Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester

 

A biting novel from an electrifying new voice, Such a Pretty Smile is a heart-stopping tour-de-force about powerful women, angry men, and all the ways in which girls fight against the forces that try to silence them.

There’s something out there that’s killing. Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don’t know when to shut up.

2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can’t share with anyone. Not the school psychologist she’s seeing. Not her father, who has a new wife, and a new baby. And not her mother—the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures, made from bent twigs and crimped leaves, have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila feels haunted from within, terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice—until she is punished for using it.

2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. Snarling, barking, teeth snapping that no one else seems to notice. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape—both in her waking hours, and in the violent, visceral sculptures she creates while in a trance-like state. Her fiancé is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waves her “problem” away with pills. But Caroline’s past is a dark cellar, filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can’t understand.

As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core. Brilliantly paced, unsettling to the bone, and unapologetically fierce, Such a Pretty Smile is a powerful allegory for what it can mean to be a woman, and an untamed rallying cry for anyone ever told to sit down, shut up, and smile pretty.

Caroline Sawyer, is an artist and single mom who was raised to be a good girl and is raising her daughter to be the same. Her daughter Lila is trying to be a good girl while navigating hormones, her first crush, and the secrets she knows her mother is keeping from her about murdered girls and what that might have to do with her past.

There's an expression that I love and it seems fitting for this review. "Teach your daughters to worry less about fitting into glass slippers and more about shattering glass ceilings." Yet in this day and age so many girls, and so many women are told just to smile. This book made me think of how many times I've heard it myself. Just smile. Why aren't you smiling? As if women should go around with a perpetual grin plastered to their faces regardless of how they feel or even whether the situation calls for smiling.

If you enjoy a slow burn horror with a sharp feminist edge, or if you've ever been "mansplained" to this book is for you. It's part supernatural thriller, part social commentary, and totally different from anything I've ever read.

4 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press for granting my wish for a review copy.

Available for pre-order

About the author

Kristi DeMeester is the author of Beneath, published by Word Horde, and Everything That's Underneath by Apex Books. Her short fiction has been included in Ellen Datlow's Year's Best Horror Volumes 9 and 11, Year's Best Weird Fiction Volumes 1, 3, and 5, and Stephen Jone's Best New Horror. Her short fiction has also appeared in publications such as Black Static, The Dark, Pseudopod, as well as several others. In her spare time, she alternates between telling people how to pronounce her last name and how to spell her first.

Beneath the Stairs by Jennifer Fawcett

In this spine-tingling, atmospheric debut for fans of Jennifer McMahon, Simone St. James, and Chris Bohjalian, a woman returns to her hometown after her childhood friend attempts suicide at a local haunted house—the same place where a traumatic incident shattered their lives twenty years ago.

Few in sleepy Sumner’s Mills have stumbled across the Octagon House hidden deep in the woods. Even fewer are brave enough to trespass. A man had killed his wife and two young daughters there, a shocking, gruesome crime that the sleepy upstate New York town tried to bury. One summer night, an emboldened fourteen-year-old Clare and her best friend, Abby, ventured into the Octagon House. Clare came out, but a piece of Abby never did.

Twenty years later, an adult Clare receives word that Abby has attempted suicide at the Octagon House and now lies in a coma. With little to lose and still grieving after a personal tragedy, Clare returns to her roots to uncover the darkness responsible for Abby’s accident.
 

When Clare was a teen, she and her friends snuck into the Octagon House, a crumbling structure in the woods with a dark history and rumored to be cursed. Her best friend Abby was briefly trapped in the cellar and whatever she saw there cast a dark shadow over the rest of her life.

Clare has tried to forget the past, and has mostly succeeded at doing so until the cryptic messages from her former friend Abby induce nightmares. Her life is already unsettled when she is contacted by Abby's mother, telling her that Abby is hospitalized after a suicide attempt in the Octagon House and asking that she come to see her.

Written on multiple timelines the story kind of bounced from present day Clare as an adult, to Clare as a teen, to way back when the house was first being built, and then forward to the only family who ever lived in it. It's a slow burn, told from multiple points of view, and is more of a mystery than a haunted house story. There's not really much in the way of scares but there is a lot of suspense. I was enjoying the story immensely until something that seemed out of character happened near the end. I can't say what it was without spoiling the whole book for you but something happened that seemed almost to defeat the whole purpose of the previous goings on. If not for that I probably would have rated it 5 stars.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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About the author

Jennifer Fawcett holds an MFA from the Iowa Playwrights Workshop. Her work has been produced in theaters across the country and published in Third Coast Magazine, Reunion: The Dallas Review, Storybrink, and in the anthology Long Story Short. Her debut novel, Beneath the Stairs comes out with Atria Books (Simon & Schuster) in February 2022. She teaches writing at Skidmore College.

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The Saga of Dead-Eye Book One: Vampires, Zombies, & Mojo Men by Ronald Kelly

ALIVE, YET DEAD…

The bloody War Between the States and a harrowing confinement in an enemy prison camp had turned Joshua Wingade into a broken man. His nerves and spirit shattered by the barbarity of battle, and demoralized by a cause that his heart secretly despised, Wingade returns home in hope of finding peace and healing.

But, upon his arrival, he discovers that Hell had come to call. His beloved wife had been violated and transformed into a horrid bride of the undead, and his only son abducted by a band of diabolical outlaws led by the renegade vampire, Jules Holland. Along for the ride are three demonic henchmen from the fetid bowels of Hades and the dark witch, Evangeline.
Aware that he is no match for the gang, Wingade rides across Georgia and Tennessee nonetheless, intent on rescuing his child from imminent disaster. During his journey, he witnesses the horrors and atrocities Holland and his evil confederates have wrought. Eventually, he finds himself at the outlaws’ mercy. An instant before death, he makes a final pledge to his stolen son.

“I promise, Daniel! I will come for you!”

DEAD, YET ALIVE…

He awakens to discover that the cold finality of the grave has been thwarted. With the help of the Louisiana mojo man, Job, he has been resurrected. But, the frail and fearful man named Joshua Wingade is forever gone. In his place is the stoic, steel-nerved Dead-Eye with his blind eye aglow and a gun hand as swift and deadly as greased lightning.

Together, they vow to pursue the vampire and his minions, and deliver
young Daniel from his bondage. However, they know that time is their worst enemy. If Holland and the others make it across the Mississippi River to the Western territories beyond, their vengeance may never come to fruition. For they are entering a new purgatory known as the Devil’s Playground… a vast wilderness rife with violence and terrors unleashed from the Hole Out of Nowhere.

A place where death and evil are dealt freely, without atonement to anyone… including God himself!

This may be one time when the synopsis is longer than my review. LOL

Honestly I do not care for westerns, at all. But you can probably tell from the picture that I am a bit of a Ronald Kelly fan. 

I went into this book questioning whether it may or may not be for me. With visions of John Wayne hovering in the back of my mind I waded blindly into this book. What did I find?
"Trapped within the web were the bodies of several men. Or what had once been men. Their bodies were twisted; the arms and legs disjointed and at odds with one another. The flesh of their faces and hands were shriveled, sapped of the color of life and clinging tightly to the bone, as though the muscle underneath had dissolved and wilted away."

Obviously this is not your grandpa's western!

This book is loaded with action, crisp writing, dark humor and genuinely creepy moments.

You do NOT need to be a fan of westerns to enjoy this book.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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Best Horror of 2021

It was a tough choice but these are my picks for the best horror of 2021. Notice I did not say novels this year because I just had to include some short stories that were way too good to be left out. The title links will take you to the book synopsis, review, author info if available and Amazon page. These are books you will definitely want to add to your TBR. Dead Daughters actually published in 2020 but since it was my first 5 star read of this year I'm including it.

Dead Daughters by Tim Meyer        Near The Bone By Christina Henry   

The Neighbor by London Clarke     Your Frightful Spirit Stayed by Matthew Cash  

Ride Or Die by James Newman         Come With Me by Ronald Malfi

The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward  The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke

Faithless by Hunter Shea               Dread Softly by Caryn Larrinaga

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig     Beyond the Veil edited by Mark Morris

Christmas Horror Volume 1 Edited by Chris Morey

Introducing the new annual Dark Regions Press holiday anthology: Christmas Horror. Volume 1 features all new and original stories from authors Joe R. Lansdale, John Skipp, Cody Goodfellow, Jeff Strand, J. F. Gonzalez, Stephen Mark Rainey, Nate Southard, and Shane McKenzie. Each story is preceded by a full page/full bleed color illustration by artist Zach McCain

I love Christmas themed horror almost as much as I love Halloween horror. So that, and this gorgeous cover meant I had to own a copy of this book. Most of these stories just weren't that impressive.

I did love The Endless Black of Friday by Nate Southard. It takes place outside a big box store as people line up for hours to get the best Christmas deals, but there is more to worry about than getting trampled over the hottest new toy or the last giant screen tv.

Red Rage by Stephen Mark Rainey was also very good, told on two timelines about a family recently moved into a house near Christmas, and what happened to the previous owners. I also enjoyed Belsnickel by J.F. Gonzalez  when a long lost uncle comes to visit at Christmas. but all is not as it seems.

The other stories just weren't for me and the only one I will mention by name is because

Naughty by Shane Mckenzie should really have come with a trigger warning. Think Stir of Echoes but with revenge for an unnecessarily graphic gang rape on a physically and mentally disabled teen. Put a warning on that shit! Not everyone wants to read that.

