Synopsis One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives. As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first, […]
About Anna
Review: Night of the Long Knives by Tyler Jones
Synopsis After enduring a personal tragedy, Andy Ferris loses himself in making videos that explore the history behind local hauntings—videos that grab the attention of a wealthy eccentric with an obsession for collecting objects that belonged to famous killers. Hired by this man to locate a particular weapon, Ferris finds himself entangled in a mystery […]
Review: The Day of the Door by Laurel Hightower
Synopsis Once there were four Lasco siblings banded together against a world that failed to protect them. But on a hellish night that marked the end of their childhood, eldest brother Shawn died violently after being dragged behind closed doors. Though the official finding was accidental death, Nathan Lasco knows better, and has never forgiven […]
Review: Senseless by Ronald Malfi
Synopsis What do you see…? When the mutilated body of a young woman is discovered in the desert on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the detective assigned to the case can’t deny the similarities between this murder and one that occurred a year prior. Media outlets are quick to surmise this is the work of […]
Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Synopsis There’s power in a book… They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to […]
Review: Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman
Synopsis Noah Fairchild has been losing his formerly polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the “Great Reawakening” is here, he assumes it’s related to one of the many conspiracy theories she believes in. But when his own phone calls go unanswered, […]
Essays of a Recent Constant Reader: 11/22/63 (2011)
Welcome back, friends and strangers alike. It has been a while since I wrote one of these; in fact, the last time I discussed Stephen King in this much detail, I was discussing the vibrant shores of Duma Key. However, I return to this essay series today, on 11/22/2024, to discuss what may be King’s […]
Review: THEM by W.H. Chizmar
Synopsis A top-secret government project hits upon a revolutionary idea for transporting matter across the vast reaches of the universe, and they succeed in bringing something back. Something alive. Something alien. They bring back THEM. Mankind’s reign atop the food chain comes to an abrupt halt when a tractor trailer hauling a mustard-yellow shipping container […]
Author Interview: Steph Nelson
To bring an absolutely stellar year of interviewing to a close, I’m excited to be sharing my conversation with Steph Nelson! Steph is the author of The Vein, Sawtooth, The Final Scene, and most recently, The Threshing Floor. While our conversation mostly centers around this novel, we do discuss many other things such as: – […]
Author Interview: Brian McAuley
I’m celebrating the holidays a *little* early this year as today marks the publication of slasher sensation, Candy Cain Kills Again: The Second Slaying by Brian McAuley, today’s guest! It was an absolute delight to chat with Brian about so many different topics which include: – When’s the ideal time to decorate for Christmas– The […]
Review: Family by Ian Rogers
Synopsis The Bennett family is broken. After a series of devastating events, they leave their old lives behind and start over in a new town. The move is supposed to give them a chance to heal and to help mend their familial bonds, but they soon discover some wounds run deeper than others, and they […]
Review: The Threshing Floor by Steph Nelson
Synopsis She’ll do anything to save her child. Even join a cult. When single mom Dalice learns her toddler, Cash, needs a heart transplant, she gets desperate. There are no guarantees he’ll receive a donor heart in time. And even if he does, she can’t afford the expensive procedure. Then Dalice meets Shane. He’s part […]