Horror List Book Review: Bubba Ho-Tep

I'll be at Denver Comic Con this weekend! If you're attending, stop by and say hello! My panel schedule is as follows:

• 80’s Resurgence in Books and Movies — Friday (6/15/18) from 11:00am - in Keystone City - Mile High Ballroom DCCP4
• Letters Written from Hell - The Horror Writing Process — Friday (6/15/18) from 1:30pm - in Room 405
• How to Write Diversity — Friday (6/15/18) from 2:30pm - in Room 405
• Favorite Horror Tropes — Friday (6/15/18) from 4:00pm - in Coast City - Mile High Ballroom DCCP4
• Creating Believable Monsters — Saturday (6/16/18) from 12:30pm - in Room 405
• Why You Should Have Villains of All Stripes — Saturday (6/16/18) from 4:30pm - in Room 405
• Not Just Novels - Writing Different Lengths — Saturday (6/16/18) from 5:30pm - in Room 405
• First Steps in Self-Publishing — Sunday (6/17/18) from 10:30am - in Room 405
• Black Mirror and the Evils of Technology — Sunday (6/17/18) from 4:30pm - in Room 605

I'm reading through three lists of best horror with two friends (DeAnna Knippling and M.B. Partlow), posting reviews as we go. (For more information, including a list of the books, see this post.)

This week I'm reviewing Bubba Ho-Tep, by Joe R. Lansdale.

This is actually a novella, not a novel. And it was a lot of fun. I'm sure I could find issues with it if I sat down to analyze plot, etc., but I'd rather not. This was a quick read with an opening line that will tell you whether this is something you want to keep reading or not.

Elvis is in a retirement home, having lost his ability to step back into his life after he had someone else take it over for him before promptly dying on the toilet. Something weird starts scurrying through the halls at night, devouring the souls of his fellow retirees. Turns out it's a mummy, but not your usual sort.

This is a touch raunchy, quick paced, and the characters are distinctive. It's also a cheese-fest. As proof, the movie version starred the delightful, and often cheesy, Bruce Campbell as Elvis. Don't read it for depth and introspection. Read it because it's a ridiculous romp.

Last time I checked, this was available on Amazon for $.99.

I'm tempted to put this in my Top Ten, but I'm leaving it as is, because the books currently there have more substance than this one.

My Top Ten: 

1. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

2. The Girl Next Door (Jack Ketchum)

3. The Bottoms (Joe R. Lansdale)

4. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)

5. The Bridge (John Skipp and Craig Spector)

6. A Choir of Ill Children (Tom Piccirilli)

7. Needful Things (Stephen King)

8. 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami)

9. Those Who Hunt the Night (Barbara Hambly)

10. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

The next book will be Johnathon Maberry's Ghost Road Blues.

Have you read this? Seen the movie? What did you think?

May you find your Muse.

*Flourish One, Horizontal Clip Art by OCAL, clker.com