Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

In a lonely cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood summer companions and the killer that stalked the small New England town. Of the body they found, and the horror of that discovery echoing down the decades. And of Sky, Wilder’s one-time best friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel, Looking Glass Sound.

But as Wilder writes, the lines between memory and fiction blur. He fears he’s losing his grip on reality when he finds notes hidden around the cottage written in Sky’s signature green ink.

Catriona Ward delivers another mind-bending and cleverly crafted tale about one man’s struggle to come to terms with the terrors of his past… before it’s too late.

Looking Glass Sound starts off as a coming-of-age tale. Wilder, a bullied, friendless, teen is spending the summer in an inherited cottage near the sea with his parents before they sell it. There he meets a couple of kids his own age and although they are a bit on the weird side they soon become the best and only friends he has ever had. None of these kids has a great home life and Wilder's parents have no idea how awful his school life is. The complicated relationships between all the characters was already holding my interest enough to add this book to my "couldn't put it down" list even before the creepy mystery of The Dagger Man began, who sneaks into children's bedrooms at night. I would have been perfectly happy to continue down this path to a five-star rating for this book, right up to and a little beyond the halfway point. 

Then it all changed. It became a book about everyone writing a book about everyone else's book. I may have lost count but I want to say there are four characters writing books in here. It became difficult to follow at times and I was not always sure what was supposed to be that character's point of view on what had happened or that character's fictionalized version of their book. Maybe I would have been able to follow it better if it didn't become such a chore to try to force myself to pay attention. This is my third time reading a book by this author. I had said this one would be the tie-breaker. I loved Needless Street. I did not care for Sundial and I was hoping to love this.

You may enjoy it more than I did but after such a spectacular beginning I feel disappointed with the last half.

My thanks to Tor Nightfire.

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Cemetery Riots Edited by by T.C. Bennett and Tracy L. Carbone

 Imagine yourself in a cemetery. Void of all light at the base of a tree. But it's no ordinary tree. This tree abounds with the dead. Now envision that each tree limb is a short story with its own vision, its own length of words, and its own insanity.With that said, beware of the widow makers and the strange foreboding dwelling beneath. Remember, nothing's heavenly in Cemetery Riots. Cemetery Riots is a new collection of dark cautionary tales edited by T. C. Bennett and Tracy L. Carbone. With great pride we introduce you to our stories and their authors... THE WAITING DEAD by Ray Garton, ABUSED by Richard Christian Matheson, CHILDREN'S HOUR by Hal Bodner, CARMICHAEL MOTEL by Kathryn E. McGee, THAT STILL, BLEEDING OBJECT OF DESIRE by Chet Williamson, LUNCH AT MOM'S by Tracy L. Carbone, FATHER AND SON by Jack Ketchum, THE DEMON OF SPITALFIELDS by Karen and Roxanne E. Dent, ERASURE by Lisa Morton, THE WINDOWS by T. C. Bennett, CERTAIN SIGHTS OF AN AFFLICATED WOMAN by Eric J. Guignard, THE MAN WHO KNEW WHAT TIME IT WAS by Dennis Etchison, THE RE-POSSESSED by James Dorr, CLOWN ON BLACK VELVET by Michael Sebastian, THE CELLAR by Kelly Kurtzhals, ETERNAL VALLEY by John Palisano, BLOOD by Taylor Grant, AMONG THE TIGERS by William F. Nolan, ALL OUR HEARTS ARE GHOSTS by Peter Atkins, THE ITCH by Michael D. Nye, and DRIVING HER HOME by John Everson

The gorgeous cover of Cemetery Riots says that it is "a collection of dark cautionary tales."

I'm not sure why, because a scant few of the stories are cautionary tales, and the multiple authors would make it an anthology.

Several stories revolve around the dead. Ghosts circulate throughout the book both in and outside of the cemetery. I did enjoy it even though it did not stick to the theme I was expecting. The majority of these stories would rate 3 or 4 stars from me but I would like to name the few that I found to be the best.

One of the more exceptional stories, The Cellar by Kelly Kurtzhals also happened to be one of the few cautionary tales. A young couple moves into an apartment with a "bonus space" that they have been warned against using. But the loud neighbors and cramped living quarters make it impossible to resist the quiet spacious cellar underneath the trapdoor. Horrific consequences ensue.

Driving Her Home by John Everson is a hard one for me to say anything about without spoiling it. I could describe it in 2 words but every horror lover would instantly know the ending if I did. Still, it is a much beloved horror trope and was very well written.

