Matt
Home Before Dark is a great, if imperfect, haunted house story filled with twists and turns that will leave readers guessing through each moment of this gothic page-turner. I found the first quarter of the book to be kind of slow. In fact, my initial impression was that this book had been way over hyped. The premise of the book is that a family of three - mom, dad, and a little girl - flees a haunted house twenty five years ago. Although the girl remembers very little of her time in the house, her father's book about their experiences has been a defining factor in her life, much to her frustration because she believes it was all a lie. After her father dies she returns to the house. What will she discover? Interesting, but not revolutionary. The whole thing seemed vaguely similar to Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts, and other elements in Home Before Dark reminded me of various other horror books and movies too. I thought that this story was recycling a lot of familiar tropes, which to be fair might not have originated in some of books and movies I had previously seen them in either. But nevertheless my overall opinion was that Home Before Dark was nothing extraordinary. A horror novel written to appeal to “I don't read horror” thriller fans who were familiar with some of Sager's previous books perhaps? Yet, after the first 100 pages things started to pick up and I really got hooked. I'm not going to get into spoilers, but I'll just say that I didn't see the ending coming, and I actually liked how it ended up. The book was very twisty and overall a lot of fun, even if some parts of it were a bit less effective than others and I did ultimately feel that some parts of it felt a bit derivative of other works. I'd recommend this one, just don't go in believing the hype that it's the best horror novel ever. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Joyland is truly a joy to read or listen to. In this short novel King tells a story filled with mystery, romance, the supernatural, a bit of horror, and a nostalgic look back at what it was to be 21. Dev, a college student at UNH, takes a summer job at Joyland - a North Carolina amusement park filled with the old carnival spirit - where he discovers more than he could have ever bargained for. The first part of the book felt super wholesome and focused on having a summer job, finding one's self, being in love, etc. As the book progressed things started to get a bit more weird and Joyland quickly began to make connections to the lore of other King books. While it might be fair to say that King does little here he hasn't done in some of his previous books, I do think it's noteworthy that he's packed so many themes, tropes, and other elements from his other work into a shorter volume with a New Adult protagonist. Overall I had a great time listening to this book and highly recommend it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ira Levin is a renowned author of horror and thrillers. Despite his acclaim, I had up to this point managed to avoid reading both Rosemary's Baby and this work. I'm grateful that The Howl Society book club selected this novella and inspired me to finally check it off my comically long TBR. Although I had never read any of Levin's books or seen their film adaptations, I was, however, familiar with Levin from my experience directing a community theatre production of his play Deathtrap. Based on Deathtrap, a thriller about writers, marketable ideas, love, a psychic, and more, I expected The Stepford Wives be thrilling, twisty, and perhaps even violent. In a way, it was. Without giving away too much of the plot, let it suffice to say that a family moves to the suburban town of Stepford, and the novel's protagonist Joanna begins to suspect that something odd is happening that transforms all the women into their husband's idea of an ideal house wife. Beautiful and devoted to housework. Throughout the book clues are dropped, some red herrings too, and dread begins to build toward the book's conclusion. While I felt it took a little bit to get started, once it got going it was a thrilling ride. Though this book isn't characterized by the overt violence of Deathtrap, the reader witnesses other types of violence including gaslighting, oppressive gender roles, and perhaps even something more sinister still. As much fun as it was to try to figure out what was going on in Stepford, I found the book's conclusion to not be totally satisfying. There was too much ambiguity in the book for my taste. Still, a great book that still feels frighteningly relevant today, despite having been written in the 1970s. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Interesting novella
The Return of the Sorceress is an interesting fantasy novella from the author of Mexican Gothic and The Gods of Jade and Stone. In this tale the former mistress of the sorcerer's guild juggles revenge, justice, and her very survival as she tries to set things to right and regain her power. Haunted by her past, this protagonist is a complex character marked by the human capacity for temptation, corruption, and redemption. Moreno-Garcia has a great concept, but this story might have benefitted from a greater word count. I kept feeling as if I was entering this story after having missed a previous installment. Additionally the pacing of plot seemed a bit too rapid. If Moreno-Garcia writes a full length novel set in this world I would be very interested in reading it, but this work just lacked the fullness and complexity I was hoping for after being so impressed with her smash hit novel last year, Mexican Gothic. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Excellent Graphic Novel
100 Nights of Hero is a beautiful, whimsical, fantastical, and relevant tale about the power of stories, love, and sass! With echos of Scheherazade and other classic fairytales and myths, Isabel Greenberg has crafted a graphic novel of modern myth combining beautiful art with excellence in storytelling. These stories have everything! Sapphic love, dancing, the moon, a BirdMan, and more! Wonderfully paced, throughly engrossing, and stylistically similar to familiar fairytales and myths (combining the fantastic with the darker aspects of life). This book is sure to delight readers of many ages.
