Craig's bookshelf: all en-US Sun, 04 May 2025 18:58:14 -0700 60 Craig's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Sharks in the Time of Saviors 45892255
Nainoa's family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods - a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family's legacy.

When supernatural events revisit the Flores family in Hawaii - with tragic consequences - they are all forced to reckon with the bonds of family, the meaning of heritage, and the cost of survival.

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020. Named one of the Best Books of 2020 by the New York Times (#30), the Guardian, the Boston Globe, Oprah Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, BBC Culture, Good Housekeeping, LitHub, Spectrum Culture, Third Place Books, and Powell's Books.]]> 376 Kawai Strong Washburn 0374272085 Craig 0 own-not-read 3.82 2020 Sharks in the Time of Saviors
author: Kawai Strong Washburn
name: Craig
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> American Dirt 45046527
Lydia lives in Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while cracks are beginning to show in Acapulco because of the cartels, Lydia’s life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. But after her husband’s tell-all profile of the newest drug lord is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.

Forced to flee, Lydia and Luca find themselves joining the countless people trying to reach the United States. Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?]]> 459 Jeanine Cummins Craig 0 4.32 2020 American Dirt
author: Jeanine Cummins
name: Craig
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: sharon-recommendations, own-not-read
review:

]]> Bewilderment 56404444 An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory.

The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. Robin is a warm, kind boy who spends hours painting elaborate pictures of endangered animals. He’s also about to be expelled from third grade for smashing his friend in the face. As his son grows more troubled, Theo hopes to keep him off psychoactive drugs. He learns of an experimental neurofeedback treatment to bolster Robin’s emotional control, one that involves training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain�

With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son’s ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers’s most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question: How can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?]]> 278 Richard Powers 0393881148 Craig 0 own-not-read 3.87 2021 Bewilderment
author: Richard Powers
name: Craig
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear the Reaper (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #2)]]> 59366246 Jade returns to the rural lake town of Proofrock the same day as convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes into town to complete his revenge killings, in this riveting sequel to My Heart Is a Chainsaw from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones.

Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.

Dark Mill South’s Reunion Tour began on December 12th, 2019, a Thursday.

Thirty-six hours and twenty bodies later, on Friday the 13th, it would be over.]]> 457 Stephen Graham Jones 1982186593 Craig 0 own-not-read 4.04 2023 Don't Fear the Reaper (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #2)
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Craig
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> Night of the Living Rez 56648158 How do the living come back to life?

Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy.

In twelve striking, luminescent stories, author Morgan Talty—with searing humor, abiding compassion, and deep insight—breathes life into tales of family and community bonds as they struggle with a painful past and an uncertain future. A boy unearths a jar that holds an old curse, which sets into motion his family’s unraveling; a man, while trying to swindle some pot from a dealer, discovers a friend passed out in the woods, his hair frozen into the snow; a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s projects the past onto her grandson, and thinks he is her dead brother come back to life; and two friends, inspired by Antiques Roadshow, attempt to rob the tribal museum for valuable root clubs.

In a collection that examines the consequences and merits of inheritance, Night of the Living Rez is an unforgettable portrayal of a Native community and marks the arrival of a standout talent in contemporary fiction.

Burn
In a jar
Get me some medicine
Food for the common cold
In a field of stray caterpillars
The blessing tobacco
Safe harbor
Smokes last
Half-life
Earth, speak
Night of the living rez
The name means thunder]]> 285 Morgan Talty 195353418X Craig 0 own-not-read 3.89 2022 Night of the Living Rez
author: Morgan Talty
name: Craig
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
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review:

]]> The Beast You Are: Stories 62966507 352 Paul Tremblay 0063069962 Craig 0 own-not-read 3.32 2023 The Beast You Are: Stories
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Craig
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology]]> 75293507
Norris Black, Amber Blaeser-Wardzala, Phoenix Boudreau, Cherie Dimaline, Carson Faust, Kelli Jo Ford, Kate Hart, Shane Hawk, Brandon Hobson, Darcie Little Badger, Conley Lyons, Nick Medina, Tiffany Morris, Tommy Orange, Mona Susan Power, Marcie R. Rendon, Waubgeshig Rice, Rebecca Roanhorse, Andrea L. Rogers, Morgan Talty, D.H. Trujillo, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr., Richard Van Camp, David Heska, Wanbli Weiden, Royce Young, Wolf Mathilda Zeller.

