gilda_elise | Entries tagged with i read horror year-round 2023

In his internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed novel The Passage, Justin Cronin constructed an unforgettable world transformed by a government experiment gone horribly wrong. Now the scope widens and the intensity deepens as the epic story surges forward with The Twelve.

In the present day, as the man-made apocalypse unfolds, three strangers navigate the chaos. Lila, a doctor and an expectant mother, is so shattered by the spread of violence and infection that she continues to plan for her child’s arrival even as society dissolves around her. Kittridge, known to the world as “Last Stand in Denver,” has been forced to flee his stronghold and is now on the road, dodging the infected, armed but alone and well aware that a tank of gas will get him only so far. April is a teenager fighting to guide her little brother safely through a landscape of death and ruin. These three will learn that they have not been fully abandoned—and that in connection lies hope, even on the darkest of nights.

One hundred years in the future, Amy and the others fight on for humankind’s salvation...unaware that the rules have changed. The enemy has evolved, and a dark new order has arisen with a vision of the future infinitely more horrifying than man’s extinction. If the Twelve are to fall, one of those united to vanquish them will have to pay the ultimate price.

There’s a lot to take in with this book: a myriad of characters, different times, different places; I wish it hadn’t taken me so long to get back to the trilogy. Luckily, there are enough hints and explanations that I was able to re-pick up the threads of the story.

The stories of the present and future neatly intertwine, as the live and actions of those of the present affect the lives and events of the future. As we follow those lives, the story of how things came to be slowly unfolds. I did find that the switch from character driven (the present,) to plot driven (the future,) slowed things down a bit, but not so much that I found it disconcerting.

My one complaint, and it’s a relatively small one, is that I would have liked more focus on the characters of Peter and Amy. I had the impression that they would be the center of the fight against the virals, those changed by the virus. They are, but in a very peripheral way.

The book is claimed by both the Horror and Science Fiction genres; I’d say it has much of both.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

( Mount TBR 2023 Book Links 1-50 )

51. Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner
52. Jackdaw (Jackdaw #1) by K.J. Charles
53. Blightborn (Heartland #2) by Chuck Wendig
54. The Harvest (Heartland #3) by Chuck Wendig
55. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
56. Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
57. The Change by Kirsten Miller
58. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
59. The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches #1) by Anne Rice
60. Abandon by Blake Crouch
61. Planet B (Architects of the Apocalypse #1) by Jasper T. Scott
62. Shiver by Allie Reynolds
63. The Starlite Drive-In by Marjorie Reynolds
64. The Snow by Flint Maxwell
65. The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe
66. December by Phil Rickman
67. Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
68. Ariadne's Crown by Meadoe Hora
69. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
70. A Dog's Perfect Christmas by W. Bruce Cameron
71. The Lodge by Jeremy Eads
72. The Twelve (The Passage #2) by Justin Cronin

Goodreads 72

Black, red, or white cover
1. The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles
2, Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
3. The Lodge by Jeremy Eads
4. The Twelve by Justin Cronin

A demon runs a bed and breakfast in southwest Virginia where sin never needs a reservation. A guilt-ridden retiree, two little boys, and a pair of meth making cousins will challenge America's most wanted black widow, a haunted southern town, and the Devil himself. The quest for salvation will lead to the darkest parts of themselves as well as the beating black heart of Summit Valley, Virginia. The Maple Lodge, a B&B where the turn down service is to die for.

I was beginning to wonder if there was an actual plot to the story, given that most of it is made up of one person after another being done in by the Lodge, even when they’re not even in the Lodge. Most of the characters are so thinly drawn that I didn’t care what happened to them. But, finally, there’s a resolution of sorts, but not a very surprising one.

What was surprising, or, given how the rest of the book was, maybe not, was the “gotcha” at the end. I hate those things. It makes me think that the author thought he was being clever. Or lazy. Was he planning a sequel? I have no plans to find out.

Black, red, or white cover
1. The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles
2, Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig
3. The Lodge by Jeremy Eads

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film--and awakens one woman's hidden powers.

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.

Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.

Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.

I was a bit disappointed with the book; it’s good, but not up to her regular standards. Maybe because it took awhile for anything to actually happen. Much of the book involves learning about the movie industry’s history in Mexico. Interesting, but more was needed, I think.

On the plus side, the characters were entertaining and kept me interested; Montserrat and Tristán, especially, are very likable. They sort of made up for the book’s slow pace. And though I sort of saw the ending coming, I was happy that the story ended the way it did.