3 out of 5 stars

 

Lamella by Max Halper

Mel Lane assumed his life was on the track it was supposed to be: a career with upward movement, a home, a long-term relationship. That is, until he comes home one day to a girlfriend he knows and a child he doesn't. Stranger still, no one else seems disturbed by the child’s presence—or by its bizarre, inhuman features. Mel is a reasonable man, and he knows there is a reasonable explanation—but once the veil of reality begins to ripple, the world around him becomes something he simply doesn't understand. Worse yet, it's becoming very clear that he may never have understood it quite as well as he thought he did.

He knows there are answers, written somewhere on the walls or in the airwaves, but finding them will mean confronting truths about himself and the people around him as he spirals down a rabbit hole of identity and place that will threaten to upend the delicate balance of his life.

A darkly surreal and thought-provoking story, 'Lamella' is the debut novella of American author Max Halper.

 Lamella is a debut novella that really packs a punch. It's darkly humorous, disturbing, sad, gross, unsettling, and unnerving.

Mel Lane comes home from a lousy day and finds his home life to be something out of Twilight Zone. He and his girlfriend did not have any children when he left for work and yet here she is waiting for him with this odd looking multi-holed baby and acting like it's the most normal thing in the world for him to have fathered it. Nobody else seems to think it's at all unusual so he pretty much just rolls with it because what can you do right? At first he is totally repulsed by baby Lamella but eventually she sort of grows on him. 

There is a very poignant anecdote told in this book about how as children, things just go over our heads but we pretend to get the joke, and we laugh along so as not to be left out. And that as adults perhaps we still do the same thing, pretending to understand the point of life and to know what's going on even though it still flies over our heads. That totally jibes with my first thoughts when starting this book. What the hell did I just read? As crazy as it was I enjoyed every minute of this weird and wild story. The writing flows along like a fast moving river and all you can do is just roll with it.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Available for pre-order
 

Twelve Days of Christmas Horror Volume 2 by Rick Wood

 From horror master Rick Wood, author of The Sensitives and This Book is Full of Bodies, comes ANOTHER twelve horrifying stories to spook up your Christmas season!
From a festive family of cannibals, to a terrifying present, to a psychotic Santa... here are twelve stories guaranteed to make your Christmas sick and twisted!

Features stories such as:

- The Present
- Christmas With the Cannibals
- 'Twas the Night Before Murder Part Two
- Christmas Night of the Living Dead
- Me and My Christmas Jumper
- Carolling With Killers
- Interview With Krampus November 2020
- Tiny Tim: The Trauma Years
- A Letter From Simon

It's time to bring some horror to your festivities...

I read the first volume last year and upon completion I immediately bought volume 2. I never had a chance to read it until now but as soon as I finished I ordered the new one because they seem to just get better as they go. This is a quick read at 160 pages.  I enjoyed all the stories and the illustrations too. I can't say that I cared much for the poems or reworked Christmas Carols but I did enjoy the stories.

Some of my favorites were Me and My Christmas Jumper in which a lonely, meek, and mild office worker has a drastic personality change. The Present which is written in three installments spread throughout the book, about a mysterious gift that ruins lives, and Christmas Night Of The Living Dead in which a boy who wants to hunt down zombies is made to take his poor old granny along.

Sprinkled with dark humor and seasoned with fear this second volume of Christmas Horror is the perfect recipe for a merry and macabre holiday.

4 out of 5 stars

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The End: A Zombie Story by Tim Turner

 The End is a zombie story that follows two groups of survivors through the post apocalyptic landscape. This novel has strong characters, dark humor and enough horror, suspense and gore for any true fan of the zombie genre.

The End takes place at the start of a zombie apocalypse so the survivors are many, and still learning as they go. We witness their loss of hope that loved ones might recover from being bitten, and their grief when they instead turn into zombies. The characters are likable other than a religious zealot cult leader type who believes this is all part of God's wrath against sinners. Strangers become friends as they work together for their survival and the common good. 

My only criticism would be that there was little to no conflict between them which seemed unlikely. I think some conflict would have made the story a little juicier and more realistic.

 I especially enjoyed the dark humor which gave me a chuckle more than once and local (to me) setting of Rhode Island, with familiar towns that made me feel almost as if I could look out my window and see some of the action.

This is my third read by this Indie author and I would say he is honing his skill and improving his craft with each book.

3.75 out of 5 stars. Rounding up to 4 on Goodreads.

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Ghosts of Christmas Past by Tim Martin (Editor)

 

A present contains a monstrous secret.
An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party.
A shadow slips across the floor by firelight. A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams.

Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail - so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas.

I have been dying to read this for over a year, but my anticipation and expectation did not match the reality. I love ghost stories, especially set at Christmas time or even during winter in general when the wind is howling and the snow is drifting higher.

I mostly bought this book because of M.R. James and Neil Gaiman but as it turned out the Gaiman "story" didn't fill an entire page even though they left a ton of blank space to stretch it to the other side. The M. R. James story was written as a series of letters to someone's brother concerning their missing uncle. I may have dozed off during that one.

