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Book Review: Maggie’s Grave: A Horror Novel by David Sodergren

cover art for Maggie's Grave: A Horror Novel by David Sodergren

Maggie’s Grave: A Horror Novel by David Sodergren

Paperbacks and Pugs, 2020

ISBN: 9798680192276

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition Amazon.com )

 

Things not to do when visiting Scotland: Don’t visit a dead witch’s mountaintop grave; don’t light the grave’s cross on fire; and DON’T have sex on the grave with one of the local teenagers.  Why?  Because when Maggie the witch wakes up she is going to be extremely pissed off and want revenge on the tiny town below, since they cut her baby out of her and killed it and her a few hundred years prior.  Author David Sodergren is quickly carving out a niche as one of the better writers in the horror genre.

 

The plot is actually a bit more elaborate than that, but there is no sense spoiling the fun for the reader.  There’s just enough time spent developing the setting and characters to get you interested in them, and then it’s off to the races.  In this case, the main characters are the four (and only) teen-agers in the dying town of Auchenmullan, with a whopping total population of forty-seven.  Almost no one is ever born there, and people only move away, not to the town.  The teens have nothing to do but work an occasional menial job, have sex, get drunk, and hang out at the local bowling alley.  Heck, their theme song, to the Joan Jett melody, is “I love…t’get drunk n’ bowl!”  A dumb, wandering, American tourist provides some diversion, and on the trip to Maggie’s grave, all hell breaks loose.

 

As he did in his first two books, Sodergren keeps his foot on the gas throughout the book; there’s no slowdown.  He fills in the backstory of Maggie throughout the book, and the other members of the town are involved in the plot.  Thankfully, the mystery isn’t revealed in one long, drawn-out monologue at the end, but in pieces where appropriate, so the novel’s pacing doesn’t slow down.  Maggie is responsible for almost all of the bloodletting in the book, and she makes enough of a mess to keep gorehound readers happy: she has a habit of inventing new ways to mangle people when they are unclothed and in compromising positions.  She also isn’t constrained by the boundaries of the town, which allows the story to move outside of Auchenmullan at times for some variety.  There’s dark humor throughout, and, once again, the author comes up with a perfect twist for the ending that the reader won’t see coming.  The story also does a good job throughout playing on the classic Vulcan axiom: do the needs of the many truly outweigh the needs of the few…or the one?

 

It’s now a string of three winning horror novels in a row for the author. Horror fans won’t be disappointed by this one.  Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson.

Book Review: Extasia by Claire Legrand

Extasia by Claire Legrand

Extasia by Claire Legrand

Katherine Tegen Books, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062696632

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com )

 

Extasia is a fiercely feminist dark novel of a post-apocalyptic community drenched in patriarchy and cult-like violent misogyny straight from The Crucible and Year of the Witching. The dogma is that women were responsible for the destruction of the world and thus four young girls are honored with the “sacred duty” of becoming saints, scapegoats who once a month face brutal mob violence from the community in order to expiate their sins. A serial killer has been murdering men, and the upcoming sainthood of Amity Barrow is expected to bless the community and end the killing. When the murders continue, Amity and her sister saints realize they must find a way to either solve the murders or escape. Just as things seem desperate, she is transported with her sister saints to a secret world, Avazel, and invited to join a coven and learn to wield the magical, dark power of extasia to end the killings and realize her own strength… but there’s more going on under the surface than she knows.

 

Extasia is visceral, violent, and disturbing in its intensity, but Amity is not completely isolated. She develops imperfect but strong relationships with girls and women from her community and the coven that survive even significant disagreements. While it’s somewhat heavy-handed, Legrand has outdone herself in creating a dark, powerful, horror story made even more terrible by the foundation of lies, grisly violence, and hate on which human survival after the apocalypse has been built..Recommended for ages 16+

 

Contains: violence to and killing of animals, attempted rape, torture, gore, murder, body horror, violence, gaslighting, religious trauma.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Book Review: The Pope’s Butcher by Joseph C. Gioconda

Cover art for The Pope's Butcher by Joseph S. Gioconda

The Pope’s Butcher by Joseph C. Gioconda

Newtown IP Holdings LLC (May 26, 2021)

ISBN-13 ‏: ‎ 978-1737286004

Available: Paperback, Audiobook, and Digital

 

 

The Pope’s Butcher is a fictionalized historical story of Father Heinrich Institoris, the Grand Inquisitor of the Catholic church who led the infamous quest against witches. The book is loaded with true historical touches, presenting a far more complex world at the time of the setting than most history books. Gioconda’s prose is reminiscent of Anne Rice and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, albeit without supernatural elements. The story isn’t so much about a serial killer as we know them today (sorry, CSI fans) but about one young man’s research mission for the Grand Inquisitor, which leads him to understand the evil in Institoris’ heart.

 

The plot takes a predictable course, with young Sebastian falling for a woman who becomes the target of the Inquisition. Gioconda is a capable writer, and the book reflects his knowledge of history. There isn’t much new or revolutionary here, however, and the characters are somewhat flat “everymen”, being bounced around by exterior forces. The Pope’s Butcher is an easy and quick read, with the kind of historical details that bring other times to life. Recommended for history and horror buffs.

 

Contains: Violence, sexual discussion, torture, implied rape

 

Reviewed by Michele Lee