Synopsis: Provost Eldon Fochs may be a sexual criminal. His therapist isn’t sure, and his church is determined to protect its reputation. Father of Lies is Brian Evenson’s fable of power, paranoia, and the dangers of blind obedience, and a terrifying vision of how far institutions will go to protect themselves against the innocents who may be […]
Review: Recreational Panic: Stories by Sonora Taylor
Synopsis: Fear is so much a part of our lives that instead of running away from it, we’re finding ways to relax with it. Could it be through a true crime obsession that leads to stalking, or a camp song sung with murderous intent? Maybe it’s better suited in an unwieldy email chain, or making […]
Review: Swan Song by Robert R McCammon
Synopsis: Swan is a nine-year-old Kansas girl following her struggling mother from one trailer park to the next when she receives visions of doom—something far wider than the narrow scope of her own beleaguered life. In a blinding flash, nuclear bombs annihilate civilization, leaving only a few buried survivors to crawl onto a scorched landscape […]
Review: When The Devil by Emma E. Murray
Synopsis: In When the Devil, Libby finds salvation in a new sapphic partner, homebrewed poison, and facing a God she no longer believes in. Review: Thank you to Shortwave Publishing for shooting over an ARC copy in return for an honest review. “When The Devil” is released on the 7th May 2024. In this sapphic, Southern […]
Review: If You See Her by Ania Ahlborn
Synopsis: The house on Old Mill Road has stood in an open field for longer than Jesse Wells has been alive, its crooked windows and jutting turret tormenting the kids of Warsaw, Michigan the way only a haunted house knows how. Everyone imagines that something terrible lurks within the house’s abandoned rooms—especially Jesse and his […]
Review: Am I Beautiful? by Jon Athan
Synopsis: Adam Miller, a successful marketing manager at a travel agency, visits Tokyo, Japan on business. During his trip, he has a one-night stand with a young Japanese woman, Miki Someya. But Miki latches onto him. She follows him—stalks him—through the streets of Tokyo, professing her love and begging for his. Adam manages to avoid […]
Review: Faces of Beth by Carver Pike
Synopsis: When Andrew meets Beth at the Myles-Bend State Mental Hospital, he knows she has issues. She checked herself into the place because of her problems, but he can’t help falling in love with her anyway. He’s willing to put up with her constant mood swings and all the baggage she brings into the relationship. […]
Review: Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
Synopsis: It’s the late ’90s, and you can find Jeremy Heldt at the Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa―a small town in the center of the state. The job is good enough for Jeremy, quiet and predictable, and it gets him out of the house, where he lives with his dad and where they both try […]
Review: The Wise Friend by Ramsey Campbell
Synopsis: Patrick Torrington’s aunt Thelma was a successful artist whose late work turned towards the occult. While staying with her in his teens he found evidence that she used to visit magical sites. As an adult he discovers her journal of her explorations, and his teenage son Roy becomes fascinated too. His experiences at the […]
Review: Whisper Down The Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman
Synopsis: A pulse-pounding, true-crime-based horror novel inspired by the McMartin preschool trial and Satanic Panic of the ’80s. Richard doesn’t have a past. For him, there is only the present: a new marriage, a first chance at fatherhood, and a quiet life as an art teacher in Virginia. Then the body of a ritualistically murdered […]
Review: A Nest of Nightmares by Lisa Tuttle
Synopsis: In Lisa Tuttle’s stories, the everyday domestic world of her female protagonists is invaded by the bizarre, the uncanny, the horrific. In ‘Bug House’, a woman who goes to visit her aunt is shocked to find she is dying – but even more shocking is what is killing her. The divorcing couple in ‘Community […]
Review: The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste
Synopsis: From Bram Stoker Award–winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes a chilling novel about three childhood friends who miraculously survive the night everyone in their suburban hometown turned into ghosts—perfect for fans of Yellowjackets. The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared […]