C. J. Daley

Thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for this audiobook arc.

This is my first experience with the author, and I really enjoyed it. This is like a mix between ghost hunting and being a ghost medium, with Olivia having not only the sight, but abilities. She’s like a paranormal detective but also a kind of spirit weaver. The novel opens with her solving a few lesser incidents to get your blood flowing, but they all end up coming back in connection.

When hired to investigate room 904, Olivia is facing far more than just a simple haunting. The room is the place where her sister was last seen alive, before she took her own life, and it’s believed that this is directly linked to the haunting itself. Every year like clockwork a woman checks into the hotel, whether or not they try to lock up room 904 tight, without fail, three weeks later there’s another death. And Olivia’s investigation is hit with another layer of desperation when she finds out her mother has been to the hotel…

The in between is filled with a couple of repetitive beats, where she is struggling back and forth with solving the mystery. There are some shared locations that made it feel like similar things were happening. But I was a really big fan of these small sections at the beginning of chapters that served as little advertisements for different ghost hunting equipment. And as my version was narrated, it added almost a comedic beat to break things up. What was kind of strange to me though, was how much research must have gone into the equipment, when the items themselves take a serious backseat in the story. The author mentions that they are there, or that they are using them, but then it always defaulted to Olivia reaching out with her powers anyway.

The novel deals with indigenous mistreatment and culture erasure, not only in its past plot line of a massacre, but also in the way those around Olivia speak and treat her. There’s this incredibly nasty journalist after her, and she is a great example of the way people speak about American Indians in a way they feel they can claim is not a racial commentary. And I found this not only informational, but a good facsimile for readers of what people actually have to deal with. A solid first read for me.

Huge thanks to Shortwave for a physical copy of this one to review. I have to say, it’s simple, but this is one of my favorite covers from them.

A couple gets a little lost, so when they come across a bar, they figure why not stop for a beer? They’re already a bit behind, and it’s just going to be one, right? What follows will go down as one of their worst nights…ever.

This is a first read for me by the author. I have a hardcover of Boys in the Valley, it was on my desired October TBR, but I just didn’t fit it in. As I enjoyed this, this may actually function as a really nice introduction to the author for people. It’s short, concise, spooky, kooky even. There’s humor and ridiculousness thrown in that makes it something you can laugh at, while also sidestepping all jukeboxes for the foreseeable future.

Some well done eeriness in such few pages, and a bit of revenge thrown in there as well. Kind of reminded me of something you could see on The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror, especially in its almost episodic length. Check this one out, and as ever, support Shortwave Media.

Thanks to Wild Hunt Books for this review copy!

This one really delivered on the small town vibes for me. As the train journey gets further and further away from London, I realized at one point that their journey was still short enough to entirely take place in New York. Really goes to show for folks that have never been. The older train, its technical (and perhaps supernatural) difficulties, as well as its infrequent stops, really sold that achingly far, removed town for me.

What didn’t exactly work for me was that the story spends its time building, creating what would be truly atmospheric, but then the ending kind of hits flat as it’s simply too short for its own good. I was creeped out, I was wondering, I was waiting, and it just didn’t exactly pay out the way it could have.

Still worth checking out as it’s a quick one and you may completely disagree!

Huge thanks to Wild Hunt Books for the review copy!

This is a fresh and unique take on the haunted house story. Right off the bat the reader is put in the know that the house isn’t just an ordinary house…but that doesn’t make it haunted. We get these really interesting chapters from the perspective of the house that serve almost as interludes, and I found them to be really decisive storytelling. The whole story speaks to our ability to inhabit and infect a place with our entirety.

In moves Simon and Priya, a recently bereaved married couple. Not only are they carrying their grief as if it’s literal baggage, they are slowly drifting apart like flotsam at sea. They are indeed the ones who are haunted. Can they come to realize what the other needs? Or will the house do it for them?

This was a quick little novella that packed a hell of a punch. The dialogue and introspection both share an incredible emotional depth, and I was really impressed by the polar opposites in Simon and Priya. This author definitely did a deep dive into his characters’ psyche. They grieve and experience like two entirely different people, and even as a married couple, they stretch and grow as separate people. I don’t know how else to explain how reading them felt other than…real.

The house and ending kind of gave me Nestlings by Nat Cassidy vibes, except like in a benevolent, more caring way. Unless you count the conniving aunt and cousin…

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the audio of this one. The trio that is Eric Lockley, Kristolyn Lloyd, and Zeno Robinson did a really well balanced narration—each taking on a sibling and giving them life.

This novel is a lot of things. It’s a critique on race relations and police involvement, in kind of an à la Jordan Peele-style. It mixes hyper-violence and realism with humor, in a way that I’ve found makes it more palatable for a lot of people that wouldn’t listen/read/watch these types of things otherwise. It’s also a family saga. Dysfunctional as all hell, each jaded in their own way, and each nursing scars they’re too hurt to discuss…even if they claim they have. Calla is broke, forced to take in her younger brother Jamie—who her other brother, Dre, most definitely said he’d help way more than he is with. And most of all she’s tired. Jamie, an aspiring musician, can’t get out of his way enough to realize that he’s way less street than he realizes. And Dre is stuck somewhere in between—too annoyed by Calla to be of much help, and too ‘straight and narrow’ to reach Jamie. And then there’s the nightmares.

On top of tackling all the real world horrors, the author has also blended in nightmarish horrors kind of à la Stranger Things and Love Craft Country (I’m primarily recalling the twin girls scene, but also the idea of shedding skins works well here). Except these strange things are rather more R rated, come from within, and only want to murder the three of them. I struggled with the build up to the climax, wondering if it was about to fumble the twist, and luckily, the author really pulled it off. The explanation of the Calla’s really worked for me, and that unique spin on sacrificing yourself for your siblings, that breaking yourself down into smaller and smaller pieces—or versions of yourself—even when you have nothing more to give, was really powerful.

This book also tackles anger. Being angry with the world, with the hand you’ve been dealt, with not being loved and wanted, with your family, and even with yourself. Jamie can’t get over the way life has treated him. He’s angry, and he’s even angrier that as a black teen, the world isn’t build to accept his anger. It’s raw, it’s real, and I found this novel to be a really strong way to talk about the subject. There’s things to learn here below the surface, and it also works as a functional horror if that’s not your thing.