But OF COURSE I’m the only one who thinks that as I now see the paltry 3.20 Goodreads rating. I’m a consistent wrongreader if nothing else.
The back cover of this compared it to House of Leaves and those were the vibes I got the whole time . . . but in easy-reader format. Well, hopefully. My copy was from the library and despite it being pretty easy for me to follow that the narration rotated every chapter from James to Julie, apparently that was super hard for another patron who had previously checked this out and at around the halfway point they started annotating the beginning of each new chapter like so . . .
My friends gave this high marks . . . which is why I keep my friend count next to nothing. I’m assuming everyone who disliked this is still busy creaming their jeans over the new Riley Sager. And the shout-out to Todd is intentional here. While I have developed an appreciation for his ability to make a mint writing knockoffs, Megan Abbott’s newest (although probably not inspired by it at all) gave me all of the creepy Rosemary’s Baby vibulations. You know from the start that something is up with Jacy’s father-in-law . . . it just takes a long time to get there. This one is all about the ominous feeling you get while turning the pages. It is a slow roller, but one that confirms why I pick up every single new thing Megan Abbott puts out. She’s amazing.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley! ...more
Fatal Fungi! I didn’t even know this was such a trend until I saw Powell’s Books’ Instagram yesterday and they had an entire shelf dedicate
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Fatal Fungi! I didn’t even know this was such a trend until I saw Powell’s Books’ Instagram yesterday and they had an entire shelf dedicated to this theme. My notes to myself simply said “Mexican Gothic meets The Fall of the House of Usher and that’s about all you need to know before picking this up. While I didn’t find this latest release to be as good as Nettle and Bone, Kingfisher’s voice is certainly entertaining and I love that her main characters have a wit about them.
Fatal Fungi! I didn’t even know this was such a trend until I saw Powell’s Books’ Instagram yesterday and they had an entire shelf dedicated to this theme. My notes to myself simply said “Mexican Gothic meets The Fall of the House of Usher and that’s about all you need to know before picking this up. While I didn’t find this latest release to be as good as Nettle and Bone, Kingfisher’s voice is certainly entertaining and I love that her main characters have a wit about them.
Leah is a submariner who was sent on a routine mission that went wrong. What was supposed to be a short stay ended up with a vessel that lost power anLeah is a submariner who was sent on a routine mission that went wrong. What was supposed to be a short stay ended up with a vessel that lost power and no answers from those in charge of when she would return. Now she’s back . . . but she’s different.
Our Wives Under the Sea had some blast from the past feelings to it . . .
And unfortunately I think I was simply not smart enough to pick up all that was being put down. Was it a metaphor of growing apart in a relationship? Or losing someone to a terminal illness? Or was it a straight up horror just with REALLY good writing?
I think different readers will take away different reactions and much deeper ones than simply did or did not like it. I found myself more invested in Leah’s narrative than Mira’s - I mean come on, not only was she the one who had to go down to the pits of hell of the ocean and then came back changed (assuming you read it like me and didn’t look too much into the potential hidden meaning), but it’s October and I wanted to get creeped out so the sense of impending doom served me well.
The author was wise to keep this one brief so the on-edge anticipation of something bad to come never really went away and as I said before the writing was way above par. 3.5 Stars for me possibly being an ignoramus and not truly “getting it,” but props up for an unusual tale in a sea of a lot of copycats....more
Synopsis: Mallory gets hired as a nanny for darling Damian Teddy, but his doodles go from cute to disturbing in 3.BEWARE THERE’S A REAL SPOILER BELOW.
Synopsis: Mallory gets hired as a nanny for darling Damian Teddy, but his doodles go from cute to disturbing in 3.2 nanoseconds.
Y’all bullshittin’ me with this rating right???? Right? I mean it’s Halloween time and I’m A-okay with just tryin’ to get my get my get my get my creep on, but this one . . . .