I still plan on reading more of Moreno-Garcia’s books. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy this one; just not as much as I thought I would.

Book by BIPOC author
1. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
3. Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

In the twelfth-century ruins of the Abbey, it is said every stone was cemented in blood. On December 8, 1980, that blood will run again...

In the ruins of a haunted medieval abbey, four musicians hope to tap into the site's dark history. The experience almost destroys them. Years later, the original group is forced to return to the abbey, to confront the old evil they discovered.

Thirteen years ago on a cold December night, a rock band called The Philosophers Stone gathered in the ancient ruins of an abbey to record their new album.The evening ended in bloodshed and death. Now, the tapes from that fateful recording session have been released as The Black Album, and the scattered members of the band know it's time for a reunion. Time to return to that dark December night—for one final performance.

Rickman has since gone on to writing mysteries, his Merrily Watkins books, on the whole.But he started out in horror, and I wished he’d stayed. December is a prime example as to why.

It’s now 1994, and the members of the rock band, all scarred by what happened in 1980, return to the Abbey. They all know it might not be a good idea, yet, at the same time, they’re hoping that it will lift the shroud of bad luck which has followed them all ever since that fateful night.

The characters are all intriguing, yet an air of tragedy surrounds them all. The reader can’t help but be drawn into the lives they’ve led, who they are now: Tom Storey, the drummer, a recluse who’s afraid of what he might see. Classically trained Simon St John, now a priest who fights his desires. Songwriter and singer Dave Reilly, who sees the coming deaths of those around him. And singer Moira Cairns, whose magic, passed down through her family, seems to have deserted her.

There are also some interesting extras, such as Vanessa, Tom’s daughter, born on the December night in 1980. She has Down’s Syndrome, yet there is so much more to Vanessa. And Eddie Edwards, the town’s busybody, who may have stuck his nose into someone else’s business one too many times.

As the horror builds, we relive the events of 1980, and how they’ve influenced the lives of the band members through the years. The Abbey is not a good place, as these four musicians will once again discover.

Winter theme or cover
1. The Snow by Flint Maxwell
2. December by Phil Rickman

This is how the world with a single snowflake.

After a tragic accident at work, all Grady Miller wanted was an escape. He finds it months later with two of his closest friends. Together, the three of them travel south to Prism Lake for the upcoming holiday, where they plan on spending the sunny weekend drinking, grilling, and relaxing.

But when a series of monstrous blizzards cover the eastern United States in feet of snow, knocking out communications and making the roads impossible to drive on, they realize their weekend of fun could turn into a lifetime of survival.

Because there’s something out there besides the cold…

Something sinister…

Too bad the reader never gets to know what that is, as the book abruptly ends. There are four sequels, but I’m not wasting my time. The writing is amateurish; I’ve read fanfiction that’s better. Actually I’ve read fan fiction that is a lot better.

Perhaps Maxwell’s worse sin is that he keeps going off on tangents. Yes, there has to be a certain amount of backstory for the characters, but telling us once would have been enough. I got the impression that the writer was sketching out what could have been a short story into a novel. Which makes me wonder if, with a good editor, the five books could have been one.

Apparently the writer is around the same age as his characters, but they speak so much in clichés and frat-boy speak, that it’s hard to imagine that that’s the case. Which doesn’t help their appeal. None of the characters are fleshed out enough for me to have cared what happened to them.

I’m not sure where Maxwell was going with this. As if a world smothered in snow isn’t bad enough there are some sort of monsters out in it. Another story ruined by trying to do too much.

Winter theme or cover
1. The Snow by Flint Maxwell

Goodreads 64

On the veranda of a great New Orleans house, now faded, a mute and fragile woman sits rocking . . . and The Witching Hour begins.

It begins in our time with a rescue at sea. Rowan Mayfair, a beautiful woman, a brilliant practitioner of neurosurgery--aware that she has special powers but unaware that she comes from an ancient line of witches--finds the drowned body of a man off the coast of California and brings him to life. He is Michael Curry, who was born in New Orleans and orphaned in childhood by fire on Christmas Eve, who pulled himself up from poverty, and who now, in his brief interval of death, has acquired a sensory power that mystifies and frightens him.

