Tag: horror

Kate’s Review: “American Rapture”

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Book: “American Rapture” by C.J. Leede

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, October 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC24.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust. Sophie, a good Catholic girl, must traverse the hellscape of the midwest to try to find her family while the world around her burns. Along the way she discovers there are far worse fates than dying a virgin.

Review: Thank you to Tor Nightfire for providing me with an ARC at ALAAC24!

Now that we are no longer in the fully acute stage of the COVID pandemic (not saying we are out of the woods yet, necessarily, as we are just getting out of another big wave here in Minnesota), I am far more able to read end of the world/disease based horror than I was four (or even three) years ago. So when I had to option to get a copy of “American Rapture” by C.J. Leede, an end of the world horror tale about a disease that makes its infected wholly uninhibited and wanting to have sex, and a Catholic teenager trying to survive, I was all in and excited to read it. And it takes place in Wisconsin! Sure, I’m a Minnesota girl, and while I too enjoy a good hearted border battle with our Eastern neighbors, I do really like Wisconsin for a lot of reasons, so that was a bonus.

As an apocalypse story I found “American Rapture” to be a unique take on a sub genre I have enjoyed for a very long time. I will say that I’m not wholly sure as to why I was thinking that the premise was going to be kinda fun when a disease that completely breaks down all inhibitions of an infected person and makes them only want to have sex with anything and anyone at ANY cost is the name of the game (in my defense, there is a tagline that uses the phrase ‘coming’ in a cheeky way and I thought that signaled light heartedness. IT IS NOT, be warned). But I really did enjoy this premise because it made for very intense horror moments as teenager Sophie is trying to survive and find her brother as the world around her crumbles to disease and danger. It felt a bit like the George Romero’s “The Crazies”, and I mean that in the very best way. I also liked how Sophie is wandering through Wisconsin and finding fellow survivors to cling to and lean on, as found family tropes in apocalypse stories always tug at my heartstrings and are one of the things I love most about the sub genre, and Leede really nails the tone, which in turn just raises the stakes even more.

But what made this book stand out even more to me was the fact that one of the major themes within its pages and story was that of religious trauma and religious fundamentalism and its damaging effects on its followers and also greater society. When we meet Sophie she is very clearly very attached to her upbringing and a true believer, though her faith has started to show cracks due to her twin Noah being sent away for being gay even before the outbreak has occurred. We are in her head basically the whole time and we get to see how her doubts and her anxieties about her faith have driven her to this point, and how the horrors that are unfolding are causing even more of a crisis within herself even as she tries to detach herself from the upbringing that has damaged her. Add in some wholly understandable PTSD responses as she interacts with fellow survivors while also trying to come to terms with her repressed upbringing AND the violence surrounding her and it is a wallop of a character arc. And even more chilling (and a bit too real given the way that just a couple weeks ago militias were out to get hurricane aid workers) is how religious fundamentalists from her community have taken up against relief and scientific efforts to try and stop the diseases from spreading, going so far as to commit violence like arson, torture, and murder all in the name of their faith. Leede doesn’t really hold back on the violence, both physical and psychological, and it elevated the horror levels to higher and more disturbing heights.

And with that in mind, I definitely want to make clear that this book has some pretty heavy content warnings attached to it, from religious trauma/abuse to animal death to sexual assault and sexual violence to child death. I didn’t feel like any of it was done in poor taste, but its still good to be mindful.

“American Rapture” is sure to stand the test of time as a new classic in apocalypse horror. I found it gut wrenching and tense, but also in some ways hopeful. I definitely need to check out more stuff by C.J. Leede.

Rating 9: Harrowing, terrifying, too real, and raw. “American Rapture” is a new classic in the end of the world horror sub genre!

Reader’s Advisory:

“American Rapture” is included on the Goodreads list “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Kate’s Review: “Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees”

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Book: “Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees” by Patrick Horvath

Publishing Info: IDW, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I own it.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: Live, laugh, shed blood. Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town in this twisted debut graphic novel!

Don’t. Murder. The locals.

This is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong’s cardinal rule. After all, there’s a sea of perfectly ripe potential victims in the big city just beyond the forest, and when you’ve worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm decor, and the aroma of cedar trees and freshly baked apple pie…the last thing you want is to disturb the peace.

So you can imagine her indignation when one of Woodbrook’s own meets a grisly, mysterious demise—and you wouldn’t blame her for doing anything it takes to hunt down her rival before the town self-destructs and Sheriff Patterson starts (literally) barking up the wrong tree.

Cute critters aren’t immune to crime in this original graphic novel debut by writer-artist Patrick Horvath.

