Review: The Necromancer's House

5 stars. I am obsessed with this book. I had to re-read the first couple of chapters because of life getting in the way, but once I fell down the rabbit hole there was no climbing back out. I was absolutely gripped by the story and the writing… I thought about it when I was falling asleep and when I woke up in the mornings. I’m considering re-reading it immediately. I can see this book wiggling its way into my life and inspiring references, returns to highlighted quotes, maybe even passwords. I’m definitely about to buy it for myself in all formats.

Andrew Ranulf Blankenship (excellent name) is a skilled user of magic and recovering alcoholic. He has - inadvertently, it seems - developed a sort of found family consisting of other users and the creatures and demons brought about by his spells. When an associate (poor choice of words but you get the drift) of his kills a Russian man, his mother - who turns out to be a very old nemesis of Andrew’s - comes to America for revenge. 

And this particular brand of revenge is… brutal. Andrew’s friends are severely threatened or picked off one by one in fantastically unique, magical ways. It reminded me of a slasher at times, because I was always ready and waiting for the next creative kill (as painful as they were). In fact most of the book is, essentially, Andrew’s enemy winning, and Andrew barely surviving at great, great cost. It’s a little too brutal at times.

But the writing - oh man, so good. Reminded me of Stephen King a little bit, with its incredible dialogue and clipped sentence structure. Was better than Stephen King at times, with its pacing and plotting and intentional weirdness. King is great at weird; Buehlman is superb at weird. Nothing about this apparently complex world of magic was too difficult to grasp. Everything unfurled in a brilliantly comprehensible - enjoyable - way.

I do want to point out one little fact that had me screaming in joy: this book scared me. Actually scared me. I read a ton of horror and watch a ton of horror and I’m always looking for the next thing that’ll make me feel something, really feel something, for once. And this book got me there. (For anyone curious: it was the scene where Andrew and Anneke are watching the infected video tape.) It also made me cry. 

Let’s talk about that, because around here it’s pretty obvious that I can’t handle a certain type of animal death which is really any type of animal death. It’s partly just an annoying trigger, but also there’s so much of that in horror it almost feels tired, like authors are taking the easy way out or clear advantage of a common and obvious fear. There’s a reason why it’s a trope, but the way it’s utilized often feels bothersome - unnecessary - to me. Which is why I typically dock a star for the UDD (the unnecessary dog death). 

I sensed this one coming, and immediately fast forwarded the next three pages of my Kindle, but it was too late. I caught enough of it to start tearing up, and then really crying, on a plane of all places. It’s gotten worse since I got a dog myself. Just tears and tears and tears. And every time I thought about after - tears. I got worried I wouldn’t be able to write this review because I felt so sensitive about it. And so in this case, I really had to think about the utilization of the trope. Was it necessary? Was it done for the sake of being shocking, or did it truly have a narrative purpose? Another example of a tricky one would be The Shining Girls. IYKYK.

At the end of the day I can’t dock a star. It’s too brilliant and too amazing and isn’t it a testament to the writing that I felt so incredibly crushed and exhilarated by Sal’s bittersweet ending? He teased it so many times, he warned us, we knew it was coming. And he twisted the blade there, and oh no… now I’m crying again.

Thank you for sitting through that with me. You’ve been warned. ANYHOO, please, please read this book. I am more and more convinced that this is a fundamental text of horror - a must-read for anyone looking for something refreshing, funny, scary, creative, and deeply, deeply real, at times, for a book about magic. It’s a book for anyone struggling - for anyone who feels like life keepings throwing them punches, one after another, punches of loss, addiction, regret, guilt, rejection… for anyone who feels like punching back for once. The ending is quite satisfying, in that sense.

The Necromancer’s House on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: We Sold Our Souls

4 stars. Unexpectedly brutal! I did not expect this to get so dark and uncomfortable. After reading all of Grady Hendrix's books, I can report that this one was the least funny and made me the most squeamish. But I definitely didn't enjoy it any less than his others... it has his characteristic stellar premise with all that random plotting/pacing I've grown to love. Keeps things fresh and unexpected even when I'm like, wait how did we all end up here? Where did this well thing come from? What the f actually happened at the end there?

