The Chloe Files #1: Ashes to Ashes

Howard Hopkins provides thrills and chills aplenty and all in his immediate style that has gained him fans everywhere. If you like the Twilight series, Buffy, the X-Files you'll love this.

The character of Chloe Everson grew out of another one of Howard Hopkins' novels, Grim, where Arlo Grim battles a coven of witches trying to resurrect a demon in New Salem, Maine. Hopkins liked the character so much he decided to give Chloe here own series of books, of which Ashes to Ashes is the first. There is one other Chloe Files book and a third one is rumored to be on the way.Chloe is a 5'6" 30ish former stripper who hunts down demonic creatures in New Salem. She and her fiance Arly, a detective in the New Salem police force, are considered "special" in that they can see creatures which normal humans cannot. Chloe lost her parents at a tender young age and was soon separated from her identical twin sister when they went to foster homes. Chloe would go on to an exotic dancer career hitting the circuit until she ended up in New Salem.Chloe doesn't come across as the brightest light bulb in the pack, but she has a good heart. Which, ironically, makes her more realistic than all the other barroom dancers you encounter in action literature. And she has a good way of sizing up her opponents. She refers to one of her opponents in the book as "Ms. Pixie Sticks" and the name hangs on.The only real problem with the book is Chloe's constant references to events which happened in the novel Grim. She's perpetually bringing up the coven of witches she and Arly defeated. This might make the reader interested in buying another book, but I found it irritating.Ashes to Ashes opens with Chloe trying to find out what happened to her fiance Arly. Next, she'd visited on a dark and stormy night by a monkey which delivers her a locket. It had been given to Chloe years ago by her dead parents. But the creep factor really pumps when she has a vision of diseased children singing the "Ring around the Roses" nursery rhyme. She also begins seeing her vanished sister Patricia on TV. Is someone trying to warn Chloe about another demon working its way into the real world?There's plenty of weird supernatural creatures to go around. A priest who seems to know more than he should. A librarian who may be working for the demons. And she begins to have visions of Arly chained to a wall begging for help.The final battle scene was the pay-off for the book. After nearly 100 pages of back story, the plot began moving to a page-turner conclusion. It's clear that Hopkins is a shudder pulp fan. The final scenes wouldn't be out of place in a Doctor Death novel. I just wish the book had ramped it up earlier.Chloe files #1 is a good beginning for a series. It will be interesting to see where Hopkins takes it.

Howard Hopkins is to Horror, as Janet Evanovich is to Mystery. The Chloe Files #1: Ashes to Ashes introduces us to Chloe Everson, a sexy, sassy heroine who finds her life in an unexpected flux. She had planned to leave stripping behind and settle down with her fiancé, Detective Sergeant Arlo Grimm, for a life of quiet respectability, but he has suddenly disappeared.Arlo had been tracking down a lead about Chloe's missing twin sister, Patricia--separated and lost from her after they became orphaned at age 13. It soon becomes clear that his departure was caused by a demonic spirit drawn to the supernatural hot spot of New Salem, Maine. Strange things are happening. Residents of this seaside town are falling ill with a disease that resembles the bubonic plague, while Chloe struggles to understand, before it is too late, what exactly is her role.She dives in head-first, willing to take on anyone or anything that stands in her way. "I was going to go all Stripper on her ass, which is a lot like going postal only with scratching and hair pulling." Armed only with a mysterious French pendant, rumored to have protected Joan of Arc (and we all know how that turned out), Chloe wise-cracks her way into the ultimate confrontation between the forces of good and evil. Can Chloe rise above her questionable past to banish pestilence, a demon invasion, and rescue her true love? This is an irresistible series start that leaves readers wanting more! It shouts for a big screen or a hip Cable series adaptation!

I've been meaning to write another book review for some time now. As we enter the haunting month of October, I thought It only write to post to post my review of Howard Hopkin's "Ashes to Ashes", book one of the Chloe Files.I have not read the his previous novel GRIMM which introduced our heroine, but turned out not to be necessary as enough references are layout through this story to bring you up to speed to know the world of New Salem and the haunting adventures Chloe has already had.It was quite fun to start the story off with Chloe reading a novelization of her previous adventure written by one said Howard Hopkins. I didn't know until the end of reading the book that this had begun as an online series to promote the earlier GRIMM, but the important thing was that I didn't need to know.ASHES TO ASHES is a scary yet fun tale of a girl desperately searching for the man she love while also uncovering clues to her missing sister, and discovering dark secrets that haunt the city that she calls home.Here is proof that a horror story doesn't need to be full of blood and guts. Enjoy the haunting mystery while Chloe tries to get on with her life.I may now go back and read the original GRIMM, as well as the follow up tale of The Chloe Files.