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Book Review: The Forgotten Dead (OutFoxing the Paranormal #1) by Jordan L. Hawk

Cover art for The Forgotten Dead (OutFoxing the Paranormal #1) by Jordan L. Hawk

The Forgotten Dead (OutFoxing the Paranormal #1) by Jordan L. Hawk

Independently published, 2022

ISBN-13: 979-8430224660

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook.

Buy: Amazon.com

 

The Forgotten Dead takes place in an alternate timeline where parapsychologist J.B. Rhine successfully established an Institute of Parapsychology at Duke University.

 

Dr. Nigel Taylor desperately needs a grant to save his assistant professorship. Patricia Montague offers him the money on the condition that he convince the face of the ghost hunting web series OutFoxing the Paranormal, Oscar Fox, to explore the Matthews house, where a mass killing of the family took place, followed by the killer’s suicide. Nigel, a friend of young Mike Matthews encountered the killer after the murders but escaped. Montague believes Oscar is a medium and Nigel’s personal connection will stir up any ghosts.

 

Nigel hires Oscar to investigate the house. Without telling Oscar that he is observing him to see if he is a medium, or what happened in the house, he, Oscar, and the two other staff members for the show, Tina and Chris, head there. Unsettlingly, nothing has been moved or changed: even blood spatters from the murders are still there. Cold spots, bad feelings, and drained batteries suggest that something is very wrong.

 

It’s clear to Nigel that Oscar is a medium but Oscar denies it, afraid that admitting his visions would end up with him in an institution, but finally he has to face the truth. He, Nigel, Tina, and Chris decide they will try to clear the house of spirits: easier said than done when one is a killer.

 

This wasn’t as horror-themed as Hawk’s Widdershins books, but it has some inventive and terrifying moments (razor blades in the walls, yikes!)  and touches on heavy issues, including mental illness, suicide, and grief. There’s also the beginnings of a romance between Nigel and Oscar. Hawk’s books are addictive for me and I look forward to the next book in the series.

 

In terms of representation, Nigel is a trans man, Chris is nonbinary, and Oscar is gay. Author Jordan Hawk is also trans, making this a great choice for the #TransRightsReadathon this week.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on March 27, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Jawbone by Monica Ojeda translated by Sarah Booker

cover art for Jawbone by Monica Ojeda

Jawbone by Monica Ojeda., translated by Sarah Booker

Coffee House Press, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1566896214

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

( Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

 

Fernanda wakes up, disoriented, to discover she has been kidnapped by Miss Clara, her literature teacher. Figuring out how she got there is the first step in navigating a twisty narrative.

 

Fernanda, her close friend Anne, and their friends had found an abandoned, isolated house where they told horror stories, participated in violent dares, and worshipped the White God (as friend groups of teenage girls do). Fernanda and Anne pushed their limits further than the other girls, but Fernanda finally reaches hers.

 

Anne is forced to take extra lessons from Miss Clara after the teachers discover an irreligious drawing of an insect god in drag. Miss Clara has closely modeled herself on her mother and has anxiety and frequent panic attacks that result in repetitive and neurotic behaviors and self-harm, making her a perfect target for Anne, who is angry with Fernanda for drawing boundaries. Anne uses her conversations and assignments with Miss Clara to manipulate Miss Clara’s anxieties and turn her focus on Fernanda as a villain victimizing Anne…

 

The writing varies in style. Parts of the book record Fernanda’s therapy sessions; conversations between Anne and Clara;  and a long essay on “white horror” by Anne for Clara. Others get into the mental state of Clara or Fernanda which are quite disorienting, vivid, and sometimes gut-punching, with insect and body horror. The descriptions of physical responses to anxiety and panic attacks are hard to read. It gets harder and harder to trust any perception of events.

 

There is so much left to the imagination that it creates a real sense of unease. The violence keeps escalating but a lot of it happens off the page. This is generally effective but left me confused with the ending. There is so much left to the imagination that it creates a real sense of unease.

 

This is far from being a straighforward narrative, Readers who enjoy experimental narratives and unreliable narrators will find much to recommend it, though. ,.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Editor’s note: Jawbone was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Award in Translated Literature. 

Posted on November 9, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

Cover for The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala

PUSH, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1338745313

Available: Hardcover, paperback, KIndle edition, audiobook.

( Bookshop.org |   Amazon.com )

 

 

When genderfluid teen Mars Matthias’ twin sister Carikube dies violently in front of them after running away from summer camp, Mars insists on attending the camp for the rest of the summer. They agree to placement with the boys, but their real goal is to rediscover Caroline, especially through The Honeys, her girlfriends in Cabin H, which tends to the camp’s beehives.

 

Mars’ previous experience at camp involved the other boys tying them to a wooden scoreboard and setting it on fire so their experiences are mixed. Camp authorities prefer to let campers solve conflicts on their own, not great news if you can’t defend yourself. While the rest of the camp participates in mandatory activities, the Honeys do their own thing, and they invite Mars to be a part of it.

 

But the Honeys aren’t just tending bees, they are the hive– the collective mind of all the bees, seeking a queen, and being pressured by the adults around them to create umbral honey (created as it feeds on living, albeit predatory creatures (such as camp counselor Brayden), that will give them real-world power.

 

This is an interesting look at how genderfluidity and societal and parental expectations affect teens in a different environment and a genuine and authentic exploration of grief and the complicated feelings that arise when someone you have mixed feelings about dies.

 

Early in the book, a counselor points out that an aspen grove is actually a colony, with one original tree, effectively making the aspens around the camp disturbing. The whole collective hivemind, blood honey and giant honeycombs, is incredibly creepy, too. It’s one thing to know you are surrounded by interrelated creatures out in nature (nature being something you expect to encounter at summer camp), but it’s horrifying to  experience being absorbed into them against your will. Recommended for grades 9+

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on November 7, 2022 by , Reply
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