Title: Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview 

Author: Andrew Pyper & Craig Davidson

Narrator: Joshua Jackson

Release date: June 12th, 2025

 

In September of 2024, I was in Toronto to attend DreadCon,. 

It was my second trip to Toronto in consecutive years to celebrate something horror with Andrew Pyper. 2023 was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Andrew’s The Demonologist, and I found myself there a year later, this time to host a panel with Andrew and Craig Davidson about pseudonyms, as all three of us used them in our writing.

When I was out there in 2023, Andrew had revealed to me the news about the upcoming William release as Mason Coile, and – while on the train to the Hockey Hall of Fame – I told him (smugly I might add) that even if he’d not shared the details, I would’ve known he’d have written it because of the prose. I’ve often spoken of Andrew’s writing voice, his prose, and those of you reading this right now who know Andrew’s work inside and out will be nodding your head. Andrew wrote like only Andrew. 

After reading both the screenplay and the novel of William, I reaffirmed to Andrew that even under the Mason Coile moniker, it was Andrew Pyper’s writing and he found that hilarious.

So, on the way to DreadCon, Andrew in the drivers seat, myself in the passenger seat, we discussed a bunch of stuff, and I asked Andrew about Oracle 3. I’d like to think I’m a smart fella, though sometimes it takes me a bit to catch on, and Andrew’s reply was one that didn’t click until the details of Oracle 3 were released. He said “It’s done and dusted. It’s currently waiting for Joshua Jackson to find time in his schedule to perform it again but it should be out next year.” And then he added – “We’ll see if this one puts that prose theory of yours to the test.” Now, at the time, I just assumed he’d be referring to the change in structure. Oracle had been a single narrator in a single book. Oracle 2 was a full cast and production with ten episodes. So, returning to a single book single narrator performance was what I thought Andrew had been alluding too.

Alas, I was wrong and it became clear while I was in Toronto for the third consecutive year, in February of 2025, but this time at Andrew’s celebration of life. While there, I was talking to Craig Davidson and I asked him if he could spill the beans on the title of the third Mason Coile book. He’d mentioned in the memorial he’d provided for the Globe and Mail about helping Andrew finish a book, and to the masses, we all assumed that was the third Coile book that’d been mentioned in the Publishers Weekly announcement for Exiles. Craig said he had no idea and that Andrew had done that on his own. (I’ll add, Andrew had mentioned to me in the car ride to DreadCon that the third Coile was done, but wouldn’t share the title either). It clicked then, that Craig had helped finish the third Oracle and this was confirmed when the release information and preorders were announced.

So, that’s a VERY long-winded way of me saying, Oracle 3 had me intrigued. Andrew and Craig previously wrote an unpublished novel together and a short story, but nothing that’d been publicly available. Craig – who is one of the nicest guys in the world – has the monumental ability of being a chameleon when it comes to writing. His structure and prose is very different as Craig Davidson compared to his alter egos Nick Cutter and Patrick Lestewka. That made me hopeful that he could work along Andrew and emulate the Pyper-prose that has been a constant in my life for a decade. 

I had no doubt that the narration would be phenomenal – Joshua Jackson’s performance as Nate Russo in the previous two were fantastic – so I was confident there. And, knowing Craig had worked with Andrew through an outline and key points, increased that confidence. But to me – a Pyper super fan – I was still stressing about how it would play out. How Andrew’s series would potentially conclude in the literary hands of another, even if those hands were from one of Canada’s biggest authors.

What I liked: The story follows Nate Russo, along with Claire and Tillman, head to a remote location in northern Ontario to investigate a murder. There, in a derelict former lodge – The Grandview – a reunion of friends was taking place, when one of them met a gruesome ending.

Now, if you’ve read/listened to the previous two audiobooks in this series, you’ll already know that Nate has powers – he can read people, see their thoughts and memories when he touches them and has a dark passenger – The Bone Man. Once on the island, Nate knows there’s more going on than a simple disagreement that turned deadly. Something else is there. Something worse than The Bone Man.

As the story picks up, we learn that two of the friends were also trying to use this trip as a way to get the others to invest in a synthetic drug they’d developed, one that opens your mind and let’s you go on a wonderful trip. Known as Blue Dragon, Nate wonders if the drug might’ve opened the door to something from somewhere else to slip through and infiltrate the Grandview.

Throughout, we get this cat and mouse game, this is it or isn’t it storyline that propels the plot forward. Even as things on the island are revealed and discoveries are made, the listeners never fully get a solid answer. Yes, this is something else. No, this is just a person having a bad trip. But that all begins to change with the introduction of The Traveler. 