We Sold Our Souls tells the story of Kris Pulaski, ex-guitar player, living her worst nightmare of a sad life after her almost-made-it tale ends horribly. The members of her old band have all moved on after their singer went solo and catapulted to enormous success, and she is stuck in a mediocre, music-less existence. When she snaps and decides to try to take back her old life with a side of revenge, she's terrified to discover that there's more to the situation than meets the eye, and her own path takes her deeper and darker than even the heaviest metal. It's a good time.

I thought it was a little strange that the primary antagonist was absent for most of the book. But maybe that fits with the exploration of regret and nostalgia and feeling haunted by things from your past - things that are long gone and far from actively present in your life. And maybe the actual antagonist was there... all along. Hmmmm. That's the other thing I would mention - this book is really thought-provoking and interesting in addition to being creepy and entertaining. It's very well-written and reminded me of Stephen King at times!! Badass!!

Highly suggest reading the TWs for this one - especially if you are claustrophobic, which I am not but still got a little breathless during a certain sequence. It's also worth reading carefully for Easter Eggs and other clever details. Then again, embracing the chaos is kinda fun too.

We Sold Our Souls on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: My Best Friend's Exorcism

4 stars. This is Grady Hendrix's tightest book, by far. I loved it and it crackled and it was funny and gross and wicked and scary. He really takes things deep before they get better, eh? Truly horrifying moments that take root and grow into humiliation - the whole "no one believes me" premise. He loves it. He's used it in multiple books. He really gets how to do it. Yikes.

The plot is simple: Abby and Gretchen are tight BFFs, until one night Gretchen gets lost in the woods and comes back changed. Her appearance, her behavior, even her treatment of Abby shifts until it's clear that she has lost her way entirely. Is it trauma? Hormones? Or something far worse - something that Abby alone must face to save her best friend?

Gretchen's web of destruction felt inevitable yet super entertaining. The systematic take downs of each friend were delightfully awful. Things got a little random - what on earth was with that exorcist and all that - but the book stayed true to its core. Couple that with the 80s nostalgia (I'm a 90s kid but I loved all the references) and it becomes a really great horror classic.

I docked a star for a UDD (a truly awful one at that - tempted to dock 2 stars, honestly). But this is a fantastic read for spooky season and I look forward to watching the adaptation. Again, this is probably the tightest GH book I've read, but they're all really fun. Highly recommend.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Six Stories (Six Stories #1)

4 stars. This is my kind of horror - interesting format, solid premise, folklore, one POV/character per chapter, a sprinkle of the supernatural, a satisfying twist, a promise (threat?) of more possibilities... right up my alley. After finishing, I wanted to buy the rest of the books in the series immediately, which hasn't happened in a very long time.

Six Stories is presented as podcast transcripts, with each chapter as a different episode. In each one, the host interviews a person connected with a crime - or potentially non-crime - that happened many years ago... connected with the discovery of a teenager's body in Scarclaw Fell. Tracing several theories and diving into the history of the area, as well as the victim's character and background through interviews with his "friends," we as readers are treated to an excellent mystery, captivating thriller, spooky horror, etc. etc. etc.

I love horror for so many reasons. Horror has an obsession with the past, because it often intersects with or drives a narrative motive (revenge I guess, mostly?). In this case each character gets to recall and analyze their memories of a seriously traumatic event with an almost In the Woods level of detail. I loved the creeping dread, the slow unveiling of each character's character, the look backward knowing we'll see something there. The nature of the twist made me want to read it again.

Horror also uses dark subject matter to examine and/or make the story about something else. Murder is dark. Being a teenager? Horrific. I'm really impressed with how the author managed to paint a picture of a typical teenage - squad, as the kids say (or maybe they don't anymore), and dive into the dynamics so vividly and, to me, realistically. The blundering eagerness... the crushes... the cruelty... *shudders*

I've seen a few reviews poke at this for being inspired by (or so similar to) the podcast Serial, which is back in the news after essentially changing the trajectory of a man's life in the system. In this case I think any criticism is unwarranted. The author does nothing to hide his references - in fact, he highlights them. He mentions Serial right in the text. This is not a rip-off. It's a loving tribute, and better than its parent as a neat, fictional, vehicle of entertainment.

