Night Thunder

Rating:
Summary: Uncanny horror!!
Review: A group of strange religious wanderers are massacred by residents of a farm community toward the end of the Civil War. A tree is planted over the mass grave and the dead stay quiet. Over a century later the tree is bulldozed down to make room for a mall and the dead rise up. They are not rotting zombies, but eerily beautiful looking creatures that want to blend in with the community. Their goal is to lure people to join a cult and become immortal, soulless creatures like them.

This novel takes cues from INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and vampire stories, but creates its' own monsters. Jensen is best at evoking domestic suspense moments like feeling watched through an open window or a stranger staring at you from across the road. There are a few gruesome scenes and a general sense of xenophobia that make this novel an uncanny read. If you like your horror leavened with humor Ruby Jean Jensen is not for you. Recommended for fans of Bentley Little and Douglas Clegg.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty is only skin deep
Review: At the end of the Civil War, a religious cult of beautiful people is terrorizing a town. They're taking the souls' of individuals so that they will become part of their dark cult. A town rallies together to fight off this evil cult. After slaughtering them all they buried their bodies in a massive grave. A sycamore tree was planted over the grave, and a little girl gave the warning that if the tree were to ever be removed, the evil cult would rise again. 100 years later, the tree is bulldozed to make room for a mall parking lot. The cult rises from their grave, and takes their form of beautiful people.

Rating:
Summary: Beauty is only skin deep
Review: At the end of the Civil War, a religious cult of beautiful people is terrorizing a town. They're taking the souls' of individuals so that they will become part of their dark cult. A town rallies together to fight off this evil cult. After slaughtering them all they buried their bodies in a massive grave. A sycamore tree was planted over the grave, and a little girl gave the warning that if the tree were to ever be removed, the evil cult would rise again. 100 years later, the tree is bulldozed to make room for a mall parking lot. The cult rises from their grave, and takes their form of beautiful people.

Rating:
Summary: interesting plot
Review: I have read alot of her books, though I would love to know if she has written anything recently?? This book had an interesting plot line, but the ending could have been better. Nonetheless, still worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Creepy to the Max!
Review: Jensen continues to astonish me with her quietly eerie horror novels! This one is no exception as she tells of a town that unwillingly awakens a sleeping evil that seduce and destroys whole families with the promise of eternal life.Does this sounds like Vampirism? If you say yes your answer would be dead wrong, it's worse!This evil is the guise of physically beautiful people prey upon families to kill their children so they can resurrected to become members of their unholy church and join their "nuclear" family.Jensen knows how to chill the blood in the truly sinister novel.

Rating:
Summary: Slow to Start, Great to the Finish
Review: Ruby Jean Jensen is one of those authors I stumbled over on a recent summertime excursion in search of fresh faces in the horror genre. I know more than a bit about who writes what in the field, but I still manage to surprise myself on a regular basis whenever I look for something new. From all accounts, Jensen is not a novice author; she has been writing novels for years even though most of her books are sadly out of print. That's a shame, too, because "Night Thunder" excels in its fascinating tale about an ancient evil reawakened in the present day.

"Night Thunder" begins with a series of strange occurrences during the closing days of the American Civil War. A farmer, his wife, and his young son awaken one night to the sound of drums rolling in the distance. Since the war is still on, drums are not at all unusual to hear on the road near the farmhouse. What is rather odd are the collection of beautiful people clothed in black robes and hoods standing in front of the house. These people ask the farmer for permission to stay in the woods on his property for a time, and the farmer amiably agrees. Then the bizarre activity starts: these strangers, who profess to be extremely religious people, build a small church near the woods. It isn't too long before local women begin attending the church, usually with their children in tow. Something odd is going on, as the women who attend services start exhibiting suspicious signs of what we would call cult activity, but it goes beyond that into the realm of death when the mother at the farm dies mysteriously after attending most of the services. The men in the community decide enough is enough, and they kill the hooded strangers who built the evil church. The men bury the bodies in a mass grave over which is placed a tree that promises to bind the corpses to death. As long as this tree remains, the world is safe from the horror lurking beneath its roots.

