Inside, by D.M. Siciliano ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror

Thanks to NetGalley and Parliament House Press for providing an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

354 Pages

Synopsis: 1987 “Does it burn in the dark?”

Reid is a bully, but he’s still Alex’s best friend.

When Reid pushes Alex and their friends into invading a historically haunted Massachusetts house, Alex knows it’s a terrible idea, but he indulges his friend. What could go wrong?

Inside, a mysterious Shadow looms in the darkness. The door to the house vanishes, leaving them trapped. The group flees through the tiny, one-roomed house that defies logic, constantly shifting, presenting them with new doors, hallways, and rooms that seem to be plucked from their memories and fears. One by one, the Shadow hunts them, intent on burning them all from within.

Is there any way to escape? Or will they be burned from the inside out?

I was initially attracted to Inside because of the comparisons to The Blair Witch Project and Stranger Things, and while yes, there a few similarities, for the most part this story stands strongly on its own merits. Amidst the horror of what’s happening in the house the friends and their interactions with one another also help drive the story. Reid is especially fascinating and winds up being much more sympathetic as his backstory is revealed. I was initially afraid that at 354 pages, the whole wandering around the house looking for an escape was going to get old, but it doesn’t. The pace remains steady and I easily polished this off in two sittings. I do warn you though, what happens to these kids is just awful, and there is no happy ending. They all pay a very high price for their lack of common sense. There are a couple of elements in regards to the entity haunting the house that I was left me a little confused, but overall I quite enjoyed Inside and highly recommend it to horror fans who are looking for something off the beaten path.

No Bad Deed, by Heather Chavez ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 18th, 2020

320 Pages

Synopsis: Driving home one rainy night, Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. After calling 911, the veterinarian makes a split second-decision that will throw her sedate suburban life into chaos. Against all reason and advice, she gets out of her minivan and chases after the violent man, trying to help his victim. When Cassie physically tries to stop him, he suddenly turns on her and spits out an ominous threat: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.”

A veterinarian trained to heal, Cassie can’t let the woman die. But while she’s examining the unconscious victim, the attacker steals her car. Now he has her name. Her address. And he knows about her children. Thought they warn her to be careful, the police assure her that the perpetrator —a criminal named Carver Sweet—won’t get near her. Cassie isn’t so sure.

The next day—Halloween—her husband disappears while trick-or-treating with their daughter. Are these disturbing events a coincidence or the beginning of a horrifying nightmare? Her husband has been growing distant—is it possible he’s become involved with another woman? Is Cassie’s confrontation with the road-side attacker connected to her husband’s disappearance? With all these questions swirling in her mind, Cassie can trust no one, maybe not even herself. The only thing she know for sure is that she can’t sit back while the people she loves are in danger.

As she desperately searches for answers, Cassie discovers that nothing is as random as it seems, and that she is more than willing to fight—to go to the most terrifying extremes—to save her family and her marriage.

HOLY GUACAMOLE! No Bad Deed is without a doubt one of the craziest books I’ve read, and the fact that this is Heather Chavez’s debut, has me expecting great things from her! While readers will have to suspend their disbelief over some of Cassie’s actions, she still comes off as a sympathetic character as she desperately tries to make sense of the sudden downward spiral her life has taken. Almost every chapter has a plot twist, and what you think are random, albeit crazy coincidences, are anything but. The only thing that’s clear is what’s down is up and what’s up is down. Each revelation leads to an explosive climax, but I didn’t know what the heck was happening or why until Cassie’s backstory is unveiled. While it’s not entirely believable, it does explain everything that’s happened.

Overall, No Bad Deed is a fantastic popcorn read that will suck you in from the very first page. I read this in under three hours because I couldn’t bring myself to put it down until I knew what was happening. I HIGHLY recommend this for fans of unputdownable high octane thrillers with enough twists to make your head spin. I can’t wait to see what Heather Chavez does for an encore!

 

Dead to Her, by Sarah Pinborough ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, LGBTQ, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 11th 2020

400 Pages

Synopsis: Being the second wife can be murder…

”Once a cheat, always a cheat,” they say. Marcie Maddox has worked hard to get where she is after the illicit affair that started her new life a few years ago. But her world of country clubs, yachts, and sumptuous houses in Savannah, Georgia, isn’t easy to maintain, no matter how hard she tries. Nor is keeping her husband, Jason, truly interested. So, when Jason’s boss brings home a hot new wife, from his trip to London, the young Mrs. William Radford IV isn’t quite the souvenir everyone expected. Sexy, drop-dead gorgeous and black—Keisha quickly usurps Marcie’s place as the beautiful second wife. But when Marcie sees the extra spark in the room when Keisha and Jason are together and their obvious magnetic attraction, the gloves come off.