I mean right from the jump that these apparently overprotective parents would be looking at the closest halfway house for a new nanny was laughable, but then when the big reveal comes WHY IN THE HELL WOULD THEY EVEN HIRE A NANNY AT ALL?!?!?!?! Like that secret wouldn’t come out with an oversharing five year old.
I’m wasting zero of my time on this. The cover was great, the pictures were great, I can suspend my disbelief with the best of 'em when it comes to horror and whodunnits, and I am one who reads A LOT of disturbing content so I truly appreciate when authors push the envelope, but nope. You ain’t using gender as the big twist. That’s not a trope – that’s offensive. ...more
Maybe I should have paid attention to the various circlings of critters at the beginning of this book and taken it as a symbolic foreshadow
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Maybe I should have paid attention to the various circlings of critters at the beginning of this book and taken it as a symbolic foreshadowing of my reading experience to come. I was sure this was going to go down as my favorite recommended read for the . . . .
Things started off swimmingly with Nate, Maddie and their son Oliver inheriting his childhood home right when 15-year old empath Oliver could really use a new start. Never thinking he’d be one to go home again, Nate begrudgingly agrees to the move and the ghosts of his past. And boy oh boy what a past it is that the entire family will have to deal with.
Really when it comes down to it, I only have one major complaint about this book:
TOO. LONG.
Call me a simpleton, but I’m here to tell you that 350 pages is just about the perfect length for a story . . . .
Get past 400 and the wheels often feel like they might need a little grease. At 530? Yeah, this sucker took an abrupt halt at the midway point and became the little engine who could. If I weren’t a quick reader I don’t know if I would have been able to see the forest for all of the trees that were getting in my enjoyment’s way.
The first 250 pages of The Book of Accidents had me completely enraptured. It was creepy, the story was flowing, there were chills, there were thrills. And then all of the characters kind of got on the same page with what all was going on and there were still hundreds of pages left to go???? Maybe you can simply . . . . .
For me, though, the momentum died, the story lost its pacing, I was wandering tunnels for supposed days with endless freaking details being provided and then magically stuff and things happened and it was three days later with zero details at all provided about how that had happened. And good lord, Oliver . . . .
This was a solid good vs. evil/end of the world as we know it sort of tale at its core. It’s sad Wendig didn’t know when to say when and cease and desist with the 99 worlds being built. Or all of the daddy issues. Or to stop the endless loop with Olly and Jake. So obviously I have a few issues with this story and not just one, but I’m telling you all of the other complaints stem from the page count. Note to authors of the future – don’t work up to a roaring crescendo before you even reach the halfway point and expect readers to remain on the edge of their seats for the duration while you attempt to build the anxiety back up a second (or third or fourth) time. It rarely works. Sadly what started out as a sure 5 Star winner ends up being on 3 now that I’ve finally reached the finish line.
Ooooooh this was a good ‘un. Shame I can’t remember where the heck I heard about it. Growing old is a bitch, kids!
When Hilton was just a kid his grandOoooooh this was a good ‘un. Shame I can’t remember where the heck I heard about it. Growing old is a bitch, kids!
When Hilton was just a kid his grandmomma saved him from drowning – and then proceeded to die herself. Now a grown man, director of a rehab center and married to a judge who is receiving threats from an unknown source, Hilton’s past starts sneaking up on him via his dreams . . . . .
“How many times do you think you can die? Do you think you can keep dying forever?”
While usually a Kindle reader for the simple fact of the instant gratification aspect of downloading whatever I want/whenever I want it from the library, for some reason I waited for a hardback copy of this one. And then I read it cover to cover. The Between delivered allllllll of the disturbing and creepy vibes which make my favorite type of horror. I’m not in to over the top gross-out shenanigans or superbad baddies unless it’s a slasher story. Nope, give me an unreliable narrator, some social issues, a feeling of simply being disturbed throughout, and a “is it real or is it Memorex” vibe and I’m telling you, that’s what’s up. This would have made an excellent selection for the “Chills and Thrills” library challenge which features creepy rather than gory horror stories. I must have known what was coming before it even got announced . . . .
