I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Headlights by C.J. Leede Published by Tor Nightfire on June 9 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 400
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Despite a fascinating, horrific premise and plenty of emotional hooks, Headlights turned out to be a disappointing reading experience.
I am a huge C.J. Leede fan, let’s get that out of the way first. Her last book, American Rapture, made my top five books of 2024, so I was confident I would love Headlights too. But this was a big miss for me, folks. It was sort of a mess, an overcrowded, confusing story with too many elements, and while there were glimpses of what I loved about her previous books, the overall story just didn’t gel for me.
FBI Special Agent Daniel Stansfield was the lead agent on the “Drifters” case, a horrific series of murders where people were found in a daze wandering the streets, with human skins wrapped around their shoulders. Even stranger, each drifter had a human hair tied around their tongue. All of them reported lost time and were unable to remember how they ended up on the side of the road. The skinned bodies of the victims suggested that these drifters had murdered them, but there wasn’t enough evidence to prove it. The case was never solved, the drifters ended up in jail anyway, and the murders eventually stopped.
Now four years later, Daniel has just quit his job, planning to reenlist in the military. The drifter case has haunted him this whole time, and he needs to get away. But then he gets a call from his boss Jack Murphy. The killer—whoever or whatever it is—is back. A new murder with the same MO has just been discovered, and Jack wants Daniel on the case.
Pulled back into his old nightmare, Daniel is determined this time to succeed and find the killer. But right away, strange things start to happen. Daniel unearths a clue that leads him back to a motel called the Happy Inn, the location of a terrible event that happened when he was six. The John Denver songs his mother loved and played all the time suddenly start playing every time he enters a room. Something knows about his traumatic past, and it’s toying with him. And why does he feel a deep connection to a woman named Hannah, who was found duct taped to one of the victims?
First, the things I enjoyed. Headlights is clearly an homage to Stephen King’s The Shining, which is woven throughout the story. It’s Daniel’s mom’s favorite book, and she even changes his real name (Calvin) to “Danny” as a nod to Danny Torrance. At one point, Daniel and Hannah travel to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the inspiration for King’s Overlook Hotel. There are multiple references to the word “shining”—his mom calling Danny her “shining boy” (referring to the fact that he sees ghosts) for one.
I also loved all the John Denver references, especially because I grew up listening to his music. The biopic Take Me Home, the story of Denver’s life, is mentioned often and seems to parallel what Daniel has gone through. Leede uses Denver’s songs in such an eerie way—every time Daniel turns on his car radio, Annie’s Song is playing. And later when he goes over to a friend’s house, it’s playing again. It was super creepy and effective!
I also loved the beginning, which is more of a police procedural/serial killer story. Leede drops lots of mysteries in this first section, not only surrounding the killings themselves, but the mysteries of Daniel’s and Hannah’s pasts. The problem with mysteries is that you have to give the reader something, some bits of information that will make them keep reading. In this case, these mysteries just piled on top of one another, and the answers don’t come until the very end.
Despite the elements I loved, though, my main issue with Headlights is that it lacks focus and cohesion. It felt as if the author kept throwing new ideas into the blender without figuring out how they were going to fit into the story. There was just too much going on: urban legends, cosmic horror, ghosts, a serial killer, cryptids, John Denver, cannibalism, murder, childhood trauma and memory loss, and much more, including one very gnarly sex scene that I’m still trying to forget about. There’s even a conservation theme that appears in the last section—too much development is crowding out local animal species and ruining the land—and it really felt out of place. The wolf on the cover also confused me. I was hoping after reading the book that the bizarre artwork would finally make sense. But the cover appears to be more of a metaphor using some of the story elements (the hair wrapped around the drifters’ tongues, a “headlight” beam shooting out of the wolf’s eye, and the wolf itself symbolizing something, the animal nature of the serial killer?), and I still don’t get it.
We do finally learn the truth about the murders and who’s responsible, but the explanation was pretty thin, to be honest. I never felt that “ah ha!” moment when all the pieces finally click together, just more confusion. I will say Leede’s ending redeemed the book somewhat. The last chapter was exactly the kind of writing and storytelling I was hoping for, a kind of epilogue that brings Daniel’s emotional journey full circle. But as they say, too little too late. Many readers love Headlights, though, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. And yes, I will definitely be checking out C.J. Leede’s next book!
With thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Sorry this one wasn’t better. At least there were fun John Denver references! I love his songs.
Me too! I did love how she used the songs and also set the story in Colorado.
I used to love Annie’s Song! I’m not sure I like the idea of associating it with a horror story — but I guess I’m safe, as this doesn’t sound like a book for me in any case. Sorry to hear that it was a disappointing read!
You know, using Annie’s Song worked surprisingly well. Like when you are watching a movie where someone is about to be killed, and the music in the background is an upbeat pop song, that sort of thing really works for me.
I still plan on reading it but will admit, “urban legends, cosmic horror, ghosts, a serial killer, cryptids, John Denver, cannibalism, murder, childhood trauma and memory loss” is more than I can handle right now. I skipped American Rapture because I heard it had a lot of animal abuse. Maybe I’m thinking of something else though. I’m still intrigued because The Shining is one of my favorite books and I’m so curious about all the references. Great review!
You were probably right to skip American Rapture, the dog death was AWFUL. But despite that I still gave it 5 stars. The story was much more cohesive than this one.
Yeah, that sounds like way touch going on for one book. Hope the authors next book hits better.
Thanks Stormi:-)
Noooo this is so sad! I loved her first two books, so this is very disappointing to hear. And, I have it to read too, but I am so far behind, ugh. The struggle! Well, fingers crossed that I like it a bit more than you, but honestly we’re usually pretty in sync so I am not super hopeful.
Me too Shannon! Maybe this will work better for you. Now I’m super curious to compare thoughts with another blogger. The reviews on Goodreads are mostly raving about the book, but I just didn’t get it.
I do like that cover, but sorry to hear the story just didn’t work for you. It does sounds like the author tried to include quite a lot in a single book. It’s good to hear you still want to try more of their writing, though.
I loved her first two books, so this was just a glitch for me personally.
I used to listen to John Denver songs. Sorry this didn’t turn out for you.
I loved John Denver! And the JD sections were very well done.
Oof, that’s a big shame, knowing you usually enjoy this author!
I was surprised, especially since most of the other reviews are positive. Oh well…
Im so sorry to hear that this one didnt work for you, especially given how much you loved the authors previous book. It definitely sounds like it has a lot going on and doesn’t make the most of its mystery dynamics. Its a shame as those intrigued me. I guess its a relief to know that the cover is symbolic in a way as I feared it would mean this book had animal violence in it. But even knowing that’s not the case I’m not convinced that this one would be for me either.
Luckily there wasn’t any animal violence (there was in her last book), but that alone wasn’t enough to redeem it for me.
Sorry to hear the book wasn’t all that good for you.
Thanks Hena. Hopefully the next one will work for me!
I’m sorry this one disappointed, it’s so frustrating when that happens. I do like the sound of the S,K. references though. Hope the next read is way better!
Thanks! The Shining references were a lot of fun.