The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer

 EXCITING OPPORTUNITY:

Caretaker urgently needed. Three days of work. Competitive pay. Serious applicants ONLY.

Macy Mullins can’t say why the job posting grabbed her attention—it had the pull of a fisherman’s lure, barbed hook and all—vaguely ominous. But after an endless string of failed job interviews, she's not exactly in the position to be picky. She has rent to pay, groceries to buy, and a younger sister to provide for.

Besides, it’s only three days’ work…

Three days, cooped up in a stranger’s house, surrounded by Oregon Coast wilderness.

What starts as a peculiar side gig soon becomes a waking nightmare. An incomprehensible evil may dwell on this property—and Macy Mullins might just be the only thing standing between it, and the rest of humanity.

Follow the Rites...

Macy Mullins is trying to support herself and her younger sister since their father's death. She is drowning in unpaid bills and threats of eviction when she answers an ad for a three-day job as a caretaker. The pay is great but there's a catch. She thought she would be taking care of a person. Instead, she is meant to follow a bizarre regimen of timed tasks. There are consequences for failing a task within the allotted time, and they increase in severity with each failure. Macy does not believe in any of these consequences; it all sounds to her like the ramblings of a troubled mind. She accepts the job and becomes a believer.

I was so excited when I received an invitation to read this! I loved the author's first book and can't wait to see the movie they are making from it. The Caretaker is also being made into a movie, and there are a few changes I hope they will make for the screen.

I loved the premise of this book. The house and wooded land it sits on are creepy. The tasks that must be completed are not physically difficult, but emotionally challenging. The atmosphere was delightfully spooky. What hampered my enjoyment was the repetitiveness and the back and forth between Macy and her sister who was not even there; it was just a running commentary in Macy's head. It made me want to skim the parts where Macy imagined what her sister would say about every situation. Don't let me dissuade you from reading it. Lots of people enjoyed it more than I did, and you might too. This was just an ok read for me.

My thanks to Atria/Emily Bestler Books/12:01 Books

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Come Sing for the Harrowing by Dan Coxon

 The newest collection from award-winning writer, Dan Coxon, Come Sing for the Harrowing, is a terrifying menagerie of the strange and weird. Unsettling, poignant, and always masterfully crafted, these 16 stories are a feast of folk horror where the fine line between the mundane and the malevolent is blurred beyond repair.

With five never-before-published stories as well as tales featured in publications such as Beyond the Veil and Great British Horror 7, this collection is a tour de force from one of the most talented rising stars in the horror fiction landscape.

Come Sing For The Harrowing is a collection of 18 stories, some of which were previously published but all of which were new to me.

A few of them ended so abruptly that I did wish there had been a little more, but I mostly enjoyed these weird and wondrous tales.

Some of my favorites were The Wives of Tromisle in which an estranged mother and daughter reunite when the mother needs help preparing for an expected but unusual occurrence for a woman her age.

Bring Them All Into The Light is an unnerving tale of a man who becomes obsessed with a cottage he sees while on a family vacation. After much arguing, his wife agrees with his decision to purchase it and move in. It is not their dream home, and his compulsion to build on the land will bring horror to them all.

A bullied child seeks revenge from beyond the grave in Bumblethatch.

The title story Come Sing for the Harrowing is a chilling tale of a young man who takes a job to pay his mother back the $200 he owes. Unfortunately, he will find out that he is paying so much more than that.

A camping trip with friends after a bad breakup is full of creepy happenings in Needles And Pins. 

The Darkness Below is another story of a family outing that goes horribly wrong for all involved when the son gets separated from his parents and sister in a touristy cave attraction.

A son leaves his father at a care home called Gorphwysfa, which translated means resting place. There will not be much rest for either of them once they separate.

If you enjoy dark fiction and strange tales, this is for you.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Clash Books for the e-ARC

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Movie Review - Souls Chapel

 MTS Pictures is proud to announce the North American release of their latest feature, Souls Chapel, an indie horror-western inspired by the real-life legend of an early 1900s reverend who practiced the occult. The film is now available from Desktop Entertainment on DVD and VOD platforms, including Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango at Home.

