REVIEWS

What folks are saying

“Relative Sanity is an intriguing and edgy psychological thriller that you won't be able to put down. Readers of Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King, or Truman Capote will appreciate this frightening, touching, and unflinching look at the darker recesses of our minds."

~ Dr. James Rovira, author of Blake and Kierkegaard: Creation and Anxiety ~

“Mr. Reaves is intimately ensconced with the definition of the word "suspense". His characters' inner conversations...fears and regrets are flawless and revealing. His plot twists are subtle…you keep turning the pages, searching for a resolution and playing an endless guessing game with the author. Relative Karma and Relative Sanity are two stellar novels by an author I will continue to follow closely. Both are amazing reads - enjoy them!”

~ Conchie Fernandez, author of Undrawn ~

"Martin Reaves has a way with words. Covering the horrors of death, loss, parenthood, and fear, Martin's work takes you on a wild ride. I didn't expect a collection that looked like this to make me think in one short, and then nearly bring me to tears in the next. Put simply, this work is masterful."

~ Sparky_t ~

"The hallmark of a good story...is the capacity of that story to linger in the reader's mind. If that story, or novel, or chapter, stays on and on and on (like an uninvited house guest who just won't go home), then that story--and that author--have succeeded. Such is my response to Martin Reaves' collection, Dark Thoughts. These folks, I can tell, are going to be hanging around for quite a while; especially "The End of the World-and I Feel Fine," and most especially "Linda Vista Hospital...in Memoriam." THAT one walked right out of my e-book reader and curled itself up in my heart, speaking to my life the way the narrator sings about in "Killing Me Softly": "as if he'd found my letters and read them each out loud."

~ Mallory Anne-Marie Forbes Haws of Mallory Heart Reviews ~

"To say Martin Reaves is a great writer would be an understatement. Each story in this collection...is a stand-alone work of art. Realism, Classical Realism, Magic Realism, Surrealism, Impressionism. Fitting that the story "Blue Kari", the opening piece and one of my favorites, would involve painting. "Harvest Moon", another short and disturbing but beautifully moving piece on the Louisiana bayou, like a very dark folk tale, has imagery I still can't shake from my head. That's one thing Reaves does with this collection. He won't let you soon forget. Or maybe he'll never let you forget. In each piece I see a human soul, sometimes just a sliver, but other times the humanity splashes through your mind and twists your heart into knots. His prose is...poetry-prose...filled with beautiful imagery but never hindering a story's pace.

Humanity, beauty, fear, poetry, art. These are the things that make up Dark Thoughts.

Pick it up. Whatever your taste, you'll find beauty on at least one level, if not several."

~ Trent Zelazny, author of Fractal Despondency, When the Leash Gave Way and Other Stories, Shadowboxer, and Destination Unknown ~

"...man, does this guy have a way with prose. Every character, even small bit players, were pure flesh and blood.
There were brief spells when I was sure I was reading Dean Koontz...perfect heart-pounding pacing...perfect intrigue...twists and turns...moments when I thought I was reading Octavus Roy Cohen...moments when I thought I could possibly be reading Robert Frost or Carl Sandburg...his prose can know why the caged bird sings.

I envy any writer who can remain so honest while simultaneously writing a non-stop suspense thriller...

Martin Reaves does it, very, very well.

Martin Reaves is a writer very much worth your time...if you are a writer, aspiring or veteran...worth studying. Martin Reaves is a superb writer, and I don't think it'll be too much longer before the world discovers this."

~ Trent Zelazny, author of Voiceless, Too Late to Call Texas, and Butterfly Potion ~

“This novel was an excellent, entertaining ride. Reaves creates a genuine landscape of real people suffering from regret and trying to pull their lives back together. He sets the stage for a juicy mystery, kicked off by a strange murder that turns the life of his main character upside down. The novel's twists and turns keep the reader guessing and wondering what will happen next. This was the first novel I've read by Reaves, and it was fantastic."

~ Sara Brooke, author of The Awakening (Book 1 Bloodmane Chronicles), and Kransen House ~

“Martin Reaves has created a dark, cold, muddy world…as in the unknown passages of minds slipping away from reality, of the twists in life that create havoc in the human psyche, of stories and characters so plausible that one wonders...what would happen to our relatively normal lives if fate slapped us a little too hard. A book by an author so supremely talented that I can only hope more people flock to his books.

This is a book I wish I could write: a mix of literary fiction, thriller and mystery; something as difficult to categorize and describe as I am sure it was to write. Kudos to Mr. Reaves for his amazing work.”

~ Conchie Fernandez, author of Undrawn ~

“A totally engrossing and satisfying read. Martin Reaves has peeled back the layers of life in a small town; revealing a dense and disturbing vista…a real page-turner…I was completely riveted.

This is a dark tale that many residents of Any-Town USA will be able to relate to, and it claws at the kind of emotional scabs that long-term friendships and relationships can sometimes ignore. The tone is almost confessional in nature, which only serves to make the characters all the more real and their unique pain transgressive.

This was a fantastic tale, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to fans of Stephen King, Peter Straub, or even fans of true-crime authors such as Ann Rule and Jack Olsen.”

~ Mars Homeworld of Dead House Music ~

(None of whom were actually paid to say these things)

“Martin Reaves's newest novel stares evil in the face and shows its readers just what it sees. I don’t think this book is about hypothetical evils. I think it represents real evil in fictional form, exposing it so that we can understand it and its destructive, multi-generational effects. So yes, it’s a very disturbing novel. It’s not something that you read for entertainment, but rather for the intensity of the reading experience, and to learn why the worst parts of our world are the way they are. While I am opposed to trigger warnings in general, I would append a trigger warning to this book. If you have never felt like your soul has been taken away from you at some point in your life, I wouldn’t recommend reading it."

~ Dr. James Rovira, author of Blake and Kierkegaard: Creation and Anxiety ~