Headlights by C.J. Leede

Every instinct tells him to run. Every memory tells him he can’t. Special Agent Daniel Stansfield is ready for a change. Burnt out and defeated by the job, it’s his last day with the FBI. But before he can turn in his badge, he’s summoned back to Denver, the city he ran from four years ago, with a chilling message: it's happening again.

Seemingly innocent people are waking up on the side of the highway, with no memory of how they got there, wearing the skin of victims they've allegedly never met. And they each share one haunting detail: a strand of a stranger’s hair is tied around their tongue.

Now Daniel is pulled back into the gruesome cycle, and every clue leads him deeper into the shadows of his own past. He will have to confront the ghosts of his traumatic childhood and face what’s been hunting him all along— before he and the people he loves become the next victims.

 

Special Agent Daniel Stansfield suffered trauma at a very early age that has shaped the rest of his life. As he is preparing to re-enlist he is pulled back into an unsolved murder case when it appears the unknown serial killer has started again. New victims have turned up, and people are found covered in blood and wearing the skin of these corpses with no memory of what has happened or why they would have been involved.

Pretty freaky right? Well, it would have been if it had been more about the victims and the killer and less about the investigation and the agent's memories and visions. It started off strong, but it turned into more of a slow burn mystery that, for me, never reached its full potential. There are loads of references to The Shining, but that's not enough to back up the claim that it is "Perfect for fans of The Shining and Longlegs."  I loved the author's previous book and was hoping to feel the same about this one, but I just can't. It goes off in so many directions that I began to lose interest. You may enjoy it more than I did.

My thanks to Tor Nightfire for the advance paperback.

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Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey

An exclusive invitation.

A remote island infamous for its miraculous ecology.

A once-in-a-lifetime chance to fix everything that's broken.

But sometimes growth requires sacrifice....

WELCOME TO KINDRED COVE.

Celia is so tired of being alone. All she wants is to have a family—to belong to someone. That's why she's going to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival held by the secluded community that lives there. They promise that healing is possible. They promise that transformation is inevitable. There is no grief at Kindred Cove, because there is no suffering. Nothing is ever lost.

Celia knows that, at that mysterious island surrounded by that impossible, ever-growing reef -- she will find herself.

She’s ready to be healed. She’s ready to be transformed.

She's ready to believe.

 

Celia is grieving a loss, and through a support group, she learns about a wellness retreat that she hopes will help her to heal. When she arrives, there is some conflicting information on whether visitors have ever been allowed to remain. If they have not stayed on, where exactly did they go? Because some former guests have never returned home.

I was expecting more of a folk horror than what I got out of this book. This is more a story of cult-like behavior and how someone like Celia, with her past trauma and desperation to belong somewhere, could be ripe for conversion.

There are many points of view and several timelines that bounced around too much for my taste. It was very slow going for not a whole lot of payoff at the end.

You may enjoy it more than I did, but this book was just not for me.

My thanks to Tor Books for the paperback.

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Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka

 

A twisty, searing, conversation-starting novel about a filmmaker-turned-housewife who moves into her dream house and is forced to consider whether it's the house or herself that is haunted.

When documentary filmmaker turned stay-at-home mom Tennessee Cherish moves into the dream house her husband bought for her, a brighter future seems to be on the horizon. Even if her husband is frustratingly absent due to his new high-paying job. Even if their two young children begin acting out in strange ways. Even if she feels lonelier than ever.

Distracted by the endless details that come with moving into a new town, a new house, and new schools, Tenn doesn’t notice when odd things begin happening at home. The faucet that runs at all hours. The creepy doll that seems to show up in every room. The human tooth they found in the floorboards.

As the kids’ outbursts and the strange events start to escalate, the family finds themselves increasingly caught in loops, repeating everyday actions with dangerous—and then devastating—effects. Tenn realizes she must find the source of what is haunting her family, before it kills them all.

Taut and twisty, scary and searing, Aimee Pokwatka’s Accumulation lays bare the high price women pay for the promises of domesticity and motherhood, and the many ways in which families can be haunted.

Ward has recently gotten a new, higher-paying job and moved to what is supposedly his wife Tenn's dream home with their two children. I say "supposedly" because, although the home is much larger than what they had, it doesn't seem to be in good shape and is never really presented as anyone's idea of a dream home. Tenn has had some issues in the past with depression, and this is meant to be a fresh start for the family. Instead, everything goes rapidly sour as the children start behaving strangely, things go missing, silhouettes appear to be watching from the sidelines, and Tenn gets caught in a repeating loop of chaos. Trying to flee the house only seems to make matters worse. Is it really a haunted dream home, or is it Tenn herself who is haunted?

I always enjoy haunted house stories. When you throw in creepy happenings among kids, it really gets my adrenaline going. Particularly when I am not sure if you need to protect the children or need protection from the children. I have often times complained about repetitiveness in horror, but being caught in a loop worked for me in this book. I loved Tenn, and I loved to hate her husband, Ward. So many times I just wanted to smack him and say step up! But I guess all haunted house stories need a useless husband to make things worse before they can get better.

My thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons for the e-ARC

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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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