The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

 

This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.

All these things are true. And yet they are all lies...

You think you know what's inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you've read this story before. That's where you're wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it's not what you think...

I'm not going to talk about the plot at all. You need to read it to believe how ingenious it is and I don't want to spoil anything.

This book will twist you up, wring you out, and throw you on the floor. It's that unsettling. I try not to gush over books but this one starts off good and then it gets better fast. 

I'm dizzy with the details of such an intricate story line and the way it all came together. The synopsis claims "It's not what you think" and how many times have you heard that before? Except this time it's true. I don't care how many psychological thrillers you have read or how quickly you have figured out the endings of any of them. No matter what you think, and no matter where you believe this story is headed it's not. Anything else I can say seems pointless so I'm just stopping here stunned by the brilliance of this novel.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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About the author

The Haunting Season: Eight Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights

Long before Dickens and James popularized the tradition, the shadowy nights of winter have been a time for people to gather together by the flicker of candlelight and experience the intoxicating thrill of a spooky tale.

Now nine bestselling, award-winning authors - all of them master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre - bring the tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding new collection of original spine-tingling tales.

Taking you from the frosty fens of Cambridgeshire, to the snow-covered grounds of a country estate, to a bustling London Christmas market, these mesmerizing stories will capture your imagination and serve as your indispensable companion to cold, dark nights. So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the ghostly spell of winters past.

In need of a break from the summer heat I delved in to The Haunting Season with it's cold, driving rain, drifting snow storms, and of course ghostly apparitions.

In my favorite stories I discovered a haunted wheel chair, met a new mother anxious to protect her child, a woman seeking shelter from her abusive husband, who finds help not from family but from an unexpected entity, and a recovering alcoholic who meets an influence much darker than the drink. 

These chilling stories are a perfect way to welcome in the shorter days and cooler nights. Not all of the spirits have evil intent, but even a well meaning warning of impending doom can be frightening when it comes from beyond the grave.

I would recommend it to all who enjoy a good old fashioned ghost story.

4 out of 5 stars 

I received an advance copy for review.

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Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

 

A Heian-era mansion stands abandoned, its foundations resting on the bones of a bride and its walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company.

It’s the perfect wedding venue for a group of thrill-seeking friends.

But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. For lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.

And she gets lonely down there in the dirt.

A group of friends go to a haunted mansion for a wedding. The run down, abandoned house is the final resting place of a former would be bride and holds the remains of girls who were buried alive to keep her company.

The cover and  synopsis is what pulled me in. The characters and purple prose is what nearly stopped me from finishing. I could not really connect with the writing style. Just because someone knows a lot of words doesn't mean they all need to be crammed in. It reminds me of the way middle grade kids will go back and add as many words as possible to pad out a school report to the required number of paragraphs. I didn't connect with any of the characters. I didn't like any of them and they didn't like each other much either. This was not the terrifying ghost story I was hoping for. You may enjoy it more than I did. I seem to be in the minority of disappointed readers.

2 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Bobcats by Matthew Weber

 

Growing up is hard to do, when people try to kill you. Thirteen-year-old Joey Kilgore learns this lesson the hard way, as he and his friends, who’ve dubbed themselves “the Bobcats,” embark on a weekend hiking trip across the ridge of Black Oak Mountain. Completing the hike along The Gauntlet is a local rite of passage that separates the men from the boys, but when the gang happens upon a pair of cold-blooded killers disposing of fresh corpses, it leads to a nightmarish chase through a storm-ravaged forest that will test their mettle like they never expected.

This was a suspenseful tale of true friendship and survival. These boys have only themselves and each other to rely on, as they are being hunted in the woods.

Joey and his friends weren't meant to be alone with no adult supervision for this hiking weekend. It had already been planned when Joey's dad passed away. Since they had all looked forward to it so much and since they knew it was important to Joey, his friends rallied round, and with a few white lies told to unsuspecting parents, decided to go ahead with their trip. They knew the weather was likely to turn against them, but they never expected to stumble upon a hitman dumping bodies or to be in a fight for their very survival.

What begins as a rite of passage ends as a deadly hike through hell. Who will live to tell what happened on Black Oak Mountain? 

4 out of 5 stars 

I received a complimentary copy.

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