It’s here that the story really takes off and we go from a mass market thriller to a more straight forward horror story. It’s here where we see the shift from Davidson the literary writer, to Cutter the horror author. Things get dark. Dirty. Mucky. And by God, things get Pyper prosed.

There are brief moments in here where I’d believe Andrew wrote parts of it. From what I gather, and what Craig’s said in interviews and in the author’s note at the end, he wrote this off of Andrew’s outline and the two of them meeting up and discussing things. But my goodness did Craig manage to conjure some truly spot-on and phenomenal Andrew moments throughout.

The ending and epilogue of this both allude to a firm ending for Nate Russo’s journey, but also keep the door freshly open for more, and honestly, seeing what Craig’s done here, I’d be up for more in the series.

Nate Russo is one of Andrew’s greatest creations, and Craig wholeheartedly did that character justice.

What I didn’t like: In this case, the only thing I wasn’t too sure about, was the relationship between Nate and The Bone Man. Coming in, from the previous two, I’d come to believe it was a certain mutually-beneficial arrangement between the two, and it seemed to see-saw back and forth throughout this one. It’s a minor thing, and most likely a very purposeful thing based on how the plot plays out, but it’s what struck me.

Why you should buy this: If you loved the first two, you’ll absolutely love this one. Even though I only could listen to it in 20 minute increments on my drive to and from work each day, I was completed invested and couldn’t wait to dive back in each time. Jackson’s performance was great, and his ability to bring each character to life was spectacular. 

Craig Davidson has absolutely delivered a wonderful, loving and phenomenal book in the Oracle series, and I can’t thank him enough for doing this for Andrew and for his fans. 

A taut, fast-paced, who-dunnit, the third book in this series proves that Nate’s story is only getting started and I hope we see more entries down the road.

https://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Murder-Grandview-Book/dp/B0F2NR3GZF/

https://www.audible.com/pd/Oracle-3-Murder-at-the-Grandview-Audiobook/B0F2NXDNVW

Title: Veil

Author: Jonathan Janz

Release date: September 16th, 2025

*Huge thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a digital ARC of this one!*

I’ve been reading and reviewing long enough to remember the YEAR OF JONATHAN JANZ. If you’ve not heard that, well you missed out on getting a couple new Janz releases plus I think almost a dozen re-releases, all within the same year. This was maybe 2017 or 2018 and it was a gloriously amazing time to be a Janz fan! Throughout Janz’s literary career, one thing has become absolutely paramount in every single story he writes. The man cares about his characters. What I mean about that, is it’s very very veeeerrry rare to find a one-dimensional character in his story. There’s not a lot of folks just there to be there and not move the story along and you’ll learn what makes them tick.

That was what had me so excited when ‘Veil’ was announced. Janz hasn’t been afraid to subgenre hop in the horror world – he’s done everything from werewolves to vampire’s to spooks and specters and ghosts and everything in between. But he’s not done anything truly in the alien/sci-fi world, and fresh off the alien desecration that Adam Nevill unleashed with ‘All the Fiends of Hell,’ I couldn’t wait to see what Janz had up his sci-fi sleeve.

What I liked: The story follows high school teacher John, who is dealing with a heavy life. He’s separated from his wife Iris, constantly fighting with his older son and trying to stay connected to his younger daughter. And on top of that, he feels like a lesser person, dealing with a significant limp from a leg length discrepancy from an accident when he was younger. But that all pales in comparison to what’s begun to happen around the world. Without any sort of rhyme or reason, people are going missing, plucked from the sky by something… never to be seen again.

We’re thrown into the deep end immediately. John and his son go for a walk to the store, discussing father and son issues, and what’s happening in the world, when his son rounds a corner and is just… gone.

That moment, quite early on, is the launching point for the world to turn upside down as the sky opens and hundreds of thousands begin to be plucked and disappear. Video footage emerges, curfews are enacted and after John’s wife also gets taken, him and his daughter hunker down and do their best to survive. Of course, there’s a nut job vigilante in the neighborhood, wanting to make sure all the dwindling supplies are stored in one place – for safe keeping naturally – and its those moments were we see how the novel also alludes to real life events – Covid and political upheaval and even presciently to what’s happening with ICE in the US right now. Janz does a phenomenal job of twisting this from first being an abduction novel and turning into a story about a father doing everything and anything it takes to try and find those he loves the most.

As it progresses, we learn what has arrived and what they’re doing and there’s a hard line that gets drawn between here and there and Janz plays those cards perfectly, showing us what just may await those who pierce the veil.