 Dinner For One by Jenn Ashworth was the only tale I somewhat enjoyed. It was predictable as all get out but compared to the rest of this book it was the one high note. There was really nothing scary or spine tingly even in the one story that I enjoyed although it was well written. This is definitely not what I was hoping for. You might enjoy it more than I did provided you aren't looking for a scare or anything on par with Dickens.

2 out of 5 stars

Nocturnal Pursuits by by Glenn Rolfe

Glenn Rolfe (Blood and Rain and August’s Eyes) is back with a new collection of deliciously frightening, thought-provoking horror. Whether dealing with werewolves in “The Dead Brother Situation”, a vicious cult in “The Devil’s Kin”, an evil doll in the Splatterpunk Award-nominated “Molly”, or gut-wrenching loss in “Gone Away”, these fifteen dark tales promise to entertain, cause your skin to crawl, and make you feel a little more.

Nocturnal Pursuits takes you on a journey into the heart of an author both obsessed with and afraid of the macabre. Be it a suicide woods, a crazed gas station attendant, or neighborhood enigma throwing a party, you won’t soon forget these encounters.

When the shadows fall upon the day and the living are fast asleep, Glenn Rolfe is wide-awake wrestling with aliens, demons, and the ghosts that take up the dark corners of his mind. You’ve been invited. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Don't let the title lull you into a false sense of security when the sun rises. The danger is everywhere, on land and in the water. You are just as likely to encounter evil in the dark of night as you are in a daycare or a fishing trip. You may not even be able to identify who the bad guy is or where the source of danger will come from until it's too late. It's a trap. Trust nothing and no-one. My favorites were The Guide, which is one of the more milder stories, less about terror and more about loss. You Can Have It All Back in which a terminally ill woman on hospice care begins to hear a voice. Out Of Range is a great example of not knowing where the danger will come from, and having no way to prepare or protect yourself. Kelvin's World is revenge with a twist.

If you love short horror stories as much as I do, this book is for you. Nocturnal Pursuits is full of murderous surprises.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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About the author

 

A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle

 In Lisa Tuttle’s stories, the everyday domestic world of her female protagonists is invaded by the bizarre, the uncanny, the horrific. In ‘Bug House’, a woman who goes to visit her aunt is shocked to find she is dying – but even more shocking is what is killing her. The divorcing couple in ‘Community Property’ arrive at a macabre solution for how to divide ownership of a beloved pet. In ‘Flying to Byzantium’, a writer travelling to a science fiction convention finds herself caught in a strange and terrifying hell. The thirteen tales in this collection are highly original and extremely chilling, and they reveal Tuttle to be a master of contemporary horror fiction.

Never before published in the United States and highly sought-after by collectors, A Nest of Nightmares (1986) is a classic of modern horror. This new edition features the original paperback cover art by Nick Bantock and a new introduction by Will Errickson.

First off Happy Thanksgiving to those in the USA

This is likely to be my only review this week due to the baking frenzy I'm currently in. My reading time has been drastically reduced at the moment.

I love that Valancourt Books is re-releasing all these great horror classics from the 70s and 80s. I have been on a mission to read the ones I have missed the first time around. If you also missed out or were too young back in the heyday of horror I strongly recommend checking out all that is available from Valancourt.

A Nest of Nightmares contains 13 short stories originally published in 1986. They feel surprisingly timeless other than one person's desperate need to make a phone call which made that particular story feel dated, though anyone who survived the years without a cell phone will still understand what it was like to not have constant and instant access to make a call.

The stories are quite dark and more than one tale focuses on the dissolution of a relationship, where the horror is perhaps the feeling of being left out, abandoned, forgotten and lost. There is the conventional creature feature type horror, and haunted objects and a weirdly current feeling in the  tale of a woman looking forward to the fence she's heard they are building to keep people from getting into the country from Mexico. There were only a couple of stories that missed the mark with me. I would recommend this to all who enjoy short horror stories with unexpected endings.

4 out of 5 stars

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About the author

Lisa Tuttle taught a science fiction course at the City Lit College, part of London University, and has tutored on the Arvon courses. She was residential tutor at the Clarion West SF writing workshop in Seattle, USA. She has published six novels and two short story collections. Many of her books have been translated into French and German editions. She has also written under the name Maria Palmer.

The Legend of the Dogman by David C. Posthumus

 

Something dark and malevolent stalks the majestic Northwoods of Michigan, and each corpse sends a new wave of terror through the small town of LeRoy. Anthropology professor Jack Allen uncovers a pattern of strange encounters, disappearances, and unsolved murders that shake him to his core. The deeper Jack delves into the horror in the woods, the more his life falls apart around him. With his family and all of Northern Michigan hanging in the balance, Jack must find a way to stop the cycle or risk losing everything to the ultimate predator. Meet a new kind of monster in David C. Posthumus’s bone-chilling suspenseful thriller, The Legend of the Dogman! 