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce listeners to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples� survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.]]> 400 Shane Hawk 0593468465 Craig 0 own-not-read 3.90 2023 Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
author: Shane Hawk
name: Craig
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> Howls from the Dark Ages 59697194
Including a lineup of authors both established and emerging, HOWL Society Press presents the first-ever anthology of historical horror from the medieval period, fittingly introduced by the writer who arguably started it all: Christopher Buehlman, author of the medieval horror epic Between Two Fires.

"The Crowing" by Caleb Stephens
"Angelus" by Philippa Evans
"Palette" by J.L. Kiefer
"Brother Cornelius" by Peter Ong Cook
"In Thrall to This Good Earth" by Hailey Piper
"In Every Drop" by Lindsey Ragsdale
"Deus Vult" by Ethan Yoder
"The Final Book of Sainte Foy's Miracles" by M.E. Bronstein
"A Dowry for Your Hand" by Michelle Tang
"The Mouth of Hell" by Cody Goodfellow
"The Lady of Leer Castle" by Christopher O'Halloran
"Schizzare" by Bridget D. Brave
"The King of Youth vs. The Knight of Death" by Patrick Barb
"The Forgotten Valley" by C.B. Jones
"The Fourth Scene" by Brian Evenson
"White Owl" by Stevie Edwards
"A Dark Quadrivium" by David Worn
"The Lai of the Danse Macabre" by Jessica Peter]]> 352 P.L. McMillan 1736780042 Craig 0 own-not-read 3.69 2022 Howls from the Dark Ages
author: P.L. McMillan
name: Craig
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> Silver Nitrate 63249718 New York Times bestselling author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic comes a fabulous meld of Mexican horror movies and Nazi occultism: a dark thriller about the curse that haunts a legendary lost film--and awakens one woman's hidden powers.

Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys� club running the film industry in �90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.

Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.

Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.

As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.]]> 323 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0593355369 Craig 0 own-not-read 3.56 2023 Silver Nitrate
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Craig
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> Our Share of Night 61111034
A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality.

For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

Moving back and forth in time, from London in the swinging 1960s to the brutal years of Argentina’s military dictatorship and its turbulent aftermath, Our Share of Night is a novel like no other: a family story, a ghost story, a story of the occult and the supernatural, a book about the complexities of love and longing with queer subplots and themes. This is the masterwork of one of Latin America’s most original novelists, “a mesmerizing writer,� says Dave Eggers, “who demands to be read.”]]> 588 Mariana Enríquez 0451495144 Craig 0 own-not-read 4.07 2019 Our Share of Night
author: Mariana Enríquez
name: Craig
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> Sisters of the Lost Nation 61686006 A young Native girl's hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe's reservation lead her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut.

Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation's casino...and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step--an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that's intent on devouring her whole.

With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she's sure lies in the legends of her tribe's past.

When Anna's own little sister also disappears, she'll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation--both ancient and new--are strong, and sometimes, it's the stories that never get told that are the most important.

Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.]]> 338 Nick Medina 0593546857 Craig 0 own-not-read 3.85 2023 Sisters of the Lost Nation
author: Nick Medina
name: Craig
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Angel of Indian Lake (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #3)]]> 178019710 The final installment in the most lauded trilogy in the history of horror literature

It’s been four years since Jade Daniels last set foot in Proofrock, Idaho. Since then, her reputation, and everything around Indian Lake, has changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there’s one aspect of the savage history of Proofrock, Idaho, no one’s got the mettle to confront � no one except a final girl, making her last stand, this time for everything.

New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones has crafted an epic horror trilogy of generational trauma and stolen hope. It’s the story of the American West written in blood. And it’s the story of one girl who doesn’t know how to give up.]]> 455 Stephen Graham Jones 1668011662 Craig 0 own-not-read 4.15 2024 The Angel of Indian Lake (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #3)
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Craig
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves: own-not-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Sentence is Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #2)]]> 39913740
These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer. Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine � a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise.

Odd, considering he didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?

Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s really getting rather good at this murder investigation business.

