Synopsis A Mystery Scene Magazine 2021 Editor’s Pick Trust No One. Especially Your Neighbors. Rachel Drake is on the run from the man who killed her husband. She never leaves her safe haven in an anonymous doorman building, until one night a phone call sends her running. On her way to the garage, she is murdered in […]
Paranormal
Review: One Eye Opened In That Other Place by Christi Nogle
Synopsis: One Eye Opened in That Other Place collects Christi Nogle’s best weird and fantastical stories. The collection focuses on liminal spaces and the borders between places and states of mind. Though you might not find a traditional portal fantasy here, you will travel across thresholds and arrive at other places and times that are by […]
Review: BestGhost: A Novelette by C.J. Daley
Just outside the town of Cemetery, two teen YouTubers investigate a past mayor’s mansion because it’s rumored to be the most haunted spot for paranormal activity– and it all goes terribly wrong during their two night investigation.
Review: The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
Synopsis: When Springville residents—at least the ones still alive—are questioned about what happened on prom night, they all have the same explanation … Maddy did it. An outcast at her small-town Georgia high school, Madison Washington has always been a teasing target for bullies. And she’s dealt with it because she has more pressing problems […]
Review: Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Synopsis: Something evil is buried deep in the desert.It wants your body.It wears your skin. In the summer of 1995, seven queer kids abandoned by their parents at a remote conversion camp came face to face with it. They survived―but at Camp Resolution, everybody leaves a different person. Sixteen years later, only the scarred and […]
Review: The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig
Synopsis: Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there. Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn’t have—and is trying to remember that lost trauma by making haunting sculptures. Long ago, […]
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.
REVIEW: This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer
SYNOPSIS Take only pictures. Leave only bones. This trip is going to be Dylan’s big break. Her geologist friend Clay has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is […]
Review: Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
Synopsis Ana and Reid need a break. The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling―with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia, but he can’t explain the needle-like bite marks on their baby. Review […]
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: 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 […]
Review: The Nightmare Man by J. H. Markert
Synopsis T. Kingfisher meets Cassandra Khaw in a chilling horror novel that illustrates the fine line between humanity and monstrosity. Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of Crooked Tree. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to […]