Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

This book was a life-saver during the read-a-thon. It definitely kept me going when my brain was starting to wander, and I myself felt a bit zombie-like. The first line alone makes me giggle every single time I read it:
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
This sentence shows how the whole book is written - much of it is Austen's original text, which Grahame-Smith has added to to make it a horror story. It was very well done, although you could see the difference between the two writers clearly enough (if the fact that one wrote all the zombie parts wasn't clue enough). Austen is still very witty, and while Grahame-Smith tries to keep up with her, he definitely pales in comparison.
I loved the original Pride and Prejudice, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book, other than that I really hoped to enjoy it. And I found this book completely entertaining. The level of violence actually surprised me, which sounds stupid, since it is a zombie book ("Now with ultra-violent zombie mayhem!"). But the characters themselves are ridiculously violent. Elizabeth spends most of her time contemplating killing something, whether that be zombies, or someone who has offended her or her family's honor. It is actually very amusing, I was just surprised. One of my favorite things about the book is the discussion questions at the end. Those made me laugh out loud.
I am not sure that I would recommend this book for everyone. I got copies from the library for two male friends of mine, one who has read (and enjoyed) Jane Austen, and one who hasn't. So far the Austen reader hasn't finished the book, but my other friend finished it before I did and loved it. So it's good for zombie-lovers, and for Austen lovers who enjoy zombies, but for Austen lovers alone? I can't say.
I signed up for the Suspense & Thriller Reading Challenge ages ago, and I somehow have not managed to read anything that I think qualifies all year. The goal of the challenge is to read 12 thrillers from a list of thriller sub-genres. There are many sub-genres to choose from, so picking twelve is not difficult. This book fits nicely into the Comic Thriller, described as "a thriller played for laughs, whether through a spoof of the genre or wisecracking interplay between the protagonists." I think this one fits both of those descriptions. It was also just published in 2009, and so qualifies for the Pub 2009 Challenge.

The Terror by Dan Simmons

I have never read one of Dan Simmons horror novels, although I have read most of his science fiction. As you may be able to tell from the title, The Terror is a horror novel. The name itself refers to one of the ships in the story, the HMS Terror, whose crew makes up the main characters. The novel is the story of the true quest of the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus, led by Sir John Franklin, to find the fabled Northwest Passage. It is true that the ships were lost and the crews never heard from again. Simmons gives life to them here, spelling out the crew members final days in the arctic. Only in his version, it is not simply cold and lack of resources that kills them. There is also a monster stalking them on the ice.
The book is a page turner at times, definitely scary at times, and very graphic in the various perils that befall the poor crew. The graphic descriptions are not reserved only for those who are killed by the monsters, but also those who are killed by the various diseases that afflict the crew members. So much of the book is taken up with these descriptions, it seems that he should just kill them all off and be done with it. Reading it, you basically decide that that would be better than continuing to read about their deaths in the innumerable permutations that Simmons comes up with.
When crew member, the captain of the Terror, Francis Crozier, experiences a different fate. But it takes so long to get there, that Simmons leaves only a few chapters to tell about it. It would have been preferable to hear less about the drama and despair and death experienced, and learn more of Crozier's experience. It gives the book life and hope, but maybe in a book titled The Terror, life and hope are less important than death.

Heart Sick by Chelsea Cain

This was a book that I never would have picked up, as I don't generally go for the serial killer murder mystery type stories. But it was one of the Best Books of 2007, on a couple of different lists, so I decided to see what the fuss was about.
The story follows detective Archie Sheridan, who is on medical leave as the book begins, as a result of his encounter with the serial killer Gretchen Lowell, who confessed to dozens of murders after torturing Sheridan for a week. Sheridan is called back on duty when another serial killer begins kidnapping girls, but no one really knows if he can handle it. He and Lowell have a demented relationship still, and he is wounded in more ways than one. The other main character is a columnist for the local paper, Susan Ward. Archie agrees to allow her to profile him for the paper, and in some way he hopes this will help him begin to heal. As they track down the killer, their stories become more and more woven together.
I really liked the characters of Archie and Susan, both written very well. They are rather original and have character details that make them very endearing and knowable to the reader. Cain sets them up to work well together in sequels, which may or may not be written, I haven't heard. The character of Gretchen Lowell is not nearly as original as reviews make her sound. Maybe I just haven't read enough serial killer thrillers to know what is supposed to be original. She almost seems contrived. The story itself, the mystery, is not as mysterious as the reader hopes either. It becomes relatively obvious, and resolves itself in a way that is not entirely original, or even interesting. While the characters of Archie and Susan are intriguing, and the story has potential, it does not live up to it, and I probably will not be looking for a sequel.