The legend of the Dogman goes back for centuries. Whether anyone believes in it or not it doesn't stop the sightings and carnage that occur in every year that ends in a seven.

The bodies are starting to pile up in LeRoy. Mutilated animals and massacred humans are being discovered at an alarming rate. Is there a crazed murderer on the loose or could there be a monster afoot?

Part family saga, part supernatural horror this chilling read kept me turning the pages late into the night. There were some spots were the pace was a little slow for my taste but I loved the whole family dynamic and how what happened with Jack as a child shaped the man he has become. Family is everything to him and he will need their help to deal with this threat. Who will survive the Legend of the Dogman?

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy under no obligation to write a review.

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The Waiting by Hunter Shea

 

Newlywed Cassandra Pagano lies in a state between life and death, her body fed and preserved by the machines at her side. While she struggles, unaware of the world around her, someone waits a boy. A phantom that appears solid, real, "alive." Cassandra s husband, Brian, sees him in the house, by her bedside, running down darkened hallways. The boy walks without sound, whispers words that can t be deciphered.

Terror and tension are driving Brian to the breaking point. Why is the boy there, and what does he want with Cassandra and her fading soul? 

A newlywed suffering a deadly infection is rushed to the hospital from her wedding reception. The prognosis is looking pretty bleak and the husband decides that if she has any chance of recovery it will be in their new home instead of the cold sterile hospital.

He brings her home, where he and her mother attempt to care for her along with a visiting nurse.

What he doesn't know, is the history of his new home or why a ghostly apparition of a boy begins to appear.

This was a quick read, more sad than scary, more emotional than chilling, until suddenly the ending gave me a solid case of the heebie jeebies. 

4 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher under no obligation to write a review.

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The Beasts of Vissaria County by Douglas Ford

 

For Maggie McKenzie, repairing a shattered life becomes more complicated when a stranger takes up residence in the ruins of an old Florida estate with a macabre history. This stranger brings with him a sinister magic and an obsession with the disturbed grave of a witch. Maggie’s troubled past becomes part of a larger, darker legacy of curses and bloody rituals, as well as a variety of beasts, both human and supernatural, that will prey upon her and those she loves. The Beasts of Vissaria County is a mix-tape of gothic horror, a love letter to weird fiction and dubbed late-night horror films.

Maggie has taken her young son and fled an abusive marriage. Moving in with her father is a less than ideal situation, especially considering she doesn't trust him not to tell her husband that she's there. Keeping her husband at bay will become only one of the perils she must face when she meets the stranger who has moved in to what her father calls the Sabbath house.

Is he only a man or something more? And what's up with the giant footprints Maggie's father sees around their home?

The Beasts of Vissaria County is a slow burn horror steeped in folklore and legend. If you enjoy dark and atmospheric tales that pull the old days into modern times this is for you.

4 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy from the author under no obligation to write a review.

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About the author

Douglas Ford lives and works on the west coast of Florida, just off an exit made famous by a Jack Ketchum short story. He is the author of a recent collection of weird fiction, Ape in the Ring and Other Tales of the Macabre and Uncanny, as well as the novel, The Beasts of Vissaria County. His short stories have appeared in such venues as Dark Moon Digest, Tales to Terrify, Weird City, along with The Best Hardcore Horror, Volumes Three and Four. His novella, The Reattachment, appeared in 2019 courtesy of Madness Heart Press.

Dead Inside by Chandler Morrison

 

In this bleak and disturbingly erotic debut novel, iconoclast Chandler Morrison provides readers with a dark exploration of the nature of death, individuality, and generational identity. Along the way, lines will be crossed, taboos will be violated, and common decency will take an extended leave of absence. This is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Or anyone who enjoyed Fifty Shades of Grey.

A young hospital security guard with a disturbingly unique taste in women. A maternity doctor with a horrifically unusual appetite. When the two of them meet, they embark on a journey of self-discovery as they shatter societal norms while engaging in destructive and abhorrent behavior. As they unwittingly help each other understand a world in which neither of them seems to belong, they begin to realize what it truly means to be alive...and that it might not always be a good thing.

So a necrophiliac and a cannibal walk into a bar...well actually it was a restaurant but whatever.

I bought this book because just about everyone was talking about it last year. Now that I've read it I'm not sure what to do with it. It's not a book that I will display proudly on my shelves. It's not a book I would feel comfortable donating, it's not even a book that I would want anyone to find in my belongings after I'm gone. I'm barely willing to admit that I've read it. The writing is mediocre and the plot if you could call it that is gross just for the sake of shock value. I like my horror to be scary, and this is not it. I guess I would recommend it to readers who like gross out horror. I would not recommend it for anyone who expects it to be as claimed in the synopsis "disturbingly erotic" or a "dark exploration of the nature of death"

I figured I could handle it since I've read a lot of Edward Lee, the author who holds the distinction of writing the only book that ever literally made me gag,  I was right, I made it to the end without throwing up, but I prefer to get more out of a book than just not vomiting.

