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Book List: Summer Reading Recommendations from the New York Times

“There’s nothing quite like summer to make me long for horror fiction” writes Danielle Trussoni, in introducing great reads in the horror genre for the New York Times for summer 2019.  It’s an interesting list. Of the eight books, five have been published since April, three nominees on this year’s final ballot for the Stoker Award are included, two are reprints from Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks in Hell imprint, which is a new imprint that reprints older, out-of-print titles, one is an anthology, and one is a translation from French to English. There are a couple by women, which is nice, since they have often been underrepresented. I’ve provided links to reviews for the books we have already reviewed. Take a look and see what appeals for your next vacation read!

 

The Hunger by Alma Katsu (2018, nominee for the 2019 Bram Stoker Award, reviewed here)

Little Darlings by Melanie Goldberg (April 2019)

Song for the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson (June 2019)

The Nest by Gregory A. Douglas (April 2019, reprint from the Paperbacks in Hell imprint) The original 1987 novel is reviewed here. Side note: unless you are a real thrill-seeker, this might not be the best choice for your island vacation. However, my husband saw Jaws just before a day of scuba diving, so I know it’ll be a perfect beach read for some of you…

When Darkness Loves Us by Elizabeth Engstrom ( May 2019, also a reprint from Paperbacks in Hell. We reviewed the 2009 book here)

The Laws of the Skies by Gregoire Courtois (May 2019)

Inspection by Josh Malerman (2018, nominee for the 2019 Bram Stoker Award, reviewed here)

Flight or Fright edited by Stephen King and Bev Vincent (2018. Joe Hill’s story in this anthology was a nominee on the final ballot for the  2019 Bram Stoker Award) Side note: I don’t recommend reading this one on a plane.

 

Well, there you have it. All kinds of horror, with something for nearly everyone. This is a great list for starting your summer reading, and whatever you choose, whether it’s from this list or a different resource, I wish you a summer of enjoyable reading!

 

Posted on May 31, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman

Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman

Del Rey Books, 2018

ISBN-13: 978-0399180163

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Josh Malerman is arguably the best new writer horror has witnessed in the past decade. His debut novel, Bird Box, was truly original and was recently made into an outstanding movie by Netflix. Black Mad Wheel added a musical touch to the weird and supernatural, Goblin tied six mind-bending tales together into a town that Ray Bradbury and Charles Grant would love, and the recently released Inspection is an intriguing dystopian look at gender roles, education, and parenting.

Unbury Carol takes a sharp left turn into a world familiar to Joe Lansdale and John Wayne. The plot of this Gothic-tinged historical horror novel with a hint of romance whisks readers back to the Old West in the 1800’s, complete with cowboys, stagecoaches, and saloons filled with whiskey, cards, and women.

Carol Evers has a unique medical condition. She can’t stop dying. Literally. She periodically falls into a coma so deep that doctors believe she’s dead. Only a few people are aware of the illness: her awful husband, Dwight; her two friends; and her long-lost love, the outlaw James Moxie.

When the coma hits, Carol freefalls into a dark world she’s named Howltown, a place where she’s not alone, but as in life, cannot move. Dwight decides to go after her fortune and declare her dead. A telegram makes its way to Moxie, twenty years gone from Carol’s life but still pining for her. Moxie hits the infamous Trail, where unspeakable, legendary horrors occur daily, blazing his own path, to save Carol before she is covered by six feet of fresh dirt. He is unaware that a deadly hired gun is hot on his tail, a sadistic man who leaves a path of burned destruction behind him. Meanwhile, Carol fights her own battle within Howltown, struggling to awaken, to move, to let the world know of her husband’s diabolical plans. On the periphery, Rot, an intriguing supernatural character, taunts both Moxie and Carol in their efforts to remain in the land of the living.

This novel begins as a slow burn like the best Western films of the sixties, and slowly catches fire, grasping hold of readers with a strong narrative that feels like what you’d get in a Clint Eastwood movie, if he traded drinks with Stephen King. This book will likely draw some comparisons to some of the greats, but deserves its own category and acclaim.

Unbury Carol is easily one of the best and most original novels readers will love in 2018.

Editor’s note: Unbury Carol is a candidate on the final ballot for the 2018 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in a Novel. 

 

Posted on April 1, 2019 by , Reply

Book Review: Inspection by Josh Malerman

Inspection by Josh Malerman

Del Rey, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1524796990

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook

 

Hot on the heels of the biggest Netflix movie of all time, Bird Box, Josh Malerman is poised to continue his climb to stardom in this stellar new novel, a strange story that takes a left turn through the woods of Michigan instead of following a well-trodden road.

For anyone who has read him, Malerman a refreshing read because he eschews the normal, refusing  to follow formula: he entertains  readers. as well as forcing them to think. Bird Box, Malerman’s first novel, has been followed by Black Mad Wheel (music was the antagonist, allegedly), Goblin (a connected set of stories), and Unbury Carol (a western/horror/romance),

Inspection may remind some of 1984 or The Giver. The premise is that two towers exist in the forest, each just barely out of sight of the other. Within each, 26 students are raised from birth, given names of simply letters. The Alphabet Boys. The Letter Girls.  Neither is aware the other sex exists. The leaders of the experiment, D.A.D. and M.O.M., train their prodigies in several subjects, the arts, and more, honing the twelve-year-olds for mysterious lives.

The initial sections force the reader to push past the typical storytelling format, as the characters and setting require an intricate set up. Assigning each student only a letter for a name accomplishes both identity and sameness, the reason of which will reveal itself in layers. The schooling and activities impressed upon the students are mindbending and brutal: bizarre games and social events that twist in logic and morality.

J suspects something exists beyond the borders of his world when he sees a shadowy figure beyond a tree in the yard. It sends him on a journey that will alter him in ways he never thought possible, changing how he views his compartmentalized world. When a strange book lands on the students’ beds one day, one that reveals the truths about life outside of the school, the walls begin to crumble and terror of a new kind creeps into the students’ lives, one that could send them to “the corner,” a place from where no one has ever returned.

K embarks on a similar path, one that will bring her to a world she never knew existed.

Inspection will challenge readers. The result of Malerman’s story is a rewarding psychological journey that is guaranteed to garner him new readers and please his fans. His examination of the human condition, and of the “nature vs. nurture” debate, is relevant to the educational system and parenting today’s youth.

Finding a genre that fits this story will be a tough task, but one that should be determined by each reader. Inspection is destined to become one of the most talked about novels of 2019– and  it should be. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Dave Simms

Posted on March 19, 2019 by , Reply