But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realises that these secrets must be exposed � even at the risk of death�

]]> 373 Anthony Horowitz Craig 3 3.95 2018 The Sentence is Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #2)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Craig
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves:
review:
A solid entry in the Hawthorne series.
]]> The Only One Left 62703226 At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer�I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,� Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.]]> 383 Riley Sager 0593183223 Craig 4 4.12 2023 The Only One Left
author: Riley Sager
name: Craig
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/04
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves:
review:
More twists than a corkscrew! Sager has reliably created another engaging mystery in a Gothic setting: this time a creepy old mansion on the top of seaside cliff, with a dark and tragic family history.
]]> Nameless Things 213304242
The sanctuary they sought becomes a hunting ground as the group discovers the ground infested with lethal, flesh-piercing worms. The situation turns dire when they realize these predators are merely the heralds of something far more terrifying: the NAMELESS THINGS. With no way to call for help, survival hinges on their ability to outsmart the unseen terror lurking beneath their feet.

As alliances form and fray under the weight of fear, Mike is propelled into a desperate bid for freedom. Facing treacherous terrain, dwindling supplies, and the psychological toll of their predicament, the campers must confront the true nature of the horror they face. In a thrilling fight for survival, Mike's journey to escape and reveal the nightmare within Devil's Cup becomes a testament to the human spirit's resilience against the unknown.]]> 304 Ernest Jensen 1998076962 Craig 0 to-read 3.13 2025 Nameless Things
author: Ernest Jensen
name: Craig
average rating: 3.13
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)]]> 853510
One of the passengers is none other than detective Hercule Poirot. On vacation.

Isolated and with a killer on board, Poirot must identify the murderer—in case he or she decides to strike again.]]> 274 Agatha Christie 0007119313 Craig 5 4.22 1934 Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Craig
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1934
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot, #18)]]> 131359
Who is also on board? Christie's great detective Hercule Poirot is on holiday. He recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: ‘I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger.� Despite the exotic setting, nothing is ever quite what it seems…]]> 352 Agatha Christie Craig 5 4.13 1937 Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot, #18)
author: Agatha Christie
name: Craig
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1937
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)]]> 46000520
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it's too late?

Alternate cover edition can be found here .]]> 382 Richard Osman Craig 0 to-read 3.86 2020 The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Craig
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1)]]> 60879779
I'm Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I'd killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it's a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.

Who was it?

Let's get started.

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE

My brother

My stepsister

My wife

My father

My mother

My sister-in-law

My uncle

My stepfather

My aunt

Me]]> 371 Benjamin Stevenson 0063279029 Craig 0 to-read 3.75 2022 Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (Ernest Cunningham, #1)
author: Benjamin Stevenson
name: Craig
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)]]> 181350367 For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate.... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.]]> 358 Kristen Perrin 0593474015 Craig 0 to-read 3.76 2024 How to Solve Your Own Murder (Castle Knoll Files, #1)
author: Kristen Perrin
name: Craig
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 203956647 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 059365322X.]]> 400 Richard Osman Craig 0 to-read 4.06 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Craig
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Marlow Murder Club (Marlow Murder Club, #1)]]> 50576230
Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. She lives on her own in a faded mansion just outside Marlow, there’s no man in her life to tell her what to do or how much whisky to drink, and to keep herself busy she sets crosswords for The Times newspaper.

One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don’t believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local Vicar.

Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

When another body turns up, they realise they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…]]> 340 Robert Thorogood 0008238243 Craig 0 to-read 3.73 2021 The Marlow Murder Club (Marlow Murder Club, #1)
author: Robert Thorogood
name: Craig
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Marble Hall Murders 217432789 Murder links past and present once again in this mind-boggling metafictional mystery fromAnthony Horowitz—another tribute to the golden age of Agatha Christie featuring detective Atticus Pund and editor Susan Ryland, stars of the New York Times bestsellers Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders.

Editor Susan Ryeland has left her Greek island, her hotel, and her Greek boyfriend Andreas in search of a new life back in England.

Freelancing for Causton Books, she’s working on the manuscript of a novel, Pund’s Last Case, by a young author named Eliot Crace, a continuation of the popular Alan Conway series. Susan is surprised to learn that Eliot is the grandson of legendary children’s author Marian Crace, who died some fifteen years ago—murdered, Elliot insists, by poison.