Revenge is best served cold, but in the steamy Savannah heat, blood runs so hot that this summer, it might just boil over into murder.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive. ~ Sir Walter Scott

By the time I was halfway through Dead to Her, I thought I had everything figured out, but as this is by Sarah Pinborough, I really should have known better. This story is filled with a plethora of twists, unreliable characters with unknown motivations, and a juicy ending that caught me completely by surprise. Lies, secrets, and betrayals are all set against the steamy backdrop of Savannah. And underneath the backstabbing drama is an interesting exploration of race and white privilege, with a little voodoo thrown in. It’s all a bit crazy and unrealistic, but where in less skillful hands, this easily could have been a hot mess, Pinborough as always, adeptly juggles her numerous murky characters with a myriad of flavorful plot elements. Fans of the author will not be disappointed in Dead to Her and I guarantee that this will appeal to a wide audience of new readers as well.

 

 

The Rise of Magicks (Chronicles of The One), by Nora Roberts ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Action-Adventure, Adult Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction, Romance

Thanks to Edelweiss and St. Martin’s Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 26th, 2019

464 Pages

Synopsis: The #1 New York Times bestselling author of  “Year One” and “a Of Blood and Bone” concludes her stunning trilogy that the New York Times Book Review praised as “A match for end-of-the-world classics like Stephen a King’s ‘The Stand’.”

After the sickness known as the Doom destroyed civilization, magick has become commonplace, and Fallon Swift has spent her young years learning its ways. Fallon cannot live in peace until she frees those who have been preyed upon by the government or the fanatical Purity Warriors, endlessly hunted or locked up in laboratories, brutalized for years on end. She is determined to save even those who have been complicit with this evil out of fear or weakness—if, indeed, they can be saved.

Strengthened by the bond she shares with her fellow warrior, Duncan, Fallon has already succeeded in rescuing countless shifters and elves and ordinary humans. Now she must help them heal—and rediscover the light and faith within themselves. For although from the time of her birth she has been The One, she is still only one. And as she faces down an old nemesis, sets her sights on the enemy’s stronghold, and pursues her destiny—to finally restore the mystical shield that once protected them all—she will need an army behind her…

The Rise of Magicks is the spectacular conclusion to the Chronicles of the One trilogy, and is further evidence of Nora Roberts’ writing artistry. The way she juggles numerous characters with their own fully plotted backstories, snappy dialogue, exciting fight scenes, swoon-worthy romance, immersive world building, AND ties everything up in a perfect bow, is simply amazing. There are no empty fillers here. Everything and everyone has a purpose. The only issue I had (and I’m not sure if I’m being overly fussy), is that I had envisioned an epic battle between Fallon and her evil cousin Petra, but when their face-off came, it was a bit anticlimactic. Overall though, The Rise of Magicks is as close to perfect as you can get, and Chronicles of The One is my favorite trilogy by Roberts after her Three Sisters Island trilogy. I highly recommend this and the previous two books—Year One, and Of Blood and Bone—to readers who enjoy dystopian fiction, fantasy, paranormal fiction, romance, and adventure.

The Only Good Indians, by Stephen Graham Jones ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Horror, Native Americans, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Saga Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: May 19th, 2020

320 Pages

Synopsis: Peter Straub’s “Ghost Story” meets Liane Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies” in this American Indian horror story of revenge on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Four American Indian men from the Blackfeet Nation, who were childhood friends, find themselves in a desperate struggle for their lives, against an entity that wants to exact revenge upon them for what they did during an elk hunt ten years earlier by killing them, their families, and friends.

Entertainment Weekly recently asked if award winning author Stephen Graham  Jones could be the Jordan Peel of literary horror, and after finishing The Only Good Indians in less than three hours, my answer is a resounding “Yes!”