Lunch At Mom's by Tracy L. Carbone was another of my favorites. It wasn't horror but a beautifully poignant ghost story full of love and loss as a man grieves over his mother's passing and comes to terms with the knowledge that his children are very much like his cold-hearted greedy wife.

In a twisty offering by Kathryn E McGee A heartbroken woman flees her apartment after a break-up and stops to rest at the Carmichael Motel. There she will reflect on her past failed relationships.

Blood by Taylor Grant is written as a letter from a divorced father to his child. It is a confession, a promise and a chilling vow to always be there when needed.

These for me were the 5-star stories and my absolute favorites, Yours may be different but I'm sure you'll find at least a few to love.

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They Lurk by Ronald Malfi

 

From the bestselling author of Come with Me , five collected novellas from the master of terror, featuring possession, parasites and something monstrous lurking outside…

COME CLOSER…

Five terrifying collected horror novellas newly reissued from the “modern-day Algernon Blackwood”. 

Skullbelly
After three teenagers disappear in a forest, a private detective is hired and uncovers a terrible local secret.

The Separation
Marcus arrives in Germany to find his friend up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie in a deep depression. But soon Charlie's behavior grows increasingly bizarre. Is he suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work? 

The Stranger
Set a rural Florida parking lot, David returns to his car to find a stranger sat behind the wheel. The doors are locked and there’s a gun on the dashboard. And that was when then the insanity started… 

After the Fade
A girl walked into a small Annapolis tavern, collapsed and died. Something had latched itself to the base of her skull. And it didn't arrive alone.
Now, the patrons of The Fulcrum are trapped, held prisoner within the tavern's walls by monstrous things, trying to find their way in.

And one more novella to be revealed!

Four previously published novellas join one brand new story in this glorious collection from one of my favorite authors.

All five novellas were new to me since I missed reading them before they went out of print.

Each novella stands alone so you can read them in any order you choose.

In the first story, an urban legend may prove to be real when some unsuspecting teenagers go camping where they shouldn't. Only one returns but he is too traumatized to speak. Did Skullbelly kill his friends? This was my least favorite only because it takes place after the fact and deals mostly with the private investigator the families have hired to find out what happened to their missing kids. This is a case of it's not you it's me. I just do not like police or detective work.

The Separation has been hard on Charlie. He hasn't been himself since his wife left. He says he feels displaced. His friends want to help him but this is well beyond a case of depression and they are not equipped to handle it. Trigger warning here for animal abuse. 

I mostly liked this novella. It had a twilight zone/old-timey vibe to it that I enjoyed but I had to skim when I got to the animal abuse. 

What would you do if you found someone sitting in your car and they refused to get out? That is the situation faced by David in The Stranger. This was one of my favorites in the collection. It's creepy and gory and my favorite form of horror when a normal situation turns bizarre and then goes totally off the rails.

Another favorite was After The Fade, which reminded me a lot of Stephen King's The Mist. But instead of a grocery store, we find ourselves trapped in a bar during a very strange occurrence.

In the new novella Fierce, a mother and daughter survive a car accident on a snowy desolate stretch of road., but that was the easy part to live through compared to what happens next. I loved this one, it was survival horror at its finest.

4 out of 5 stars

My thanks to Titan Books

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About the author

Burner by Robert Ford

 

IRIS
It’s terrifying how quickly everything can be taken away from you. Iris learns this agonizing lesson in the blink of an eye. Her future dreams. Her past life. Everything gone in a storm of pain. But this pain is only the beginning.

AUDREY
Audrey had the perfect life. Great husband, beautiful daughter, lots of money. Except her husband isn’t the man she thought he was. Her dead husband’s burner phone was bad. The Polaroids were worse. But the secrets she uncovers next set her entire world on fire.

BURNER
Two women’s lives intersect because of one man’s actions. The transformation is pristine, and beautiful, and filled with pain. Sometimes the scars are on the inside.

"Shh...That's ok, it happens sometimes."

Told on two timelines from the points of view of two very different women. Audrey, the too trusting wife and mother, happy to let her husband handle all things financial, secure in the knowledge that funds are always available on her debit card. Of course, trust is a necessary part of marriage, but trust should never mean blind and unconditional acceptance with nothing to support it as fact.

And Iris, the soon to be doctor, soon to be engaged to the love of her life, ready to travel the world helping children. 

But that was then. This is now. These women's lives are about to collide. 

I'm not going to talk about the plot much. It would be too difficult without accidentally letting any spoilers slip in. I will say it involves torture and revenge, and the pitfalls of being too trusting a wife. 
The writing style is as magnificent as the subject matter is brutal.  The scariest part of Burner is that it can happen, and does happen. The white vans are everywhere.

5 out of 5 stars

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