“Brother, Sister, Madness, Sin, Now the Terror Will Begin...” Probably the most accurate tag line I've ever read on a book. This is a 5 star read in terms of compelling storytelling, but be warned that this “paperback from hell” is filled with total depravity. If you're someone who wouldn't read a book due to something you read in a content warning, skip this one. This isn't gatekeeping, seriously, it's got every kind of immoral, objectionable, inappropriate, and triggering content I can think of. It's weird and gross, but also kind of good...? About this book penned in 1981 by Andrew Neiderman (an author who also wrote numerous books under the pseudonym V.C. Andrews), Grady Hendrix says: “If you're a completely insane lunatic shut-in with ice water in your veins and screaming bats inside your skull, this would be paradise” (Paperbacks from Hell 143). I can't put it any better than that. While I might recommend readers pick up one of Hendrix's books instead of this revolting story, those who are determined to read PIN may find it expertly paced and even delightfully suspenseful toward the end. Frankly I enjoyed this book, even if I'm ashamed of the fact that I did. Although my initial impulse was to rate this 3/5 due to the content, after discussing this book with others in a book club with the Howl Society I decided to elevate my rating to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. While much of the content made me uncomfortable and was genuinely disturbing and gross, this was likely the author's intention and I don't want to poorly rate a book for effectively doing what it set out to do. The protagonist is an interesting character, even if the choices he makes in this horror novel are, well...horrifying. I had fun reading this book, even if it's not the kind of thing I usually read and wouldn't readily recommend it to others unless I knew they were into paperbacks from hell.
This book should only be read by readers 18 years of age or older.
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers is a collection of loosely connected short stories. Some tales seem connected by a shared cosmic horror mythos of The King in Yellow, and others were simply romantic stories with little if any connection to the former. I read this book because two stories in it were selected by the HOWL Society book club as a reading to accompany our book of the week, The Final Reconciliation by Todd Keisling, which is a contemporary expansion on Chamber's King in Yellow mythos. I enjoyed those cosmic horror stories, and was reminded of Lovecraft as mystery, madness, menace, and the supernatural seemed to weave together throughout The Repairer of Reputations, The Mask, In The Court of the Dragon, and The Yellow Sign. I also enjoyed The Demoislle D'ys which had dark fairy tale vibes and reminded me a bit of Angela Carter. The remaining stories did not interest me as much. Even the stories I liked seemed to lack a certain something to completely gel. Perhaps, like Lovecraft, I felt there was too much non-supernatural content, building up to a climax with too few answers. I would give the stories I liked 4/5 and the stories I didn't care for as much 2/5. Overall I rate this collection ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Angel of Khan el-Khalili by P. Djeli Clark (illustration by Kevin Hong) This excellent short story takes place in the same world as A Dead Djinn in Cairo, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and A Master of Djinn. A fantastic alternative history, set in Cairo around the turn of the last century. In this story a teenager seeks the favor of an “angel,” but at what cost? This story is short and sweet. I loved how it continues to build upon the amazing universe Clark has established in his other works, and expands the readers' view of one of the most mysterious entities in this universe, the clockwork angels that followers of multiple faiths agree are anything but. I would highly recommend this story for fans of any of the other stories I've listed by Clark. I would also recommend this story (originally published in the anthology Clockwork Cairo: Steampunk Tales of Egypt and reprinted online at tor.com where it may be read for free) as a starting point for the alternative Cairo universe. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I read this Quick and Easy Guide to learn more about Queer & Trans identities during Pride month. I really enjoyed the art style used in this book and value all the information contained in this short volume. Although much of what this book contained was familiar to me, I also learned some new things and would recommend this book to anyone! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Howls from Hell, published by the HOWL Society, is an anthology of short horror fiction not to be missed! This collection contains stories from numerous up and coming authors, some making their publishing debut and others a bit more established, and contains works spanning the horror subgenres from cosmic to sci-fi to psychological to cursed media and more! Plus this collection is blessed by a foreword by none other than Grady Hendrix (Horrorstor, My Best Friend's Exorcism, etc.). This is an outstanding collection that is a MUST READ for all fans of short horror fiction.