The final quarter of the novel is a full sprint. It’s tough to really describe everything without having spoilers, but I will say it worked really well to have this earth and non-earth juxtaposition where we feel grounded and then frantic.

The ending is a mix of heartwarming and heart wrenching and honestly that’s exactly what this book needed.

What I didn’t like: Two things stuck out to me. The first was that I found the son disappearing felt almost like it happened too soon. It was the rare moment in the book where I felt like we didn’t get enough of the father-son dynamic to really grab a strong grasp of their relationship before the son was gone.

The second was that the aspect of here versus there seemed like it was too easy to traverse across. Again, I don’t want to be a Spoiler McSpoilface, so I’ll leave it there.

Why you should buy this: Horror and sci-fi have been pals for ever since books began to be written and movies filmed. So, it should be noted that while this is ‘sci-fi’ it’s grounded in the horror genre and shows Janz’s horror sensibilities time and time again. This was frantic. Chaos infused claustrophobia. It was a father desperately trying to find his family and things from elsewhere arriving and wrecking havoc.

Janz is an elite writer, one who has honed his writing voice and mastery of prose over decades now, and once you begin a Janz book, you know you’re in sure and steady hands.

This book was achingly perfect and is sure to connect with long-time fans and bring in plenty of new fans and I expect to see this book – especially with that cover – become a mainstay on social media for many years to come.

Back in 2021, Andrew Pyper unleashed Oracle upon us. It was a departure for Andrew, in that it was an Audible exclusive, audio-only release. Fans were thrilled to have a new Pyper ‘book,’ and Andrew delivered, introducing us to one of the best main characters he’s created in Nate Russo and the hauntingly perfect antagonist, known as The Boneman. While long-time Pyper fans flocked to this release, thousands of new readers/listeners discovered Andrew because of the narrator – one Joshua Jackson. I’ve written in the past about how well of a job Jackson did bringing this world to life, and when Oracle 2: The Dreamland Murders was announced and Jackson was back as Russo, fans were elated. Even more exciting was the news that Oracle 2 was a full production. 10 episodes with a cast performing the parts, a soundtrack, and an audio side performing/producing the accompanying noises, Oracle 2 fully brought the experience to life.

After that, there was some radio silence regarding whether we’d get Oracle 3. On my end, I frequently queried Andrew – Is it happening? Is Jackson on board? I’d usually bring it up every 2 or 3 months, to which Andrew would reply something along the lines of “I think so.”

In 2024, when I was in Ontario for DreadCon, on the drive out, I asked Andrew again about Oracle 3 – after we’d chatted about Exiles and the third Coile book (Andrew was very evasive about the third Coile book!) and he told me at that time that the manuscript was done and it was now just a matter of Joshua Jackson scheduling in the time to perform it.

As we sadly know, at the beginning of 2025, Andrew passed away following an 18-month battle with cancer. After Andrew passed, his good friend, Craig Davidson (also known as Nick Cutter in the horror world) contributed a very moving tribute about Andrew in the Globe and Mail. Within, Craig mentioned that he helped Andrew complete one of his books and initially, the chatter was that Craig had helped finish the third Coile book. But not long after, it became known that Craig had assisted Andrew in completing the Oracle 3 manuscript.

Now, on the eve of Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview, Craig was kind enough to answer some questions about the Audible release and what might come in the future.

Steve – Craig, first off, thanks for doing this. I’d spoken with Andrew back in 2023 and again in 2024 about Oracle 3 and he said it was at various stages of completion. In late 2024, at DreadCon, he’d told me it was finished and that it was waiting Joshua Jackson to record the narration aspect.

At what stage did you become involved?

Craig – I guess I was involved from the beginning, when Oracle 3 was pitched to Andrew. Back in 2023, I’ll say (I’m terrible with dates), Andrew and I met at a place we often did in Bloor West in Toronto – I’ve told this story partially, elsewhere, so I am repeating myself to a degree but … so I knew by then that Andrew had cancer, but this was the first time I’d met him since he’d told me. He looked, well, like a man who had cancer. Paler, thinner, but still Andrew.

We chatted about a lot of things, obliquely. His diagnosis, his plans, his … well, frankly, his lifespan as he was given to understand it. And at that time – and this could be as much a factor of his mindset in light of this terrible diagnosis as much as anything his physicians had told him – he was on a short clock. He never said how short, perhaps he had been given no indication of that from his doctors, but he seemed to view it as short and as such, he wanted to spend it wisely.

