Scary and Funny

Two titles: Dean Vincent Carter's Hand of the Devil and Laurie Gwen Shapiro's Brand X: The Boyfriend Account.

The first was about a giant killer mosquito and its psychopathic handler who lures a reporter to a remote island. There's some blood and gore (the mosquito is toxic and dissolves is victims), lots of creeping about and stalking of prey, but it was also fairly clever. Wove in a Vietnamese folktale to excuse the mosquito's (aka the Devil's Hand) killer ways. Creepy. I think I'll buy it. The cover and title alone will insure circulation.

Also liked the second, a more intellectual pink book. Girl gets internship with ad agency, has some academic and business success (although not to an unrealistic degree), but is also concerned with her crush on a boy. Her cohorts at the ad agency help her "brand" herself to catch the guy. A little predictable (he turns out to be a jerk), but realistic. Fun.

See? I don't hate everything.