Seriously, though, this is quickly becoming my favorite genre. Many thanks to Jordan Peele for
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Social horror. Where you been all my life????
Seriously, though, this is quickly becoming my favorite genre. Many thanks to Jordan Peele for being the catalyst behind this movement because without him paving the way books like Cherish Farrah probably still wouldn’t be getting published. So with that being said, lemme just double-down on the Peele gifs.
Cherish and Farrah are the only two black girls in their gated community. They are as close as sisters – to the point where when Farrah’s parents lose their house Cherish’s family says why doesn’t Farrah just move in with them??? Farrah’s own parents don’t seem so keen on the idea, especially when Farrah falls ill and they aren’t informed. But Farrah doesn’t want to leave the lifestyle she has become accustomed to behind and is willing to do whatever is necessary to make sure the Whitman family knows she is quite possibly a better choice than their own adopted daughter.
While I did have a pretty good idea of what was going on as soon as the book was given to Farrah, it didn’t make the pages turn any slower and I will happily admit that by the time this sucker was over I was looking like . . . .
Here’s an interesting little tidbit. I went to high school with this author. An even more interesting tidbit might be the fact that I had already readHere’s an interesting little tidbit. I went to high school with this author. An even more interesting tidbit might be the fact that I had already read a couple of her books before I even realized it. You see, back in the dizzle she co-authored YA horror stories with Trisha Leaver so it wasn’t until I had already gobbled up both Creed and Silo that I noticed the second name in the byline and we made the connection via Facebook (ahhhhh, remember the Faceplace back in the day where you simply reconnected with old friends and it wasn’t a raging dumpster fire of political rants and drama llama nonsense????). That being said, if you think me knowing her in a former life has any impact whatsoever on my ratings/reviews, you are surely mistaken.
The story here is about Tessa, who has been uprooted from her life in Florida for the cold and rainy Chicago Fall due to her dad getting his dream job as first chair violin in the Chicago Symphony. As if leaving her best pal and the Sunshine State behind wasn’t enough, Tessa thinks she now might be living in a haunted house! With the help of a few new friends, Tessa is determined to get to the bottom of what is making things go bump in the night.
Obviously Middle-Grade is not my typical genre. Not only am I an old geezer, my kids are well past this age as well. But I know a good story when I read one and this little book was GOOD. The creep factor wasn’t shied away from for fear of scarring the children . . . .
And the mystery was solid as well. Not to mention the atmosphere. Stormy weather makes my robot heart go pitter patter and a greystone in Lincoln Park is my dream home . . . .
Move over Jordan Peele ‘cause there’s a new scary storyteller you’re going to have to share the spotlight with who also adds a little social commentarMove over Jordan Peele ‘cause there’s a new scary storyteller you’re going to have to share the spotlight with who also adds a little social commentary in with her heebie jeebies. That comparison is probably low hanging fruit, but I never claimed to be the brightest bulb in the box so you get what you get. And seriously if you don’t get at least a little of these vibes . . . .
My friend Laurie/LOHF gets credit for putting this one on my radar. I saw it marked as to-be-read by her while scrolling the Goodreads feed and the cover caught my eye so I figured what the hell. Horror isn’t typically my go-to genre (which may be a warning for all of you aficionados that you may not end up loving this), but I think I’m trying to invoke Fall-ish weather rather than the 90+ that we continue to have here in flyover country by lining up all the cozies and creepies.
The story here is about Mira who returns to her pretty much segregated even though it’s the present time (gross) town to attend an antebellum style wedding (gross) of a former bestie as pretty much one of two guests who isn’t white (gross). Oh and said wedding is being held at a former plantation (grosser) where an entire staff of black people work doing slave reenactments (grossest). Mira is there because she’s a good (although absent) friend and also to confront her past where one moment ended up changing the life of her friend Jesse monumentally. Little does she know the ghosts she will be confronting are both figurative as well as literal.