As Susan begins to read the manuscript’s opening chapters, the skeptical editor is relieved to find that Pund’s Last Case is actually very good. Set in the South of France, it revolves around the mysterious death of Lady Margaret Chalfont, who, though mortally ill, is poisoned—perhaps by a member of her own family. But who did it? And why?

The deeper Susan reads, the more it becomes clear that the clues leading to the truth of Marian Crace’s death are hidden within this Atticus Pund mystery.

While Eliot’s accusation becomes more plausible, his behavior grows increasingly erratic.. Then he is suddenly killed in a hit-and-run accident, and Susan finds herself under police scrutiny as a suspect in his killing.

Three mysterious deaths. Multiple motives and possible murderers. If Susan doesn’t solve the mystery of Pund’s Last Case, she may well be the next victim.]]> 592 Anthony Horowitz 0063305704 Craig 0 to-read 4.36 2025 Marble Hall Murders
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Craig
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Close to Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #5)]]> 179311283 In New York Times–bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fifth literary whodunit in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series, Detective Hawthorne is once again called upon to solve an unsolvable case—a gruesome murder in an idyllic gated community in which suspects abound

Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.

It is the perfect idyll until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, a gaggle of shrieking children and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and they quickly offend every last one of their neighbours.

When Giles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator that can be called on to solve the case.

Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?]]> 432 Anthony Horowitz 006330564X Craig 4 4.06 2024 Close to Death (Hawthorne & Horowitz, #5)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Craig
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves:
review:
This was a perfect cottage mystery and I loved it. Lots of fun!
]]> <![CDATA[The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1)]]> 40024
The newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox move, enlists the two men in the murder investigation, counting on the reserved Kreizler's intellect and Moore's knowledge of New York's vast criminal underworld. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. Laboring in secret (for alienists, and the emerging discipline of psychology, are viewed by the public with skepticism at best), the unlikely team embarks on what is a revolutionary effort in criminology-- amassing a psychological profile of the man they're looking for based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who has killed before--and will kill again before the hunt is over.

Fast-paced and gripping, infused with a historian's exactitude, The Alienist conjures up the Gilded Age and its untarnished underside: verminous tenements and opulent mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. Here is a New York during an age when questioning society's belief that all killers are born, not made, could have unexpected and mortal consequences.]]> 498 Caleb Carr 0812976142 Craig 0 4.06 1994 The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, #1)
author: Caleb Carr
name: Craig
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1994
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/26
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review:

]]> Middle of the Night 199026522 In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend—and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines of his picture-perfect neighborhood.

The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul de sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again.

Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul de sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?

The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed monsters roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate.

The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place—be it quiet forest or suburban street—is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.]]> 367 Riley Sager 0593472373 Craig 0 to-read 3.65 2024 Middle of the Night
author: Riley Sager
name: Craig
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Twist of a Knife (Hawthorne & Horowitz #4)]]> 60461888 New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz’s ingenious fourth literary whodunit following The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death and A Line to Kill, Horowitz becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation� and only one man can prove his innocence: his newly estranged partner in solving crime, Detective Hawthorne.

“I’m sorry but the answer’s no.� Reluctant author, Anthony Horowitz, has had enough. He tells ex-detective Daniel Hawthorne that after three books he’s splitting and their deal is over. The truth is that Anthony has other things on his mind.

His new play, a thriller called Mindgame, is about to open at the Vaudeville Theatre in London’s West End. Not surprisingly, Hawthorne declines a ticket to the opening night. The play is panned by the critics. In particular, Sunday Times critic Margaret Throsby gives it a savage review, focusing particularly on the writing. The next day, Throsby is stabbed in the heart with an ornamental dagger which turns out to belong to Anthony, and has his fingerprints all over it.

Anthony is arrested by an old enemy... Detective Inspector Cara Grunshaw. She still carries a grudge from her failure to solve the case described in the second Hawthorne adventure, The Sentence is Death, and blames Anthony. Now she’s out for revenge. Thrown into prison and fearing for both his personal future and his writing career, Anthony is the prime suspect in Throsby’s murder and when a second theatre critic is found to have died in mysterious circumstances, the net closes in. Ever more desperate, he realizes that only one man can help him. But will Hawthorne take the call?]]> 373 Anthony Horowitz 0062938185 Craig 0 to-read 4.02 2022 The Twist of a Knife (Hawthorne & Horowitz #4)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Craig
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Line to Kill (Hawthorne & Horowitz #3)]]> 56755487 New York Times bestselling author of the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder and The Sentence Is Death returns with his third literary whodunit featuring intrepid detectives Hawthorne and Horowitz.