Review: When I was a child one of my favorite toys was a doll house for a set of “Maple Town” toys. For those who are not late Gen X/Elder Millenials, “Maple Town” was a Japanese anime for kids that ran on Nick Jr. I didn’t have cable as a kid, but my grandparents did, and every once in awhile I’d catch an episode here or there, but I LOVED my toy set that involved Patty and Ricky Rabbit and Bobby Bear even without consistent exposure to the show. I hadn’t thought about “Maple Town” in years….. And then I saw the cover and snippets from “Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees” by Patrick Horvath. And my IMMEDIATE thought was ‘oh my God it’s ‘Maple Town’ if ‘Maple Town’ was about a serial killer!’ Which obviously meant that I NEEDED TO READ IT.

Me to myself as I threw it in my online shopping cart (source).

As far as a mystery thriller goes with a shady as hell protagonist, “Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees” is top notch, with small town secrets and an anti-heroine who is whip smart and incredibly unnerving. We follow Samantha Bear a small town woman with a good job at the hardware store, some community connections, a love for her small town…. and a drive for brutally murdering unsuspecting people in the Big City that is far away and untouched by her happy life with her neighbors. But when someone starts killing people in Woodbrook, not only does it make Samantha cagey that someone will perhaps find her out during the investigation, it also just pisses her off that the town she loves and has spared is being targeted by a serial killer as sadistic as she is. So we follow Samantha as she conducts and investigation to help her community and keep her own nose clean. That’s just so fun in a nasty kind of way, and Horvath really sets up a well plotted mystery that is only enriched by Samantha, who is simultaneously the very worst but also SO easy to root for. I really enjoyed the pace of her investigation, and the cast of characters who act as suspects and victims made for some well done surprises, as well as well done shocks (and sad moments. A couple really great characters don’t fare so well!). And for the most part the reveals made sense while not feeling obvious, as well as some well placed red herrings that don’t feel cheap or frustrating. It really does read like a “Dexter” arc, as referenced in the description, with Samantha making a great dual detective/villainess.

The mystery itself is pretty well done, but what REALLY makes this book stand out (unsurprisingly so) is the fact that all of the characters are cutesy forest animals that have been drawn in adorable anthropomorphized fashions. It is such a strange dichotomy watching these delightful creatures doing pretty horrifying things, as this book is VIOLENT, but man it really adds to the appeal because it’s so creative. There are also some pretty fun meta bits, one in particular with Samantha being the woods and meeting a bear that is just like a bear a human would meet in the woods. So seeing this serial killer teddy bear-esque bear interact with a more realistic bear was just kinda fun. I MEAN HECK, the whole idea of these cute forest animals being in this situation in GENERAL is fun! What a concept! I brings an already solid serial killer thriller up a few levels.

And Horvath’s graphics are just…. My God. They are visceral and so cute and gory and charming and it’s a bizarre combination that works wonders.

(source: IDW)

“Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees” is one of the most unique graphic novel experiences I’ve had this year. If you like serial killer stories, and completely precious animals, this is sure to delight.

Rating 9: Twisted and unnerving but also super fun and somehow kind of adorable in its own ways, “Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees” is a bloody thriller with cutesy forest animals doing terrible things.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but if you like the “Dexter” series or really any stories that follow a charismatic killer, this will probably click with you.

Kate’s Review: “This Cursed House”

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Book: “This Cursed House” by Del Sandeen

Publishing Info: Berkley, October 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: In this Southern gothic horror debut, a young Black woman abandons her life in 1960s Chicago for a position with a mysterious family in New Orleans, only to discover the dark truth. They’re under a curse, and they think she can break it.

In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over. 

But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.

As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? I know that I do, even when it isn’t October (though a good ghost story in October is just icing on an already spooky cake). I am always looking out for ghost stories, and “This Cursed House” by Del Sandeen has been on my radar for a long while now because of this. And now it’s finally time to dive in. But this isn’t just any ghost story. One of the haunting things in this tale is the spectre of American racism.

As a horror story involving a Gothic aesthetic and some scary ghosts as well as a family curse, this book is solid and well done. I liked following Jemma, a Black woman from Chicago going to work for a wealthy family in New Orleans, as she realizes that the job she was hired to do isn’t at all what the mysterious and odd Duchon Family wants her to do. Jemma can see spirits, a gift she has had and suppressed her entire life, and when she gets to the Duchon’s estate the ghosts really start to show themselves. I really liked the slow build dread of the spirits, as well as some of the more heartbreaking encounters that Jemma has with some of them, showing a wide array of reasons these ghosts are lingering. I also enjoyed the Gothic vibes, the isolation made pretty literal as we find that the Duchons are trapped on the estate due to a family curse, the same one that seems to cause a family member to die ever year on the same day. I don’t want to spoil much here because the surprises and reveals need to be revealed when Sandeen is ready, but I will say that the twists and turns and origins of the curse kept me guessing. And given the setting and themes this is very much a Southern Gothic tale, and it’s a very well done one that feels in the same vein as “The Reformatory” with its grotesque antagonists and sense of foreboding with roots tied to trauma and a dark history not only of a cursed family, but of the American South itself.

