These Things Linger by Dan Franklin

 When Alex Wilson's estranged uncle unexpectedly dies, Alex realizes he would do just about anything to make peace with the man who had raised him as his own.
He'd even reach out to the dead.

But things more dangerous than ghosts haunt his uncle's broken down trailer and the nearly abandoned one-gas-station town of Fair Hill just beyond. Things that can devour the living and the dead alike, and are all too ready to answer his call.

Some parts of our past never really leave us. There are things that don't know how to die.

These things linger.

Dan Franklin's supernatural thriller novel These Things Linger is a twisting and unforgiving tale of desperation, depression, heritage, and of other hungry, vicious things.

Alex Wilson never put much stock in the supernatural. Not even when he witnessed a strange occurrence after participating in an unfinished ritual with a girlfriend years ago.

But now that his uncle has passed away, with so much unresolved between them, he would do anything to talk to him one last time. Desperate for closure he uses the half-remembered spell from his youth, and something answers his call.

Alex is now the target of an evil entity, putting his life and the lives of his fiancé and their unborn child in peril. Can he undo what has been done?

What has begun as a doleful tale of loss and regret soon plunges into all out terror when the entity shows its power. Dan Franklin is adept at building empathy for the characters on one hand while ratcheting up the fear of a grim outcome on the other. It made me wonder what I would risk for a chance to speak to loved ones a final time, but it also drives home the point that if you have something to say or hard feelings to clear up you shouldn't put it off until it's too late. Do not disturb the dead, you never know what may be waiting to come through from the other side.

I received an advance copy for review.

4 out of 5 stars

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The Changeling by Victor LaValle

 

When Apollo Kagwa’s father disappeared, all he left his son were strange recurring dreams and a box of books stamped with the word IMPROBABILIA. Now Apollo is a father himself–and as he and his wife, Emma, are settling into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Apollo’s old dreams return and Emma begins acting odd. Irritable and disconnected from their new baby boy, at first Emma seems to be exhibiting signs of postpartum depression, but it quickly becomes clear that her troubles go even deeper. Before Apollo can do anything to help, Emma commits a horrific act–beyond any parent’s comprehension–and vanishes, seemingly into thin air.

Thus begins Apollo’s odyssey through a world he only thought he understood, to find a wife and child who are nothing like he’d imagined. His quest, which begins when he meets a mysterious stranger who claims to have information about Emma’s whereabouts, takes him to a forgotten island, a graveyard full of secrets, a forest where immigrant legends still live, and finally back to a place he thought he had lost forever.

This captivating retelling of a classic fairy tale imaginatively explores parental obsession, spousal love, and the secrets that make strangers out of the people we love the most. It’s a thrilling and emotionally devastating journey through the gruesome legacies that threaten to devour us and the homely, messy magic that saves us, if we’re lucky.

I've been wanting to read more by Victor Lavalle ever since reading Lone Women. In fact, as soon as I finished that I bought several more of his books. However, this one did not quite meet my expectations.

I didn't mind that it started off as a love story that turned into a mystery. I didn't mind that it took a long time for the child produced by the first love story to grow up and begin his own love story, although quite frankly I am not into love stories. 

What I did mind was how long it took for anything remotely spooky to happen, and that once it did, it just turned into a mystery again. I was expecting something scarier from the way I have heard others talk about this book. I was not prepared for a long drawn out fairy tale/fantasy type read, which is just not my thing. Also, the constant referring to their new baby as "the kid" grated on my nerves after a while.

By the middle of the book I was skimming the pages hoping for something exciting to happen. I was mostly bored with this story and glad when it was over. You may enjoy it more than I did, others certainly have. It's even been made into a TV show so there must be something to love about it. Some books are just too crazy even for me.

2.25 out of 5 stars

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The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden

 

Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild—selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years. It’s a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy’s grandparents, his closest living relatives. It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize. But from the moment they move in, they both feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy’s grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they’ve bought. There are rooms in an annex at the back of the house that they didn’t know were there. The place makes strange noises at night, locked doors are suddenly open, and when they go to a family gathering, they’re certain people are whispering about them, and about their house, which one neighbor refers to as The House of Last Resort. Soon, they learn that the home was owned for generations by the Church, but the real secret, and the true dread, is unlocked when they finally learn what the priests were doing in this house for all those long years…and how many people died in the strange chapel inside. While down in the catacombs beneath Becchina…something stirs.

This is in part, a love story between Tommy and Kate, a mystery of what caused the rift between Tommy's father and grandfather, and the unraveling of dark family secrets.

Tommy and Kate seize an opportunity to own a beautiful house in Italy for practically no money. All they have to do is fix it up. It's a huge change for them from living in the United States, but Tommy has family there and they hope with a little time and effort they can convince some of their friends to follow in their footsteps to revive the economy in the half empty town.

When Tommy's grandmother sees which home they've chosen she is angry and fearful but won't say why.

Bumps in the night and slamming doors lead the couple to entertain the idea that their house may be haunted, but it took longer than I would have liked for the reveal of why their home is known as the House of Last Resort.

The pace was slow for the first part of the book. There were some odd occurrences but nothing really scary happened until close to the halfway mark when a shocking event led to the exposure of family secrets, Something happened at this point that just plain scared the bejeezers out of me.

The final third of the book is terrifying and the conclusion is a knock out.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press.

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Dead Cats of Civilization by Douglas Ford

 

From the author of The Beasts of Vissaria County and The Infection Party comes a novelette about natural disasters and the unspeakable things they awaken from the ocean’s depths. When a hurricane strikes his hometown, a young man rushes away from his new life so he can help with the recovery effort. He finds his old neighborhood dealing with the storm’s aftermath in some macabre ways, including the construction of a strange totem. Even worse, nothing can prepare him for the twisted horror that awaits him inside the walls of what he once called home.

This was a wild and weird short story about the aftermath of a hurricane. 

A young man drives for hours to get to his parents' home after a storm ravages their neighborhood.

The damage is still being assessed when he arrives so he is happy to see that his parents are among the living. However, they are not as happy to see him as he expected and they don't seem to want his help with repairs. In fact, they are reluctant to even let him in the house at all. I wondered what they were hiding in there but even my wildest guess could not have come close to what's been going on in there. 

This is not my usual type of read. I go for the scary over the stomach-churning, but it's a well written story if you can handle it. Be warned, it's pretty gross in their bathroom and it's not just from the flood waters or the stench of fish.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Douglas Ford for the Kindle copy.

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