This one was discussed a while back and the premise intrigued me. A man returns from a vacation in isolation to discover his home town is now filled with hanging bodies. I don’t want to reveal much beyond that, but suffice to say, our character Randall starts to get a sense of what is going…

This is a great, gothic creepy read. I would call it horror-lite, more in line with a Daphne du Maurier or Riley Sager story. Our protagonist, Cassie, arrives at an estate where her friend Emily is getting married. Cassie starts observing subtle signs of things that are off and then it’s a slow burn to…

Trashy and fun This book reminded me of the erotica-thriller straight to video movies that appeared in the 80s and 90s. Lots of sex, plot twists, and morally compromised characters. Our protagonist, Miranda, is stuck in a dead end marriage. She begins writing letters to handsome Luke, a convicted prisoner many states away. And… let’s…

This is a tasty little novella about coming of age, family secrets, and learning that the people you grew up with are not what you thought. It reminded me of the great Jack Finney novel “The Body Snatchers.” The setup is straightforward. Twenty something Jake returns to the town he grew up in for the…

I’ve been looking forward to reading Jay Bower’s “The Terror of Willow Falls“ and finished it last night. The set up is as follows: Young Joey and his family move from Chicago to a small town. Joey soon discovers that the town has secrets, and a hideous monster may lurk in its surroundings. The “kids…

I’ve been a big fan of Russell C Connor after reading his great novel “Good Neighbors“ some years back. As such, I’d been looking forward to reading a trilogy of novels he did centered around the Hollywood film industry. “Second Unit” is the first in that series. The setup, in brief, is as follows. Davis…

Action horror” can be considered its own subgenre, one with distinct scenarios and tropes. A recurring setup involves characters trapped in a confined area, forced to fight amongst themselves to escape. In movie form, this might be “Escape from New York” (and “L.A.”), “Battle Royale”, and “The Warriors.” “Black Friday” has a lot of fun…

I went into this book relatively cold, not having read any of the predecessors in the series. It certainly delivered in the way you’d expect: ghastly scenes of violence and maggoty grossness, a satisfying story arc, likable characters (well, except for one.) But two things really stood out. You know how suspense narratives sometimes have…