Reviews

Taboo in Four Colors by Tim McGregor

ryantlabee's review against another edition

4.0

A really fun noir crime story that works as a send up of the hay day of EC comics. I had a blast with this one.

justanotherfinalgirlreview's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Homage to Horror Comics:

Written like an old detective noir tale where the protagonist is a comic illustrator who plays at being a detective when he stops getting regular stories from his mysterious Balthazar who writes the strips he illustrates but doesn’t ever come into work. Complete with death, femme fatale and everything else we have come to love and expect from both genres in one medium paced horror mystery novella!

pomengranate_moon_'s review

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

aaronlindsey's review

5.0

Tim McGregor is so underrated.
I loved this one. It's got that vintage vibe, and flows so much better than most of today's horror.
Wally is an artist in the comic book industry. When the writer of his comics fails to meet his normal deadline, Wally is given the secret address and told to find out what's going on.
From that point (and it's early in the story) I was not able to put the book away.
Short enough to read in one or two sittings, you can't go wrong with this one.

its_rosa_reading's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

spestock's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

zhoronto's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

amichreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

ericarobyn's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

Taboo in Four Colors by Tim McGregor is a tale of comic books, hidden love, and doing whatever needs to be done to keep secrets safe.

With the threat of losing market share and going out of business looming overhead, this comic book company is under some serious pressure. There’s really only one writer that is making them money; A man, named Salazar, who nobody sees, but his work is dropped off consistently. But when there’s a gap in work sent in, the illustrator, Carson, that has been working with this mysterious writer for two years is sent to Salazar’s home to see what is going on.

When he arrives, he meets Salazar’s wife. She seems kind but nervous. Determined to figure out what is going on, Carson presses until he gets answers. The two are soon tied together and must protect their secrets at all costs. But can they keep this all under wraps?

I’ve said it before, but I’ll keep saying it; the way that Tim’s writing style hooks readers right in is incredible. These characters are some that I (yet again) felt protective of immediately. As the story went on, I kept hoping for the best and for them to both get what they want.

The focus on real-world horror mixed with a bit of spookiness is totally captivating. Each day that passed in the storyline made me so nervous that everything was going to crumble down and that one of the secrets would be found out. I was gearing myself up for the downfall so much, but I still wasn’t prepared for where this tale took me!

That ending is one that is both totally satisfying and one that makes you crave more as you just want to see what happens next, never allowing the book to end!

My Favorite Passages from Taboo in Four Colors

She blows a plume of smoke toward the ceiling and then looks at me. “Can I trust you?”
“I don’t know. Nothing good ever comes after that question.”

This city is becoming a dung heap. Seen through the scratched glass of a subway car window, the trash builds up every day and each morning there’s another building leveled to rubble or burnt to a hollowed-out shell. Kids play among the abandoned cars and the open manholes that wait to snatch them away. It’s an awful thing to witness every morning on my way to work, but I can’t seem to look away from the sordid carnage of the Big worm-eaten Apple.

My Final Thoughts on Taboo in Four Colors

This is such an amazing tale. I would recommend it to fans of horror. I blew right through this one! Tim’s work is just unputdownable.

I need Tim to create spin-offs here of the comics that were discussed within the story so I can read those as well!

bobmetal's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0