As these two, fiercely drawn to each other, fall in love and--in passionate alliance--set out to solve the mystery of her past and his unwelcome gift, the novel moves backward and forward in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and a château in the France of Louis XIV. An intricate tale of evil unfolds--an evil unleashed in seventeenth-century Scotland, where the first "witch," Suzanne of the Mayfair, conjures up the spirit she names Lasher . . . a creation that spells her own destruction and torments each of her descendants in turn.

From the coffee plantations of Port au Prince, where the great Mayfair fortune is made and the legacy of their dark power is almost destroyed, to Civil War New Orleans, as Julien--the clan's only male to be endowed with occult powers--provides for the dynasty its foothold in America, the dark, luminous story encompasses dramas of seduction and death, episodes of tenderness and healing. And always--through peril and escape, tension and release--there swirl around us the echoes of eternal war: innocence versus the corruption of the spirit, sanity against madness, life against death. With a dreamlike power, the novel draws us, through circuitous, twilight paths, to the present and Rowan's increasingly inspired and risky moves in the merciless game that binds her to her heritage. And in New Orleans, on Christmas Eve, this strangest of family sagas is brought to its startling climax.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. While the premise was interesting, a family of “witches,” who may or may not be evil, Rice takes an exceedingly long time to tell the story. To paraphrase Mr. Spock, “verbose, isn’t she?” When it takes fifty pages to introduce one character, you know you’re in trouble.

Yet, I did enjoy reading it, sometimes, though it’s something of a slog. But I think it should have been two books: one for the Mayfair history, which is the part that’s the most interesting, and one for Rowan and Michael’s story. Either that, or have had a good editor go through the book with a machete.

Speaking of Rowan and Michael, it got old fast, having it explained over and over again as to how beautiful they are, how intelligent, how higher they are over us mere mortals. Yet, in the end, it didn’t seem to help them.

It finally got to be too much, especially since the conclusion was beginning to be pretty obvious when “the thirteen” was mentioned. Even worse was that three supposedly highly intelligent people, Rowan, Michael, and Aaron, don’t seem to be able to count that high.

And the idea that the story wouldn’t end with the end of the book, but continue on in two sequels, well, I couldn’t face that. It was time to end things.

Written by a woman
3. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca in this debut supernatural suspense novel, set in the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, about a remote house, a sinister haunting, and the woman pulled into their clutches...

In the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father is executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost.

But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined.

When Rodolfo returns to work in the capital, visions and voices invade Beatriz’s sleep. The weight of invisible eyes follows her every move. Rodolfo’s sister, Juana, scoffs at Beatriz’s fears—but why does she refuse to enter the house at night? Why does the cook burn copal incense at the edge of the kitchen and mark its doorway with strange symbols? What really happened to the first Doña Solórzano?

Beatriz only knows two things for certain: Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will help her.

Desperate for help, she clings to the young priest, Padre Andrés, as an ally. No ordinary priest, Andrés will have to rely on his skills as a witch to fight off the malevolent presence haunting the hacienda and protect the woman for whom he feels a powerful, forbidden attraction. But even he might not be enough to battle the darkness.

Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.

A truly excellent story. The writing is clean, and the characters compelling. I especially loved the relationship between Beatriz and Padre Andrés, who are the voices of the story. They both are fighting to find a place for themselves, and both need an ally for that fight. They find that in each other, and so much more.

What was truly great, though, is that I actually felt spooked by the story. The description of what’s wrong with the hacienda is chilling. So much so that I was hesitant to turn off the light. That hadn’t happened in a long time. I loved it. So a mystery, a romance, a horror novel. One couldn’t ask for more.

I’m so looking forward to reading Canás’ other book.

I have to thank

pinstripe_bindi for bringing the book to my attention.

Book by BIPOC author

1. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2. The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

A small town is transformed by dark magic when a strange tree begins bearing magical apples in this new masterpiece of horror from the bestselling author of Wanderers and The Book of Accidents.

It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something else is changing in the town besides the season.

Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: Strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black.

Take a bite of one of these apples and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing—and become darker.

This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples… and what’s the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful?

And even if buried in the orchard is something else besides the seeds of this extraordinary tree: a bloody history whose roots reach back the very origins of the town.

But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. And a stranger has come to town, a stranger who knows Harrow’s secrets. Because it’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.

I love Wendig’s writing, though most of his book that I’v read have been science fiction. But having read The Book of Accidents, I knew he could write horror, too. And, boy, can he. Who would have thought that apples could be so terrifying?

But they are, especially as some of the residents of Harrow come under their spell. But why some and not others? That question is a big part of the fight that those not taken in by the fruit must wage. It’s a bitter battle, as it’s often against people that they know and love.

There’s a fairly large cast of characters, which is something I’ve come to expect from Wendig. In that, his writing is very much like King’s and McCammon’s, two of my favorite horror writers. So no surprise that Wendig has been added to that vaunted list.

Something I found rather odd, the mentioning of two characters who play large parts in Wendig’s Wanderers and Wayward, making this book almost a prequel to those two. If so, the town’s problems aren’t over.

Black, red, or white cover
1. The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles
2. Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

2023 Monthly Motif

OCTOBER- Spellbinding or Spooktacular
“Read a book that involves something spooky or magical or both.”
Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig

Four spine-chilling stories by the grand master of the supernatural, stories with an interlacing of horror that capture the ever-growing dark corners of our century.

"Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" - a compulsive and bizarre story of unjust imprisonment and escape.

"Apt Pupil" - a golden schoolboy and an old man with a hideous past join in a dreadful union.

"The Body" - four young boys venture into the woods and find life, death... and the end of innocence.

"The Breathing Method" - a macabre story told in a strange club of a woman determined to give birth - no matter what.

Though only the last story is truly a “horror” story, the stories tell of different horrors: the horror of being imprisoned for a crime you didn’t commit, the horror of the concentration camps, the horror in facing ones mortality, and, lastly, the horror of the supernatural.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is very close to the movie, so it wasn’t hard to “see” what was going on. And even having seen the movie several times, I still enjoyed the story.

Apt Pupil is probably my favorite of the four. And also the longest, which may be part of the reason. The reader gets to know the characters more thoroughly, their descent, past and present, fully realized.

The Body was interesting, though probably the least horrifying.

With The Breathing Method I wasn’t sure which was more horrifying, the woman’s fate, or what it is the teller of the tale has gotten himself into.

Altogether, four strong stories that are well worth reading.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

( Mount TBR 2023 Book Links 1-40 )

41. The Power by Naomi Alderman
42. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
43. Day Zero (Sea of Rust #0) by C. Robert Cargill
44. Dog Days by Ericka Waller
45. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
46. The Passage (The Passage #1) by Justin Cronin
47. Kallocain by Karin Boye, Gustaf Lannestock (Translator), Richard B. Vowles (Introduction)
48. The Book of Koli (Rampart Trilogy #1) by M.R. Carey
49. Different Seasons by Stephen King

Goodreads 49

Set in the past

1. The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
2. Different Seasons by Stephen King (three of the four stories are set in the narrator's past)

An aging death-metal rock god, Judas Coyne, is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals... a used hangman's noose... a snuff film. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as an item he learns is for sale on the Internet. For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by the deceased's restless spirit. Judas has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts - of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed - so what's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, it's the real thing. And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere - behind the bedroom door... seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang... staring out from his widescreen TV - dangling a gleaming razor blade on a chain from one hand…

Books whose main character isn’t terribly likable are hard for me to enjoy, much less be drawn into. I thought that would be the case with this one; Judas Coyne is something of an ass. He’s not nice to his lovers, calling them by the state they’re from, rather than their given names. Actually, he’s not terribly nice to anyone. He’s had some hard knocks and it shows.

But as his story progresses, you can’t help but root for the man. He’s a fighter. He has to be considering who, or maybe make that what, he’s up against. He’s bought himself a read, “live” ghost who’s out to get him him and anyone who gets in its way.

Tahe book isn’t scary in the conventional sense; the evil is more garden-variety human. Rather, the story is more an interesting study of a man grappling with the ghosts of his past, and one particularly nasty one in the present.

This is the first Joe Hill book that I’ve read. I think there’ll be more.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

( Mount TBR 2023 Book Links 1-35 )

36. The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
37. A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of the Human Species by Rob Dunn
38. Sparta: Rise of a Warrior Nation by Philip Matyszak
39. Wayward (Wanderers #2) by Chuck Wendig
40. The Summoning God (Anasazi Mysteries #2) by Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear
41. The Power by Naomi Alderman
42. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
43. Day Zero (Sea of Rust #0) by C. Robert Cargill
44. Dog Days by Ericka Waller
45. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Goodreads 45

Debut horror

1. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

2023 Monthly Motif

AUGUST- A Book and a Song :“Read a book with the same title as a song you’ve heard.”

