Synopsis: Spirits are drawn to salt, be it blood or tears. Roos Beckman has a spirit companion only she can see. Ruth―strange, corpse-like, and dead for centuries―is the light of Roos’ life. That is, until the wealthy young widow Agnes Knoop visits one of Roos’ backroom seances, and the two strike up a connection. Soon, […]
Gothic
Review: Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi
Synopsis Five childhood friends are forced to confront their own dark past as well as the curse placed upon them in this horror masterpiece from the bestselling author of Come with Me. Maybe this is a ghost story… Andrew Larimer thought he left the past behind. But when he receives a late-night phone call from an […]
Review: Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
Synopsis: In a windswept cottage overlooking the sea, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood companions and the shadowy figure of the Daggerman, who stalked their New England town. And it is the story of Sky, Wilder’s one-time friend, who stole his unfinished memoir to […]
Review: Brat by Gabriel Smith
Synopsis From a provocative new literary talent, a hilarious and haunted novel featuring an unlikable protagonist grappling with grief, inheritance, and the ghosts of his past We meet our ill-tempered protagonist—the story’s titular “brat”—at a low moment, but not yet at rock bottom. The Gabriel of the novel is mourning the death of his father […]
Review: Words Made Of Flesh by R.A Busby
Synopsis: New Bedford, 1899 Harrison Quire has a problem. Haunted by memories of his lover, he’s only lingered on the periphery of a life. When he visits the Whisperers’ Club to hear a few horror stories, he never expects he’ll become one. Late one winter night, Harrison hears old George Burgess tell his tale of an unusual […]
Review: The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry
Synopsis: Single mom Harry Adams has always loved horror movies, so when she’s offered a job cleaning for revered horror director Javier Castillo, she leaps at the chance. His forbidding Chicago mansion, Bright Horses, is filled from top to bottom with terrifying props and costumes, as well as glittering awards from his decades-long career making […]
Review: The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry
Synopsis A single mother working in the gothic mansion of a reclusive horror director stumbles upon terrifying secrets. Harry Adams loves horror movies, so it’s no coincidence that she accepted a job cleaning house for horror-movie director Javier Castillo. His forbidding gray-stone Chicago mansion, Bright Horses, is filled from top to bottom with terrifying props and costumes as well as […]
Review: Small Town Horror by Ronald Malfi
Synopsis: Five childhood friends are forced to confront their own dark past as well as the curse placed upon them in this horror masterpiece from the bestselling author of Come with Me. Maybe this is a ghost story… Andrew Larimer thought he left the past behind. But when he receives a late-night phone call from […]
Review: Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas
Synopsis: In The Door in the Field, a construction worker’s bad day becomes a far worse night when drinks at an off-the-books bar send him down an unforeseeably bloody path. In The Boy in the Woods, something evil has infected the counselors at a summer camp, and a young boy will have to do anything he can […]
Review: Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne
Synopsis Jennifer Thorne skewers all-too-familiar family dynamics in this sly, wickedly funny vacation-Gothic. Beautifully unhinged and deeply satisfying, Diavola is a sharp twist on the classic haunted house story, exploring loneliness, belonging, and the seemingly inescapable bonds of family mythology. Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: Tread lightly and survive. It isn’t easy when […]
Review: Forgotten Sisters by Cynthia Pelayo
Synopsis A city’s haunted history and fairy-tale horrors converge for two women in an addictive novel of psychological suspense by a multiple Bram Stoker Award–nominated author. Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow on the Chicago River. They’re tethered to a disquieting past, and with nowhere else to go, nothing can part them […]
Review: Skin Thief by Susan Palumbo
A book review for Skin Thief: a short story collection that explores our sense of identity and belonging mixed with some delightful gothic themes.