But what really cemented this story’s strength were the themes about race, identity, and racism in the Jim Crow South and how that malevolence poisons all kinds of people’s thoughts and minds. The Duchon Family is a white passing Black family that sees itself as above darker Black people like Jemma, and who help uphold the systems and abuses in place because they directly benefit from it, even hurting their own family because of it. Sandeen approaches these characters in very nuanced ways without letting any of the more deplorable ones off the hook, finding explanations for their behavior while never excusing it. It makes for a very difficult read at times as the Duchons treat Jemma absolutely terribly, as well as other Black characters with darker skin from microaggressions to straight up violence. It elevates the already strong family drama to even higher heights, and I found these very real horrors of racism, colorism, and racial violence to be very effective and very upsetting.

“This Cursed House” is a solid Southern Gothic horror tale, one that really got under my skin. I highly recommend it for horror fans, and really anyone who wants a disturbing tale for the Halloween season.

Rating 8: A haunting and biting, “This Cursed House” is a Southern Gothic, a haunted house story, and an examination of identity, self loathing, and racism.

Reader’s Advisory:

“This Cursed House” is included on the Goodreads list “October 2024 Horror”.

Kate’s Review: “Shallow Ends”

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Book: “Shallow Ends” by David James Keaton

Publishing Info: Podium Publishing, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the author.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: An innocent celebration takes a twisted turn when thirteen unlucky people find themselves trapped on a party bus with an inscrutable driver at the wheel.

It was just supposed to be a birthday party, a mobile celebration with a group of college friends on a modified fire truck. But at some point, things take a dark detour. As the pulsating beats of dance music reverberate over an endless stretch of asphalt, the temperature suddenly plummets, and the reality of the situation becomes chillingly clear. The driver will not stop. After frantically attempting contact, the passengers begin to suspect this party may never end. Desperation mounts as the trapped revelers hatch a plan to halt the rolling nightmare themselves. While they continue to drink and argue, shifting narrators peel back the layers of their past lives, exposing the disturbing secrets that bind them all together. Alliances shift, old grudges resurface, and battles erupt as the terrified passengers turn on one another in a struggle for survival as they careen through the night.

The Twilight Zone meets Speed in Shallow Ends, a harrowing exploration of the human psyche set on a desolate highway, where the line between what’s real and unreal blurs. Brace yourself for a psychological thrill ride that will leave you questioning the boundaries of perception—and confronting the darkness that lurks beneath the placid surface of our lives.

Review: Thank you to David James Keaton for sending me an eARC of this novel!

Halloween Season keeps on keeping on, and I am trying to showcase a variety of sub genres this year for Horrorpalooza. Heck, I’m trying to expand my horror reading experiences all year round, really. So when David James Keaton reached out with his new horror novel “Shallow Ends”, and I saw it described as “The Twilight Zone” meets “Speed”, I thought that it sounded out there enough that I HAD to check it out. And I’m happy that I took a chance on it, because “Shallow Ends” was bizarre in the best way.

I didn’t really know what to expect with this story but it was a high tension roller coaster for the most part. While the comparisons to “The Twilight Zone” and “Speed” are definitely on point, I was also thinking of the anthology horror film “Night Train to Terror” as I read this as this party firetruck of people hurtles towards who knows what. Keaton definitely knows how to up the suspense as our party goers start to realize that their party firetruck isn’t stopping, and may NOT stop unless they can figure out a way to do so. It’s creative and weird, and I did find myself wondering just how this was all going to shake out for our cast of characters as the night continues on, they start to turn on each other, and the booze keeps on flowing. I will admit that the huge cast of characters made it a bit tricky for me to keep them all straight, but characterization for every player isn’t really the point, even as we start to delve more and more into their backstories (more on that in a bit). I think that for me the biggest success was the oddball strangeness of a party firetruck with a pool and bar a volatile group of revelers getting stuck in a time loop or something of the sort and their journey never ends as as they get more desperate. It’s SO weird but because of that it utterly charmed me.

And yes, as we see character backstories or memories as told through separate short stories, it also has a bit of a “Canterbury Tales” vibe to it. Which is ALSO so oddball, but executed in a way that I found to be interesting and unique. At first I was a little thrown, but once I figured out what was going on I got on board. I will say that sometimes it kind of threw the momentum off to be going from something so frenetic as an out of control party firetruck to a total change in scenery, but it was, again, an oddity to what I have come to expect from the genre. And yes, there were plenty of things in this book that actually had me laughing out loud. There are a lot of characters who are just awful, but have some really funny lines, both in the moment on the party truck, but also within the stories that are representing themselves beyond the chaotic moments in the pool.

“Shallow Ends” is a strange brew, and I found it entertaining and suspenseful. If you like weird horror, this is one to look out for!

Rating 7: Frenetic and strange with an ever building tension, “Shallow Ends” is breakneck and suspenseful, and one of the more unique horror books I’ve read this year.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Shallow Ends” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Best Weird Fiction Books”.

Kate’s Review: “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s”

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Book: “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” by Hanna Alkaf

Publishing Info: Salaam Reads/ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from the publisher.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: An all-girls school is struck with mysterious cases of screaming hysteria in this chilling dark academia thriller haunted by a deeply buried history clawing to the light.

For over a hundred years, girls have fought to attend St. Bernadette’s, with its reputation for shaping only the best and brightest young women. Unfortunately, there is also the screaming.

When a student begins to scream in the middle of class, a chain reaction starts that impacts the entire school. By the end of the day, seventeen girls are affected—along with St. Bernadette’s stellar reputation.

Khadijah’s got her own scars to tend to, and watching her friends succumb to hysteria only rips apart wounds she’d rather keep closed. But when her sister falls to the screams, Khad knows she’s the only one who can save her. Rachel has always been far too occupied trying to reconcile her overbearing mother’s expectations with her own secret ambitions to pay attention to school antics. But just as Rachel finds her voice, it turns into screams.

Together, the two girls find themselves digging deeper into the school’s dark history, hunting for the truth. Little do they know that a specter lurks in the darkness, watching, waiting, and hungry for its next victim…

Review: Thank you to Salaam Reads for sending me an eARC of this novel!

I went to an elite private school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and let me tell you the pressure was pretty horrendous (especially for a girl with a slew of learning disabilities and ADHD). But because of this experience that continues to kind of haunt me to this day in some ways, I’m always interested in a thriller/horror story that has an elite private school as its location. So when I was approached to read “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” by Hanna Alkaf I was pretty much on board right away. You already had me at private school woes of school girls screaming their heads off, but then you really sold me when 1) it was in a locale and culture that I’m not super familiar with, as this book takes place in Malaysia, and 2) there was a hinted at supernatural side to it. So I took the plunge with high hopes, and I’m happy to say that they were pretty well met!

In terms of a mystery thriller with a potential supernatural twist, “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadettes” checks a lot of boxes that make it a successful read. We have our two protagonists Khadijah and Rachel, who have alternating chapters and can give us multiple insights across the story as the mystery unfolds (aka, why are their classmates at their prestigious all girls school suddenly screaming for no discernible reason, and what isn’t the school telling the students?). I liked following both of them as they had very different paths in terms of getting the clues together, and as there were more and more questions about whether it is hysteria, something otherworldly, or perhaps something totally understandable, I found myself more and more eager to get to the solution. Some of the imagery in this book was also downright frightening, with Alkaf setting the scene and creating a vision in my minds eye of a girl screaming her head off that really got under my skin. This may be a bit more of a mystery thriller than a horror story, but let me tell you, the bits that were horror were superb.

And even beyond the well paced and creepy mystery and horror story at hand, I really liked the other themes of this book, specifically the calling out and dressing down of violent misogyny and the silencing of women to keep a system untouched and in place. Both Khadijah and Rachel have different ways that they are being silenced, and I liked the choice that Alkaf made to show that there are different ways for these girls to be silenced, whether it is Khadijah’s selective and self imposed non speaking due to the trauma that she endured at the hands of her stepfather, or Rachel not feeling like she can have a say in any part of her future due to her overbearing and cold mother. We shift between both of their perspectives, and it was effective to see their different experiences and the different ways that they fit into the overall mystery of why their classmates are screaming, and how their experiences are both the results of societal expectations for women in their community, with Khadijah being basically silenced in the wake of her stepfather’s crimes and her victimization, and Rachel being pushed into a very specific acceptable box. Throw in the fact that the school is trying to hide a dark history with screaming girls and bouts of hysteria, and doesn’t want Khadijah making waves as she investigates, and you have a critique of misogyny that sears and burns in the best ways.

“The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” is a well done thriller/mystery/horror tale. Hanna Alkaf is someone to watch. I know I will be doing so.

Rating 8: A tense and angry horror story that calls out violent and systemic misogyny and lauds feminine rage, “The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” is a searing YA tale of all too real terrors to go with the fantastical ones.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s” is included on the Goodreads lists “Books by Malaysian Authors/Set in Malaysia”, and “Horror to Look Forward to in 2024”.

Kate’s Review: “So Thirsty”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here

Book: “So Thirsty” by Rachel Harrison

Publishing Info: Berkley, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A woman must learn to take life by the throat after a night out leads to irrevocable changes in this juicy, thrilling novel from the USA Today bestselling author of Such Sharp Teeth and Black Sheep.

Sloane Parker is dreading her birthday. She doesn’t need a reminder she’s getting older, or that she’s feeling indifferent about her own life. Her husband surprises her with a birthday weekend getaway—not with him, but with Sloane’s longtime best friend, troublemaker extraordinaire Naomi.

Sloane anticipates a weekend of wine tastings and cozy robes and strategic avoidance of issues she’d rather not confront, like her husband’s repeated infidelity. But when they arrive at their rental cottage, it becomes clear Naomi has something else in mind. She wants Sloane to stop letting things happen to her, for Sloane to really live. So Naomi orchestrates a wild night out with a group of mysterious strangers, only for it to take a horrifying turn that changes Sloane’s and Naomi’s lives literally forever.

