Stranger Still: Michaelbrent Collings
Reviewed By Miranda Crites
I didn’t realize that Stranger Still was a sequel until I’d already read it. I don’t know if I would have understood more about Legion’s two dead brothers, Fire and Water, and their roles if I’d read book one first, but it doesn’t really matter at this point, as this book does stand alone. I found out more about the brothers later on in the book, enough to get the general idea of them, finally, and feel sad about their childhood. I was pretty lost at the beginning, the initial hook just wasn’t grabbing in the right spots. It almost felt like psycho-babble, and I wanted to DNF it. I kept pushing on, and I soon found that every character in this book was psychotic or close to it, most of them with horrific pasts. So, I wasn’t too far off about it being psycho-babble, but I’m glad I didn’t give up because it was a huge part of the characters.
This was my first book by Michaelbrent Collings.
Collings writes some relentless and powerful characters! The man has a brilliant mind!
It takes quite a bit to get my guts tingling, and there’s a lot of blood, guts, and torture in this book, but I got a decent gut-tingle near the end when Legion is teaching one of the students a lesson. He gives them a little (a lot) dose of their own medicine, and he delivers it rough and full strength! I mean, yowza!
Even through all the blood-splattering, body part removal, and extremely dangerous, powerful, and highly trained psychos, there was humor which was mostly from the dead brothers but some things/actions were just flat-out so crazy that it was humorous, and that added some lighter elements to the darkness which was fun.
All in all, this was a very different type of book for me, but I enjoyed it.
Stranger Still
Your sins are Legion…
… and now you belong to him.
***
Legion is a teacher. An avenging angel. A murderer.
A madman.
“This is the kind of story that once you start it will not release you until it is ready.” – The Genre Minx
Born in the blood of a dying mother, raised in the underground lair of an insane father, he travels the world looking for those who keep secrets and sins. He finds those who have fallen short, and teaches them the lessons they need to leave their mistakes behind.
Even if he has to kill them to do it. Because sometimes murder is the only way to teach a proper lesson.
“I see [Collings’] name and I grab the book… now that I have met Legion, I have to know more about him.” – Fundinmental Book Reviews
So when he sees a man kidnap two people on the side of the road, Legion knows it is time to teach again.
“This is a book that genuinely is hard to put down” – Hellnotes
Soon he finds himself caught in the crossfire of a coup in a Russian crime syndicate. He is captured, beaten, bleeding, in chains; cut off and alone.
It’s just the way he likes it.
“You’ll want to check this one out!” – Horror Book Reviews
Legion has found his students. And for them, life is about to become frightening and so much… stranger.
Grab your copy of this bestselling novel that straddles thriller, suspense, mystery, humor, and horror in a way only Collings can!
You can buy Stranger Still from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Miranda Crites
Miranda Crites is a reader, writer, book reviewer, photographer, and lover of horror from the ghostly woods of rural West Virginia.
The writing bug bit Miranda at a very early age. She was pretty much born with a pen and a camera in her hands. She won the young writers’ contest in first grade and received her first camera as a gift when she was nine years old.
When not writing, Miranda enjoys spending time with her family. She and her family spend a lot of time off the grid where they are building a cabin in the supposedly haunted woods.
Miranda is self-employed. She and her husband create large and small vinyl decals, t-shirts, signs, and a plethora of creative customized items.
Some of her many hobbies when time allows are: making unique crafts and artwork, painting, hiking, and, of course, photography.
She has a diploma for Writing for Children and Teenagers although most of her current work is horror fiction and poetry.
Miranda is a member of Team Kendall Reviews at www.KendallReviews.com where you can find her horror book reviews and her monthly feature, Miranda Snaps, which generally contains horror fiction and photography.
Miranda is one of “The Thirty,” which is a group of thirty authors who are each taking a turn in writing a chapter of an in-progress horror novel.
You can follow Miranda on Instagram Miranda_C_rites
Follow Miranda on Twitter @Miranda_C_rites
You can find out more about Miranda via her website www.mirandacritesreadsandwrites.com
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