I dug this book. As I said – I’m not sure who else will love it because it’s kind of out of my usual wheelhouse, but boy oh boy do I appreciate good storytelling and this one really delivered for me.
Upon receipt of a disturbing letter from her cousin claiming she is being poisoned by her husband and trapped in a house full of rot and evil, Noemí is sent on a bit of a fact-finding mission in order to get Catalina any help she may need. Her arrival reveals a house on a hill a bit like . . . .
Apparently this wasn’t a big hit for everyone. Color me surprised because I thought it was exactly as advertised - Lovecraft meets the Brontës. That cover alone is worth the price of admission. And yes I know I know I complain about face covers all the time, but these “ladies in pretty dresses” covers are simply the bees knees. I will say this is a slow roller that builds itself up to a frantic pace for the climax, so if you aren’t sucked in by the atmosphere, you definitely aren’t going to have a great time. Also, I apparently wrongread even when I think I’m reading it right so take my rating with a grain of salt.
Then I notice things like this book that I literally read over the long July 4th weekend last year and never bothered reviewing. Gee, I wonder why I had to wait for publication day and a library copy of Sager’s newest release Survive the Night?????
Riley Sager hit the ground running about five years ago with Final Girls and has churned a bestseller out annually ever since. I am one of the dissenters in the ranks who has not really loved any of his books – and yet somehow I still always want to read them. There’s probably some sort of undiagnosed condition that is the driving force behind some of my decision making . . . .
The “final girl” theme was in hot demand when he jumped on that bandwagon, Lock Every Door was an homage to Ira Levin and this was basically this . . . .
The tiny windows I had seen when we first arrived. The ones that resembled eyes.
Yet somehow I wasn’t bothered by it this time around and liked this one more than I liked any of his previous books. Maybe because the story of Amity has always fascinated me – especially the nonfiction version. The truth is definitely stranger than fiction on that one! I highly recommend seeking it out wherever you watch your favorite . . . .
I should also note the hardcover of this glows in the dark and for a cheap ho like me that means a copy had to be added to the bookshelves. I'm a sucker for a gimmick. ...more
Why do I tell you guys stuff like this? My husband should have zero problems having me committed with all of these embarrassing confessions out there in writing. Actually he won’t even have to worry about it after that fucking Google ad during the Super Bowl . . . .
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*drinks gallon of antifreeze due to inability to stop crying ever*
Anyway, so I was lucky enough to get an advance of this book, read it a billion years ago, lost it in a car that is about the same size as a shoe and am now finally posting this. And guess what? I just took a look at the cover and noticed that it doesn’t come out until March so . . . . .
The Return doesn’t seem to be a big hit with my Goodreads friends, but I dug it. The premise is a reunion of four old friends at a quirky inn. The twist is they are getting together after one of them was “disappeared” for two years. You see, Julie went hiking and never came back. Two years to the day she went missing she was found on her own front porch. Her pals Elise, Molly and Mae get the gang back together in order to help Julie as much as they can dealing with her return. But Julie isn’t the same. Is it a case of . . . .
The creep factor here was on eleven and that was totally enjoyable. Plus, I always love a good “hens weekend” type of setting and watching the skeletons fall out of various closets. The dynamic of friend groups intrigues me and I don’t mind reading about people talking rather than nonstop action. Your mileage obviously may vary, but I think this would make for a great rainy-day read.
ARC provided by Berkley in exchange for an honest review....more
If you follow my reviews, you know I’ve been kind of in a book slump – especially when it comes to wrongreading giant hits that everyone else all over the intertubes have been loving. I attempted to lower my expectations before starting this one (I didn’t fall head-over-heels for The Broken Girls so I was trying to be realistic), but damn the cover alone had me like “Hey Girl.” In fact, that was the only thing I knew about this before starting. What I found upon opening her up???