The friends are forced to come to terms with some pretty eternal consequences in this bloody, seductive novel about how it’s never too late to find satisfaction, even though it might taste different than expected.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

It is October 1st!! We are officially at the start of my favorite month of the year, and we are also officially in full on Halloween Season, with that most blessed of holidays happening as the month comes to an end. And like I always do for October, I am starting my Horrorpalooza Celebration, in which I dedicate all of my book reviews to horror centered reads. I am always eager for this time of year and this celebration, and I decided that I wanted to kick it off with Rachel Harrison’s new novel “So Thirsty”. I love Rachel Harrison, and I was very eager to see what she was going to do with vampires, as I’ve really liked her takes on other horror sub-genres and how she makes them perhaps a little lighter, while still having some great scares. And “So Thirsty” was a great way to kick things off.

Harrison has always approached horror stories with a quick wit and some well done beats that find quality scares while still being approachable to those who may not be as entrenched in the genre, and she continues that pattern here. Our story is simple: life long friends Sloane and Naomi are going on a girls trip for Sloane’s 36th Birthday. Sloane is feeling stuck in a rut with a cheating husband and boring routine, while Naomi has been traveling Europe with few constraints and a side of flakiness. In hopes of loosening Sloane up, Naomi gets them invites to a big isolated house with some oh so charming strangers, and before we know it Sloane and Naomi have been turned into vampires, wondering what happens next, but perhaps also seeing a new beginning. As a plot it’s great. I love the idea of being changed into a vampire acting as a new start or a way to get one’s groove back, and I thought that Harrison made the vampires in this story appropriately predatory while also being very fun and genial. Less blundering than the “What We Do in the Shadows” group, but not as menacing or cruel as the “Near Dark” nomads. I really enjoyed all of them and their banter and humor, but also liked how nasty they could be when needed (and when their vampiric nature called for it). And there were definitely some moments in this book that were pretty scary and even gory, without being too over the top. Which would make it more accessible to people who are looking for something this Halloween season but may not like things to be TOO bloody.

I also really enjoyed the character development between Sloane and Naomi, both as a friendship pair and as individuals. As Sloane is our main character I expected it for her story arc, and while it didn’t really go outside of the box of ‘ennui and people pleasing woman who is approaching middle age finds her spark again’, I thought that it was a very satisfying storyline to follow. Her frustrations with her life (a boring job, a cheating husband, few things that bring her joy) felt pretty realistic, as did her hesitance to try and change things out of fear of what that change could do to a life she already knows, even if it’s boring and unsatisfying. I also enjoyed her chemistry with Henry, who starts as a mysterious guest at the ill fated party they attend, and turns into a symbol of what Sloane’s life COULD have should she be willing to take a leap (though it’s not like she’s going to have a choice). But what surprised me story wise was that we also got to see a bit of growth for free spirited party girl Naomi, who seems to have the opposite issue of Sloane, but is still in need to confronting how dissatisfied SHE is, even if it’s for different reasons. We don’t get into her head nearly as much, but Harrison knows how to imply and hint at Naomi’s own inner conflicts. And seeing both of these women be confronted with a life changing moment in time, and having to suss out and hash out their complicated friendship because of it, was an arc that I quite enjoyed. Harrison really has a knack for displaying all the ups and downs of female friendships and how they can be incredibly gratifying and fulfilling while also having complexities that can hinder them. Sloane and Naomi are another solid example of that.

“So Thirsty” is a fun way to kick off Horrorpalooza! I always look forward to Rachel Harrison for the spooky season and this one didn’t disappoint!

Rating 8: A fun and introspective tale about friendship and embracing oneself no matter what changes may occur, “So Thirsty” is another entertaining and satisfying novel from Rachel Harrison!

Reader’s Advisory:

“So Thirsty” is included on the Goodreads lists “I Support Women’s Wrongs”, and “Pink Horror Genre”.

Kate’s Review: “Nightmare of a Trip”

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Book: “Nightmare of a Trip” by Maureen Kilmer

Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A horror-tinged National Lampoon’s This is one family getaway they’ll never forget… Leigh Somerset wants to spend some quality time with her kids before they grow up, and her husband has always fancied himself sort of a Clark Griswold figure. So the Somersets will be spending their family vacation on the road, driving from suburban Milwaukee to Orlando, Florida. Already off to a rocky start, when they stumble upon an abandoned, half-burned farmhouse in Indiana, the Somersets inadvertently unleash an eerie past that will follow them the rest of their trip. From creepy indoor waterparks to paranormal-activity plagued Cracker Barrels, it’s one thing after another in the pursuit of the great American summer road trip. Will the Somersets be able to shake these bad vibes and get on with family bonding, or will the road less traveled become the highway to hell?

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

My family never did a huge cross country road trip when I was a kid, though we did take four-five hour trips to visit relatives in Iowa or drive to the Apostle Islands on occasion. I think that my parents knew that none of us had the wherewithal to do the long drives across multiple states, and since we could afford plane tickets, that’s what we did. But even with the smaller road trips I was compelled to pick up “Nightmare of a Trip” by Maureen Kilmer. I had enjoyed another of her books, and the promise of a haunting story mixed with “National Lampoon’s Vacation” is hard to resist. Unfortunately, my high hopes were a bit dashed this time.

First what I did like. The entire concept of a stereotypical American family road trip being waylaid by supernatural hijinks is a pretty fun idea. Given that I found Kilmer’s book “Suburban Hell” to be a fun satire on American suburbia I was hoping that “Nightmare of a Trip” would have a similar execution and also be a fun satire. And there were definitely some fun things about this book. The idea of a Cracker Barrel being thrown into chaos due to poltergeist activity is hilarious, and I also enjoyed the stress and exhaustion of Leigh and Nick as they are trying to take their kids on a memorable family vacation while also keeping their shit together. Because there were a couple nights at Disney World this past Spring where once the kid was in bed my husband and I just collapsed in a puddle of burn out, and Kilmer nails the feel. It’s also the kind of spooky story that I would be more than confident to recommend to people who want something a little scary to read for Halloween, but not TOO scary. I definitely think it’s important to have varying degrees of horror stories for readers, and “Nightmare of a Trip” would be a pretty safe choice that still gets the reader in a scary story mood.

On the flip side, however, “Nightmare of a Trip” didn’t have the same oomph that “Suburban Hell” did, as I wasn’t nearly as invested in the characters this time around. Sure I found some of them realistic, as mentioned above, but Leigh as our narrator was pretty bland. I appreciate a harried mother character, but I was hoping that we would get a bit more exploration beyond a harried mother, especially since I find the greater strengths in books like this to be the characters when the horror is muted a bit. Along with this, the humorous/satirical elements of this book, which should have been the biggest narrative strength, just didn’t land as well as I had hoped it would. It isn’t BAD. It just isn’t very interesting. Pretty middle of the road. And that’s fine! I had just hoped for more.

“Nightmare of a Trip” is a quick read that is light on scares but still entertains. I had hoped it would be as enjoyable as “Suburban Hell”, but even if it didn’t live up to my expectations I still found it mostly fun.

Rating 6: It’s fun and frothy and probably a good choice for someone looking for some lighter horror this Halloween season, but it was pretty middle of the road.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Nightmare of a Trip” is included on the Goodreads list “All the New Horror, Romantasy, and Other SFF Crossover Books Arriving in September 2024”.

Kate’s Review: “Tiny Threads”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Tiny Threads” by Lilliam Rivera

Publishing Info: Del Rey, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC24.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A young woman gets her dream job working for a famous designer—and discovers the dark side of the glamorous world of fashion—in this gorgeously sinister novel of supernatural suspense.

Fashion-obsessed Samara finally has the life she’s always dreamed of: a high-powered job with legendary designer Antonio Mota. A new home in sunny California, far away from those drab Jersey winters. And an intriguing love interest, Brandon, a wealthy investor in Mota’s fashion line.

But it’s not long before Samara’s dream life begins to turn into a living nightmare, as Mota’s big fashion show approaches and the pressure on Samara turns crushing. Perhaps that’s why Samara begins hearing voices in the dark in her room at night—and seeing strange things that can’t be explained away by stress and anxiety, or by the number of drinks she consumes every night.

And it may not only be Samara’s unraveling psyche, because she soon discovers hints that her new city—and the house of Mota—may have been built on a foundation of secrets and lies. Now Samara must uncover what hideous truths lurk in the shadows of this illusory world of glamor and beauty, before those shadows claim her…

Review: Thank you to Del Rey for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

Whenever we go to ALAAC I always come with a list of titles that I am looking for. I resign myself to the fact that my desired titles aren’t always going to overlap with what is available, but this past year I had a pretty good ven diagram of things I wanted and things that were available. One of the books I was on the hunt for was “Tiny Threads” by Lilliam Rivera, partially because Cynthia Pelayo had been singing its praises (and I really enjoy her books), and partially because I LOVE a dramatic interpretation of the fashion industry. If it has horror elements, I’m even more sold. So when it was available I was very, very pleased. I went into it expecting a full on horror story. I found something a little different, but in a positive way.

This wasn’t as scary as I had hoped that it would be, but what it lacked in obvious scares it made up for in a good old fashioned feminine rage story and a psychological spiral of our main character, who keeps hearing ‘rats’ in her new aparment’s walls at 2am. We follow Samara, who has moved from New Jersey to California after she is hired by the iconic (but recently struggling) fashion designer Antonio Mota to work as a fashion promoter in his fashion house. What should be a dream job and an amazing opportunity is not so much, as Samara soon realizes that Mota is an abusive narcissist, there are many divisions in the company, and her new home in Vernon, California, is being disrupted by a hostile work environment and strange noises that keep her awake at night. The pressure and the lack of sleep make Samara more inclined to turn towards a bottle as she desperately tries to help throw together a make or break fashion show, and she has started seeing strange and disturbing images of a woman, as well as the name ‘Piedad’ everywhere. It’s pretty clear to this seasoned horror reader what Rivera was setting up, but the execution of watching Samara spiral into deeper and deeper madness (or is it a horrifying enlightenment?) was intense and nerve wracking. Rivera also examines through Samara, as well as other Latine women characters, a hostile racism and misogyny that is seeping at every turn, whether it’s Antonio’s abuses, or the history of the town and how it has used brown skinned women as worker bodies that are expendable, or how powerful white people take advantage of them in all kinds of ways.