When Ex-Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, author Anthony Horowitz, are invited to an exclusive literary festival on Alderney, an idyllic island off the south coast of England, they don’t expect to find themselves in the middle of murder investigation—or to be trapped with a cold-blooded killer in a remote place with a murky, haunted past.

Arriving on Alderney, Hawthorne and Horowitz soon meet the festival’s other guests—an eccentric gathering that includes a bestselling children’s author, a French poet, a TV chef turned cookbook author, a blind psychic, and a war historian—along with a group of ornery locals embroiled in an escalating feud over a disruptive power line.

When a local grandee is found dead under mysterious circumstances, Hawthorne and Horowitz become embroiled in the case. The island is locked down, no one is allowed on or off, and it soon becomes horribly clear that a murderer lurks in their midst. But who?

Both a brilliant satire on the world of books and writers and an immensely enjoyable locked-room mystery, A Line to Kill is a triumph—a riddle of a story full of brilliant misdirection, beautifully set-out clues, and diabolically clever denouements.]]> 375 Anthony Horowitz 0062938169 Craig 0 to-read 3.87 2021 A Line to Kill (Hawthorne & Horowitz #3)
author: Anthony Horowitz
name: Craig
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mask of the Deer Woman 211953352 To find a missing young woman, the new tribal marshal must also find herself. At rock bottom following her daughter’s murder, ex-Chicago detective Carrie Starr has nowhere to go but back to her roots. Starr’s father never talked much about the reservation that raised him, but they need a new tribal marshal as much as Starr needs a place to call home. In the last decade, too many young women have disappeared from the rez. Some dead, others just� gone. Now, local college student Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr falls into an investigation that leaves her drowning in memories of her daughter—the girl she failed to save. Starr feels lost in this place she thought would welcome her. And when she catches a glimpse of a figure from her father’s stories, with the body of a woman and the antlers of a deer, Starr can’t shake the feeling that the fearsome spirit is watching her, following her. What she doesn’t know is whether Deer Woman is here to guide her or to seek vengeance for the lost daughters that Starr can never bring home.]]> 336 Laurie L. Dove 0593816102 Craig 0 to-read 3.55 2025 Mask of the Deer Woman
author: Laurie L. Dove
name: Craig
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow]]> 58784475 In this exhilarating novel, two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.]]> 401 Gabrielle Zevin 0735243344 Craig 0 to-read 4.12 2022 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
author: Gabrielle Zevin
name: Craig
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> All Hallows 60784620 Stranger Things, this horror drama from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden follows neighborhood families and a mysterious, lurking evil on one Halloween day.

It’s Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts, and two families are unraveling. Up and down the street, horrifying secrets are being revealed, and all the while, mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified, and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man. There’s a small clearing in the woods now that was never there before, and a blackthorn tree that doesn’t belong at all. These odd children claim that The Cunning Man is coming for them...and they want the local kids to protect them. But with families falling apart and the neighborhood splintered by bitterness, who will save the children of Parmenter Road?

New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Christopher Golden is best known for his supernatural thrillers set in deadly, distant locales...but in this suburban Halloween drama, Golden brings the horror home.

All Hallows. The one night when everything is a mask...]]> 325 Christopher Golden 125028029X Craig 3 3.51 2023 All Hallows
author: Christopher Golden
name: Craig
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/12/01
shelves:
review:
I loved the setting (small town, Halloween, 1984) and premise (something sinister is happening at the same time that family secrets are being revealed), and found the first half of the book to be tense and gripping. The payoff fell flat for me though, so three stars overall. Great mood read for October (even though it took me into November to finish it).
]]> Not a Speck of Light: Stories 216875430
Bram Stoker Award-winning author Laird Barron returns to the dark and dreadful with his fifth horror collection, which weaves sixteen weird tales into a mosaic of the bloody and the macabre.

Bring a flashlight and a book of matches.