I’m going to start out by saying I’m not a fan of hunting. However, I don’t judge people who do, except for those who just kill for trophies to hang on their walls. In this overwhelmingly suspenseful story, four friends pay for what they did a decade previously during a bloody elk hunt. They immediately lose the right to hunt on reservation land, but there’s a future price that they never could have conceived of that will not only cost them, but everyone they love and care about. The first few chapters nicely sets up what’s to come as the readers are introduced to the four men and the people in their lives. It doesn’t take long for the horror elements to come into play and some of the scenes are just gory enough that they may be difficult for some readers, especially those who are animal lovers.

One of the things that made me feel so empathetic toward these characters is that they’re not indifferent to the suffering they caused during the elk hunt, and they know they crossed the line. When vengeance/justice comes for them years later, it’s almost as though they’re expecting it, which broke my heart a bit. Just as it did for the entity that hunts them as it too suffered unimaginable loss. At the end, there are no real villains here.

The Only Good Indians is a literary horror tour de force that will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Jones masterfully blends horror, suspense, Native American life, and biting social commentary into a beautifully crafted tale that’s storytelling at its best. If Hollywood doesn’t scoop this up I will be shocked. This isn’t out until May 2020, but horror fans should add this to their calendars now because I predict it will be one of the most talked about books of next year.

 

 

The Chill, by Scott Carson ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror, Supernatural Fiction, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 11th, 2020

384 Pages

Synopsis: In this terrifying thriller, a supernatural force—set in motion a century ago—threatens to devastate New York City.

Far upstate, in New York’s ancient forests, a drowned village lays beneath the dark, still waters of the Chilewaukee reservoir. Earlier in the 20th century, the town was destroyed for the greater good: bringing water to the millions living downstate. Or at least that’s what the politicians from Manhattan insisted at the time. The local families, settled there since America’s founding, were forced from their land, but they didn’t move far, and some didn’t move at all…

 Now, a century later, the repercussions of human arrogance are finally making themselves known. An inspector assigned to oversee the dam, dangerously neglected for decades, witnesses something inexplicable. It turns out that more than the village was left behind in the waters of the Chill when it was abandoned. The townspeople didn’t evacuate without a fight. A dark prophecy remained, too, and the time has come for it to be fulfilled. Those who remember must ask themselves: who will be next? For sacrifices must be made. And as the dark waters begin to inexorably rise, the demand for a fresh sacrifice rises from the deep…

The Chill by Scott Carson (a pseudonym from a bestselling author), is a slow burning horror tale that gives an interesting twist to real life “drowned communities.”

I was interested in this story initially because I grew up a fairly short distance from the Quabbin Reservoir in MA and remembered my dad telling me stories of the communities displaced in order to form the largest body of water in the state. What I loved about this fictional story is the empathetic and thoughtful exploration of the sacrifice demanded of inhabitants of these towns and farms. This is a character-driven story which follows multiple people who are fully fleshed out and add interesting layers to the complex plot.

The story itself is slow at times due to the insertion of a plethora of technical details concerning dam construction and water tunnels, but the tension-building suspense nonetheless kept my attention until the very last page. Overall, The Chill is a perfect example of storytelling that may not be action-packed, still packs an emotional punch. It’s also a timely reminder of humanity’s tendency toward embracing baser instincts such as greed and outright stupidity, something I believe will resonate with many readers. I highly recommend this to fans of Michael Koryta.

 

The Deep, by Alma Katsu ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ, Mystery, Paranormal Fiction, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: March 10th, 2020

432 Pages

Synopsis: From the acclaimed and award winning author of “The Hunger” comes an eerie, psychological twist on one of the world’s most renowned tragedies, the sinking of the Titanic and the ill-fated sail of her sister ship, the a Britannic.

Someone, or something, is haunting the ship. That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the passengers of the Titanic from the moment they set sail. The Titanic’s passengers expected to enjoy an experience befitting the much-heralded ship’s maiden voyage, but instead, amid mysterious disappearances and sudden deaths, find themselves in an eerie, unsettling twilight zone. While some of the guests and crew shrug off strange occurrences, several—including maid Annie Hebbley, guest Mark Fletcher, and millionaires Madeline Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim—are convinced there’s something more sinister going on. And then disaster strikes.

Years later, Annie, having survived that fateful night, has attempted to put her life back together by going to work as a nurse on the sixth sailing of the Britannic, newly refitted as a hospital ship to support British forces fighting World War I. When she happens across an unconscious Mark, now a soldier, she is at first thrilled and relieved to learn that he too survived the tragic night four years earlier. But soon his presence awakens deep-buried feelings and secrets forcing her to reckon with the demons of her past—as they both discover that the terror may not be over.