Fuck it, I'm buying the rest of the series. Sorry, wallet. I gave this 4 stars because I see its potential - it could've gone down a little smoother - and I have a feeling the series only gets better. All hail spooky.

Six Stories on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Wild Fell

3 stars. Mixed feelings on this one - there were parts I really loved and connected with, but there were also parts that seriously dragged the story in directions it probably didn't need to go. It's an odd one, for sure, which I think was intentional, so I want to be careful about misinterpreting deliberate choices for... mistakes. I've seen a couple of other reviews call it out for pacing and that may be valid but I'm not sure if that's a reaction to the fact that it's unusual - not necessarily wrong or bad. The thing that bothered me most was the dialogue.

More on that later. Wild Fell is a straight-up, self-declared ghost story told by a young man named Jamie. He chronicles his shy childhood, his relationship with his parents, his coming of age and his eventual purchase of a mysterious, isolated mansion in a small Canadian town, plus his experiences with a creepy girl named Amanda who lives in his mirror. Jamie's story offers a really fascinating snapshot into a man's upbringing and identity that happens to involve the supernatural. It's kind of a slow burn that ends with a bang.

I was definitely creeped out. It snuck up on me, especially within the last couple of chapters. I didn't really see it coming, despite all the signs pointing in one direction. So Wild Fell earns a ton of points for that and for delivering a lot of atmosphere. Unfortunately the dialogue really took me out of the story - more than once. The way characters talked with each other, stating each other's names, elongating statements for no reason... it all came across as super unnatural (but not in a supernatural way). 

Not that I could do any better, TBH. And I do tend to overlook or forgive awkward dialogue in what I read, because that's just how it is. Unfortunately this was awkward to a distracting level. BUT!! I do recommend this book to horror fans! It's excellent and will stick with you. It's been a few days since I wrapped it up and I'm still thinking about it. So ignore my nitpicks and go enjoy a damn good ghost story. 

Wild Fell on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Cunning Folk

4 stars. I recently heard some stuff on Tik Tok about the page 100 rule - that if you're unsure about whether or not to buy a book, open it up to sample page 100 instead of page 1. It's a good technique because page 1 has been picked over to death in drafts, proposals, and numerous iterations of manuscripts by numerous individuals on the publishing team and likely isn't a good representation of what the writing is actually like. If you're considering reading Cunning Folk, read anything past page 1 - past the first quarter of the book, maybe. As other reviews have noted, Adam Nevill starts things off with pages of overly metaphorical prose weighed down by flowery OTT descriptions. But definitely... stick with it, lol. This is one of the craziest horror books I've ever read.

When Tom, Fiona and their daughter Gracey buy a fixer upper in the country, they know it'll be a challenge - financially, emotionally, physically - but they are determined to give their daughter a spacious and quiet home in a safe community. Almost immediately, though, they are met with obstacles they did not expect: rude, weird neighbors, problems with the garden, Gracey frightened by her wanderings in the woods. Things escalate, unravel and spiral out of control until Tom is desperate, etc. etc. etc.

Cunning Folk could've ended after the renovations start to go bad and I'd be satisfied. There's nothing scarier to me than being cash-strapped with an endless amount of  insurmountable home repairs on my to-do list. Nevill really leans into this too - oh, as if spooky neighbors aren't enough? Let's throw crippling project anxiety and debt into the mix. It's the old Amityville Horror trick - real horror is economic. Luckily, or not so luckily for the faint of heart, he balances all this out with genuinely creepy supernatural/folk horror elements... rituals, curses, witchcraft, a clearing in the woods, ancient magic, and a new form of scary to me: competitive garden terror. HGTV landscaping gone horribly, horribly wrong.