Mysteries that take place in dual timelines. The then is told from Viv back in 1982. Viv left home in hopes of becoming a famous actress in NYC, but ended up as the night watchperson at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York instead. The now is told by Viv’s niece Carly. Carly is a hobbyist with a focus on true crime. The fact that her own aunt went poof in the night never to be heard from again is fuel to her websleuthing nature and she has traveled to Fell in hopes of finding some answers regarding Viv’s disappearance.
With lights that turn on and off, locked doors that randomly get thrown open, yelling and pounding in rooms with no checked-in guests, a little boy who appears sans parents and the occasional smell of cigarettes despite the place being no smoking was just what Momma needed. After all . . . .
Mainly because the snooping in both the past and the present made sense and it wasn’t like either timeline had a bunch of inside knowledge or outside help. They used things like newspaper clippings, the internet and a dang phone book to link clues together.
Bottom line is I loved every thing about this. It was the perfect book at the perfect time. I read it in about 14 seconds and was pretty bummed when it was over so it gets every star. And today I shall bask in the glory that . . . .
Twenty years ago Frank Carter spent his free time befriending young boys before kidnappiFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Twenty years ago Frank Carter spent his free time befriending young boys before kidnapping and murdering them. By the time he was caught, five were dead. In the present, Tom and his son Jake have relocated to a new house in the town of Featherbank in order to start over after losing their wife/mother. Then another little boy goes missing . . . .
This is how you do a debut. I read this a couple of weeks ago when I was woken up on a Saturday by a seriously loud thunderstorm in the wee hours of the morning. Quickly realizing there was zero chance of going back to sleep as long as the booms were booming and the dog was trying to wedge himself inside my butt for safety, I brewed a cup of Joe and started this book – and never put it down.
Per the comment string below, please take note that you may walk away from this one with a sense of déjà vu. Obviously as soon as a young boy starts talking to things that may or may not be there, a couple of things could come to mind . . . . .
And despite me not ever reading the book and having the memory of Dory the Blue Tang, the mere mention of a “corpse moth” can’t help but call to mind . . . .
But these similarities didn’t bother me. Most likely because I didn’t have time to really consider them since I was turning the pages so fast. Obviously I can’t give away things without spoiling the fun, but this sucker was tightly woven. I loved the mix of thriller/supernatural/police procedural, I thought all of the characters were pretty well fleshed out, and not only did I not know the whodunit, it was one of those rare and wonderful occasions where I didn’t even care about the whodunit because I was so wrapped up in the story as a whole. If you are looking for books to add to your October reading list, I recommend this one.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, NetGalley!...more
I decided to check out The Winter People last week when it was freeeeeeeeeezing outside. Of course, by the time I got around to reading it the temps were more like Spring because why have one season when you can have them all in the same week?
The story here is set in West Hall, Vermont – or, more specifically, a location known as “Devil’s Hand” – apparently named as such due to a rock formation that looks like this . . . .
It takes place in two different timelines. One told in 1908 via a woman named Sara’s diary and the other in present-day told via Ruthie and her little sister Fawn whose mother has gone missing, as well as an additional present day narrative presented by Katherine who is trying to figure out why her husband was in the area when he met his untimely demise. Part ghost story (that isn’t ever scary), part mystery (that isn’t ever really mysterious because it’s pretty clear the entire time what is going on) - The Winter People was still quite the page-turner and an enjoyable way to spend my Saturday evening.
For those who want to dismiss it as a “been there, done that” type of book that was already written by someone else . . . .
Combined with the fact that everyone else in a book can act like a complete dimwit and do things that are stupid and/or dangerous and I’ll still love it - EXCEPT if that person is a police officer. Occasionally it flies, but usually that gets on my nerves.
The story about Lauren Tranter’s twins will definitely leave readers asking . . . .
As she tries to convince her husband, doctors and the authorities that an encounter with a stranger . . . .
“Choose one. Choose one or I’ll take them both. I’ll take yours and you can have mine. You’ll never know the difference. I can make sure they look just the same. One’s fair. Two is justice done.”