Featuring an ensemble cast of characters and effortlessly combining the supernatural with the height of historical disaster, The Deep is an exploration of love and destiny, desire and innocence, and, above all, a quest to understand how our choices can lead us inexorably toward our doom.

I loved Alma Katsu’s previous book, The Hunger which was centered around the Donner party, so I was quite excited to see what her take on the Titanic and the Britannic disasters. With The Deep, Katsu once again takes historical tragedies and skillfully blends them with the supernatural.

The story shifts between the two time periods leading up to the twin tragedies, and while it’s told from multiple viewpoints, the main character that forms a connection between both events is mysterious Annie Hubbley. What adds even more fun to this tale though are some of the real life characters that you get to see like Madeline Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim. And best of all is the inclusion of Violet Jessop, who actually did live through the sinking of both ships, as well as a previous collision between the RMS Olympic and the HMS Hawke. While Violet, who’s portrayed as Annie’s friend, has a relatively minor role here, her real life story is fascinating.

Katsu subtly weaves in supernatural layers to the suspenseful events leading up to both disasters. It makes for a chilling and goosebumps-inducing read that I found impossible to put down. I have to be honest and say I did find the ending a tad anticlimactic, but this is a relatively minor complaint.

Overall, The Deep, will further cement Katsu’s reputation as a storyteller extraordinaire. She’s a refreshing voice in the genres of historical and paranormal fiction, and I can’t wait to see what she writes about next!

 

 

 

The Dead Girls Club, by Damien Angelica Walters ~ 3.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Child Abuse, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: December 10th, 2019

288 Pages

Synopsis: A supernatural thriller in the vein of  “A Head Full of Ghosts” about two young girls, a scary story that becomes all too real, and the tragic—and terrifying—consequences that follow one of them into adulthood.

Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face…

In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real—and she could prove it.

That belief got Becca killed.

It’s been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night—that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She’s done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca and the Red Lady behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn’t seen since the night Becca died.

The night Heather killed her.

Now, someone else knows what she did…and they’re determined to make a Heather pay.

There were two things about The Dead Girls Club that initially caught my attention. First, there’s that gorgeous cover. Second, there’s the comparison to Paul Tremblay’s mind-bending A Head Full of Ghosts. Now that I’ve finished I can say I still love the cover, and I think the story is decent, however it has me wishing yet again that publishers would stop comparing upcoming books to previous bestsellers, and simply let them stand on their own merits.

This is a story told in two different time periods: the present, and the early 1990s. I found myself liking the tween Heather much more than the adult one. I’m all for unreliable characters who keep you guessing, but Heather’s actions, both professionally and in her personal life, did nothing to make me feel sympathetic to her plight. The two characters I felt for the most were her husband and best friend who were very supportive, and gave her increasingly unhinged behavior wide latitude. 

What saved this story for me were the chapters set in the past, and which detailed the close friendship between Heather and Becca, as well as its slow fragmentation. When it’s finally revealed what happened the night of Becca’s death, I was empathetic toward both girls, although I don’t think their actions were entirely believable.

The final few chapters contain a few surprises, and there’s an awesome fight scene between Heather and her tormentor. The ending has left me a little conflicted, and two days after I finished, I’m still not sure whether I liked it or not. But on the other hand, the fact that I’m still thinking about it is a plus.

For me, The Dead Girls Club wasn’t perfect, but it was a quick read that I easily finished in two sittings. The actual mystery behind Becca’s death kept me guessing, and even when the adult Heather was annoying the heck out of me, there was no way I was not finishing the book until I knew what happened. I’d recommend this to readers who enjoy twisty mysteries with unreliable main characters. In particular, I think fans of authors like Gillian French, Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware will enjoy this.

 

Curious Toys, by Elizabeth Hand ~ 4.5 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Chicago, Classic Cinema, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ, Mystery, Pedophiles, Serial Killers

Thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

336 Pages

Synopsis: In the sweltering summer of 1915, Pin, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a carnival fortune-teller, dresses as a boy and joins a teenage gang that roams the famous Riverview amusement park, looking for trouble.

Unbeknownst to the well-heeled city dwellers who come to enjoy the midway, the park is also host to a ruthless killer who uses the shadows of the dark carnival attractions to conduct his crimes. When Pin sees a man enter the Hell Gate ride with a young girl, and emerge alone, she knows that something horrific has occurred.