I docked a star because you know why, but this is a great, edge-of-your-seat, can't-look-away, immersive book. It's my first Adam Nevill and I'm eager to check out more. It's fascinating that it started out as a screenplay, because so much is communicated through the characters' inner turmoil and thoughts. Anyway, yeah, if you can get past the extreme OTT language in the beginning, this has potential to be a real classic. 

Cunning Folk on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Dead Silence

4 stressed out stars. That was intense. I'm glad I own this book, because I'd love to read it again, or maybe force it on my husband so I can talk about it with someone. I have to say I kind of guessed where it was going halfway through, but no worries - the final act is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire into a worse fire and then back into the frying pan again. You've been warned: this blend of sci-fi, horror and thriller is not for the faint of heart.

Dead Silence meets up with the crew of a ragtag repair team on their final mission before the inevitable replacement by machines. Claire, their capable but distant team lead, is our protagonist - deliciously unreliable with tons of trauma to drive the plot. Not thrilled at the thought of returning to a desk job on Earth, she jumps at the chance to extend their job a little longer and check out a mysterious emergency beacon in uncharted territories. Here's what ensues: haunted space Titanic. Who could resist?

Not me, as I plowed through this in 2 days. What I loved: the premise, the spooky sequences, the characters, the world-building and the "system," for lack of a better word, by which Claire was haunted. Her arc was especially satisfying and felt realistic for a survivor once again put in a life-or-death situation. I also loved that not every question was answered; a refreshing choice for someone who believes that sometimes the blank spots should stay blank.

What I didn't love: the romance, the wordiness, the repetition of Claire "shoving thoughts or feelings down" (also Kane and his arm folding - nobody caught this?? It was used 50+ times), a slight... juvenile tone to the writing, which is ridiculous considering the content, but ehhhh that's just my reaction. Maybe the action sequences got a little OTT. I get weirdly triggered by space worlds because I thought the authors of The Expanse books were so arrogant about it, but this one was okay... barely. I also wasn't a fan of the epilogue, but I'm not a fan of epilogues in general. 

Maybe just ignore me. All of those elements are about me, not about the book. Maybe it was just overhyped and I went in with unreasonable expectations. Either way, I highly, highly recommend this and hope it gets adapted one day - I want to fucking see the insanity unfold before my eyes. Truly incredible reading experience. 

Dead Silence on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Bone White

5 stars. Might re-read this immediately. Wintery supernatural small town horror is such a huge turn-on for me and this one checks all the boxes.

The bare bones are this: Dread's Hand is an isolated mining town in Alaska with a dark history and bad vibes, and it's where Paul Gallo's twin brother went missing over a year ago. When a serial killer from the Hand confesses to his crimes - along with the location of his buried victims - Paul wonders if his brother is among them. So he travels across the world to find out, following his instincts and the strange connection he and Danny always shared. The Hand offers very few answers and Paul grows more and more desperate, and then terrified, as he begins to connect what happened to his brother and what haunts the woods around the town.

Difficult to summarize, because there are many layers to this story... layers of history and folklore and side treks that don't go anywhere. There is Paul's investigation, and the law's investigation, which both lead to discoveries that tangle up things further. Scary symbols, eerie connections, etc. And there's a journalist with some crazy but helpful stories, and the flu is going around, and some creepy masked kids are causing trouble, and the church was built over a giant sinkhole, and the "Inn" only has one room, and winter is coming. The crosses, so good. The whole thing is really just a vibe.

A couple of minor complaints: some sequences drag on too long, some details are a little too on-the-nose (I adore a creepy town name but this one felt a bit forced), and I could never really connect with Paul as a protagonist. Minor, minor, minor. I couldn't put this down and I absolutely loved how wacky and delicious and OTT it is. Paul's journey ... ugh, so satisfying. The premise, the lore, the showdown... the tropes I know and love are fresh and fun here. Highly recommend.