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Song by Nirvana

At an ancient and crumbling estate, overrun by wild gardens, resides a man who has a most unusual story to tell--a story that blends horror, fantasy, and science fiction. He recounts his descent into the Pit, his desperate battle against sub-human creatures and his voyage across the dimensions of time.

As a beautifully written work of pure imagination, it has few equals, and has been compared to the writings of Poe, Machen, Blackwood and Lovecraft.

Though some might compare Hodgson’s writing to the other horror writers of his time, and the reason I decided to read the book, I’m not sure how true that comparison is. Though Hodgson does use some of the tropes used by Lovecraft in this novel, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with them.

The book starts well enough. Two men on a camping trip stumble across a decaying castle and a manuscript written by the estate’s previous owner. The man’s battle with the creatures unleashed from the Pit is suspenseful, though some of his actions border on the absurd.

It’s the second half of the book that I found somewhat boring. The voyage through time is a situation where much is going on while nothing is going on. The man describes his voyage, but he’s little more than a passive passenger. It seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the book, a side trip to pass the time. No pun intended.

The campers finish reading the manuscript and then leave the area, never to return. What becomes of the sub-human creatures remains a mystery.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

( Mount TBR 2023 Book Links 1-25 )

26. Bethany's Sin by Robert McCammon
27. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
28. The Tea Party by Charles L. Grant
29. Seeker (Alex Benedict #3) by Jack McDevitt
30. Jizzle by John Wyndham
31. The Taking by Dean Koontz
32. Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff
33. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
34. Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague by Maggie O'Farrell
35. Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner
36. The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Goodreads 36

Set in the past

1. The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Deerfield. A sleepy village untouched by time, full of quaint antiques, charming sights and friendly neighbors. But outside of Deerfield, nature is still. No children play around the great stone house of Winterrest; no birds fly over its ancient trees…and tales of witches and demons fill the dreams of Deerfield’s children.

Now the great house is stirring, stretching, hungry. Now the huge doors open, inviting unwary victims deep inside. The warm stone walls are heaving, the floors are pulsing…now the frenzied ritual must begin…

You’re never sure what is causing the horrors around Deerfield, but you have a pretty good idea of who is. There’s a certain Mr. Parrish who seems to be interested in buying out all the landowners in and around Deerfield. And who has a deep connection to the creepy stone house, Winterrest.

There are a lot of characters, a few who really stand out. But too many of them spend too much time trying to explain the unexplainable. Earthquakes, killer winds, fires; the characters find the craziest reasons for pretending they didn’t happen. But I suppose if they had just left town it would have made too much sense.

Still, it kept my interest, and some pretty horrifying things took place. But my biggest gripe is that the ending isn’t the ending. I hate that in a book. I think it’s a cheat. It’s one thing if there’s a sequel, but that’s not the case here. Grant would have served the reader better if he had ended the story when he ended the book.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

( Mount TBR 2023 Book Links 1-20 )

21. The Magpie Lord (Charm of Magpies 1) by K.J. Charles
22. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed: Revised and Updated by Eric H. Cline
23. Wanderers (Wanderers #1) by Chuck Wendig
24. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
25. A Dog's History of the World: Canines and the Domestication of Humans by Laura Hobgood-Oster
26. Bethany's Sin by Robert McCammon
27. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
28. The Tea Party by Charles L. Grant

Goodreads 28

Horrific cover

1. Bethany’s Sin by Robert McCammon
2. The Tea Party by Charles L. Grant

Bethany's Sin is a tiny, picturesque village in rural Pennsylvania. Its tree-lined streets, beautiful houses, and manicured exteriors offer - or appear to offer - both peace and a place of refuge. Evan Reid, a man haunted by his memories of the Vietnam War and by a history of viscerally disturbing dreams, comes to the village with his wife and daughter, hoping to make a fresh start after a series of discouraging setbacks. At first, all goes as planned.

Evan resumes his career as a freelance writer while his wife, Kay, begins teaching math at a local college. But there are things going on in Bethany's Sin that no one wants to talk about: unexplained disappearances, houses that stand strangely vacant, half glimpsed figures that appear to be female, the impossible sound of hoof beats in the night. At the center of it all stands a single imposing woman: Dr. Kathryn Drago, a scholar and community leader who holds the key to the mysteries that enshroud the town..