2 out of 5 stars

The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman

 

Ella Louise has lived in the woods surrounding Pilot’s Creek, Virginia, for nearly a decade. Publicly, she and her daughter Jessica are shunned by their upper-crust family and the Pilot’s Creek residents. Privately, desperate townspeople visit her apothecary for a cure to what ails them—until Ella Louise is blamed for the death of a prominent customer. Accused of witchcraft, both mother and daughter are burned at the stake in the middle of the night. Ella Louise’s burial site is never found, but the little girl has the most famous grave in the South: a steel-reinforced coffin surrounded by a fence of interconnected white crosses.

Their story will take the shape of an urban legend as it’s told around a campfire by a man forever marked by his boyhood encounters with Jessica. Decades later, a boy at that campfire will cast Amber Pendleton as Jessica in a ’70s horror movie inspired by the Witch Girl of Pilot’s Creek. Amber’s experiences on that set and its meta-remake in the ’90s will ripple through pop culture, ruining her life and career after she becomes the target of a witch hunt. Amber’s best chance to break the cycle of horror comes when a true-crime investigator tracks her down to interview her for his popular podcast. But will this final act of storytelling redeem her—or will it bring the story full circle, ready to be told once again? And again. And again…

Well this is awkward. Whisper Down The Lane by this author is going on my best horror of the year list. I thought I would love this book too but I didn't care for it much.

Ella Louise has been ostracized from her family and from the town. She keeps to herself and is rarely seen by anyone. On one of her rare trips for supplies when it is noticed that she is pregnant, the gossip mongers chitter away that it must be the devils child. As her daughter grows they are both shunned, except when people visit for potions and tinctures to cure their ails or get even with those who've offended them. When one such tincture leads to a death the mother and child are burned as witches.

Years later terrifying things happen to a child playing the part of the daughter in a movie filming in the graveyard...

I was all set to love this book. It's got the makings of absolutely everything I could want. However it was really difficult for me to connect with the writing style, which is all over the place, and unbearably repetitive. Words. so many of the same words. Words being typed on my keyboard. Words showing up on the page, on the review, in my head, words combining to create this review, the review that I will post here on the page, the page of the internet, the page you are reading...

Are you ready to tell me to shut up yet? Because for me this is what it was like reading this book.

2 out of 5 stars.

The Hidden by Melanie Golding

 

One dark December night, in a small seaside town, a little girl is found abandoned. When her mother finally arrives, authorities release the pair, believing it to be an innocent case of a toddler running off.

Gregor, a seemingly single man, is found bludgeoned and left for dead in his apartment, but the discovery of children’s toys raises more questions than answers.

Every night, Ruby gazes into Gregor’s apartment, leading to the discovery of his secret family: his unusually silent daughter and his mentally unstable wife, Constance, who insists that she is descended from the mythological Selkies. She begs Ruby to aid in finding the sealskin that Gregor has hidden from her, making it impossible to return to her people.

DS Joanna Harper’s investigation into Gregor’s assault leads her to CCTV footage of the mother-daughter pair from town. Harper realizes she knows the woman almost as well as she knows herself: it’s her estranged daughter, Ruby. No matter the depth of Ruby’s involvement, she knows she will choose her daughter over her career.

Ruby is a single woman, lonely, estranged from her family, living her solitary existence, when she notices the man in the apartment across from her. Gregor is young, handsome, seemingly shy, and when Ruby orchestrates a meeting with him she has no idea the perils that await her.

When she enters Gregor's apartment she meets Constance, the woman who lives with him. Gregor says they are together but not "in that way." They share a daughter, who is the product of a one night stand. Constance is mentally ill says Gregor, he allows her to live there because he is helping her. It sounds plausible except for the chilling words Constance speaks to Ruby when they are alone. "What has he told you?" and "Do you believe him?"

This was a captivating mystery with touches of folklore and mythology and loaded with suspense. It also has all the feels that go along with dysfunctional family drama and larger than life characters.

There were times that for me, the police scenes went on a bit long. Even though one of the officers is an indispensable part of the story I just wanted to get back to what was going on with Constance and Ruby. You may feel differently, I just tend to get bored with police investigations.

4 out of 5 stars

I read a digital copy through Netgalley  under no obligation to write a review.

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Things That Don't Belong in the Light by Matt Starr

What is your deepest fear? Things that exist in plain sight?
Those that hide in the darkest corners of your soul? 
Our deepest fears come in many forms. The seen and the hidden.
The real and the imagined. The flesh and the incorporeal.
Between the covers of this book, you'll find a bit of all this.
Monsters, real and imagined. The familiar and the alien.
So open the book. Be prepared to confront your worst fears.

