way that you cannot foresee the outcome, making you dive forward into the next tantalizing tidbit. If you are a fan of the Twilight Zone, Tales from the Crypt, or Goosebumps I highly recommend this book to you.

7/8/2000 - review by Jandy

After reading the above review, I decided to read this book myself. There are some fascinating short stories in here, especially the first one noted above, "The Arcade". The stories are eerie, usually ending with a supernatural twist.

Although not my normal preference of genre, I enjoyed these stories. I was glad they were all short stories. Then I could get twisted into the weird or paranormal then take a break and get away. Some of the stories were more captivating than others. There is something to reach everyone's macabre bone.

Diana Kemp-Jones' home page lists all her novels.