Bone White on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: Dark Matter

3 stars. Chills upon chills. This book is one long anxiety attack, from page one. Such a well-formed story - one that I will probably never read again. Michelle Paver is incredibly talented for taking such a fleshed out (initially unlikeable) character and dropping him exactly where he needed to go for our own sick sense of scared shitless entertainment. I for one had full body freak-outs, which didn't happen when I read Dark Matter's sister books (The Terror and The North Water, unnoficial sister status assigned by yours truly). But holy cow does arctic desperation really feel like coming home, for me. Man versus something-out-there-in-the-cold-darkness is my happy place.

It's a lot simpler than the other two. This is a very narrow story - and the POV journal format is clever as it only emphasizes the isolation and claustrophobia experienced by the protagonist. Four men set out to "winter over" in the Arctic, intending to conduct a scientific expedition collecting measurements and instrument readings about the weather, ice, etc. Due to circumstances almost too unlucky to be believed, our main character ends up there alone, determined to carry on the expedition without the rest of the team. But (yyyessssssss): is he truly alone?

It probably goes without saying at this point that a lot of my anxiety stemmed from the dog situation. Hell with Jack, I was sick to my stomach out of fear and worry for them at every point - even the non-scary parts. Every time one of them was mentioned or involved I could barely bring myself to turn the page. That type of fear is not my favorite but I won't dock a star per usual because I didn't do my homework ahead of time and didn't check trigger warnings. Plus, it ends out okay, sort of. But ugh. Not fun.

Still, I could not put this down - I finished it in two days and read the final chapters in a breathless panic. I learned to really root for Jack in the end - guess being haunted in the Arctic really changes you. I'm a huge sucker for things like this:

"And yet I think I now understand the impulse which drives men to shoot bears. It isn't for the pelt or the meat or the sport - or not only those things. I think they need to do it. They need to kill that great Arctic totem to give them some sense of control over the wilderness - even if that is only an illusion.”

And there's another quote I'm too lazy to find where Jack muses that the reason why men try to measure and read environments like the Arctic is just a way of trying to grapple with its intense strangeness, or isolation, or something along those lines; all futile efforts anyhow, because it's essentially unknowable. Not to get too cosmic, but here we are.

Anyway, I liked it. Reminds me a bit of Jennifer McMahon, except that it leans a little more toward Sarah Waters and is a little more male?

Dark Matter on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads

Review: A Certain Hunger

4 stars. This is actually really more of a 3 star read for me, but I have to give it an extra bump due to the sheer audacity of it all and the fact that the premise is so damn attractive, if not exactly groundbreaking. A Certain Hunger clearly and declaratively stands on the shoulders of American Psycho, the Hannibal Lector books, maybe even more contemporary works such as Maestra or You or anything written by Ottessa. And that's what you should jump in knowing: if you enjoy these sorts of books, you will definitely enjoy this one, but don't expect something super fresh or unique. It is what it is - referential, derivative - and delightful all the same.

A Certain Hunger is a faux memoir written by Dorothy Daniels, an imprisoned serial killer who murdered her male victims and ate them. She recounts each crime with wit, whimsy, and an incredible level of detail. Dorothy really is two things: a self-diagnosed psychopath and a former food critic; the only thing that interests her - sparks interest, passion, obsession - is food. And so this book features it predominantly and potentially more than her crimes. But everything is tangled and intertwined, naturally. She eats what she kills.

Here's the thing: I think this book would've been better as a novella. Dorothy is, once you get into her head and used to her voice, a little one-note. I felt less and less entranced as the story continued... the chapters began to feel repetitive. I honestly don't know how to separate that sensation from the fact that the writing itself is so damn stylish and lush and rich and full of words that felt perfectly pretentious for her character - maybe it's because the narrative plot itself is just a bit... thin. We know her trajectory from page one, so the surprises are few and the stakes are low.

Still - this book taps into something strange and cathartic. I hope it becomes a classic. Sex, food, Italy, art, killing men basically because they exist and are trash... what's not to love? I can barely shake off some of the food stuff and I wonder if I'll stay away from meat for a bit. That may have been part of the point, but Dorothy would be horrified. And maybe we should all channel Dorothy every once in a while. Classy, sassy, hungry, murderous AF. Sounds tempting to me.

A Certain Hunger on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads