horror

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Started: 3/13/21
Finished: 3/15/21

I tried one of her other books and gave it up fairly quickly, but this one grabbed me right from the beginning. I’m glad to realize it was content (I don’t always have patience for capricious gods on earth stories (that was the other book of hers I tried)) and not style. This one was horrifying and strange and gross and GOOD.

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Okinyan Braithwaite

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Started: 3/3/21
Finished: 3/6/21

I wasn’t sure, using the title as my only clue, if this was going to be about actual killing or not, and I’m not going to tell you. But I will tell you that this was really good. I have plenty of sympathy for the main character (not total, for reasons), and I both hate and understand her sister. Sort of understand. Enough to understand the main character’s actions. Anyway, it’s good. You should read it.

When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord

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Started: 2/14/21
Finished: 2/16/21

Weird, kind of horror – I can’t say for sure that I liked it. There was a bit too much musing on the nature of humanity and the thin veneer of civilization. Having teenagers literally run wild, like wild, was an interesting idea, but there wasn’t enough about why the main character was different, if she was different – I’m not even clear on whether I’m supposed to think she was different! Did she just think she was different and so she acted like it? I finished it last night, and the more I think about it, the more dissatisfied I am. This isn’t the good kind of post-book musing.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

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Started: 2/4/21
Finished: 2/8/21

A fiction recommendation by Sarah Gailey (still kind of obsessed). This guy writes horror. Sort of funny horror? He’s VERY good at immersing you in the setting. This is 1980s Charleston, and the 80s is very 80s, and the teenagers are very teenager-y, and the horror is mostly gross. I liked it, but only as much as I ever like horror. There’s one scene I wish I could forget.

And Now His Lordship Is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas

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Started: 7/22/20
Finished: 7/22/20

SO GOOD.  It’s fantasy, it’s horror (even though I heard on a horror panel that the author doesn’t think of it as horror, so maybe I should just say it has an element that depending on what you’re afraid of, you could absoLUTEly think it’s scary), it’s historical fiction, and it’s emotional (I cried).  SO.  GOOD.

The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye by Sarah Pinsker

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Started: 7/19/20
Finished: 7/19/20

Sarah Pinsker can do no wrong.  This story was a roller coaster, speeding downhill, all fun and great, and then BAM we ran into a wall and fell into pieces and then what?  And no.  No!  Oh god no!  It’s fantastic and you should read it.  Except not you, Mom.  Or Margaret.

The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

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Started: 4/12/20
Finished: 4/19/20

I’ve read a couple of this author’s YA books and liked them a lot -they were a pair of heist stories, and I always like a good heist.  This one…I’m not quite halfway and seriously considering quitting.  Premise: the secret societies at Yale are all real and do real magic, and a young woman who can see ghosts is recruited to the watchdog society.  It was a little slow to start, but it was going fine once I got into it, and then there was a really horrifying scene made so much worse for the fantasy elements, and shortly after that there was a really gross scene, and I’m just not sure.  It’s on the horror side of fantasy – not creepy-scary, but maybe a bit body-horror scary.  Maybe I’ll see how I feel about it in the morning.

Update: I kept reading and found I couldn’t put it down.  Nothing else as horrifying or gross happened and the action picked up.  It ended with a setup for the next book, but it’s not a cliffhanger and could work as a standalone.

Update 6 months later: I was reminded of the horrifying scene, and I am horrified all over again and NOT in a good way.  I wish I hadn’t remembered it.  I don’t feel good about this book.  Definitely not for me.

Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link

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Started: 1/23/20
Gave up: 2/1/20

I had high hopes for this author, so I picked up this book of her short stories and WOW they’re too weird for me.  I liked the first one, but every one after that was…too odd, or I just didn’t get it.  Maybe a novel would be different.

The Cabin At The End Of The World by Paul Tremblay

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Started: 8/3/19
Finished: 8/4/19

I can’t tell you if I liked this book because I don’t know.  There’s a really nice, very real family, maybe an apocalypse, definitely a home invasion, something TRULY AWFUL happens, and then…so, it was good?  I mean, it was GOOD, but I don’t know if I liked it.

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

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Started: 2/4/19
Gave up: 2/7/19

This is a horror story set in a store that is identical to Ikea, but isn’t Ikea.  The premise is kind of funny, but the novelty wears off quickly.  And then the story got actually scary (or scary enough), so I stopped reading it at night, and then I found I didn’t care enough to pick it back up during the day.  No ringing endorsement here.

We Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory

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Started: 6/2/18
Finished: 6/3/18

SO strange.  The characters all belong to a support group for survivors of events that only happen in horror stories.  They don’t like or trust each other, they don’t share their stories easily (or equally), and why were they brought together in the first place?