Resulted in changelings being left in her care. Now Lauren has to figure out . . . .
It’s up to the reader to decide if maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline a complete mental breakdown courtesy of some severe post-partum psychosis.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. If I actually reviewed these in a timely fashion (or ever) maybe I’d be at 80%! ...more
I have commented numerous times over the years that I have a hard time with the “horror” Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
I have commented numerous times over the years that I have a hard time with the “horror” classification because I don’t find many things horrifying. Books seem to fall into other genres for me - thrillers or mysteries or, in the case of a previous Ania Ahlborn I read, super-barf-baggy-cannibalistic-hillbilly (that should totally be a bookshelf at Barnes & Noble because I have read a bunch of those stories). Even the Master of Horror himself, Uncle Stevie, has only terrified me a handful of times. When I started I Call Upon Thee I feared it would be the same as a story of a creepy old doll left in a cemetery was introduced fairly quickly leaving me looking a little something like . . . .
But then our leading lady Maggie told the story of her twelfth birthday and how she went to the Toys R Us to find something special that would show she was not a baby anymore and decided on . . . .
Seriously. What a pansy! Nothing even happened and I had to put the dang thing down. Boy did I talk a big game of “ooooh it’s gonna be stormy tonight and Imma read the shit out of the scurrrrrry book” only to want to hide under the blankets like a big fat chicken instead. Once I picked it back up what did I find????
“You shouldn’t play in there. Bad things are inside.”
I have no idea if anyone else will react the way I did. I will say if you’re a woman (and quite possibly a man) of a certain age and read about the soundtrack in the background during the first Ouija session which included a song by a band called Echo and the Bunnymen, but which was currently offering up a selection featuring a haunting children’s choir “harmonizing something that sounded like the commandments” there’s a good chance you’re gonna be all . . . .
Hell, this story might have sucked. It was kind of a hodge-podge of themes with creepy dolls and creepy kids and creepy board games and creepy deaths in the family and creepy creepy creepy. I’m pretty sure I blacked out and spent a couple of hundred pages fantasizing about Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patrick and Jamie Gertz after that Cry Little Sister reference and that right there is good enough to dole out a 4. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have something important to take care of. Like immediately digging out my copy of . . . . .
In all seriousness, when I made a placeholder This Is America, I Want It Now “review” it was more like me channeling my inner Oprah and putting this out into the universe à la The Secret in hopes of winning the Goodreads Giveaway. When I received an e-mail from St. Martin’s Press offering me an advanced copy …. well, y’all probably heard me screaming across the entire planet. Then when it came I did really assholey super nice things like rub it in my friend’s face share my joy . . . .
I was so excited I didn’t even remember to update my status that I was reading it. Since I never put it down until I was finished, there wasn’t much point. *shrug*
Being as Baby Teeth doesn’t come out for another seven months, I’m a little hamstrung when it comes to doing much more than singing its praises. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to be posting a review, but since I didn’t receive any blatant instructions not to, I will wait for my cease and desist letter before taking this down : )
The synopsis here is straightforward. Hanna loves Daddy. Hanna does not love Mommy. In fact, things would be perfect if Mommy wasn’t in the picture at all.
Now, before you even start naysaying about how this story has been told before I need you to kindly STFU. Even Mark Twain said, “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” So yes, simply put this story has been told before . . . .
And even before that back in the olde days of yore by a dude named Longfellow . . . .
“There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she was horrid.”
I’m telling you it doesn’t matter. Obviously if you didn’t like any of those stories you should probably save your dollars and refrain from buying this one. Zoje Stage is quite the wordsmith, but I don’t think she has a magic wand that will make you like things you normally hate . . . (But maybe Marie-Anne does????) If you did enjoy those others, Baby Teeth will be a sure winner. And there is a fresh take here because Hanna isn’t a cookie cutter of those other children. Neither is her mother. I’d love to say more, but I’m pretty sure my next communication from St. Martin’s Press would go a little summin like . . . .