Where we’re going, there’s not a speck of light.]]> 372 Laird Barron Craig 0 to-read 4.11 2024 Not a Speck of Light: Stories
author: Laird Barron
name: Craig
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/27
shelves: to-read
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]]> Where They Last Saw Her 209419483
All they heard was her scream.

Quill has lived on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota her whole life. She knows what happens to people who look like her. Just a girl when Jimmy Sky jumped off the railway bridge and she ran for help, Quill realizes now that she hasn’t ever stopped running. As she trains for the Boston Marathon early one morning out in the woods, she hears a scream. When she investigates, she finds tire tracks and a lone, beaded earring.

Things are different now for Quill than when she was a lonely girl. Her friends Punk and Gaylyn are two women who don’t know what it means to quit; she has her loving husband, Crow, and two beautiful children who challenge her to be better every day. So when she realizes another woman has been stolen, she is determined to do something—and her first stop is the group of men working the pipeline construction just north of their homes.

As Quill closes in on the truth behind the missing woman in the woods, someone else disappears. In her quest to find justice for the women of the reservation, she is confronted with the hard truths of their home and the people who purport to serve them. When will she stop losing neighbors, friends, family? As Quill puts herself, her family, and everything she’s built on the line to make a difference, the novel asks searing questions about bystander culture, the reverberations of even one act of crime, and the long-lasting trauma of being invisible.]]> 336 Marcie R. Rendon 0593974875 Craig 0 to-read 3.85 2024 Where They Last Saw Her
author: Marcie R. Rendon
name: Craig
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/10/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> Indian Burial Ground 192724951 A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation.

All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on—just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her—things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend’s apparent suicide brings her world crumbling down.

But the facts about Roddy’s death just don’t add up, and Noemi isn’t the only one who suspects that something menacing might be lurking within their tribal lands.

After over a decade away, Uncle Louie has returned to the reservation, bringing with him a past full of secrets, horror, and what might be the key to determining Roddy’s true cause of death. Together, Noemi and Louie set out to find answers…but as they get closer to the truth, Noemi begins to wonder whether it might be best for some secrets to remain buried.]]> 370 Nick Medina 0593546881 Craig 0 to-read 3.58 2024 Indian Burial Ground
author: Nick Medina
name: Craig
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: to-read
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]]> Everything the Darkness Eats 60536421 An insidious darkness threatens to devastate a rural New England village when occult forces are conjured and when bigotry is left unrestrained.

After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community—a hatred that will eventually burst and forever change the lives of those who once found peace in the quiet town of Henley’s Edge.

From the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of the viral sensation, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats is a haunting supernatural thriller from a new and exciting voice in genre fiction.]]> 226 Eric LaRocca 1955904278 Craig 3 2.73 2023 Everything the Darkness Eats
author: Eric LaRocca
name: Craig
average rating: 2.73
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/12/16
date added: 2024/08/25
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]]> Cuckoo 61884778 Cuckoo is a vicious new novel about a group of teens who must stay true to themselves while in a conversion camp from hell.

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 broken survivors of that terrible summer can put an end to the horror before it’s too late.

The fate of the world depends on it.]]> 342 Gretchen Felker-Martin 1250794668 Craig 3 3.51 2024 Cuckoo
author: Gretchen Felker-Martin
name: Craig
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/25
date added: 2024/08/25
shelves:
review:
I was intrigued by the setting of a conversion camp where queer kids are in peril even beyond the obvious, and I was impressed with the fullness and variety of individual experiences that were reflected in the characters. Ensemble stories can be harder to follow in literary form, and something as simple as titling each chapter with the name of the POV character would have helped make those initial chapters when you’re getting to know everyone a bit easier to digest; later in the book I found myself having to reread earlier chapters to fully understand who was who. But, that’s a minor criticism and by the end I found myself invested in each of the individuals.
]]> Horror Movie 200101541 A chilling twist on the “cursed film� genre from the bestselling author ofThe Pallbearers Club ԻThe Cabin at the End of the World.

In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick.

The weird part?Only three of the film’s scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot.

The man who played “The Thin Kid� is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he’s going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions � demons of the past be damned.

But at what cost?