Things That Don't Belong in the Light

Last year I read Prepare To Meet Thy God by Matt Starr and it ended up on my best horror of 2020 list. When I saw this short story collection I knew I had to read it.

These stories are dark and multifaceted. They don't always lead where you think they're going to take you. I'm just going to touch briefly on my absolute favorites.

 Debris is the tale of a man haunted not by a spirit but by an event. As he rushes off to be with his dying mother it made me wonder if we create our own fate or are we just steered along by circumstance. This is one that really creeped me out.

The Suffering of Jolie Bell is about a travel blogger looking for the next haunted place to write about. Generally she makes things up as she goes along, but this time she may have found the real thing.

The Light on the Other Side of the Crawl Space features two things that for some reason paired well together, a dysfunctional family and an awful lot of spiders. This was one of the more gruesome stories which is probably why I loved it. 

In Devil Like You a pharmacist is asked to provide the drugs that will end the life of a death row inmate but consequences follow.

Last but not least is I Was Not Offended which is an original twist on the old myth of selling souls for musical ability. Whether you are familiar enough with the legends to start humming about being down at the crossroads or whether you have no idea what I'm rambling on about this is one story that won't give you the blues. 

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy from the publisher under no obligation to write a review.

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Peel Back and See by Mike Thorn

In spaces both familiar and strange, unknowable horrors lurk.

From the recesses of the Internet, where cosmic terror shows its face on an endless live feed, to a museum celebrating the sordid legacy of an occultist painter, this chilling collection of sixteen short stories will plunge you into the eerie, pessimistic imagination of Mike Thorn.

Peel Back and See urges its readers to look closer, to push past surface-level appearances and face the things that stir below.

I'm on a roll with short stories lately, and he's another collection with several I enjoyed.

If you like your fiction dark and disturbing this is for you.

My favorites were Mini McDonagh Manor that shows us you can't go home again, or maybe it's just safer if you stay away!

Mr. Murcata's Final Requests, is about the assistant of a dying man who does her best to fulfill his strange demands... until she makes an interesting discovery. @GorgoYama will make you think twice about those lovely friends you've connected with online. Wouldn't it be nice to meet them in person? Take this story as a warning before you do. In Dreams of Lake Drukka, a daughter is alienated from her father after her mother's death. She and her reluctant sister take a road trip and discover a dangerous truth.  In Exhumation, a man arrives at his cousin's funeral to find something otherworldly waiting to welcome him home. The Finger Collectors is a job title, it pays well as long as you don't ask questions. This was such a bizarre story it's hard to describe but I loved it.

The Furnace Room Mutant is something some high schoolers are just dying to see, but they should not have tricked their school mate into getting that key.

Virus is more than something that can mess up your computer and could be viewed as a cautionary tale before you click on any untrusted download links.

These were my favorites, yours may be different, you'll never know unless you peel back and see.

4 out of 5 stars

I received a digital copy from the author under no obligation to write a review.

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The Forest by Lisa Quigley

 

Everyone in Edgewood believes their annual tithes at the fall festival are what purchase Edgewood’s safety, but as Faye and her husband prepare to take over as town stewards—a long tradition carried out by her family for generations—they learn the terrible truth: in order to guarantee the town’s safety, the forest demands an unthinkable sacrifice.

In the midst of everything, Faye is secretly battling debilitating postpartum anxiety that makes her all the more terrified to leave the safe cocoon of her enchanted town.

When everyone turns against her—including her own husband—Faye is forced to flee with her infant son into the forest. She must face whatever lurks there and, perhaps most frightening of all, the dark torments of her own mind.

The Forest is an adult folk horror novel appealing to fans of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and Bird Box by Josh Malerman, with a hint of The Changeling by Victor LaValle. It is Quigley’s debut novel.

Welcome to Edgewood, A picture perfect town that nobody else can find unless they've been invited. A glorious, safe haven of good luck and fortune where nothing bad can ever happen. This is where Faye has been born and raised. It is where she is meant to spend her entire life and where she and her husband are expected to take over as town stewards now that her parents are retiring from the role. As the time of the ceremony draws near, Faye learns the true cost of living in such a magical place, and the price is not one she is willing to pay. With very little time to plan, she makes her escape from the only life she has ever known. Can she survive the forest?

This is a chilling and suspenseful folk horror with a strong female main character. I loved the whole family dynamic and the stunning way the truth was revealed. This would have been a 5 star read for me if not for some repetition. The tension that was increasing kind of evaporated a few times but the fear factor was kicked up several notches for the ending.

4 out of 5 stars

I read a digital file under no obligation to write a review.

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Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World

“At Last, an Authoritative Compendium to (Fictional) Haunted Buildings for the Delight and Exploration of Reader-Travelers Around the Globe.”

