Mary: An Awakening of Terror by Nat Cassidy

 

Mary is a quiet, middle-aged woman doing her best to blend into the background. Unremarkable. Invisible. Unknown even to herself.

But lately, things have been changing inside Mary. Along with the hot flashes and body aches, she can’t look in a mirror without passing out, and the voices in her head have been urging her to do unspeakable things.

Fired from her job in New York, she moves back to her hometown, hoping to reconnect with her past and inner self. Instead, visions of terrifying, mutilated specters overwhelm her with increasing regularity and she begins auto-writing strange thoughts and phrases. Mary discovers that these experiences are echoes of an infamous serial killer.

Then the killings begin again.

Mary’s definitely going to find herself. 

The cover and the description really sucked me in, and will likely do the same to other women of a certain age (yes that is me!)

How clever, (I thought) to take what is already a difficult transition in a woman's life and turn it into a horror novel. I thought this was a novel about a woman who had suffered some trauma or breakdown in her life, now trying to cope with menopause and further emotional and physical upset. Mary is about to have her 50th birthday, and she is going through some normal and not-so-normal experiences. Unfortunately, Mary is also an unreliable narrator and this book is full of unlikable characters.

At first, I could somewhat relate to her, the feeling invisible, the avoidance of mirrors. The story has a really strong beginning with creepy scenes and some humor too. Then it sort of peters out and turns into a draggy slow paced festival of weirdness that is too out there even for me. And that is really saying something. I'm not that bothered that a male author attempted to write from the viewpoint of a menopausal woman, in fact, kudos for even trying to understand. I have no problem with male authors writing female characters or vice versa. It just didn't really work for me. It tried to combine too many elements into one plot that stretched on for too long. You may enjoy it more than I did.

2 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Tor Nightfire

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They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe

 

If you can hear the call of the water,
It's already far too late.

They say Cape Disappointment is haunted. That's why tourists used to flock there in droves. They'd visit the rocky shoreline under the old lighthouse's watchful eye and fish shells from the water as they pretended to spot dark shapes in the surf. Now the tourists are long gone, and when Meredith Strand and her young daughter return to Meredith's childhood home after an acrimonious split from her wife, the Cape seems more haunted by regret than any malevolent force.

But her mother, suffering from early stages of Alzheimer's, is convinced the ghost stories are real. Not only is there something in the water, but it's watching them. Waiting for them. Reaching out to Meredith's daughter the way it has to every woman in their line for generations-and if Meredith isn't careful, all three women, bound by blood and heartbreak, will be lost one by one to the ocean's mournful call.

Part modern gothic, part ghost story, They Drown Our Daughters explores the depths of motherhood, identity, and the lengths a woman will go to hold on to both.

Once upon a time, a wronged woman was willing to do whatever it took to secure her daughter's future.

Maybe if her intentions had been pure, maybe if they had not held a tinge of selfishness things would have turned out differently. 

Instead, what she set in motion ruined the lives of generations to come.

Years later, rumors of witchcraft and a curse on the women are still fodder for gossip and pranks, and occasional vandalism on the family property.

When Meredith returns to her childhood home with her young daughter in tow, there is no happy reunion between her and her mother. Old wounds are reopened, and danger lurks in the water, waiting for its chance to claim another life.

This story is told on multiple timelines, from the points of view of several generations of women. I would describe it as historical horror fiction that makes its way into the modern day. It is atmospheric and dark, touching on the bonds between mothers and daughters and what it takes to sever them. There is a bit of supernatural mystery woven in, with a quick pace that kept me turning the pages. I was all in on this story until probably the final third when it took a weird turn without an adequate explanation.

I still enjoyed the story but that irked me enough to deduct a star.

4 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press

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Sallow Bend by Alan Baxter

 

When two teenagers go missing from the small, rural town of Sallow Bend, the residents come together to search for them. Little do they suspect that finding the wayward girls will be the start of their problems. An ancient evil is rising, and only one man seems to realize that everyone is in danger and this is not the first time it’s happened. With the carnival in town, people want to have a good time, but for many, this will be the worst time of their lives. SALLOW BEND – a tense and frightening folk horror novel from Alan Baxter and Cemetery Dance Publications.

Tricia is still grieving the loss of her son Toby. She tries to hold out hope that he is alive and will be found someday but he's been missing for a year and it's just not looking good. Her marriage has also taken a hit since her husband's drinking has spiraled out of control ever since their son disappeared. Now two young girls have gone missing and Tricia wants to help with the search. Some of the locals suspect the carny folk while others are suspicious of Caleb, the school janitor who can never look anyone in the eye for long. Tricia and Caleb team up in the search but what they discover goes far beyond their wildest fears.

The girls are found alive, but only Caleb realizes that something is horribly wrong. They were searching for two girls so why have they come back with three? Who or what is this stranger? And why does the entire town think they've known her all her life?

The three girls are now inseparable, and unnatural deaths seem to follow everywhere they go.

I loved this book so much! There is an old superstitious saying when you get a weird unexplained chill, that it's because a goose just walked over your grave. This book gave me chills so many times that the entire gaggle of geese must have walked over mine. 

Sallow Bend was a pleasantly creepy surprise for me. It has pretty much everything my heart desires in a horror novel. There's a small town with a dark past, lots of secrets, the carnival rolling in at the perfect moment to get blamed for some disappearances, and a whole lot of supernatural goings-on.

5 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications for the digital copy.

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Haunted Attractions with your Other Father by Norman Prentiss

 

Death separates people from each other. For a time.

This follow-up to ODD ADVENTURES WITH YOUR OTHER FATHER continues Jack and Shawn's horror/fantasy/LGBTQA+ roadtrip, chronicling their 1980s visits to out-of-the way attractions that amplify Jack's mind-projecting powers:

- A theater where the performance of a classical tragedy leaves an unforgettable aftertaste.

- A haunted house that targets a specific type of victim.

- A life-size concrete replica of Stonehenge that enacts a gender bending transformation to punish a disrespecting visitor.

- And a boardwalk funhouse ride that brings about the end of the world -- in more ways than one.

Meanwhile, in the present day, their daughter Celia confronts challenges at her summer camp job, while Shawn arranges visits to his dead lover's spirit in a house he doesn't own. The lovers could be reunited permanently, If only Jack's parents could be coerced into selling their home....

With this Haunted sequel, Bram Stoker Award winner Norman Prentiss offers horror, humor, and heart in an unforgettable collision of bizarre adventures, past and present.

This is a tough one for me to review. Mainly because when I saw the cover and that it was by Norman Prentiss I jumped so quickly on the chance to read it that I did not even realize it was a sequel. I wanted so badly to read it in time for Pride Month but here I am a week late.

It was a bit confusing to me at first to get the gist of the whole family dynamic but that is my own fault for not having started with book one. I am sure there are things that would have been better understood by me if I was not reading in the wrong order.

This is not exactly horror, but there are supernatural elements involved.

All Celia knows of her "other father" who passed away when she was very young, are the stories she is told by her surviving father, of their adventures and road trips together. 

All I knew of Jack and Shawn's relationship is that they were very much in love, in a time when it was dangerous to be openly gay. While some of Jack and Shawn's experiences were quite chilling I felt that this was more a story about love and loss and the bonds of family. It is sometimes humorous, often bittersweet, and always entertaining. It is quite original and I loved the characters. I do recommend that you read Odd Adventures With Your Other Father before starting this one.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications for the review copy.

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