Book #174 of 2026: Blacktail by Scott Hawkins This horror-tinged magical realist novel starts out well, with a clear declaration of bloody purpose. It’s a story with a mostly animal cast, and it begins with our young wolf protagonist falling in love and mating with a pet dog chained outside near his woods. When the …
Tag Archives: horror
Book Review: A Face in the Crowd by Stephen King and Stewart O’Nan
Book #135 of 2026: A Face in the Crowd by Stephen King and Stewart O’Nan I was looking over a list of Stephen King titles recently when I saw this one that I didn’t recognize. Since I believe it’s the only published fiction of his that I haven’t read yet — aside from a few …
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Book Review: The Fisherman by John Langan
Book #110 of 2026: The Fisherman by John Langan I’m of two minds over this supernatural horror novel, which is only fitting, since it offers a very bifurcated plot. The first and last quarter of the text are delivered to us by the main protagonist, a middle-aged widow who starts fishing as a way to …
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Book Review: The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum
Book #107 of 2026: The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum Seventeen-year-old Hollis is a troubled kid, getting into fights at school, suppressing a certain suicidal ideation, and resigning himself to the fact that he’s going to be stuck in his dying blue-collar small town forever. That makes him the perfect victim for the …
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Book Review: Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson
Book #95 of 2026: Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson If S. A. Cosby ever turned his hand to writing Stephen King-style supernatural horror, the result might be something like this: a 70s revenge noir in which a Vietnam veteran bartender and his teenage niece embark on a cross-country journey to track down the vampire who …
Book Review: Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman
Book #88 of 2026: Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman I have any number of issues with this story, but let me start with the most basic and subjective, which is that I simply don’t like it. This is essentially splatterpunk — the transgressive celebration of gore for its own sake …
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Book Review: Fully Loaded by Blake Crouch
Book #73 of 2026: Fully Loaded by Blake Crouch [Note: I’ve seen some listings of this book under the title Fully Loaded Thrillers, but that seems to be a misreading of the cover. The inside material at the front of the ebook gives the two-word name for it.] This story collection reads like vintage Stephen …
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Book Review: The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala
Book #55 of 2026: The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala (The Dead of Summer #1) I really enjoyed author Ryan La Sala’s previous YA queer horror title Beholder, but this newer release is unfortunately a misfire for me. Although the first chapter sketches some interesting character dynamics — our teenage hero has a …
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Book Review: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
Book #42 of 2026: Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle Horror screenwriter Misha Byrne is having a hard time lately, even besides his upcoming twentieth reunion in the hometown where he hasn’t come out of the closet yet. Either someone is playing an elaborately cruel trick on him, or he’s experiencing a psychotic break, or …
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Book Review: Shining in the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lilja’s Library edited by Hans-Åke Lilja
Book #41 of 2026: Shining in the Dark: Celebrating Twenty Years of Lilja’s Library edited by Hans-Åke Lilja Although I’ve generally enjoyed the short stories in this collection, I have to admit that I don’t quite get the point of it as a project. Lilja’s Library is a website dedicated to the writing of Stephen …
