Tag: Horror

REVIEW – The Summoning by J.P. Smith

Aimeeeliz

“There were no such things as ghosts. There was just memory and suggestion.”

Kit, a widow whose husband died on 9/11, is trying to make ends meet – she’s an actress but jobs are few and far between. Her only daughter, Zoey, is in the hospital and the bills are piling up. Kit spends her time masquerading as a medium, providing closure to those who have lost loved ones and making enough money just to scrape by each month. But then she meets an interesting stranger in a bar. And her seances start to feel much more real…

Phew, this was sad. You can’t help but feel awful for Kit. I was concerned at first when I saw that this book included a 9/11 mention, but it was handled really well. Kit’s husband’s death was just a real part of her life. The manner in which it happened didn’t dominate the book or contribute too heavily to the plot.

I hesitate to give too much away because I enjoyed uncovering bits and pieces of Kit’s story as I read. It was difficult to know what was really going on throughout the course of the book, which I feel was intentional. Ultimately, although the story all comes together by the final chapter, things went in a direction I wasn’t expecting. I found that a few ends were left…unfinished. I think a few elements could have been explored a bit more.

Overall The Summoning was a solid, creepy read. Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!

REVIEW – Petrified Women by Jeremy Ray

Aimeeeliz

Talk about heart-pounding! Jeremy Ray packs so much tension into a short little novella. I had to read this in one sitting, he gave me no choice! I felt like I was right alongside Harley throughout the course of the book.

As the events unfolded, I had a pretty good idea of where it was going, but that didn’t make the payoff any less satisfying. (I mean, I was grinning like a fool at some parts towards the end – what does that say about me?)

In all honesty though, Petrified Women is dark. Even though there are some really fun, satisfying moments for horror fans, the true horror is the reality of Harley’s trauma, both past and present. Maybe we’ve all failed to notice (or conveniently ignored) red flags in a relationship, but Aiden’s are just flapping in the wind, for anyone and everyone to see.

Another great thing about Petrified Women? The author is very forthcoming about the content warnings. He mentioned them when he reached out to me, asking to give the novella a read. And they’re mentioned again at the very beginning of the book. Horror can be fun (and terrifying, of course) but it’s always a good idea to let a reader know what to expect so they can enjoy the story without being blindsided by a plot point they can’t or don’t want to read about.

A big thank you to the author for sending me a digital ARC of this novella!

REVIEW – The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon

Aimeeeliz

“We don’t know the terrible things that are coming our way… We just see the shiny surface, our own beautiful selves reflected in it. Not the monster lurking beneath.”

I read my first Jennifer McMahon book back in 2019, and I regret taking this long to pick up another one. The Drowning Kind follows Jax, a social worker, and her sister Lexie, who has long dealt with a pretty severe mental illness. Jax and Lexie spent their childhood summers visiting their grandma, and swimming in her INCREDIBLY CREEPY pool. After ignoring a few manic calls from her sister, Jax discovers that Lexie has drowned in the pool from their childhood. As she starts to sort through Lexie’s things and organize the house, she starts to wonder if Lexie’s claims were based on something real…and sinister.

We also meet Ethel, a woman living in 1929, dealing with a later-in-life marriage and struggles to conceive. When a new hotel featuring a natural spring promises healing and miracles, Ethel can’t help but give it a try. The spring does give. But it also takes…

The Drowning Kind had me looking over my shoulder, increased my fear of deep, dark water, and convinced me that I need to reach more of Jennifer McMahon’s books. It’s a great choice for those looking to dip their toe into the horror genre, while leaning a bit more into the mystery/thriller realm.

Content: self harm, infertility

REVIEW – When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

Aimeeeliz

“It’s hard to live with certain truths of this world, so we ignore what we can. Choose not to look. We have to do it because otherwise we have to deal with the burden of knowing.”

Combine Kindred with Get Out and you’ll get When the Reckoning Comes – a short but impactful read about the reverberations of the past. The ghosts aren’t what to be afraid of here. There’s a gritty layer of dread and forboding smeared all over this story. Although this was a middle-of-the-road read for me, McQueen has an incredibly promising future.

Thank you Bibliolifestyle and Harper Perennial for the free book!

CONSTANT READER REVIEW – Revival by Stephen King

Aimeeeliz

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions…And lit with electric lights.”

My feelings about Revival are…complicated, to say the least. The premise is promising. The execution is so-so (the villain? He’s just not…BAD enough. He’s misguided and desperate and full of himself, but…)

“People have many ways to be lousy to one another, you’ll find out when you’re older, but I think that all bad behavior stems from plain old selfishness.”

Is this horror? I don’t know. It leans a bit more into the literary or commercial fiction realm, with some touches of sci-fi and a few horrific scenes. (And really, what IS horror? Is it a genre or a feeling? Both?) We have a “villain” who is obsessed with electricity. SERIOUSLY obsessed. He spends his life chasing…something (the reveal isn’t as terrifying as his dedication to it, trust me).

Jamie is a relatively likable main character, and although we only get bits and pieces of his life (primarily in relation to good old Reverend Jacobs…or whatever you want to call him) you can tell that he’s mostly a good man who has just made a lot of mistakes.

And this is one of those books where you can’t help but wonder if King has just been too mean to his characters – there’s a lot of tragedy and heartache and horror (the real-life kind) tucked into these pages and it can seem a bit heavy-handed at times. However, that writing can be SO good.

