THE ELEVENTH DOOR
James G. Carlson
January 15, 2024
Gloom House Publishing
Reviewed by Brian “Skull” Lewis
Are you a fan of fantastic new worlds, detailed
mystical creatures, and detective stories? If so, your old pal Skull has a book
that you will absolutely love! Recently released by Gloom House Publishing, The
Eleventh Door by James G. Carlson is an amazing trip into the 11th
Realm, a magical but extremely dangerous place that exists within the cosmic
plane along with the Earth experience that most of us choose as our “normal”.
Madeline Sharpe is a disgraced detective who’s now in
the business of being a private eye. She’s also trying to heal after being the lead
detective on a bizarre series of grisly murders. Unfortunately, she’s spending
too much time pouring firewater down her neck in an effort to burn out the
horrors and having zero luck with that. She is succeeding at making her own
life a huge depressing mess, though. Her attempts at throwing herself down the
crapper are interrupted by two of her former police colleagues who are baffled
by a horrible case they can’t make any headway on. Especially not in the official,
rule following capacity they’re forced to operate in.
After an awkward start, Madeline takes the case. She’s
broke and not exactly having to turn jobs down, so getting paid is a good thing.
But if she thinks her previous case was a mind breaker, she ain’t seen nothing
yet! Dealing with a strange and very dangerous man named River and the eleventh
realm is going to stretch Madeline’s physical and mental capacities so far that
she may not make it back. Her journey starts with a cabbie named Flynn who
likes to travel with unique companions from the animal kingdom, a house from
hell, too many visits from the creeptastic River, a peeping Tom cockroach, and
falling in love with Lucas Hill. Nothing about this case is casual or business
as usual. Strange places, windows into another world that seem to open at
random, and creepy crawlies you’ll have nightmares about abound. River tells
Madeline that she must walk away from the investigation to save herself. But
there’s no way she’s going to do that. Too much damage has already been done in
the name of evil. With the fate of our world as we know it hanging in the
balance, Madeline leaps through The Eleventh Door.
Damaged Skull Writer and Reviewer gives The
Eleventh Door by James G. Carlson a glowing FIVE STARS! This
novel is an excellent combination of real and alternative worlds populated with
amazing creatures and unique characters that Carlson describes to us just
enough, so that our brains get to have fun picturing them. If I were to
make a comparison, I’d say that The Eleventh Door is a bit like Harry
Potter for adults with some Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy thrown
in. When I say that, I mean feel wise, Carlson’s work is not derivative of
those books in any way. Everything you’ll read is original James G. Carlson
magic, that’ll keep you in your seat for the entire ride. Have a snack and a
drink handy because once you start reading The Eleventh Door, you’re
not going to put it down until the very last sentence. You might even be sad
that the ride is over.
Or is it?
Fortunately for all of us, James says that he’s hard
at work on the next book in what might just become a series. Whoo-Hoo! While I
don’t like to go overboard on reviews, your old pal Skull encourages the folks
in Hollywood to take a walk through The Eleventh Door and get in
touch with Mr. Carlson before competition starts driving the price up for movie
and merchandise rights. Time for a hot new series to wow the world instead of remaking
the same damn movies multiple times. Also, consider checking out James’ novella
Midnight In The City of The Carrion Kid which also features an alternate
world and an awesome story line. Your old pal Skull says, “get it!”
For more information, check out the following links:
https://gloomhousepublishing.wordpress.com
https://godless.com/collections/james-g-carlson
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-eleventh-door-james-g-carlson/1144576790
www.amazon.com just
click Books and type in The Eleventh Door
*Links are arranged in this order starting with
independent companies who really need your purchase vs more mainstream
companies like Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Whatever way you choose to get your
reading material, thank you for being brave and daring to step out of the corporate
boring box. You’re in for a treat!
Damaged Skull Writer 