I am also a huge sucker for drama filled stories that take on the fashion industry. I am by no means a fashionista, as you can usually find me wearing jeans, band tees, hoodies, and pajama pants, but I am very fascinated by fashion and beauty and the industries that promote those concepts up (and profit off of them). I enjoyed the way that Rivera portrayed Mota fashion house as a place that creates gorgeous and decadent clothing that is envied and coveted by many, but how how it also rings their employees dry, and how at the end of the day it is a capitalistic machine that is out to make money and to convince the masses that they should be spending their money on their designs. Even the setting of Vernon, California, is the perfect vehicle for this, as it’s a small town that was built on corporate need and greed, and sustains itself through this while also reeking of it (literally; there is a meat processing plant that stinks the community up and is hard to ignore). “Tiny Threads” does a great job of juxtaposing the beauty ideals that the fashion industry pushes forth with the mass production corporate greed that ultimately brings harm to many who work within that system, and how they aren’t so dissimilar be it fashion or meat packing and slaughterhouses. I found it compelling and haunting.

“Tiny Threads” is a great adult debut for Lilliam Rivera, and an incredibly psychological horror tale that has just as many real world scares as it does supernatural ones. Highly recommended!

Rating 8: Intense and angry, “Tiny Threads” is a psychological ghost story that takes on misogyny, violence, racism, and the fashion industry.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Tiny Threads” is included on the Goodreads list “2024 Mystery Thrillers Crime to Be Excited For”.

Kate’s Review: “Dearest”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Dearest” by Jacquie Walters

Publishing Info: Mulholland Books, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from a panel at ALAAC24.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A new mom in need of help opens her door to her long-estranged mother—only to invite something much darker inside—in this “fast-paced and frightening debut” (Rachel Harrison) about the long shadows cast by family secrets, perfect for readers of Grady Hendrix or Ashley Audrain.

Flora is a new mom enamored of her baby girl, Iris, even if she arrived a few weeks early. With her husband still deployed, Flora navigates the newborn stage alone. But as the sleepless nights pass in the loneliness of their half-empty home, the edges of her reality begin to blur.

Just as Flora becomes convinced she is losing her mind, a surprising guest shows up: Flora’s own mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken in years. Can they mend their fraught relationship? Or is there more Flora’s mother isn’t telling her about the events that led to their estrangement?

As stranger and scarier events unfold, Flora begins to suspect the house is not as empty as she once thought. She must determine: is her hold on reality slipping dangerously away? Or is she, in fact, the only thing standing between a terrifying visitor and her baby? 

Review: Thank you to Mulholland Books for providing me with an ARC at ALAAC24!

I’ve touched on here about those early days of being a new Mom and how stressful it can be. I was actually very lucky during those first few months of being a new parent, as I have a great support system in town, my husband was able to take a fair amount of time off of work, and we were able to split care up pretty evenly between us (though once COVID hit a few months after she was born the isolation and stress did get to be a bit much!). But I know that I was very lucky, and that even though it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t a nightmare, like it can be for some. I love that more books are talking about this, especially horror novels, and “Dearest” by Jacquie Walters is one of the newest to take motherhood and turn it into a horror story.

There is a bit of a supernatural bent to this book that I don’t really want to spoil, but I will say that this was surprisingly the weaker thread of the novel. That’s not to say that it was bad or poorly done. I did enjoy the way that Walters brought in these elements and how she built it up, specifically an element regarding sleep paralysis and Night Hags, and how she wove them into the story at hand. It also led to a pretty well done twist that I didn’t see coming at all, which made me go back and look for the clues. But I do think that it undercut the power of the horrors that were about Flora dealing with a newborn as a new mom while also dealing with her estranged mother whom she called for help, and who has always had a cruel streak that is popping up again as they reunite.

But what really worked for me were the themes of postpartum depression, the stresses of new parents, specifically mothers, and generational trauma that can fester and pass down from person to person. I found Flora’s experiences as a newly postpartum mother with a newborn and little to no support (as her husband is deployed and delayed getting home) to be heart wrenching, incredibly tense, and in some ways pretty relatable. Walters shows how much it can be a struggle, and how mothers feel like they aren’t supposed to see it as a struggle and therefore it just gets worse and worse until, in some very tragic instances, the unthinkable happens. She also puts very realistic problems like the pressures to breastfeed (even with painful infections), the way that some people dismiss a mother’s stress, the sleep deprivation, and the societal pressures to be a perfect loving mother from the jump, at the forefront and pulls out the tension and the horrors of simply being a new mother in a culture that doesn’t offer as much support as it could. Add in the way that Flora’s mother, whom she reaches out to in desperation, needles, picks at, and has damaged her adult daughter, and it made this reader very, very tense. I’ve said it many times in the past couple of years, but with many women in this country being forced into pregnancies and motherhood due to a lack of reproductive rights, these kinds of stories are especially chilling these days.