This book came into being in response to the horrific events of 2020. Around April of that year a Redditor posted to the /r/horrorlit subreddit (a horror literature message board moderated by Hendrix) inquiring if others might be interested in forming an online horror book club during the pandemic. Many readers and writers, eventually including myself, joined the freshly created Discord server to read and discuss books in the genre. From that day on the server has grown. Members participate in reading and discussing a book of the week, writers discuss the business and craft, and ever increasing numbers of people find channels to chat about all things horror. Over time, some of the writers in this group, The Horror-Obsessed Writing and Literature (HOWL) Society, were inspired to work together to create an anthology of original work to be published and shared with the world. Thus The HOWL Society Press and this book were born.
First, as an artist, I want to commend my fellow members for creating an opportunity to publish their own work. So many artists wait to be given permission by someone else to share their work (or even worse, create in the first place). Well, that's not these folks. They grabbed Cthulhu by the madness-inducing tentacles and held on for the ride! Through a process of group critique and editing these authors have created an anthology of outstanding new fiction.
Second, I want to urge you to stop reading this review and purchase this book immediately! Seriously, stop reading and go now. From Hendrix's heartwarming foreword (one of the best forwards I've read) through each story, this book oozes quality. If I were rating these out of 10, almost all of them would be 7+, with several 9s and 10s in the mix. One of these stories (which happened to be one of my favorites) is probably long enough to even be considered a novelette. There are some really wonderful tales in these pages!
I hope you'll check it out, I'm glad I did.
(Note: although I am a member of the HOWL Society I am not published in this collection and am in no way profiting from sales of this anthology).
Disturbing, Yet Compelling
True Crime is a novel about how a young woman drawn to the true crime genre begins living true crimes of her own. It is also a story about the impact of violence, generational trauma, and how a human being may be consumed and subsumed by the worst days of their life. This novel is loaded with triggering content: child abuse, rape, animal cruelty, homicide, sexual abuse, etc. Reading this story was very off-putting, yet it was also extremely compelling. I read this book quickly and couldn't put it down. The author's skill is evident throughout, beautiful prose and expert pacing transform this depressing tale into something that feels profoundly human. I was frustrated this book, in many ways I felt it represented some of the worst aspects of human nature. Yet just because these characteristics are bad, does not mean they are not true. True Crime seemed to tap into something about the human experience that resonated with me, even if it was antithetical to how I strive to live me life. Pain, fear, indifference, and violence abound. Yet this ultimately a portrayal of the struggle to love and be loved. Overall I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
Not that great
Reading this book is indeed a Worst Laid Plan. While a few stories (Greg Sisco, Hailey Piper, and V. Castro) stood out from the pack, most of the rest were lackluster, mediocre, confusing, unoriginal, or underdeveloped. I was really excited about this book and was super into the theme, but overall I was pretty disappointed. I rated each story on a ten star system and came to a mean rating of 4.7 for the anthology, which I've converted to ⭐️⭐️ for Amazon, Goodreads, and IG. For anyone interested, here's my story by story ratings (out of 10):
-You've Been Saved 7
-Summers with Annie 8
-Expertise 5
-Unkindly Girls 8
-Deep in the Heart 4
-Peelings 6
-The Difference Between Crocodiles and Alligators 1
-The Cucuy of Cancun 10
-Taylor Family Vacation 1
-The Penanggalan 5
-Sex with Dolphins 2
-Caught a Glimpse 5
-In the Water 4
-Good Time in the Badlands 2
We is about early dystopian book that served as inspiration for later works in the genre including Orwell's famed 1984. Like these other works, it is both compelling and dated. We tells the story of a person (or in the parlance of the book, a number) who is assigned the task of building a space ship which will carry the culture and values of their society (OneState) to the stars. OneState is a totalitarian regime that values logic and reason, and views freedom and imagination as disease. As I read the book I was struck by how much of the book I have seen reflected in later dystopian works, but also on both sides of the American political spectrum. Particularly now during the COVID pandemic questions of freedom vs responsibility to the collective have been at the forefront of public thought. I must admit that some of the ideologies of OneState were similar to thoughts I have had over the last 18 months. Of course the limitation of personal freedom during the extraordinary circumstances of a pandemic is different than the reigning in of freedom and intellectual uniformity in general, but We offers a chilling look of what could happen if these ideas were taken to their extreme. Although I liked the book overall I was put off by some outdated aspects such as euro-centric/racist language. Overall this is a decent book, and some of its ideas are timeless, but the actual prose is not. Also, the foreword contains spoilers, so I'd recommend saving it until after you've finished the book.