Inspired by the real-life legend of an early 1900s reverend who practiced the occult, Souls Chapel follows a drifter, who, while chasing rumors of gold, takes shelter from a brutal snowstorm inside a small church known as the Souls Chapel. As the night deepens, he learns the church, its clergy, and the land itself are bound to something dark and deadly.

Directed by and starring Jack C. Young, Souls Chapel also stars genre favorite Brian Bremer (Pumpkinhead, Society) alongside Adriana Curtsinger, Jermey Boggs, Gage Carnes, Joseph McDowell, and Molly Gill. 

I was invited to watch a screener of Souls Chapel.

It's an unknown point in time. The world has moved on from what it once was. Ray, a drifter, is making his way through the hills of old Kentucky in search of gold he has heard rumors about. He encounters a strange entity that promises him gold if he finds a mysterious icon and brings it back to him. After accepting the challenge, Ray finds himself in the middle of a terrible storm, from which he seeks refuge in a small church known as Souls Chapel. As things begin to unfold, Ray learns that church clergy are not who they seem, and that the chapel’s grounds are cursed with a presence of dark magic. Ray must not only survive the night but complete his task and make it out alive.

Souls Chapel gets off to a slow start and relies heavily on narration and dialogue for most of the movie. When Ray takes shelter in the chapel and meets the rest of our cast of characters, what should feel ominous is diminished by a lack of quality acting. I would love to name at least one actor who truly shined in their role, but am unable to do so.

The script was well written, and the cinematography did a great job of conveying the mood and atmosphere, making for a visually appealing film. The fact that it was more talk than action and the sometimes lackluster delivery of lines left me mostly disengaged from the movie. You may enjoy it more than I did but I am taking it as a bad sign that several other reviews I have seen are only posting the press release instead of saying what they thought about this movie.

I gave this film 5 out of 10 stars on IMDB

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Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Meet Mad Mabel

Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is eighty-one years old. She's lived on her idyllic street, Kenny Lane, for sixty years--longer than anyone else. Aside from being a curmudgeon who minds everyone else's business, few would suspect that Elsie has a past that she has worked exceedingly hard at concealing. Because when it comes to murder, no one ever suspects little girls or old ladies. And Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, once a little girl and now an old lady, has a strange history of people in her life coming to a foul end.

When a new little girl (talkative, curious, nosy) moves into the neighborhood and stops at nothing to befriend Elsie, her carefully-constructed life threatens to come crashing down as the secrets in Elsie's past start coming to light. Who was "Mad Mabel" fifty years ago? Who is Elsie Fitzpatrick today? And if the past has a habit of repeating itself, who has the most to lose?

Told with Sally Hepworth's twists, humor, charm, and heart, MAD MABEL is a novel that weaves past and present together--through the power of justice and redemption, and all the way to its stunning conclusion.

I took a break from reading horror when I was invited to read the newest Sally Hepworth, because I have enjoyed the four books I have read by her previously. In my opinion, this is her best work so far. Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick is 81 years old and living a quiet life on a peaceful street in a friendly neighborhood. She's also keeping a secret. When she was fifteen years old, she was tried and convicted of murder. Was she really guilty? Was the nickname Mad Mabel that the other kids tormented her with throughout her childhood valid? When one of her nosy neighbors starts trouble, it puts everyone's safety at risk.

The majority of the book is an amusing read full of Elsie's sarcastic wit and sardonic, biting humor, which is a welcome relief since it is interspersed with her tellings of the events of her traumatic past. Suddenly, around the 90% mark, I had my heart ripped out near the unexpected climax and conclusion. Everyone should be lucky enough to have a grandma like Elsie, and Elsie deserved far better than the childhood she got. Blamed by her father for a multitude of sins that were never her fault, he encouraged the cruelty and ridicule that she suffered. She felt so real to me I wanted to go back in time and give her a hug. This is a book with all the feels. 5 stars doesn't seem like enough for this well-crafted tale.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC

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