What I am going to do is break BEND (just bending please don’t send me that cease and desist) the rules and give you just a taste of an edited snippet in order to hopefully not piss off the powers that be of what Baby Teeth has to offer (and please remember, that I did receive an ARC, so this may change – but I hope it doesn’t) . . . .
Hanna giggled and kept writing. When she was ready, she held up her masterpiece.
‘Fuck Mommy. She is week and stupid.’
“… By the way, you used the wrong spelling – it’s w-e-A-k.”
I’m going to go ahead and leave it at that before all the words start shooting out of my fingers. I’ll be breaking BENDING – JUST BENDING my own rule come summertime-summertime-sum-sum-summertime and floating this review in order to make sure it is on everyone’s radar. Then all you fellow weirdos have to go get a copy, read it and come back so we can talk about Hanna and Mommy under spoilsie code because I have sooooooo many things I want to barf out all over here about my thoughts and feelz.
Endless thanks goes to Jordan at St. Martin’s Press for this opportunity. I don’t know how a debut author convinces a major publishing house to go all in like it appears you guys are doing for this little story, but I think you hit the jackpot. Congrats in advance, you picked a good ‘un.
“Up is down, down is up. Bigfoot is searching for me now.”
I passed Bone White up when it was offered over on NetGalley due to having a pretty “meh” experience with Little Girls by this author. But then a bunch of my friends started reading it and loving it and giving it crazy high ratings and well, you know me . . . . .
I was 100% prepared to be the dissenting opinion and wrong-reader of this one, so imagine my surprise when I got sucked in just like everyone else.
The story here is of Paul, a man who ends up in a remote area of Alaska searching for his missing brother after seeing a story on the news about a local who showed up in town, confessed to murdering eight people and led authorities to their bodies. When it turns out Danny isn’t one of the deceased, Paul decides to try and track him down in the last town he was seen - Dread’s Hand . . . .
“Blink and you’d miss it: a town, or, rather, the memory of a town, secreted away at the end of a nameless, unpaved roadway that, in the deepening half light of an Alaskan dusk, looks like it might arc straight off the surface of the planet and out into the far reaches of the cosmos. A town where the scant few roads twist like veins and the little black-roofed houses, distanced from one another as if fearful of some contagion, look as if they’d been excreted into existence, pushed up through the crust of the earth from someplace deep underground.”
Faced with less-than-cooperative civil servants and even more uncooperative townsfolk, Paul is on his own when it comes to discovering what happened to his brother. And that’s when things really get interesting . . .
I’m well aware that I’m a weirdo, but I wouldn’t categorize this as a horror. That should probably be taken as a compliment by the author, because my brain has a twisted definition of what “horror” is and I tend to not be real impressed by the things that go bump in the night. At the same time (without giving anything away), Bone Whitedid end up having one of the only “big reveals” that doesn’t feel super campy to me. The only other thing it could have been that would have scared the hell out of me?????
Ha! Anyway, I would file this as a mystery. The desolate location and “Deliverance-esque” locals (without the butt rape) is what provides the make-your-butthole-pucker-type-of-creepy – not some monster. I mean, have you ever watched one of those Alaska reality shows? I like being alone, but that is a waaaaaaaay different kind of alone. I can’t believe this sits at little over 100 ratings on Goodreads. With October right around the corner, I hope more people add this to their TBR. It would be perfect for a cold, Halloweeny-type read. Don’t believe me? I don’t blame you. Go check out what these amazing people had to say instead. They words much better than me . . .
Many thanks to the big liburrrrry for having this one at the ready when I had my “this is America, I want it now” moment. And look at the new thing to do there . . . .
I mean, not for me to do there. I’m perfectly fine being slothlike and obese. But other people who enjoy being around other people can do yoga on the roof. Fancy!...more
Kelly (and the Book Boar)
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creepy-books
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