For nearly forty years, renowned paranormal investigator Professor Charlatan Bardot has examined, documented, and acquired stories of haunted buildings around the world. Partnered with leading anthologist Eric J. Guignard, and gifted artists Steve Lines and James Gabb, the greatest of Charlatan’s discoveries are made available now in this comprehensive travel anthology!

From the Philippines’ tragic Ame-Soeur Clothing Factory, to Sweden’s reverent Fish Church; from Tanzania’s vengeful Unguja Restaurant, to Canada’s cursed Crow Island Lighthouse, Charlatan Bardot presents a lifetime of experience and insight into paranormal architecture.

27 feature stories and 36 tiny tales are included of haunted temples, diners, hotels, shops, hospitals, outposts, theaters, and other building types, along with maps, travel notes, illustrations, and more, all designed to provide an immersive experience for veteran travelers and armchair ghost hunters alike!

Enter Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (2021 edition) and explore the strange and curious locales of the globe and of your imagination.

I'm going to be brief here. The title is a mouthful and the pages are a feast for the eyes and imagination. Illustrations, maps, and travel notes all combine to make fiction feel like reality.

The stories take you on a trip around the world, where you will become acquainted with several haunted places all from the safety of your favorite reading spot. 

Multiple authors with their own distinctive style add a unique flair and flavor to this anthology.

There are hauntings that occur in the usual places, such as the hospital in the chilling story Above Aimi by Thersa Matsuura but also more unusual settings such as the haunted department store in Ramsey Campbell's Still Hungry. These were just two of my favorites in this journey. 

Expect the unexpected on your travels and enjoy the trip.

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy under no obligation to write a review.

Available for pre-order

 

The Cannibal Gardener by Joe Pawlowski

 

Edmund has a secret.
Besides working as a gardener at Harbo’s Garden Center, he has a separate existence on the dark web, where he is known as Raoul153. There he flirts with the notion of eating people. This idea comes from his grandmother, who tells him stories about the history of his ancient ancestors, the Cannibal Gardeners of New Guinea.

Surprisingly, many share his dark interest. Some even volunteer to be his main course.
One of the people he encounters on the dark web is someone he one day meets in real life. Her name is Denise and she isn’t one of his volunteers but is a force to be reckoned with. Her Goth sensibilities and morbid interests make her a perfect match for Edmund. Or so he thinks.

She’s not so sure.
And, oh, yes, there is a real cannibal on the loose for them to contend with, and he's bringing along a friend.

The Cannibal Gardener combines chilling, supernatural suspense with a love story and generous doses of humor from a master storyteller.

Edmund spends his time split between working at the garden center and caring for his elderly grandmother. He moved in with her after his parents died, and since she cared for him when he needed her he has chosen to do the same now that she is the one who needs him. He enjoys her company and especially loves to hear her tell the stories of their ancestors. They are descended from cannibals she tells him, and he is fascinated by this. That may be what first sent him to the dark web. While grandma naps he often loses himself in grisly images and message boards for hours at a time.

Denise is a goth girl with morbid interests who happens to meet Edmund in person by accident. Neither of them intended their online personas to ever be revealed offline.

Milo is a serial killer/cannibal who hovers on the periphery of both their worlds and ends up being the catalyst for their meeting.

What ties them all together is a bit of old folklore and that was really my favorite part of the story, as I am a long time fan of folk and fairy tales, not the Disney type but the more gruesome variety. 

This was a quick and gory read with a surprise ending that I was not expecting at all. I loved the old folklore that was tied to this story and coincidentally my computer wallpaper is a picture of Baba Yaga's house. If you like folk horror and Grimms' tales you'll want to read this book.

4 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy under no obligation to write a review.

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All Things Deadly: Salem Stories by E.C. Hanson

 

Salem, Massachusetts. A town with a rich history of spirits and witches. It’s a place Adam Frost, a former paranormal investigator, never intended to visit again. But his teenage daughter is troubled and shows early signs of self-harm. Can the trip save their fractured relationship? Only time, and a haunted house, will tell.

All Things Deadly (Salem Stories) is Hanson’s debut horror collection. Surrounding the Frost storyline is a series of tales that utilize the coastal city to ratchet up the chills. Read if you dare.

I try not to compare or contrast authors or their story collections but the foremost thought in my mind after reading this is that it shares a similarity to Goblin by Malerman except that E.C. Hanson didn't forget to connect the stories together at the end.

The main story features a father and his  daughter who barely speaks to him on a road trip to Salem. There they will meet someone who used to be a friend but now seems to be a frenemy. Interspersed are short stories set in or around Salem with a diverse cast of characters, some of who will suffer grisly deaths, or cause the demise of others. There is some dark humor mixed in and some very bizarre situations.  In between these stories we head back to the father/daughter road trip and eventually reach their destination. The reason for this trip is bittersweet and may be what is needed to heal their broken relationship.

This was a quick read, perfect for October or really any time of year you're in the mood to visit Salem.

4 out of 5 stars

I received a complimentary copy from the author with no obligation to write a review.

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