The Pretty Ones by Ania Ahlborn

 

New York, 1977. The sweltering height of the Summer of Sam. The entire city is gripped with fear, but all Nell Sullivan worries about is whether or not she’ll ever make a friend. The self-proclaimed “Plain Jane” does her best to fit in with the girls at work, but Nell’s brother, Barrett, assures her that she’ll never be like them. When Nell manages to finally garner some much-yearned-for attention, the unthinkable happens to her newfound friend. The office pool blames Son of Sam, but Nell knows the awful truth…because doing the devil’s work is easy when there’s already a serial killer on the loose.

The Pretty Ones is a psychological thriller available on Kindle only. If you prefer a print version you can find it in an edition called Apart in the Dark which contains two novellas, this one and I Call Upon Thee.

I loved the 1970s setting. The music and descriptions of the bellbottoms and platform shoes was spot on, as was the terror of serial killer David Berkowitz who targeted pretty girls in New York. But this story is not about him. It is in this setting, we meet Nell, a friendless, lonely, over weight office worker who dreams of fitting in with her coworkers and making a friend. Each day she grows more envious of the lives and friendships other women have, and each evening she returns home to her dumpy apartment where she lives with her brother who never speaks.

Flashbacks to Nell's abusive childhood, and her silent brother make it too easy to guess what is really going on, too early in the story for my taste, and that is the only thing I didn't care for. I would have liked a bigger shock value or a twisty surprise instead of such predictability.

3 out of 5 stars

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About the author
Born in Ciechanow Poland, Ania has always been drawn to the darker, mysterious, and sometimes morbid sides of life. Her earliest childhood memory is of crawling through a hole in the chain link fence that separated her family home from the large wooded cemetery next door. She’d spend hours among the headstones, breaking up bouquets of silk flowers so that everyone had their equal share.
Author of nine novels, Ania's books have been lauded by the likes of Publisher's Weekly, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times. Some titles have been optioned for film.
Hailing from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Ania currently lives in Greenville, South Carolina.

Shockadelica by Jon O'Bergh

 

Weaving together supernatural legends from Ireland, Nigeria, and China, "Shockadelica" follows two friends who must confront their own fears while fighting an evil, existential threat. With a dash of humor and horror, the story explores prejudice, conspiracy theories, and things that aren't what they appear to be, offering a critical look at the current state of the world.

Two horror podcasters—drag artist Kendall Akande and best friend Jenna Chen—share a passion for art, fashion, and horror. When they find out their Victorian-era apartment building might be haunted, they see an opportunity for an entertaining podcast episode. They learn that a past resident, inspired by demonic images of a goat-headed man, lured victims to his apartment and murdered them. While visiting his grave, they are spooked by a man in a goat mask who watches from the bushes.

The two friends launch their investigation and get a glimpse into the lives of their unusual neighbors. Rooney Xavier posts fake online testimonials for businesses and starts dating the landlord's son, hoping for perks. Aging fashion diva Morvena Delacroix rages against any noise Rooney makes downstairs. The Nigerian/Irish witch Lilith Adebayo offers interventions to help Kendall with his nightmares. Lucy Lee talks to her vegetables when she cooks and helps Jenna cope with her grandmother's worsening dementia. An intimidating musician named the Bone Man has tattoos of serial killers covering his arms. The dignified Mrs. Gupta, architect Elliott Bernbaum, and a reclusive tenant in the basement round out the cast. As strange sightings and sounds spread, Kendall and Jenna visit the landlord on Ward's Island, but his house of curiosities only deepens the mystery. Then a stranger appears who promises protection if Kendall sacrifices something of value.

As the ghosts of the past become entwined with the growing terror, Kendall and Jenna must use their creativity to confront the evil force that threatens them all.

An album of horror-themed songs by the Bone Man complements the novel and is available at most streaming sites and online retailers. 

This was a fun read with a diverse cast of characters that at first glance I would not have expected to fit together as well as they did.

Best friends and co-podcasters Kendall and Jenn live in an old apartment building with quirky neighbors and possibly a ghost.
When closet doors begin opening by themselves and strange noises in the walls start scaring one of their neighbors the two friends decide to investigate.

Soon after, they learn that a serial murderer who killed people that he deemed "undesirables" had once been a resident of their building and had killed himself in apartment six.

Although there were some spooky moments, and a bit of humor thrown in, what I most enjoyed was the friendship between the two main characters. It felt so genuine, the way they could always count on the other to be there for them even if they were angry over a disagreement. I also love the creativity of having an actual album by one of the book characters that you can stream on Sound Cloud.

