A... Book Review? Nah!

I'm not going to review it, really. But I figured I should comment that I re-read a favorite book recently and it still has the same effect on me it did the first time. Which explains why, while it's a favorite book, I have re-read it less than three times.

William Johnstone is a largely unrefined, formulaic writer, best known for writing in two genres: horror and action. This is, from what I can tell, his only love story. Which is a good thing. I don't think I could handle a second one since What The Heart Knows leaves me so damn emotionally worn out every time I read it.

I originally discovered this little treasure in a used bookstore. Used bookstores are few and far between anymore, but there's nothing better in my opinion. I was reading at adult level at age seven and therefore, was allowed to choose my own entertainment. My mother was all about letting me discover the world in my own way, so nobody seemed to flinch when I gravitated towards the popular horror fiction of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. But once I had worked my way through their back catalogs, I was left trying to discover treasures on my own. I wasn't a library kid. Even then I liked to own my books and revisit them like old friends. When my mom went to the grocery store, liquor store, DMV or hairdresser, I would head straight for that dingy little used bookstore, where it smelled like old books, tobacco and mothballs. The books were priced as a percentage of their original price, so if the book had been $4.99, it would be $1.29, etc. I usually had a big, fat $5 to spend, so I'd come out with two or three books if I was lucky. I started out reading The Devil's Kiss, Johnstone's first horror novel and continued following his work from there. I must confess, I learned to curse from two sources: Too $hort songs and William W. Johnstone's books.

Johnstone's horror books are masterfully dark and gratuitously violent. If one of the cable networks that pushes horror took a look at his catalog, they'd have a treasure trove.

All blathering aside, if you feel like having your heart repeatedly run over by a steamroller, you might want to check out What The Heart Knows on Amazon, because I doubt you'll find it in a bookstore.

If you're interested in checking out Johnstone's other works, you can check out his website here.