The crime will lead her to the iconic outsider artist Henry Darger, a brilliant but seemingly mad man. Together, the two navigate the seedy underbelly of a changing city to uncover a murderer few even know to look for.

I’ve been pretty fortunate in the book department this year, with very few disappointments, and I’m happy to add Curious Toys to my list of 2019 standouts. 

Curious Toys is one of those literary gems that has something for just about everyone. Historical fiction readers will love the time period and setting of Chicago’s Riverview Park in 1915. Riverview was a big part of Chicago’s landscape from 1904-1967, and the author does a fantastic job detailing the splendor of the park as well as its seedy underbelly. She also thoroughly depicts the abject poverty that so many citizens lived under, and what they did to survive. Fans of classic cinema will appreciate the inclusion of stars like Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Beery and Essanay Studio in the story. Art enthusiasts will be ecstatic over Hand deftly giving the artist Henry Darger such a pivotal role. And mystery lovers will be both intrigued and repulsed at the actions of the pedophile serial killer, although his identity is fairly obvious by the midway point of the book. 

This is both a plot-driven and character-driven tale, and fourteen-year-old Pin as the plucky protagonist is a wonderfully drawn personality. She’s definitely ahead of her time, and her struggles with poverty, her sexuality and the guilt she feels over the disappearance of her younger sister, makes her very sympathetic and easy to like even when her decision making is a little questionable.

Curious Toys will please not only readers who are already fans of Cynthia Hand, but also win many her new ones. The only reason why I’m not giving it a full five stars is because there are a couple of instances when Hand veers away from the main plot unnecessarily. But otherwise, I highly recommend this. It’s the kind of book where if you’re like me, you’ll wind up looking up the time period and real life personalities that are mentioned for further research. Speaking of which, I have to go peruse some more of Henry Darger’s paintings!

 

The Noise Effect, by Stevie Turner ~ 5.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense

Thanks to the author for providing an ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

64 Pages

Synopsis: What lengths would you go to in order to ensure a peaceful existence? Newlyweds Eve and Leigh Chandler are thrilled to be given a council house on a recently built estate after living with Eve’s parents for a year, and are eager to get to know their new neighbours. Eve quickly forms a friendship with Tessa Patterson at number 16, but things turn sour when Mark Denny moves into number 18 with his two teenage sons. 

The Dennys enjoy playing their music loud enough for the whole street to hear. Leigh and Eve, both normally easy-going and placid, complain to the council after being driven to distraction by noise emanating from the house next door. However, this only serves to make them a sitting target for Mark Denny’s anger, causing Eve to discover a previously hidden side of her new husband that she was totally unaware of.

I “met” Stevie over on Pete’s blog at https://beetleypete.com during a recent series he generously did, introducing bloggers and posts they had written. Her writing intrigued me so when she offered to send me one of her stories I immediately jumped and I’m so glad I did because she’s an incredible writer. The Noise Effect may be only a little over 60 pages, but it grabbed me from the very first page and I was mesmerized until I finished it 45 minutes later. I loved Eve and Leigh, and having suffered from some truly awful neighbors myself, I more than emphasized with them. But even if you’ve been spared a similar experience, I promise you’ll still connect with this couple. The suspense is teased out over the course of the story and there’s more than one twist that managed to catch me by surprise. Even toward the end, when I thought I had everything figured out, there was one more revelation. 

One of the things I love about being a blogger on WordPress (besides meeting all you lovely people), is that I’ve been fortunate enough to have stumbled across some truly gifted writers. I’m thrilled to be able to say that I’m adding Stevie to that list. I’ve always had a problem with novellas and short stories, in part because it’s so difficult to have time to form an emotional attachment with the characters. In my recent review of Joe Hill’s Full Throttle, I panned the short story, Throttle, he wrote with his father, Stephen King, mainly because I hated the characters. And most of you know what a fan I am of theirs, so it truly pained me. Stevie has proven that you can have wonderfully developed characters that you care about even in a short story or novella, and for me, well, what a treat. I HIGHLY recommend The Noise Effect to everyone who’s looking for a quick, suspense-filled read with relatable and sympathetic characters. And if you don’t follow her already, please check out her fabulous blog at: https://steviet3.wordpress.com

Other places to find Stevie:

Website: http://www.stevie-turner-author.co.uk

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/stevieturner

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/StevieTurner6