4 out of 5 stars.

I received an advance copy for review.

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Listen to Box of Bones by The Bone Man

About the Author

Jon O'Bergh is an author and musician. He was born and raised in Southern California and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of California at Irvine. He has written four books that link music and stories, and co-authored "Elliptical: The Music of Meshell Ndegeocello." He has also released over a dozen albums in a variety of styles, including the atmospheric album "Ghost Story." After living many years in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., he now spends most of his time with his husband in Toronto.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 

In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette's worst fears are realized--someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up. 

A group of 6 "Final Girls" meet once a month for a group therapy session that seems more like a place to argue and insult each other than to recover from past trauma. Now someone is out to kill them all... I guess because that is what's supposed to happen, the slashers in horror movies keep coming back no matter how many times you manage to kill them and survive. But who is it? Which monster has found out about the group? Who is coming to kill them after all this time? Or maybe it's more than one person. What if it's several all working together? Now it's up to Lynette to find out who is after them before there is no one left to save. They never considered Lynette to be a true Final Girl because she didn't have to kill her attacker to survive. Maybe this time she will outlive them all.

I really wanted to love this book more than I was able to. It was a great idea and I'm not entirely sure why it missed the mark with me. I think it is partly because the characters in this book are heavily  "borrowed" from or at least based on the survivors of old slasher movies that I enjoyed. Because of that I already had my own ideas about their personalities and the way they might behave. In this book, these survivors mostly do not like each other, or themselves so I didn't like them much either. It also felt more like an action/thriller to me than a horror. There were lots of exciting action scenes but nothing that was really scary.

3 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

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The List of Unspeakable Fears by J. Kasper Kramer

 

Expected publication: September 14th 2021 by Atheneum Books for Young Readers 

• Grade level ‏ : ‎ 3 - 7

The War That Saved My Life meets Coraline in this chilling middle grade historical novel from the author of the acclaimed The Story That Cannot Be Told following an anxious young girl learning to face her fears—and her ghosts—against the backdrop of the typhoid epidemic.

Essie O’Neill is afraid of everything. She’s afraid of cats and electric lights. She’s afraid of the silver sick bell, a family heirloom that brings up frightening memories. Most of all, she’s afraid of the red door in her nightmares.

But soon Essie discovers so much more to fear. Her mother has remarried, and they must move from their dilapidated tenement in the Bronx to North Brother Island, a dreary place in the East River. That’s where Essie’s new stepfather runs a quarantine hospital for the incurable sick, including the infamous Typhoid Mary. Essie knows the island is plagued with tragedy. Years ago, she watched in horror as the ship General Slocum caught fire and sank near its shores, plummeting one thousand women and children to their deaths.

Now, something on the island is haunting Essie. And the red door from her dreams has become a reality, just down the hall from her bedroom in her terrifying new house. Convinced her stepfather is up to no good, Essie investigates. Yet to uncover the truth, she will have to face her own painful history—and what lies behind the red door.

Life as Essie knows it, in the cramped tenements of NYC is drastically changed when her mother announces that she has married  a man that Essie has never even heard her mention before. As if that isn't enough to induce a panic attack she is also told she will have to pack her things, leaving her friends and her school behind to go live on an island where people with dangerously contagious illnesses are sent to quarantine. In fact she may even meet the dreaded Typhoid Mary.

Essie is still grieving for her father and suffering the trauma of his death when she meets her new step father, an imposing figure with strange mannerisms who she begins to suspect of nefarious deeds. Strange goings on in the night may also mean that she is now living in a haunted house.

Essie was a girl after my own heart, who suffers frequent nightmares and anxiety. 

In an odd coincidence I read this book on the anniversary of the tragedy in Little Germany, an incident that I had never even heard of until I read this book. When it was first mentioned I looked it up, and what I found tells me that what was later explained in the book was factually correct, always an important part of historical fiction for me is accuracy of the time period. This was a well researched work of historical fiction with a bit of spooky suspense and a lesson that without fear there is no such thing as bravery, Essie learns that being afraid is ok but that things almost never turn out as badly as we feared they would. Although this is listed as being for readers in grades 3-7 there is really no reason it can not be enjoyed by older readers.

5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Available for pre-order

About the author
J. Kasper Kramer is an author and English professor in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She has a master's degree in creative writing and once upon a time lived in Japan, where she taught at an international school. When she's not curled up with a book, Kramer loves researching lost fairy tales, playing video games, and fostering kittens.

Website: www.jkasperkramer.com