The nitty-gritty: A twisty take on the haunted house trope, We Live Here Now oozes creepy atmosphere and suspense. “There are no ghosts at Larkin Lodge.” Sarah Pinborough’s latest is a haunted house thriller with a twist, and I had a bunch of fun with it. While some of the haunted house elements are ones […]
The nitty-gritty: A weird, thought-provoking alien invasion story, Overgrowth won me over with its ideas but suffered from inconsistent pacing. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Overgrowth, which I’ll attempt to explain below. Overall, this was one of the most unique alien invasion stories I’ve read in quite some time. Mira Grant, who […]
The nitty-gritty: A most unusual haunted house story, The Staircase in the Woods is an unhinged, psychological mystery that explores personal terrors and complicated friendships. “We’re all just empty houses waiting for this monster to move in and take us over.” Chuck Wendig’s latest is a creepy, unsettling haunted house/possession story with multifaceted characters and […]
The nitty-gritty: An uneven but solid bunch of stories, I was ultimately won over by three that were very good indeed. This is my first time reading a collection of Amazon original stories, and overall it was a fun experience. Below I’ll give a brief review and rating of each of the five stories. Let […]
The nitty-gritty: The detective story meets the gritty streets of Los Angeles in this thrilling, fast-paced and laugh-out-loud story. I had a lot of fun with the last Nick Kolakowski book I read (Absolute Unit), so I wasn’t surprised that Where the Bones Lie was a blast to read as well. PI/crime/detective novels aren’t my […]
The nitty-gritty: A surreal, locked room murder mystery set in an impossible house, Rose/House is a beautifully written puzzle of a story. “There is, as there has always been for Selene inside one of Basit’s buildings, a sense of hypnosis. Of being led, of being let into a a secret, a series of revelations, stripping […]
The nitty-gritty: A grim, bloody delight with pitch perfect black humor, Victorian Psycho will make you gasp and laugh in the same breath. “Mother first tried to kill me when I was thirteen months old. ‘You learned to walk so fast,’ she told me later. ‘I thought I might as well stop you while I […]
The nitty-gritty: A trio of ghosts seek their revenge in this atmospheric but uneven story. At the Bottom of the Garden was just OK for me. I loved some of the ghostly elements, and the overall story idea was intriguing, but the execution didn’t quite work. What appears to be a more serious plot—two orphans […]
The nitty-gritty: Another magical and thought provoking entry in the Wayward Children series, Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear brings one character’s origin story to life. This is the tenth book in Seanan McGuire’s magical—and slightly uneven—fantasy portal series, and I feel the need to not only review this particular book, but give you my […]
The nitty-gritty: Full of vivid imagery, thrilling action scenes and plenty of emotion, All the Water in the World is this year’s “don’t miss” post-apocalyptic story. “That storm, the last storm of Amen, was a hypercane, like Jess predicted, the Monster in the Water. It moved faster than thought and faster than sense. It swept […]