While obviously one of McCammon’s first novels, the book still delivers. The reader is pulled into the world of Evan (who’s dealing with PTSD and a gift, or curse, of giving glimpses of the future in his dreams,) his wife, Kay, a teacher who seems to have troubles of her own, and their daughter Laurie. New to Bethany’s Sin, they see only the top layer of perfection, and not the menace that lies beneath.

But, because of their issues, Evan and Kay don’t really seem to have much to hold them together. They were having problems before; the town only exacerbates them. And I didn’t find Kay to be that likable a character. She berates Evan when he tries to talk about his dreams, yet complains about him hiding things, something she’s doing as well.

Still, the plot was good, and was intriguing enough to keep me reading. Though not one of McCammon’s best, I still enjoyed it.

Horrific cover

1. Bethany’s Sin by Robert McCammon

A lord in danger. A magician in turmoil. A snowball in hell.

Exiled to China for twenty years, Lucien Vaudrey never planned to return to England. But with the mysterious deaths of his father and brother, it seems the new Lord Crane has inherited an earldom. He’s also inherited his family’s enemies. He needs magical assistance, fast. He doesn't expect it to turn up angry.

Magician Stephen Day has good reason to hate Crane’s family. Unfortunately, it’s his job to deal with supernatural threats. Besides, the earl is unlike any aristocrat he’s ever met, with the tattoos, the attitude... and the way Crane seems determined to get him into bed. That’s definitely unusual.

Soon Stephen is falling hard for the worst possible man, at the worst possible time. But Crane’s dangerous appeal isn't the only thing rendering Stephen powerless. Evil pervades the house, a web of plots is closing round Crane, and if Stephen can’t find a way through it—they’re both going to die.

I have to admit to liking the book more as horror, rather than M/M. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good book. And I really did like Crane and Day. But I found myself more taken with the storyline. There’s something weird and creepy going on, much too creepy to be just “fantasy-sf.” A good thing? It was for me.

But, though I did like Crane and Day, I have to admit that, other than pure physical attraction, I didn’t understand their connection; certainly nothing that may me think “romance.” Maybe there’ll be more in the sequels.

My only complaint was the imbalance in the relationship. First, could we stop with the “little” and “small”, when it comes to describing Day? I got it; he’s short. Really short. Maybe a bit too short. Since it was brought up so much, I couldn’t help but think of him as a stand-in for a woman. He doesn’t even get to keep his magic for himself. Normally I would have liked that they had this extra connection, but it only added to the imbalance.

Still, a good start to a series I intend to finish. So thank so much for the rec,

severina2001.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

1. Alexander's Tomb: The Two-Thousand Year Obsession to Find the Lost Conquerer by Nicholas J. Saunders
2. Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
3. Under the Empyrean Sky (Heartland Trilogy #1) by Chuck Wendig
4. Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
5. After Appomattox: Military Occupation and the Ends of War by Gregory P. Downs
6. The Wolf's Hour (Michael Gallatin #1) by Robert R. McCammon
7. Bag of Bones by Stephen King
8. Substitute by Susi Holliday
9. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
10. Huxley: From Devil's Disciple To Evolution's High Priest
11. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
12. The History of Bees (Climate Quartet #1) by Maja Lunde, Diane Oatley (Translator)
13. The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley
14. The Hunter from the Woods (Michael Gallatin #2) by Robert McCammon
15. The Far Arena by Richard Ben Sapir
16. The Humans by Matt Haig
17. Craven Manor by Darcy Coates
18. The Alpha Female Wolf: The Fierce Legacy of Yellowstone's 06 by Rick McIntyre
19. The Last Town (Wayward Pines #3) by Blake Crouch
20. Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist
21. The Magpie Lord (Charm of Magpies 1) by K.J. Charles

Apr - severina

Black, red, or white cover
1. The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles (some black, some white.)

The town records have it listed as Erl King Hill, 'Hill of the Elf King'. To the locals it is known simply as the old Kessler Place. A great ramshackle house, it stands among deep woods, full of memories and myth. There are strange stories about the old place: talk of haunted woods, strange lights that dance like fire, buried treasure and lost children, now long forgotten.

But for the Hastings Family, Gloria and Philip, and their eight-year-old twins, Sean and Patrick, and Philip's teenage daughter, Gabrielle, it is the stuff of dreams. They are looking for a fresh start and they think they have found it - until the day Sean and Patrick discover the secret of Fairy Woods and the luminous elfin beings who lure them into an unearthly world of ancient Celtic magic. Suddenly, what was a dream has become a terrifying nightmare. For those entrancing sprites are in reality demons determined to possess the children's very souls!

