Book #158 of 2020: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia An eerie suspense novel that more than lives up to its title, Mexican Gothic follows a 1950s socialite as she is summoned from Mexico City to the countryside home of a cousin beset by disturbing visions amid her new husband’s uncaring family. The protagonist finds her …
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Book #136 of 2020: We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix Another great horror vehicle from author Grady Hendrix, who is quickly becoming one of my favorites in that genre. He excels at finding the dark supernatural underbelly of the mundane, this time in a musical group trading in their artistic integrity for the payout …
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Book #96 of 2020: My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix This 80s horror pastiche doesn’t win me over as early or as completely as author Grady Hendrix’s later effort The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires — set in the same town but otherwise unrelated — but it’s effective at balancing its various …
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Book #197 of 2019: His Hideous Heart: 13 of Edgar Allan Poe’s Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined edited by Dahlia Adler I’m rounding up my rating for this collection a little bit on the strength of the original Edgar Allan Poe stories (many of which I’d never read before) that have been included along with their …
Book #193 of 2019: The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling Debut author Caitlin Starling has delivered a stunning, claustrophobic sci-fi horror novel, the entirety of which is spent in an underground alien cave system with the protagonist locked in a mechanized suit. Her only contact is an evasive handler back on the surface, who withholds …
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Book #103 of 2019: Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker Oddly enough, I think the main selling points of this novel are some of its weakest elements: namely that it’s a prequel to Dracula and that it features a fictionalized Bram Stoker facing off against the famous vampire. Co-written by Stoker’s great-great-nephew and based …
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Book #239 of 2018: Ararat by Christopher Golden (Ben Walker #1) This story of demonic possession and murder unleashed by the discovery of Noah’s Ark on an isolated mountainside is a solid paranormal thriller, sort of like Michael Crichton or Dan Brown crossed with early Stephen King. I would have liked a little more depth …
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Book #231 of 2018: The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White After a little bit of a bumpy start, this Frankenstein retelling quickly settles into itself and by the end proves nearly as remarkable as the Mary Shelley classic. Author Kiersten White’s primary inspiration is to present the familiar horror narrative from the …
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Book #198 of 2018: The Outsider by Stephen King Stephen King’s latest novel is also his best work in years (since 11/22/63 in 2011, in my opinion). It’s a compulsively readable mystery-thriller with an irresistible premise: a man is arrested for the horrific rape and murder of a young boy, with irrefutable eyewitness, fingerprint, and …
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Book #164 of 2018: 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill Joe Hill’s novels have been hit-or-miss for me, and it turns out that his short stories are much the same. There are some great pieces in this collection: the opening “Best New Horror” manages to be heartfelt, creepy, and darkly comic all at once, and …
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