Early on in the book, one character named Johnny Fresno colorful exclaims: “fuck you for pissing on my dream.” If Mike Bockoven ever reads this review, I imagine he might mutter these same words. Here we go! Fantasticland was anything but fantastic. Although some chapters, characters, and ideas were compelling, and the audiobook benefitted from outstanding narration by Luke Daniels and Angela Dawe, overall the story was unbelievable and problematic. It wasn't all bad though, let me start with the good. FantasticLand is an amusement park, and the book basically tells the story of how a group of employees trapped in the park for weeks following a really horrible hurricane quickly descended into Lord of the Flies levels of dystopian chaos. The book is formatted as a series of interviews with the players, similar to World War Z by Max Brooks. The format works really well, and I enjoyed listening to the events of the novel told from many different points of view. One chapter about a guy hiding out in an on-property hotel really stood out. The character was interesting, rational, and likable. The chapter has some real tension and fear, probably one of the only sections of the book I'd really call horror. I also thought that Mike Bockoven hit on a couple of really compelling themes. One antagonistic character says something like “I cannot be held responsible for how people interpret events.” That stopped me cold. I actually put a note in the audiobook, which I almost never do. Despite being written in 2016, that statement punched out of its context and rang with a chilling truth and relevance in light of the events of January 2021 and the subsequent trial. That same character went on to ask “would you have stopped me?” I don't agree that the failure of others to stop him mitigates his actions, but I think Bockoven has captured a psychology of evil and asked a really compelling question here. I wish more of the book had been concerned with this question. Unfortunately much of the rest of the book was really beyond belief. Basically as soon as the hurricane hit and the lights went out the employees became violent. Why? This question was asked multiple times in the book, as the afterword reminded us: they had food and water. I think the rapid onset of killing and tribalism was unrealistic. If we were to compare this book to Lord of the Flies, it's important to remember that these characters were adults, in some cases very young adults, but still high school graduates (despite being constantly called kids in the novel). They weren't stranded on a deserted island, they were in a theme park with supplies. There is absolutely no reason for things to have gotten so bad so quickly. Some characters tried to blame the young characters being cut off from technology and social media, but I don't buy that. It was repeatedly stated that employees weren't allowed to have their phones, but I think that's a steaming pile of sht. Has Bockoven ever met a young adult (or a not so young adult)? I'm sure that even with a no phones allowed policy in place, dozens or even hundreds of people would have one anyway. At minimum they would have them in an employee locker (and toward the end of the book or was acknowledged that an employee locker room existed). There's no reason they wouldn't have had phones. A better explanation would have been no data or internet due to the hurricane, but even that seems unlikely for the length of time described in the book. I also don't believe that young adults would go all Mad Max over not being able to post on Facebook, Twitter, IG, or TikTok, but...hey...maybe my knee-jerk millennial reaction to “these kids couldn't survive without their phones” is blinding me to the profound impacts of being cut off from the internet? In any event, I also found it totally unbelievable that survivors wouldn't have been rescued by either the authorities or corporate much more quickly. Think of the liability and worker's comp claims! We know that the corporation knew the power was out, had access to satellite phones, and even had satellite images of the park. What kind of world ending cataclysm was this hurricane that they couldn't get these folks out? It was suggested that the hurricane was really bad due to climate change, but I don't believe how slow the response time was or how little the company did. If something like this happened at Disney or Universal, I bet they'd get people out within a few days at the absolute longest. In addition to the premise being totally unbelievable, the book also discusses women in several ways that made me uncomfortable. At one point a group of characters is described as kidnapping women and then one character has this long discussion about how there wasn't any raping, and if there was raping it was someone acting alone. It was weird and gross. Other terms like “b***” are used by male characters in ways that I didn't like. Another character describes a woman's “huge rack.” Overall, the way women are viewed, treated, or referred to by some of the men in the book is pretty gross. I'm not saying this reflects the author, but I question the need to write these kinds of attitudes? These attitudes may not be totally unrealistic for some young people (or not so young people), but I still didn't love listening to them. Overall, despite its many shortcomings, listening to FantasticLand wasn't a total waste of time. It was entertaining. It's not one of the best books I've read this year, in fact it might be one of the worst, but I'd listen to Luke Daniels read just about anything. This book definitely qualifies as anything. There are some good parts of the story, such as the format and even some of the themes, but these merits could not overcome the premise which stretched suspension of disbelief to the point of snapping. 3 stars overall. 5 for narration, 2.5 for story.