From a writing perspective, that meant (as I came to see it) the Mason Coile books, of which I believe he wrote 2 after his diagnosis, amazingly. And beyond that, I think he spent time writing meaningful work for his children, his wife, and others in his life. So, with those being his main focus, there was this Oracle series … and he told me during that lunch that Amazon had made an offer, a significant one, for the third book but he’d turned it down – he simply lacked the bandwidth.

So, after that lunch I was walking home and in a bad/scared/miserable state of mind, I guess unsurprisingly … Andrew and I had talked about a whole lot of things, but one mainstay was the nuts and bolts of writing for a living. Turning down a contract the size of which Amazon had been offered was unthinkable for the Andrew I knew … but that was the pre-cancer Andrew, and his priorities had vastly altered.

Anyways, walking home I got a notion and called my agent (also Andrew’s agent) Kirby and told him, basically: Listen, I’ll write that Oracle book for Andrew. If Amazon’s into that. Morbidly, I thought if Andrew was right about his short clock, well, his wife could use the money.

And Amazon agreed. Andrew and I agreed to do it. Andrew wrote an outline, I followed it as well as I could. I did my best. I had fun, in light of circumstances. Mainly, it gave Andrew and I another reason to hang out. I think, as one gets ill in such a way, the usual process is to retreat: into family, into the home, into a small set of routines. And ultimately Andrew did so, and we all understood, but until then Andrew and I would continue to meet for lunches and dinners and talk writing, and books, and his own work (he kept crushing it right until the end, the man was an absolute machine of happy industry) and, yes, Oracle.

So, if anything, the book gave us that. And I’m glad.

Steve – Was it daunting to jump into this world that Andrew had created? Nate Russo is a textbook Pyper lead – a bit world-weary, sardonic but ultimately has an internal hope that things will get better. You and Andrew previously wrote a novel together, but this is a bit of a different situation, coming in to help him complete this work. Was there any type of preparation that you did?

Craig – I think these Oracle books are the closest to Andrew’s own personality, as you state it in your question: sardonic, hilarious, world-weary, but ultimately and pervasively hopeful. So there’s a huge fear of screwing that up for readers who loved the first two books, but I suppose it’s the same I’d feel stepping into almost any writer’s shoes, or they into mine – in the end, because there was very little other option in the matter, and because Andrew gave his permission … and I think he probably found it kinda cool to have another writer, a buddy and co-writer, take a crack at his creation – and he was nothing but generous and thoughtful and supportive in his notes and emails about it … anyway, for all those reasons I just dove in. Other than reading/listening to the Nate Russo books, and another work Andrew directed my attention to, no, there was no other preparation.

Steve – Oracle was a singular book with a singular narrator. Oracle 2 was a full production release, with multiple episodes and a full cast performing the script. Now, with Oracle 3 returning to a singular book with a singular narrator, did anything change in the approach to this one? Andrew previously told me that he found the story far more straight forward for the 3^rd than for the 2^nd.

Craig – Yes, I think narratively it’s more straightforward? It’s a locked-room whodunnit of a certain stripe, though with the usual supernatural overtones. The Boneman causing havoc. Those wonderful, rich characters Andrew created, abetted by a cast of ne’er-do-wells or possible ne’er-do-wells in an old, abandoned hotel. Lots of shadowy hallways, empty rooms, and brooding ghosts.

Steve – What can we expect with Oracle 3? Or rather what can you share! Anticipation is high for the third entry in Nate Russo’s story and other than the synopsis, us fans haven’t been given much to go on. Was this based on a real incident and fictionalized?

Craig – I don’t think it was based on a real incident as far as I was given to understand, though it harkens to Andrew’s own childhood/teenage-hood and perhaps some work he once did, a summer job at a lodge? And it’s a story about a certain time of life, a time Andrew had come to and I as well, where we look back at our lives with a certain wistfulness for those paths traveled and not traveled and how those made us into the people we are. So, very human and relatable, as I think is a hallmark of Andrew’s work.

Steve – Lastly, and thank you again so much, Craig for taking the time to do this, is this the end of the Oracle series? Or has Andrew potentially shared any ideas for future Russo adventures with you with the possibility that you’ll continue the series? It was always interesting to discuss this series with Andrew. On the one hand, he said he didn’t like to get bogged down with a ‘series.’ Having to keep working on a single world over and over again when there were so many other places to explore. But he also said he loved watching Russo grow and change and deal with everything he was dealing with. So, I’d be curious – as would all of the fans! – to know if Andrew had left us with more potential entries in the Russo world or not.

Craig – I really don’t know where it might go, Steve. As of now, we may have reached the end of this particular road, but never say never!

(Craig and Andrew in 2017 on The Dark Side tour)

*

I greatly appreciate Craig doing this interview, as well as how phenomenal of a friend he was to Andrew, Andrew’s family, and for stepping up and getting Oracle 3 completed.

Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview releases TOMORROW, June 12th, 2025 and is an Audible exclusive!

You can still preorder today – links to US and CAN Audible below. As well – buy Andrew’s books, support one the greats AND buy Craig’s books and support a phenomenal author, who – much like Andrew was – is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.

Audible CANADA Link:

https://www.audible.ca/pd/Oracle-3-Murder-at-the-Grandview-Audiobook/B0F2P2RG8D

Audible US Link:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Oracle-3-Murder-at-the-Grandview-Audiobook/B0F2NXDNVW

Title: Experimental Film

Author: Gemma Files

Release date: December 3rd, 2015

It’s very rare for me to every return to a DNF, but something about this book lingered since I tucked it away almost five years ago. It was an odd thing. Often, after I’ve decided a book isn’t for me, it simply goes away and doesn’t take up any storage in my brain. But not this one. And after having recently read ‘A Book of Tongues’ the first in Gemma’s Hexslinger series, I knew it was time to return to this one.

Now, it could be a case of personal life stuff, time, distance from the DNF, I’m not sure, but this time the book connected with me immediately and I was hooked.

Is this a book I liked? Absolutely. Is this a book I’d recommend? Absolutely. Is this a book for everyone? No, I don’t think so. But that’s ok. Because for those who connect with this book… wow, this is an experience that is immersive.

What I liked: The book follows Lois, former film critic/reviewer who is trying to deal with her son’s autism diagnosis at the same time as being fired from her job. Searching for something to keep her going through the exhaustion and emotional drain, she attends an experimental film viewing, and while there notices something about a particular piece of film that could unlock a lost portion of Canadian Film History.

It’s here where the seeds are planted for the ‘oddness’ to slowly seep in. If you’re looking for a book filled with action and in your face spooks and scares, go elsewhere my friends. This is not the book you’re looking for.

No, what this book is, really, is a love story. I know that sounds odd, but throughout, this story focuses on the marriage between Simon and Lois, their love and trust and support of each other – no matter the circumstance – and their partnership and parenting of their son. Those moments, when Clark is there, are the pure highlights of the book, but in a way, also the most mundane. Some readers really won’t care for them. But those were the moments that shone through the most for me. Times when Clark would start singing and his parents would join in. Later on, when Lois is in hospital and Clark has just left the hospital, Clark comes to visit her and the they break into an animated interaction which had me grinning. It’s those moments that ground the story, shape it into a real-world narrative, that feels very meta and fourth-wall breaking. In fact, large parts of this book, I kept thinking of the main character as ‘Gemma’ and not ‘Lois,’ even after someone would refer to her as ‘Lois.’ It felt very personal, very non-fiction, and I think, in this case at least, it is what helped me connect more with the story and elevated the ‘ghost/haunting’ aspects even more.

Throughout, after Lois links the film she saw with this particular part of film history, we get little glimpses of the ‘oddness.’ It’s not until she – and her co-author on this project – go to the Vinegar House to get more insight into this film and the woman that made it, that things really get strange. It was a solid narrative shift at that point where you can subtly feel Gemma ramp things up and they keep ramping up until the very end. We have a solid foil, of a former colleague of Lois’ who wants in on this project, after they themselves get fired, and we get a great supernatural BINGO moment that really ripped the Band-Aid off.

When all was said and done, this morphed from a slow-burn ghost tale to a taught, frightening, unnerving paranormal explosion.

What I didn’t like: This is a dense read. It’s very heavy, and at times, hard to digest with the teeny-tiny chess pieces that Gemma moves. It happens so transparently, but so deftly, that you can easily miss small moments that work towards a significant scene later on down the road. It’s akin to a throw away line of dialogue in GRRM’s series in book one that has repercussions for a character in book three. So, go in with an open mind and for those who like to annotate when they read, get ready to have thousands.

Why should buy this: As I said before, this book is definitely not for everybody, but I think everybody who reads this – and finishes it – will be greatly rewarded. At its core is a solid, moving family whose relationship is paramount to pushing the narrative forward. It’s sweet, heartwarming and not what we traditionally see in fiction, especially dark fiction.

This novel simmers, it glows and then sparks with a kinetic energy that’s almost palpable. And I’m so glad I returned to this one and saw it through. Because it was fantastic.