The nitty-gritty: Mystery meets mind-bending supernatural terror in Dead First, a unique tale of revenge, redemption and murder. “Sometimes, people leave part of themselves in a horrible place, creating an eternal scar.” Dead First surprised me in just about every possible way. This is a gritty, violent and emotional story that mostly leans into mystery/detective […]
The nitty-gritty: Creeping horror and sinister townsfolk await in Alan Baxter’s latest Tales From the Gulp, a wildly entertaining and delightfully gruesome series. “I killed Emil and incapacitated Icelynn. Sleeson is some kind of weird monster. I’ve got a pass card and I’m leaving.” She grinned. “That’s the fucking plan, Olaf.” There’s really nothing better […]
The nitty-gritty: Lindy Ryan’s latest horror-humor mash-up successfully mixes the grittiness of a slasher with the heartfelt emotions of friendship. “Barb, sliced apart in the parking lot. Mom, cut open on the closet floor. And now me, with my dead mother’s face in my new master bedroom.” Lindy Ryan won my heart with her Bless […]
The nitty-gritty: A dark homage to Peter Pan, Nowhere Burning explores the terrors of childhood and the uncertainty of growing up. “Change means fear and loss,” Noon says. “But it is the only way.” She leans in and embraces Riley. “Children are sacred,” she murmurs. Every hair on the back of Riley’s neck thrills. “Growing […]
The nitty-gritty: Weird, grotesque, absurd and emotional, Krackle’s Last Movie is a quirky mystery with plenty of heart. “When I’m conducting these interviews, I am never in one place. I shift from their childhood until their death, dropping into the days before their change, then into the moment they knew, for sure, that their body, […]
The nitty-gritty: A beautifully written story of survival and redemption, Yah Yah Scholfield’s weird, devastating and brutal Southern Gothic debut is a rollercoaster of emotions, both monstrous and beautiful. “It happened in the kitchen. Very germane—butchery in the cooking place, the cleaver and carving knife bearing witness. The tile, slick, grouted, was receptive to the […]
The nitty-gritty: Laura Purcell delivers another chilling haunted house tale in this atmospheric and terrifying ghost story. “Their procession had a sick, decayed sort of grandeur to it. This was what it was, Belinda thought, to be master of The Bridge. A throne of rotten fruit and ashes.” House of Splinters is a companion novel […]
The nitty-gritty: A multilayered horror story set in a dangerous town, A Box Full of Darkness expertly mixes carefully drawn characters, emotional relationships and ghostly terrors. “This was Fell, the town of graves where they shouldn’t be and a missing girl’s shoes placed neatly outside her dorm room door. Fell, which had swallowed my little […]
The nitty-gritty: A mysterious, secluded house traps a group of teens in this atmospheric, if somewhat uneven, YA horror story. The Devouring Light had some very creepy and disturbing scenes, and in that respect it succeeded. However, it also fell into some well tread YA tropes, and I didn’t care much for the characters, so […]
The nitty-gritty: Daniel Church takes on cosmic horror in this oppressive, dread-inducing tale full of eerie imagery and tension, perfect for horror fans looking for a unique story. The Sound of the Dark was not what I expected, and I’m happy to say that’s a good thing. Daniel Church has written a dark story about […]