Category: Reviews

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Epeolatry Book Review: Death at the Playhouses by Stuart Douglas

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Title: Death at the Playhouses
Author: Stuart Douglas
Genre: Crime Fiction
Publisher: Titan Books
Publication date: 18th March, 2025

Synopsis: A second witty, fun, 1970s-set whodunnit in the Lowe and Le Breton mysteries series, featuring two ageing actors attempting to solve a murder after their famous co-star is found dead in a doorway outside the theatre in which they’re performing. Nostalgic cozy crime that’s perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and Death & Croissants.

It’s 1971 and, in between filming seasons of Floggit and Leggit, ageing actors Edward Lowe and John Le Breton sign up for a short run of Shakespearean tragedies at the Bolton Playhouse. But, once in Lancashire, they discover they have been invited to join the theatre’s repertory company for two reasons – because the company manager is keen to take advantage of the publicity surrounding their successful BBC comedy series, and because Sir Nathaniel Thompson, the much-lauded star of the show and knight of the realm, has been sacked for drunkenness.

John fears an awkward scene, should Thompson – who he knew during the war – return to reclaim his job, but when the great actor’s body is found, bludgeoned to death in a nearby alleyway, the unlikely crime-solving duo find themselves investigating another fiendish mystery that takes them from the northwest of England to the Netherlands, and which, rather inconveniently, seems to have John’s ex-wife Sally at its heart.

Death at the Playhouses is the second in The Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries series.

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Epeolatry Book Review: We Like It Cherry by Jacy Morris

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Title: We Like It Cherry
Author: Jacy Morris
Genre: Supernatural Horror
Publisher: Tenebrous Press
Publication date: 31st July, 2025

Synopsis: Ezra Montbanc is burned out. The reality series he hosts—immersing himself into the cultures and celebrations of Indigenous tribes—borders on pure exploitation and has been relegated to tax write-off status by the network; this was not the prestigious journalism career he had long envisioned.
Everything changes when Ezra receives an invitation to document the rites of a mysterious, hitherto unknown tribe: the Winoquin, who reside in the harrowing, inhospitable Arctic. Ezra and his crew depart immediately for the home of the Winoquin, only to find themselves in a bloody battle for survival against a mythical horror with a serious grudge against modern man.
We Like It Cherry is a story about identity and the quest for success, splashed with supernatural slasher vibes and the nail-biting relentlessness of survival horror.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Jake’s Guide to Getting Into Hell by Jake Bannerman

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Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Jake’s Guide to Getting Into Hell
Author: Jake Bannerman
Genre: Dark Humor / Satirical Horror / Religious Satire
Publisher: Independent
Publication date: 4th April, 2025

Synopsis: Jake’s Guide to Getting Into Hell is a ferocious, no-holds-barred guide for those who have rejected the polished dogma of religion and are seeking something more real, raw, and laugh-out-loud funny. Written with blasphemous wit, it tears apart religious conventions and exposes the absurdities of society’s sanctimonious attitudes. The book uses humor and extreme language to make readers question their beliefs, laugh at their own discomfort, and consider what “hell” really is.

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Epeolatry Book Review: This Skin Was Once Mine By Eric LaRocca

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Title: This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances
Author: Eric LaRocca
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Titan Books
Publication date: A brand-new collection of four intense, claustrophobic and terrifying horror tales from the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated and Splatterpunk Award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.

THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE
When her father dies under mysterious circumstances, Jillian Finch finds herself grieving the man she idolized while struggling to feel comfortable in the childhood home she was sent away from nearly twenty years ago. Then Jillian discovers a dark secret that will threaten to undo everything she has ever known about her father.

SEEDLING
A young man’s father calls him early in the morning to say that his mother has passed away. He arrives home to find his mother’s body still in the house. Struggling to process what has happened he notices a small black wound appear on his wrist. Then he discovers his father is cursed with the same affliction.

ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON’T EASILY BURN
Enoch Leadbetter goes to buy a knife for his husband to use at a forthcoming dinner party. He encounters a strange shopkeeper who draws him into an intoxicating new obsession and sets him on a path towards mutilation and destruction…

PRICKLE
Two old men revive a cruel game with devastating consequences…

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Epeolatry Book Review: Omniviolence by Jones Worthington

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Title: Omniviolence
Author: Jones Worthington
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Vesuvian Books
Publication date: 25th February, 2025

Synopsis: Jackson Cross kills strangers with nothing more than a drone and a computer in exchange for crypto—all from his mother’s basement.

When his accounts are scythed, and he’s pegged at the top of the most popular slaysite, Jackson is ejected from his virtual comfort zone and forced to go on the run.

Joseph “Bones” Carboni is an old-school mafia hitman with a lot of demons and one big problem: he’s developed a conscience. When tasked with slaying fifteen-year-old Jackson, Joe breaks rank. Now, he must decide if playing the hero is worth having a target on his own back.

Attacked from all sides and struggling to survive in a world where your elderly neighbor or an angry kid on social media can be your executioner, neither Joe nor Jackson realize they’ve become entangled in a global power struggle that could change what it means to be human.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Splitter by Stu Croskell

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Title: Splitter
Author: Stu Croskell
Genre: Military Thriller; Crime Action; Mystery Action
Publisher: Severed Press
Publication date: 8th January, 2025

Synopsis: When a deadly marine creature escapes AUTEC, the US Navy’s top-secret Bahamian research facility, retired Navy SEAL, turned marine biologist, Jack Tarr, is called back into action. Reluctantly leading a team of SEALs, Jack embarks on a perilous pursuit across the Caribbean, through the treacherous Florida Keys, and into the stormy Gulf of Mexico.

But the hunt takes a dark turn when Jack uncovers a shocking link to his best friend’s mysterious disappearance. As the terrifying creature pushes the team to their limits, Jack must navigate a web of Navy secrets and confront a horrifying truth—one that could shatter everything he thought he knew about loyalty, survival, and the ocean’s darkest depths.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Black Out the Stars by Christopher Bond

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Title: Black Out the Stars
Author: Christopher Bond
Genre: Crime horror
Publisher: Aquino Loayza
Publication date: 25th March, 2025

Synopsis: Marcus, a man estranged from his family, returns to his roots amid a backdrop of generational trauma in rural, poverty-stricken Ohio, only to find that not all family secrets die given time. As Marcus helps his uncle drain a pond on their ancestral property, he uncovers the dark secrets of his family and the land they’ve called home.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Bodily Harm by Deborah Sheldon

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Title: Bodily Harm
Author: Deborah Sheldon
Genre: Crime horror
Publisher: Undertaker Books
Publication date: October 11, 2024

Synopsis: Survival has a price… Is Cara ready to pay it?

From the moment she feels a gun barrel shoved into her back, Cara Haynes is thrown into the brutal world of vicious criminals and the police officers tough enough to pursue them.

Cara has lived in Melbourne just a few weeks when she survives an armed robbery at her local pizzeria. Traumatised, afraid and alone, Cara’s lifeline is Mick Thompson, a detective from the Armed Offence Squad, whose compulsion to find these violent offenders keeps him awake at night. But soon, Cara doesn’t know the difference between safety and danger…

Written by award-winning author, Deborah Sheldon, Bodily Harm is a fast-paced, savage and disturbing read where one woman’s nightmare becomes a detective’s obsession. Don’t miss out—get your copy today!

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