The Christmas Bell: A Horror Novel by L.A. Detwiler

 

When Candace Mills, 26, heads home for the holidays to visit her mother and ailing grandmother, she's expecting a peaceful, dull Christmas. She has no idea, though, that a single Christmas ornament is about to send her into a whirling chasm of evil.

It starts with the Christmas bell, scratched and worn in one of Grandma Anne's boxes in the attic. Once they put it on the tree, Grandma Anne starts to say terrifying things and act strangely. Candace and her mother assume it's her dementia talking—until they start to have dangerous encounters with a fiendish being.

As the secrets of Anne's past involving her twin sister rise to the surface, the women face sinister horrors from a dark force looking for revenge.

This was a quick read, more novella length than novel.

Candace has not been home to see her mother in quite some time, and will come to regret this visit. All seems well at first, what could be nicer than catching up with old friends and seeing Grandma Anne for the holidays? Grandma has recently had to move in with her daughter (Candace's mom Marian) since she can no longer care for herself and keep up with her own home. Many of her belongings are banished to Marian's attic since there just isn't room. When Candace discovers the strange looking Christmas bell in one of her boxes she thinks it would be a nice thing to do for Grandma to put it on the tree. Turns out it wasn't nice, for anyone! Grandma has some very disturbing secrets and the bell is the catalyst that uncovers them, putting the whole family and Candace's friends in danger. I found the mother /daughter dynamic to be fascinating. Generations of women, going all the way back to Anne's mother did some pretty disturbing things that they convinced themselves was for the good of the family.

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About the author
L.A. Detwiler is a USA TODAY bestselling author and high school English teacher from Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. During her final year at Mount Aloysius College, she started writing her first fiction novel, which was published in 2015. She has also written articles that have appeared in several women’s publications and websites. L.A. Detwiler lives in her hometown with her husband, Chad. They have five cats and a mastiff named Henry.

Her debut thriller with Avon Books/HarperCollins, The Widow Next Door, was a USA TODAY Bestseller. The One Who Got Away releases February 19th with One More Chapter/HarperCollins, and The Diary of a Serial Killer's Daughter releases March 12, 2020

The Sign of the Beast by Joyce Carol Oates

 

The National Book Award–winning and New York Times bestselling master of psychological suspense returns with the story of a young boy’s sexual awareness disturbed by cruelty, obsession, and rage.

Eleven-year-old Howard was born with a birthmark on his cheek. His Sunday school teacher mockingly calls it the “sign of the beast.” Too hateful to be named, for Howard she is only Mrs. S——. And she’s as careless in causing him misery as she is willful in arousing his shame. All Howard can do is look away—until he realizes he can turn the aggression on its head. When the hunted becomes the hunter, what will happen next? 

This is a short story that popped up last Halloween (or the Halloween before?) on Amazon's home page as one of several offerings to prime members and kindle owners. It sounded good so I downloaded it and then promptly forgot all about it until I went to borrow a book from what used to be the lending library and was told I had to return this book first to "prime reading" before I can download another. It's short enough to read in one sitting, 40 pages or so.

I settled in to read it today, and was not particularly impressed. It's not especially scary or thought provoking and I could not relate to any of the characters. I'm not sure where one would find a church that allows Sunday school teachers to dress in low cut and too tight garb more suited to trawling for men before last call than teaching bible lessons other than this story. Surely the church ladies would have objected to her attire even without knowing she had a thing for young boys. The birthmark on Howard's face seemed unnecessary since without it Mrs. S would have found another reason to fixate on him or other boys but then I suppose it was required for the title of the story. I can't say I cared much what happened to Mrs. S or Howard for that matter.

2 out of 5 stars

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Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Book Award and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is also the recipient of the 2005 Prix Femina for The Falls. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and she has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978. Pseudonyms ... Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly

Best Horror Novels of 2020

It was a tough choice but these are my picks for the best horror novels of 2020. If you have not read them yet, you are missing out. The title links will take you to the book synopsis, review, author info and Amazon page.

Snowball          Curse of the Pigman      Devil's Creek

Wormwood           Bad Parts                 Misfits

The Other People             In The Scrape          Until Summer Comes Around

Come Join The Murder          Dark Choir          Prepare To Meet Thy God

October's Gone by by Sean Platt and David W. Wright

From the bestselling authors of Yesterday's Gone, Karma Police, WhiteSpace, and more comes a new tense post-apocalyptic thriller that will leave you guessing until the very end.

On October 15, Elizabeth Coombs wakes up from one nightmare to find herself in another ...

Her husband and son have gone on a midnight fishing trip and the world outside has changed in subtle but unmistakable ways.

There’s a freak storm, strange lights in the sky, sounds that don’t seem right, and something lurking outside her rental cabin — something that should not be.

At first, Liz tries to tell herself it’s all in her head, symptoms of her mental illness, symptoms she tries to treat with pills. The same pills her abusive husband derides her for taking.

Maybe she’s just on edge because, in two days, she secretly plans to take her son and leave with her best friend, going far away where her husband can never hurt them again.

Everything will be okay, she tells herself.

But then her son returns home alone with no idea where his father is.

Just one problem, she knows her son is lying.

The boy KNOWS what happened. Why isn’t he telling her?

 

The first thing I want to say is that I enjoyed this book. I need to say that before I sound like I'm complaining. At the time of this review there is no description or synopsis on Goodreads, only a cover photo. When I started this book I did not realize it was part of a series, and I prefer to avoid series.

While this says it is a "stand alone" on Amazon  or possibly a prequel to the series as per another reviewer I do feel like I would have better understood certain things if I was acquainted with the other books.

I did like the characters, and did feel for the abused wife who as much as she wanted to protect her special needs son from his father, was mostly too weak to do anything about it, having suffered her own abuse as a child and thus continuing the cycle. The weird storm was creepy but I felt lost in trying to understand what the monsters and clicking were about. 

There is lots of suspense and tension filled moments in this well written story but I am not entirely convinced it is a stand alone.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

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