Feeders

In Feeders, a teenager does whatever (and I mean whatever) it takes to become a popular social media influencer. I so wanted to like this book. It started out well, like a mashup of Squid Game and Keeping Up with The Kardashians. Unfortunately, the ending was disappointing and the amountContinue Reading

Something I Keep Upstairs

Something I Keep Upstairs is a ghost story that is based on a real story. It is creepy and it kept me up late reading a few nights. However, it is missing the author’s usual gonzo uniqueness. I loved She Has a Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be, aContinue Reading

The Shivers Collection

Murderous trees! A truly bad day at the office! A not-so-idyllic beach! Ghosts whispering from beyond the grave! An evil mail slot! Malevolent forces are at work in The Shivers Collection of five short stories from the biggest names in horror. As with most short story collections, some stories wereContinue Reading

The Unworthy

Nope, just nope. The Unworthy tries to be great literature within a torture porn plot. It implies that even in a newly created society, humans are, and will always be, inherently cruel to one another to advance their own agenda. The problem is that the torture is the entire plot.Continue Reading

Shadowplay Midnight School

Three students go to a strange and seemingly never-ending night school in the new horror graphic novel, Shadowplay: Midnight School. At first, this book seems like a fevered nightmare. The main protagonist is a music student plagued by relentless self doubt. The school is full of shadowy villains, quick toContinue Reading

American Rapture

American Rapture is an uneven overly long horror thriller combining Stephen King’s Carrie with the real life Covid-19 epidemic, if it was made infinitely worse. Novels written during Covid all have a dark heart but this one is the darkest. After infection, everyone starts raping anyone nearby. Then they dieContinue Reading

In the Mad Mountains

If you, like me, love the televised adaptations of Lovecraft because you just can’t wade through the thick formal Lovecraft prose, this book will be a treat. All the creepy atmosphere and thought-provoking plots with none of the convoluted wordplay to untangle. In the Mad Mountains definitely gives off VictorianContinue Reading

Where I End

Where I End is scarily not politically correct. The bedridden mother is called a bed-thing and treated as a soulless burden. The protagonist is called a soul-stench but casually mentions her many rapes as a child by the repulsed but sexually aroused island men. The book’s entire mood is distasteful.Continue Reading

The Night Guest

The protagonist in The Night Guest is tired all the time. She also awakens with muscle aches and even bruises some nights. When she accidentally leaves her fitness watch on one night, she discovers that she has done 40,000 steps while she was asleep. How can she stop this sleepwalking?Continue Reading

Alley

With ten eerie tales, Alley is a fascinating look into Japanese fears. With serial killers, ghosts and demons, most horror sub-genres are represented. My favorite story, Blessing, even has a mystery to solve within it. Many of the stories are unique enough to be remembered long after the story isContinue Reading

The Eleven

An intern from a gossip magazine is sent to interview a reclusive author. The author recounts a harrowing story of his life and his connection to a cult called The Eleven represented by the symbol XIIX. This is no ordinary cult. The Eleven is a great example of why IContinue Reading