The premise of the book is interesting, and had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, none of the characters lived up to it. I can’t even blame it on there being too many characters, because I’ve read books with just as many that managed to create characters who were real. They seemed like placeholders, so I never felt any attachment to any of them.

Another problem was that the story crept. It took the author forever to get to a point. The book really could have done with better editing. And too often he used a character’s reticence to tell the others what was going on to keep the story moving. Of course, if he had told them, a lot of what happened could have been avoided, and where would that have left the author?

The fairies’ story was interesting, but came too late in the book to help things along. Perhaps if the reader had been given some background as the story progressed, but most of that is crammed into the last chapters.

So not an awful book, but certainly not a good one.

Folk horror
1. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
2. Fairie Tale by Raymond E. Feist

Daniel is desperate for a job. When someone slides a note under his door offering him the groundskeeper’s position at an old estate, it seems too good to be true.

Alarm bells start ringing when he arrives at Craven Manor. The mansion’s front door hangs open, and leaves and cobwebs coat the marble foyer. It’s clear no one has lived there in a long time.

But an envelope waits for him inside the doorway. It contains money, and promises more.

Daniel is desperate. Against his better judgement, he moves into the groundskeeper’s cottage behind the crypt. He’s determined to ignore the strange occurrences that plague the estate.

But when a candle flickers to life in the abandoned tower window, Daniel realizes Craven Manor is hiding a terrible secret… one that threatens to bury him with it.

I truly liked this book, even if there were times when I felt like grabbing Daniel by the shoulders, and violently shaking him while yelling, “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” What I had to keep in mind was the age of the protagonist. Is that why so many horror movies focus on young adults? Maybe, but naïveté should only be taken so far. That was pretty much my only complaint.

I appreciated that the plot moved quickly along and that everyone, human and spirit, pretty much got what they deserved, the good guys being likable, and the bad guys not. Figuring out which was which was half the fun. A highly readable book, l’ll be looking for more by this author.

Written by a woman

The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley
Craven Manor by Darcy Coates

“The Hunter from the Woods" marks the much-anticipated return of Michael Gallatin, the lycanthropic hero of Robert McCammon's 1989 classic, "The Wolf's Hour." These all-new, interlinked stories offer a full measure of McCammon's trademark narrative excitement, and comprise a fascinating composite portrait of a unique fictional creation. The volume opens with a pair of brief glimpses into Michael's early life in Russia and his initial recruitment into the British Secret Service. It ends with a haunting vision of the werewolf at twilight. In between, McCammon gives us three stellar novellas depicting different phases of Michael's long, brutal war against Nazi Germany. "Sea Chase" is a nautical tale about the hazards of transporting a defecting German scientist to a place of sanctuary in England. "The Wolf and the Eagle" is the account of an unlikely friendship between rival "men of action" and a harrowing portrayal of a lethal forced march through the North African desert. "The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs" tells of an impossible, ultimately tragic love affair set in the embattled city of Berlin during the latter stages of the war.

Erotic, visceral, and filled with moments of desolating horror and unexpected warmth, The Hunter from the Woods is a triumph of imaginative storytelling. Like the best of McCammon's earlier work, it offers intelligent, world-class entertainment. In the process, it shines a welcome new light on one of the most uncommon heroes in contemporary fiction.

Most of the book was exceptional, especially those stories in the Sea Chase and The Wolf and the Eagle series. The characters were believable, and the story lines suspenseful. Oddly enough, Michael stays human through both stories, except for a short time at the end of the second.

As for The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs, I have to say that I didn’t care for it anywhere near as much as the rest of the book. Again, the woman is too beautiful for words, in fact the most beautiful woman Michael has ever seen. And since sex is really all they have in common, it’s hard for me to even call it a love story. Truthfully, I was more saddened by the Wolf and Eagle outcome than this “tragic love affair.” McCammon is definitely better at writing action than romance.

Jumping further in time, The Death of a Hunter, rounded out Michael’s life, though I would have preferred knowing more of how he got to that point. Maybe we’ll find out in another book. I certainly hope so.

Zombies, Witches, Vampires, or Werewolves
1. The Wolf’s Hour (Michael Gallatin #1) by Robert R. McCammon
2. The Hunter from the Woods (Michael Gallatin #2) by Robert McCammon

Somewhere away from the cities and towns, a group of men and boys gather around the fire each night to listen to their stories in the Valley of the Rocks. For when the women are all gone the rest of your life is all there is for everyone. The men are waiting to pass into the night.

