[jhempel24]

I had taken a few days to really write anything to kind think about them.

They are all great reads on their own merit, you don't even have to read them in order, as each book kind of stands on its own. Although I do think reading them in order is beneficial.

1. The Ring - This is the book that the movie was based on. The girl coming out of the well, and TV etc, pretty creepy stuff, however the book doesn't really have any of that. It's suspenseful, and I would classify it as more of a paranormal mystery than horror. You basically watch a tape, and if you don't follow the instructions, would be killed in 7 days...the instructions are missing from the end of the tape, erased as kind of a joke by some teens who didn't believe the tape to begin with. Thus the mystery, of watching the tape, and then finding out what the secret to breaking the curse is.

2. Spiral - Takes place shortly after, when one of the people that died in The Ring ends up on the autopsy table. The Medical Examiner is someone that had gone to school with the deceased. Ando, the ME, discovers some sort of numerical sequence inside the deceased and deciphers it as to say "RING", and tries to figure out what all of it means as he meets a woman who was with the deceased. The whole thing is kind of hard for me to explain.

3. Loop - Goes from being paranomal mystery/horror to some seriously hard-core science fiction, turns the ENTIRE Ring universe on it's head.

4. Birthday - 3 Short stories, one before The Ring, one during Spiral, and one after Loop, these are essentially "deleted scenes". It's the best way to describe it.

I read these back to back, and enjoyed each one. I have a hard time explaining any of these because I don't want to ruin any suspense, and it gets kind of confusing at times. I thought Loop was the best, a VERY interesting novel, and while Spiral was more suspenseful than The Ring, I found The Ring to be a bit better written and flowed just a little better.