Should you read Revival? It’s a must (in my opinion) if you consider yourself a King fan. But if you’re more of a casual Constant Reader? Stick to the classics.

REVIEW – Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Aimeeeliz

“He understood that the ghost existed first and foremost within his own head. That maybe ghosts always haunted minds, not places.”

I read NOS4A2 a few years ago and loved it. I’ve since accumulated a few Joe Hill books and they’ve just sat, neglected, on my shelves. I FINALLY picked up Heart-Shaped Box and I regret not reading it sooner! You can tell that this is a debut novel, but that doesn’t make it any less impactful or terrifying or memorable.

Judas and Georgia are great characters – for a book that focuses so much on just two people (with some supporting characters sprinkled throughout) they really anchor the story. You’re rooting for them. They’re flawed, and they can be frustrating, but they feel very real. At its heart, this is a FANTASTIC revenge story.

“Is it cold there? I bet it’s cold. It’s going to get a lot colder before he’s through.”

I don’t scare easily (at least, when i’m reading!) but this has some CREEPY scenes in it. Ghosts appearing at random times in your house will always be terrifying and Hill nails it with Craddock. He’s super creepy (even his NAME is creepy. Craddock. Why…WHY?) and I really shouldn’t have been reading this right before bed, in a dark room, with just my book light for illumination.

The end of this book really pushed it into 3.5/4-star territory for me. I’d highly recommend this for horror fans. I certainly won’t wait years until I pick up another Joe Hill novel.

CONSTANT READER REVIEW – Cujo by Stephen King

Aimeeeliz

“Everything in Cujo’s life should have been right, but somehow it wasn’t. He just didn’t feel good at all.”

Let’s get this out of the way: Cujo would have been way better if it had been a short story. The book is short-ish (at least by King’s standards) but it’s just overstuffed with storylines that you cease to care about once the real action kicks in. However, there’s definitely a reason why this is one of King’s most well-known books. But Cujo (the dog) might be one of the saddest characters in modern literature. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to get snippets of Cujo’s thoughts as he slowly descends into madness and rabies takes control of his brain.

Is it horror? You betcha. King hints at a supernatural element at some points, but that’s an unnecessary part of the story. A gigantic dog (a good boy) tragically gets bit by an infected bat. He slowly loses his mind. In the meantime, a mother and her VERY young son get caught up in the terror and it’s…something. If anything, this book is incredibly claustrophobic and hopeless. Now, i’ve seen the movie (a long time ago, when I was probably way too young) so I knew how the story went. But the reading experience is jarring. The bad parts are…terrible. But the good parts? Incredible.

If you’re an animal lover, this book will rip your heart out (especially one paragraph at the very end…oof). For the record: Cujo was a GOOD BOY. But rabies is a bitch.

REVIEW – The Residence by Andrew Pyper

Aimeeeliz

“It was the dead who did it. The house was full of them.”

Something terrifying is happening in the White House (I mean, the jokes just write themselves at this point…) But seriously. Not long after Franklin Pierce is elected president, his son dies in a horrific train accident. When Franklin and his wife, Jane, move into the White House, that’s when the real terror begins.

PHEW. This book is a doozy. It’s definitely creepy but, more importantly, it’s incredibly sad. It’s hard enough reading about grieving parents, but when you add some really terrifying, demonic elements to that, it’s gut-wrenching. The opening especially is just chilling and heartbreakingly sad.

You see, Jane accidentally summoned some sort of malevolent presence when she was a young girl, and this presence has been tormenting and influencing her ever since. Is it responsible for the tragedy in her life? Probably. This presence seems to feed off of terror and grief and sadness. The book does seem a little repetitive at times (especially the scenes in the boy’s staged bedroom) but there are some parts that will stick with readers long after they’ve left the White House.

Also I would HIGHLY recommend reading the Author’s Note at the end! It’s absolutely terrifying and makes the book that much better. I mean, is it really hard to imagine that the White House is actually haunted?

Content warning: death of a child, suicidal thoughts

Thank you Gallery Books / Skybound Books for the finished copy!

REVIEW – The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Aimeeeliz

“I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you’ll see, it’s not a fair fight.”

Full disclosure: this is only the second Grady Hendrix book i’ve read. However, I can confidently say he’s perfected the balance of campy, fun (and funny!) horror with some pretty dark and creepy stuff. This book follows a group of “respectable Southern ladies” in the late 80s and early 90s who enjoy “trashy” true crime novels. When a stranger moves in down the street, things get…weird (i’m sure from the title, you know where this is going).

This book has some GROSS scenes, but they’re balanced with laugh out loud moments. However, one scene in particular was absolutely terrifying and played to exactly a specific scenario that gives me major anxiety (and it was done PERFECTLY). Obviously, as with a lot of horror, content warnings abound.

If you’ve been thinking of reading some Grady Hendrix, what are you waiting for?

REVIEW – Standalone by Paul Michael Anderson

Aimeeeliz

“What you want and what existence needs are sometimes two different things.”

I had so much fun reading Standalone! I would recommend going into this one as blind as possible – there are some fun little Easter eggs here that will delight horror movie fans. There’s a LOT of plot and action packed into such a short little book, but it makes for a fun, quick read. This is definitely more sci-fi than it is horror (at least in my humble opinion) but there’s definitely some creepy, gory imagery that will shock and delight readers.

It’s worth noting: there’s a bonus story at the end of this book that expands on what the reader learns while reading Standalone. Don’t skip it!