The story shall be told to preserve the past. History has gone back to its aural roots and the power of words is strong. Meet Nate, the storyteller, and the new secrets he brings back from the woods. William rules the group with youth and strength, but how long can that last? And what about Uncle Ted, who spends so much time out in the woods?

Hear the tales, watch a myth be formed. For what can man hope to achieve in a world without women? When the past is only grief how long should you hold on to it? What secrets can the forest offer to change it all?

Discover the Beauty.

The horror of what these men do was really disturbing. What they feel is even worse. Was the lesson behind this that men will have sex with anything, including mushrooms? Doesn’t say much for them missing women, so I’m at a loss as to what the author was trying to convey.

Or has losing women driven the men insane? Considering what happens, that’s the most acceptable reason for it. Especially since there were obviously other choices that could have been made.

The ending also fell flat, as we are left guesses as to what comes next.

Written by a woman

1. The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley

Stephen King's most gripping and unforgettable novel, Bag of Bones, is a story of grief and a lost love's enduring bonds, of a new love haunted by the secrets of the past, of an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire.

Set in the Maine territory King has made mythic, Bag of Bones recounts the plight of 40-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife, Jo, and who can no longer bear to face the blank screen of his word processor.

Now his nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of the house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, Mike finally returns to Sara Laughs, the Noonans' isolated summer home.

He finds his beloved Yankee town familiar on its surface, but much changed underneath -- held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, who twists the very fabric of the community to his purpose: to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother. As Mike is drawn into their struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever-escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here -- and what do they want of Mike Noonan?

As vivid and enthralling as King's most enduring works, Bag of Bones resonates with what Amy Tan calls 'the witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination.' It's no secret that King is our most mesmerizing storyteller. In Bag of Bones -- described by Gloria Naylor as 'a love story about the dark places within us all' -- he proves to be one of our most moving.

The book only slowly draws the reader into the mysteries that surround Mike: the slowly dying town near his summer home and its history, the people there who he thought he knew, and the sudden death of his wife four years before. They’re all intertwined, along with the young woman and her daughter who Mike is inexorably drawn to. Because there is so much ground to cover, there are times when the story unfolds perhaps a bit too slowly.

While it takes awhile to make its full appearance, there is also the horror that Mike’s wife had uncovered, which Mike will put his life in danger in order to learn the secrets that hide almost under his feet.

Though categorized as a horror novel, it comes closer to being a love story. The love Mike has for his wife, and the love that pulls him out of the cloud he’s lived under for all those years. That makes it a book well worth reading.

Title with Dead, Blood, or Bone

1. Bag of Bones by Stephen King

D-Day is threatened, but one man could rip the heart of the Nazis -- with his bare claws....

He is Michael Gallatin, master spy, lover -- and werewolf. Able to change shape with lightning speed, to kill silently or with savage, snarling fury, he proved his talents against Rommel in Africa. Now he faces his most delicate, dangerous mission: to unravel the secret Nazi plan known as Iron Fist. From a parachute jump into occupied France to the lush corruption of Berlin, from the arms of a beautiful spy to the cold embrace of a madman's death machine, Gallatin draws ever closer to the ghastly truth about Iron Fist. But with only hours to D-Day, he is trapped in the Nazis' web of destruction.

I usually love McCammon’s books, and I can’t really say that I didn’t this one. Maybe just not as much. I did find the werewolf part very compelling, especially Gallatin’s backstory. Usually, a werewolf becomes a werewolf and that’s that. Here, as the book leaps back into the past, we get to see how it happens, how Gallatin, as the boy, Mikhail Gallatinov, is brought into the pack, and his life growing up in an abandoned castle in the depth of a Russian forest, far from humans.

Unfortunately, his mission had a weak spot: the constant love interests. Of course, they’re all gorgeous beyond belief, and they fall for Gallatin just because. They “feel” something about him, and that’s all it takes. It got rather ridiculous after awhile. The mission, itself, was interesting, which says a lot since I’m not into spy books.

But McCammon is a great writer, and I’m hoping this was just an aberration, especially since there’s a sequel.

Mount TBR 2023 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.

( TBR Book Links 1-5 )

6. The Wolf's Hour (Michael Gallatin #1) by Robert R. McCammon

Goodreads 6