Flash forward to the modern day, to a construction site where a shopping mall will soon go up. In order to lay the pavement for the parking lot, construction workers will tear down that old tree. It isn't really anybody's fault; they have no clue about the tree's purpose, and the woman in charge of the development project, a local real estate agent named Beverly Boyd, forgot about the stories she heard as a small child regarding the tree's raison d'etre. You see, Beverly is the direct descendent of Jacob, the son of the farmer who let the beautiful strangers stay on his property. It isn't long after the tree comes crashing to the ground that the corpses rise from the grave and proceed to reinstall a church in the region. Three of the construction workers involved in this unholy resurrection soon find their lives turned upside down by the event. Tom Roush drove the bulldozer into the tree, and his bosses, Carl and Brent Salisaw, will soon have a front row seat to the newly returned evil.

Most of the book dwells on Brent's family, especially his two daughters and his wife Louise. The Salisaw family just moved into a spacious house in a semi-exclusive neighborhood, and the family feels a little out of place. When new neighbors move in, a couple with blonde hair and wonderfully exquisite features, Louise befriends these people in order to stave off some of her despair about being alone. Within a matter of days, eerie incidents begin to occur. The family dog, Pepper, mysteriously dies but then seems to reappear as the new neighbors' pet. Louise eventually decides to accept an invitation from these neighbors to go to a new church. You can guess what happens from this point on, since it is an almost mirror image of the opening chapter described above. Louise soon makes the church her life with plans to introduce her children to the wonders of the new worship center, which we soon discover carries the name "Aeternita." Aeternita is definitely not your normal, everyday Christian church. Instead, the members of Aeternita promise something very important with long-term consequences in exchange for bringing in fresh initiates. Eventually, Aeternita faces a showdown with family members who share no interest in the church and who wish to liberate their enslaved relatives. The strong conclusion is almost Lovecraftian in its implications.

I liked "Night Thunder." I especially enjoyed the in-depth descriptions of Brent Salisaw's children. Kara receives most of the attention from the author, and the reader learns to like this upbeat young girl. Maybe that's what Jensen wants you to do because at one point in the story the author does something so despicable to this nice young lady that you will wish you had never read the book. I won't ruin this incident for you, but if you like Kara, it is devastating in its impact on the reader. I felt like angry with the author after reading it; perhaps a sign of how effective the character development is in this book. Moreover, Jensen possesses no qualms about ruthlessly killing off main characters in the course of the story, another admirable trait in a horror writer. About the only thing I disliked about the book was its plodding pace for the first 100 pages. After that, though, "Night Thunder" moves swiftly. For those interested in suspenseful horror about resurrected cultists, this book will certainly satiate your desires. Jensen's book is great horror, and I am glad I found her.

Rating:
Summary: The Dead are never quiet...
Review: This is the first Ruby Jean Jensen novel I have read in a long time (the last being the great Wait and See!). That being said I can definitely say I will be reading more Jensen books soon.

Night Thunder has a strong story about a cult that visited a small town during the Civil War that was killed and burried by the local townsfolk. Years go by and when the grave of the cult is disturbed the terror begins again.

Jensen has crafted a fairly original tale of terror here that does have some deeply disturbing moments. It's very descriptive in the action and not extremely dialog heavy. There are some outstanding characterizations, particularly that of the two daughters Kara and Holly. However, there does seem to be a real slow down in the beginning before anything really starts to happen. This is not to say the first 100 or so pages are necessary but it really kills the flow of the novel. Not perfect Jensen but good Jensen, Night Thunder is a well crafted tale of terror. It's a pity we haven't seen more from Ruby in a few years now.

Rating:
Summary: The Dead are never quiet...
Review: This is the first Ruby Jean Jensen novel I have read in a long time (the last being the great Wait and See!). That being said I can definitely say I will be reading more Jensen books soon.

Night Thunder has a strong story about a cult that visited a small town during the Civil War that was killed and burried by the local townsfolk. Years go by and when the grave of the cult is disturbed the terror begins again.

Jensen has crafted a fairly original tale of terror here that does have some deeply disturbing moments. It's very descriptive in the action and not extremely dialog heavy. There are some outstanding characterizations, particularly that of the two daughters Kara and Holly. However, there does seem to be a real slow down in the beginning before anything really starts to happen. This is not to say the first 100 or so pages are necessary but it really kills the flow of the novel. Not perfect Jensen but good Jensen, Night Thunder is a well crafted tale of terror. It's a pity we haven't seen more from Ruby in a few years now.