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 Lost Village is the story of a documentary crew, a ghost town, and perhaps also the pain of abandonment
and mental illness. I partially predicted one of the “twists” in the book and found the ending somewhat lackluster. Overall I would call this 4/5. It's decent enough combination of folk horror and mystery, and there were some genuinely tense sections.
Brilliant! It's very difficult to give a synopsis or even a review of this book for fear of spoiling it, but I'll simply say that this book is genuinely full of twists and turns. It's creepy, thrilling, and more! Probably the best book I've read this year so far. Amazing! Mysterious, creepy, and intriguing. 5/5 Stars, READ IT!
The Deep is a great historical fiction horror novel combining elements of gothic fiction with history to produce a chilling and compelling book. Alma Katsu (The Hunger) demonstrates her prowess as a researcher in this book, as well as her ability to write the supernatural. Unfortunately this latter element was somewhat diminished by the book's pacing. I think this novel could have been 50-100 pages shorter and been even more effective. I wanted more dread. More fear. It wasn't really scary. Still, The Deep was a great book with winning prose and a historical feel that's sure to delight readers interested in a gothic tale on the sinking of the Titanic.
I started reading this book after reading Ramsey Campbell's The Kind Folk. I was on a bit of a fairy kick and wanted to read another horror book about the fae. Sadly this book proved less than excellent. The novel is structured such that each of its four parts are told from the POV of a different character. I enjoyed the first couple of sections immensely, but by the time the book for the last one things really started to go off the rails. I had a tough time following the plot toward the end. Additionally I felt like the author really wrapped up the main mystery of the book and then didn't really have much else to do for the remaining pages.
The publisher's description comparing this book is Gaiman is nonsense. Levy's writing, while not poor, is nothing like the masterful prose of The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Overall the first 3 sections were a 4/4.5 star read, and the last was 2.5/3. Overall I'd call this a 3 star book.
The Seep is a fascinating take on an alien invasion that is as poignant as it is hopeful. Porter conjures nostalgia and wonder in this novel about a future in which aliens known as “The Seep” have solved humanity's problems. Violence, economic inequality, and even death itself have given way to a world where anyone can have whatever they want. Is such a world a utopia or dystopia? How does suffering characterize what it means to be human? These are some of the questions Porter explores in the book, and perhaps the greatest compliment I can give this novel is that after finishing I am pondering these existential questions.
The Pros:
-Short read, yet highly evocative
-Great audiobook narrated by Shakina Nayfack
-Highly original science fiction
-Great protagonist
-Trans representation
The Cons:
-Because this is such a short book, I felt the plot sometimes took a back seat to the ideas the book was striving to explore.
-The book felt slightly heavy-handed at times, as the themes of the book came across very strongly.
For me, this was 4 stars! I'd recommend it!
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is a charming, funny, and thrilling mystery novel. A group of seniors meet every Thursday in their retirement community for their true crime murder club, but when a murder occurs in their very midst will they be able to solve the case? The great strength of this novel is its cast of characters. Osman has created a large ensemble of distinctive and interesting human beings to populate his story. From the four central retirees to the many supporting roles throughout the book, every character seems to be brimming with nuance and life. Most of the characters are very relatable and, as Osman says on his interview at the end of the audiobook, present a view of aging in which we see just how much these older characters really do still have in them, even while facing the challenges of aging. In many regards this is a profoundly human book, addressing so many facets of the human condition with courage, complexity, and grace. In addition to being a compelling whodunnit, this is a compelling novel about so much more. With that said, it might be argued that the book suffers a bit from that large cast and it's reflective introspective nature as the pacing can be pretty slow. It takes a while to get going, and then even once going it still meanders a bit and is just wordy. There are, perhaps, characters and story elements that could simply be cut from the book all together. I don't read a lot of cozy mysteries, and I'm not sure if that's the appropriate description for this book, but readers of fast paced thrillers might struggle with the leisurely tempo found in much of this book. Overall I think this is a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read.