Overall I enjoyed “Dearest”. I would have liked a little more, but it’s another effective horror story about motherhood.

Rating 7: A haunting tale of motherhood, generational trauma, and how a lack of support can drive a mother to do things she’d never dream of, “Dearest” is a tense book that felt all too real at times.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Dearest” is included on the Goodreads list “September 2024 Horror”.

Kate’s Review: “This World Is Not Yours”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “This World Is Not Yours” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Publishing Info: Tor Nightfire, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: This World is Not Yours by USA Today bestseller Kemi Ashing-Giwa is the perfect blend of S.A. Barnes’ space horror and Cassandra Khaw’s beautiful but macabre worlds. An action-packed, inventive novella about a toxic polycule consumed by jealousy and their attempts to survive on a hostile planet.

After fleeing her controlling and murderous family with her fiancée Vinh, Amara embarks on a colonization project, New Belaforme, along with her childhood friend, Jesse. The planet, beautiful and lethal, produces the Gray, a “self-cleaning” mechanism that New Belaforme’s scientists are certain only attacks invasive organisms, consuming them. Humans have been careful to do nothing to call attention to themselves until a rival colony wakes the Gray.

As Amara, Vinh, and Jesse work to carve out a new life together, each is haunted by past betrayals that surface, expounded by the need to survive the rival colony and the planet itself.

There’s more than one way to be eaten alive.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novella!

When “This World Is Not Yours” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa ended up in my inbox, the cover alone caught my attention. I mean dang, look at that cover. The expression on that person’s face! And looking more into the story itself, I was absolutely intrigued by the premise of a space colony with a strange ecosystem, and a ‘toxic polycule’ (we all know that I LOVE that kind of drama). And the phrase ‘There’s more than one way to be eaten alive’? GIVE IT TO ME NOW. Suffice to say, I was going into this novella with some high hopes.

First the highlights. I am always game for a sci-fi/space horror tale that brings up some of the perils of colonialism, especially on an unfamiliar planet with an unfamiliar ecosystem and with mechanisms that aren’t fully understood. This is one of the reasons I loved “Annihilation”, and the Gray and New Belaforme colony really reminded me of that novel in a number of ways. Secondly, the space horror in this book is unrelenting, it builds some good tension, and when the tension breaks it is GORY AS HELL and in the best and most horrifying ways possible. First with the tension bit. There was one moment where someone was literally swimming in The Gray and I am pretty sure I clamped my hand over my mouth because I knew that could NOT be a good idea, but Ashing-Giwa takes her sweet time in pulling out all she can from the suspense. And then when we do finally get a pay off for it, and the tension breaks into a gory, terrifying mess?

It was disgusting and absolutely nasty. Which is exactly what I want from space based body horror. ( source)

All of this was spot on.

That being said, and this is in a lot of ways a ‘me’ issue, I wasn’t as enthralled with the Science Fiction stuff. I am at the point where I need to just tell myself ‘look Kate, even if it’s Space Horror, Sci-Fi isn’t your thing’ and maybe not take it on. And in “This World Is Not Yours” we get a lot of that, with colonies, space intrigue, Science Fiction scenarios involving populations and ecology, and lots of references to tech that kind of made me skim the pages a bit. I will reiterate that these are all things that are to be expected in this genre, and people who like that will probably like how it is done in this. So that negative aspect is probably on me. But along with that I didn’t feel like I really got to know our characters as much as I would have liked, especially Jesse, one of the cornerstones of the polycule that has been forced upon our main characters. I understood his connection to Amara, but the connection to Vinh was more talked about than really demonstrated. I think to buy some of the high stakes moments at the end I needed more from Jesse. I also needed more development of Vinh’s assigned husband Henry, because Amara REALLY hates him and I understood why she would hate him as a jealous wife, but he seemed pretty bland until there were a couple of hail Mary moments of terribleness that felt like they were there to be like SEE THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD HATE HIM that didn’t feel super earned. On top of that, Amara and Vinh as the couple we are supposed to be rooting for didn’t really click with me. But this could have been solved had we explored them more, and I think that we probably needed more pages to do so.

So all in all “This World Is Not Yours” was a bit mixed for me. The space horror at its peak was fantastic. But it wasn’t as centered as I had hoped it would be.

Rating 6: When the space horror was in full force it was terrifying. But a lack of character development and a little too much Sci-Fi made this not the home run I had hoped for.

Reader’s Advisory:

“This World Is Not Yours” is included on the Goodreads list “Queer Polyamory”.