Matt

White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton is an awesome urban fantasy novel. Adam's Sister-in-Law is in trouble when a mysterious spirit appears over Denver, bringing him from Oklahoma to Colorado to try and save the day. Featuring a queer protagonist, this was a delightfully fun story exploring family, relationships, and plenty of magic. Perfect for fans of Kevin Hearne's The Iron Druid Chronicles. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers is a wonderfully cozy sci-fi space adventure. Rosemary joins the crew of the Wayfarer, a tunneling vessel that punches openings in space-time for worm holes, and discovers much about the various species and worlds of the Galactic Commons, as well as a family along the way. The overall feel of this book reminded me a little bit of Martha Wells' Murderbot books, but it is ultimately extremely different and unique. I loved how affirming and positive this story was, while still having some suspense and thrills. I really enjoyed it, despite it being a little slower paced than my usual preferences. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dark Across the Bay by Ania Ahlborn is a white knuckle thrill ride sure to delight readers. The book opens on the owners of a vacation home returning to their island property to a grisly surprise. Pretty much the rest of the book is the story of how that scene came to be. I have not read Cape Fear, the book the publisher's description compares this book to, but my initial impression is that Dark Across the Bay is a twisty thriller with enough dark imagery to satisfy Ahlborn's horror fans. I was really interested in the four members of the Parrish family and longed to unravel the secrets Ahlborn hinted at throughout the book. I will say that I think she may have laid the cards on the table a bit too soon, and I kind of saw the conclusion coming, but I nevertheless found this a really enjoyable read. I would recommend this book to horror fans, as well as readers of thrillers, which I think is probably the best classification for this book. At the time of writing this review Dark Across the Bay is only available in a limited signed and numbered edition hardback (and possibly lettered edition) from Earthling Publications. Naturally it's also sold out and can only be purchased on the secondary market. HOWEVER, an ebook edition will be published tomorrow, December 7th, 2021. I'm so glad this book is getting a digital wide release, because I think this is a story that will be enjoyed by a large audience. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Summer People is an adaptation of the Shirley Jackson story for the stage. I enjoy Jackson, but was unfamiliar with with this story. It is a short tale about insular communities and being an outsider. Perhaps almost folk horror, but somewhat light on the horror. A slow burn that culminates in a conclusion the audience might or might not feel is justified. It almost reminded me a tiny bit of a creepy take on Our Town, though really the similarities are pretty superficial. Still, atmospheric and intriguing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love Stephen King, but this wasn't my favorite of his books. The Colorado Kid, published in the Hard Case Crime series, is somewhat interesting albeit disappointing. The book consists of two old newspaper men telling a story about an unsolved mystery to a young female intern. The mystery is never solved. There was no real resolution, and they simply have to find satisfaction in the unknown. Compared to some of King's other tomes, this volume is rather short- so perhaps he may be forgiven, but I might have enjoyed knowing a bit more of how the Colorado Kid came to be in Maine, and what happened to him. O suppose what I did enjoy was how bold King was in denying me resolution and forcing me to feel what these characters felt. I also appreciated the setting and how King established the island. I guess I enjoyed reading it. 3 stars.

The Changeling by Victor LaValle is an awesome work of dark fantasy. Fairytale and myth with chilling and profoundly disturbing scenes dark enough to appeal to horror fans, this book has it all. It's hard for me to give a synopsis without spoiling this book, and since someone spoiled one of the major reveals of this book for me I think it's better to simply omit the synopsis, that's what Goodreads is for. I'm just going to say that this is a magical story that follows a Black family in NYC while incorporating various elements of fairytale and myth, especially that of the changeling. LaValle hits on a lot of very deep ideas about family, tradition, culture, generational trauma, and love. Throughout much of the book LaValle proved to be a masterful storyteller. There were a few loose ends I didn't totally understand, and it could be argued that the novel is too long, but overall I really enjoyed it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan is a strange and compelling novella. The book blends conspiracy theories ranging from UFOs to cryptids and more with Lovecraftian elements, Biblical imagery, and more. Part apocalypse, part X-Files, something unique and different. I liked this book, although I had a challenging time following it as it weaved through different characters, times, places, etc. The text is loaded with references and ideas and it sometimes seemed overwhelming (perhaps as conspiracy theories and cosmic horror often are). Despite sometimes feeling confused, I was still intrigued by the story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

John Scalzi's The Last Emperox is a fitting, if somewhat unsatisfying, conclusion to the Interdependency trilogy. This series has not been my favorite set of his books. That said, The Last Emperox - like the rest of the series and many of Scalzi's books - has tons of humor (crude and otherwise) alongside interesting sci-fi concepts and political intrigue. This whole series has had major Dune vibes, and frankly I didn't love Dune when I listened to it and have yet to listen to the sequel. So ultimately I was not inherently predisposed to like this series, or this book. I did enjoy both, but I was disappointed that the ending felt a bit rushed. Scalzi created situations that seemed too easy or implausible, and I wasn't thrilled with how the book proceeded after the major twist toward the end. I might give the whole series another listen, but for now I'd give this book and the whole series 4.5/5.

Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore is a fun dark urban fantasy novel that provides an excellent beginning to a series. Eric Carter is a necromancer on the run, but when tragedy brings him home he becomes embroiled in a complicated plot of magic, mystery, and more. Filled with wit and sarcasm and a healthy dose of the macabre, this book will be a delight to fans of urban fantasy, dark fantasy, and even horror. It reminded me a bit Kevin Hearne's The Iron Druid Chronicles. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pet Sematary is probably one of Stephen King's best known works. It has been adapted for film twice, as recently as 2019, and I have encountered references to this book in other more contemporary examples of horror fiction. It is a significantly influential story about grief, humanity's age old conflict against death, and perhaps also humanity's place in a dark and mysterious world. The book stands on the shoulders of antecedents such as The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs. The audiobook was read by Michael C. Hall (Dexter) who did a fantastic job. Despite the hype surrounding this classic and the enduring popularity of the novel, overall I was disappointed in Pet Sematary. I had seen the 2019 movie prior to reading, and I don't know if that experience spoiled reading the book for me, but I just found the pacing of the novel incredibly slow and the length far too long. One of the people in the HOWL Society book club commented that they thought King over foreshadowed, and I agree. Between that and knowing more or less what was going to happen I got so bored waiting for the actual action and scary bits to occur. There were certainly some frightening sections and moments of excellence in storytelling throughout, but sadly I would describe such sections as islands of engagement in a sea of tedium. I also had some questions about the plot and world building, and thought some of the supernatural elements were underdeveloped. To make matters worse, this book was written in the 1980s and features characters imbued with casual racism, sexism, and ableism which were (probably) prevalent at the time. This makes the book a somewhat uncomfortable read for a contemporary reader in addition to being boring. While Pet Sematary has some interesting insights to offer, I simply didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. As the book says, sometimes dead is better. I might add that sometimes unread is better too. I think my idea of this book was better than the actual reading experience proved to be. Maybe someday I'll give this book another chance, and maybe I'll like it better. I hope so. But for now ⭐️⭐️

The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield and read by Ray Porter is a really great Cold War thriller. A true SCIENCE fiction novel, Hadfield brings his real-life astronaut expertise to the book to tell a fascinating story on Earth and in space. The book tells the story of an Apollo 18 mission to the moon, and has lots of twists and complications along the way that kept me on the edge of my seat. I also started this book before Russia invaded Ukraine, and it was kind of surreal to listen to a Cold War story right as Russia and Ukraine become prominent in the news. I found the plot and world extremely compelling, although the character development did seem a bit uneven at times. Despite some elements not seeming as fleshed out as others, I still really enjoyed this book. Porter was excellent as always.

Imagine the reversal of expectations of Blonde Roots meets the format of The Handmaid's Tale meets the sci-fi dystopia of The Fireman meets elements of the spirituality of The Parable of the Sower. In The Power women suddenly develop electrifying new abilities and patriarchal structures begin to topple as social, political, and religious are redefined. What if God was Mother? What does it mean to be a woman? Would the world be a better place if women ran the place, or is the violence known as patriarchy something beyond the masculine gender? These are just some of the questions explored by this novel. While I felt the concluding chapters went on a bit too long and were a bit too on the nose, overall I enjoyed this book. The plot was interesting and it was easy to become invested in the characters.

Dead Eleven is Jimmy Juliano's debut novel. Constructed as a “book within a book” the manuscript's fictional author, Harper, recounts his investigation into his sister's disappearance on Door County's Clifford Island. Using a variety of different formats (audio transcripts, letters, third person narrative, direct address to the reader, etc.) and told from the prospective several different narrators, Dead Eleven is an oral history of the natural and supernatural horrors on Clifford. The best way I can think to describe this book is Stephen King's IT meets Thomas Olde Heuvelt's HEX with a weird 90s setting. Although it would be fair to say this book stands firmly on the shoulders of its antecedents, perhaps even to the point of being derivative of King, this was such a page turner! I absolutely loved this book and was fully invested in the plot and characters. The use of different formats to create the oral history style of the novel infused the book with variety and flexibility, and just made the book feel a little more original and pulled the reader from chapter to chapter to the climax. I would have never guessed this was a debut novel until the final few chapters (some of which seemed a bit over-written, laying out information that had previously been revealed to the reader, etc.) but nevertheless I found the beginning, middle, and end highly compelling (even if the end was slightly less so). To be fair, though this was Juliano's first published novel, he is an established writer in short fiction, that his literary skill was evident throughout. This was no “MFA thesis book” (I mean that as a compliment), and it's no surprise Dead Eleven is in development for adaptation with A&E. I highly recommend Dead Eleven to horror fans, and I know I'll want to check out the on-screen version if it ultimately gets made. 

Silver Nitrate might be my favorite book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia yet! Combining film, the occult, history, cursed media, and even a will-it-or-won't-it friends-to-lovers arc, Silver Nitrate has a lot going on, and it's all awesome. Monserrat, a México City audio editor, and her best friend actor Tristan find themselves increasingly sucked in to a world of magic. Yet an old silver nitrate film may end up being more than they bargained for. This book combines elements of cursed media horror with a lot of fascinating information and presents a pair of compelling protagonists. While a few elements of the story didn't feel 100% paid off in this first read, I nevertheless enjoyed the book enough to call it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a beautiful and bittersweet story about an Artificial Friend named Klara, and her life with a human family. The book explores many themes such as faith and hope, prejudice, love and friendship, grief, and mortality. The book is a bit dystopian, but like Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go information is revealed slowly throughout the character and relationship focused narrative. I would have loved to have known more about the dysfunctional world Klara lived in, and some of the other characters, but ultimately that wasn't really the point. Overall this was a really lovely read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a free eARC of Pearl by Josh Malerman from Del Ray via NetGalley. I was very excited to read this book, originally published in a limited release under the title ON THIS, THE DAY OF THE PIG, in its new wide release. Unfortunately I did not enjoy this title as much as I hoped to. In Pearl, the title character (a pig) has telepathic abilities and influences people to do things. Terrible things. I struggled to connect with the premise. While the book did contain some interesting and unsettling scenes, fundamentally I just don't find pigs to be that scary and had trouble buying into a pig that “sat on its ass” (a FREQUENT description of Pearl's abnormal behavior) as a creepy villain or monster. Frankly if I had not received this book as an eARC I might have DNF'd it. I'm kind of glad I didn't because I do think the book picked up a bit as it went, but I think this is far from Malerman's best. ⭐️⭐️

Goblin by Josh Malerman is an awesome book telling the story of a strange and haunted town through six interrelated novellas. Think Welcome to Nightvale meets The Twilight Zone all told by Josh Malerman. I loved the prologue and felt genuinely scared. I also loved most of the stories in the book. Makerman has succeeded in telling a very atmospheric story. One novella felt too long and another didn't seem to connect with the rest of the book that much. The ending seemed a bit confusing and left me with unanswered questions. Despite these criticisms I loved the book! Very different than Bird Box, but really great. 4.5 stars!

There are many advantages to reading with a book club, including: getting to discuss books with a group, discovering books I might have otherwise been unaware of, and of course friendship and fellowship. One downside though is feeling self-imposed pressure not to DNF a book I'm not enjoying because I don't want to let the group down by not reading it. Sadly this situation was the case with The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson. Imagine a world where the technology needed to travel the multiverse has been invented, the catch being that traveling to world in which the other version of yourself is still alive will kill you. Enter Cara, a traverser who came from impoverished Ash Town, who has died in a huge number of the other worlds making her extremely valuable to Eldridge Institute located in affluent Wiley City. The book has a lot going for it: a queer romance, representation and inclusion of different kinds of people, an inventive take on the multiverse, and relevant dystopian themes about equity. At its absolute best some sections reminded me a bit Butler's The Parable of the Sower, but unfortunately on the whole this book just didn't work for me. It was loaded with exposition and yet still managed to be confusing in its world building for far too long. I also found the fact that people sometimes had different names in the different worlds to be very confusing. Finally, I expected this to be a sci-fi adventure but it's really more of a character driven story with some sci-fi elements. Overall I was bored and confused and found listening to this book to be a bit of a chore. It did pick up a bit eventually, but it simply wasn't to my taste overall. ⭐️⭐️

Killers of a Certain Age is a great book about a team of retired assassins...of a certain age. Imagine The Thursday Murder Club meets Kingsmen with a bit of Jason Bourne, and you'll maybe have a sense of what this book is like. Four middle aged women are retiring from The Museum, a mysterious international extra-governmental agency, but just when they think they're going to finally move on to a new phase of life...SURPRISE...things get complicated. While I felt some parts dragged a little bit, overall I enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and hearing about their exploits. This is a fun book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Near the Bone by Christina Henry is harrowing novel of survival, fear, and fight. Part wilderness/survival horror, part creature feature, and part crime, this book has a lot going on. Mattie lives in a cabin on a mountain with her husband William. One day they discover some disturbing animal remains and the mysterious creature responsible. Yet this creature quickly proves not to be the only monster in this story. There were some really scary parts in this book, and I found the protagonist's story to be very emotionally impactful. There were so many times when I was angry and sad. Other parts of the book were genuinely suspenseful. Unfortunately there were other instances when the plot felt a little too unfocused and events and information seemed like Diabolus ex Machina. In my opinion there wasn't enough focus on some elements of the plot, especially the monster, throughout the book. Henry choose to leave a lot about the monster mysterious, and while this can sometimes be an effective means of triggering fear, in this case I kind of just found it vague. I'm tempted to say this could have been a short story or a novella, but I do think the more suspenseful sections were well done. Overall I rate this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fantastic! Another home run from Andy Weir, his best since The Martian. I don't want to get into spoilers, but this book combines the hard science fiction and humor of Weir's earlier bestselling triumph with a few more fantastical elements that may delight fans of Dennis E. Taylor or Peter Clines. If you're wondering why those two authors, apart from a particular plot element present in Project Hail Mary, the audiobook is narrated by Ray Porter, who is a G.O.A.T. level audiobook narrator. I found Project Hail Mary to be compelling, fascinating, and even emotionally moving. The protagonist was a realistic and flawed hero who seemed completely relatable. The plot, while a bit out there, seemed plausible enough to this non-scientist. I would highly recommend this book, and especially the audiobook version! 5 stars.

The Return by Rachel Harrison is a chilling novel about relationships, grief, the haunting of the past, and attachments we just can't let go. It's hard to explain, and even harder to articulate without spoilers, but it's a meditation on female friendships combined with monsters, a creepy hotel, and a bit more. There were parts that were really creepy, and I loved the characters. I did think the plot got bogged down too many times by flashback monologues where the protagonist would let the audience in on some pivotal information from the past, but overall this was an enjoyable listen. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran is an exciting new supernatural erotic thriller, marking the debut of Gran's new publishing label Dreamland Books. I think it's important to provide a content advisory at this point, this book is appropriate for adult readers only, age 18 or older. Though I had previously read Gran's book Come Closer, this novel represented a departure from my typical reading fare. It was a very sexual story detailing the adventures of an author-turned-book-dealer named Lily, on her quest for a very rare occult volume. Lily's husband Able has some form of early on-set dementia, and the sale of this desired yet elusive Book of the Most Precious Substance could provide much needed life changing money. Thus Lily goes on a globe trotting adventure chasing rumors of the book. Even though I don't normally read erotica, I was really drawn in by the thriller and supernatural/horror elements of this story. I wanted to know if Lily and her associates would find the book, if the magic was real, and ultimately where this volume was going. I enjoyed the ride for the most part. I did think the plot got a bit thin at a few points, and perhaps the page count was a bit long (over 100 pages longer than Come Closer). There were a few places where I think the book could have been tightened up. Yet, overall I did find the mysteries and suspenseful elements compelling and Gran's prose to be well written. The ending was a mixed bag for me, I felt lots of conflicting emotions, but overall I enjoyed this story. I look forward to seeing what's next from Dreamland Books and Sara Gran ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a melancholy yet moving dystopian story about the value of a human life, and indeed what it means to be human. I don't know how to meaningfully discuss this work without spoiling some significant parts of it, so stop reading this review now if you haven't read the book and don't want some plot points spoiled. In Never Let Me Go people are cloned and these clones are raised from childhood to adulthood, going through special schools and training programs, until finally as adults they are called upon to make “donations” (or have their organs harvested to give to regular non-clone people). The “donors” know what they are and what their ultimate destiny is from a fairly young age. It's heartbreaking to see these characters grow up, discover what they are, and simply live with it as if it were normal. It also strained my suspension of disbelief. As adults the donors drove cars and enjoyed some freedom of movement, yet the protagonists never really made meaningful attempts to run away. There wasn't really mention of anyone protesting the practice of raising these donors and then slowly killing them for organs. Based on the way people in real life protest abortion, animal testing, and even eating meat I thought it was pretty unrealistic that everything could simply be so calm, so accepted, and so inevitable. Perhaps this is my American sensibilities running up against the British setting of the novel, but I just couldn't understand why all this went on without a fight or even much of a complaint? Despite this, the book features excellent character development, relationships, and slow-burn world building. I rate this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Interesting book. Ultimately no one really knows who Jack the Ripper was, and this book acknowledges that and yet builds a case for an individual the author thinks likely. Maybe yes, maybe no. Ultimately it wasn't really my cup of tea. The only reason I didn't DNF is because I was reading it for a book club. To be fair, I've read very little true crime and may just not be a fan of the genre.