Horror Movie is an obsessive, psychologically chilling, and suspenseful twist on the “cursed film� that breathlessly builds to an unforgettable, mind-bending conclusion.]]> 277 Paul Tremblay 0063070014 Craig 0 to-read 3.30 2024 Horror Movie
author: Paul Tremblay
name: Craig
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> I Was a Teenage Slasher 199798522 Lamesa, Texas, July 1989

It’s the summer before senior year for best friends Tolly Driver and Amber Dennison. They’re not in the marching band, they’re not in the FFA � they don’t really count. Amber’s the only Native student in town, and Tolly’s only on the radar due to his father’s recent death.

This is all about to change.

Bodies are going to be dropping fast in this small West Texas town. For a few unbearably hot days that will resonate through the decades and even get made into a TV movie, Tolly and Amber will be famous. Notorious even. Finally, everyone will know their names.

This is Stephen Graham Jones x-raying the slasher genre, interrogating its motivations over the shoulder and in the voice of the killer itself � from a town he did some growing up in, in a year he was also seventeen.

The kills will be poignant, the jokes will hurt, and the violence will be endearing. Everything’s turned around for Tolly, for Amber � for all of Lamesa, Texas.

Be happy you weren’t there.

Be happy you’re only reading about it.]]> 373 Stephen Graham Jones 1668022249 Craig 0 to-read 3.54 2024 I Was a Teenage Slasher
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Craig
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[In the House in the Dark of the Woods]]> 38496725 "Once upon a time there was and there wasn't a woman who went to the woods."

In this ingenious horror story set in colonial New England, a woman goes missing. Or not missing–perhaps she has fled, abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her through a wolf-haunted wood, down a deep well, and onto a living ship made of human bones, our heroine is forced to confront her past and may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.

Eerie and disturbing, In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's acclaimed lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of repression, of revenge and redemption. It is a story of a haunting, one that forms the bedrock of American mythology, told in a vivid voice you will never forget.]]> 218 Laird Hunt 0316411051 Craig 0 to-read 3.33 2018 In the House in the Dark of the Woods
author: Laird Hunt
name: Craig
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> Becoming the Boogeyman 101144676 411 Richard Chizmar 1668009161 Craig 0 to-read 4.06 2023 Becoming the Boogeyman
author: Richard Chizmar
name: Craig
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> Black Sheep 69704909
Nobody has a “normal� family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.

Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.

When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.]]> 289 Rachel Harrison 0593545850 Craig 0 to-read 3.57 2023 Black Sheep
author: Rachel Harrison
name: Craig
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> A House with Good Bones 60784409 A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.

"Mom seems off."

Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.

She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.

But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.

To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried.]]> 247 T. Kingfisher 1250829798 Craig 0 to-read 3.65 2023 A House with Good Bones
author: T. Kingfisher
name: Craig
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> How to Sell a Haunted House 59414094 Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past—and your family—can haunt you like nothing else.

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.

But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…]]> 419 Grady Hendrix 0593201264 Craig 0 to-read 3.65 2023 How to Sell a Haunted House
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Craig
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Mostly Come Out At Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures]]> 63913799
Be not afraid! These monsters, creatures, and beasties are not what they appear. We Mostly Come Out at Night is a YA anthology that reclaims the monstrous for the LGBTQA+ community while exploring how there is freedom and power in embracing the things that make you stand out. Each story centers on both original and familiar monsters and creatures—including Mothman, Carabosse, a girl with thirteen shadows, a living house, werebeasts, gorgons, sirens, angels, and many others—and their stories of love, self-acceptance, resilience, and empowerment. This collection is a bold, transformative celebration of queerness and the creatures that (mostly) go bump in the night.

Contributors include editor Rob Costello, Kalynn Bayron, David Bowles, Shae Carys, Rob Costello, H.E. Edgmon, Michael Thomas Ford, Val Howlett, Brittany Johnson, Naomi Kanakia, Claire Kann, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Sarah Maxfield, Sam J. Miller, Alexandra Villasante, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.]]> 384 Rob Costello 0762483199 Craig 0 to-read 3.95 2024 We Mostly Come Out At Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures
author: Rob Costello
name: Craig
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> Between Two Fires 13543121
Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.

As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.]]> 432 Christopher Buehlman 1937007863 Craig 0 to-read 4.20 2012 Between Two Fires
author: Christopher Buehlman
name: Craig
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Summer Sons 53290204
As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him.]]> 372 Lee Mandelo 125079028X Craig 0 to-read 3.80 2021 Summer Sons
author: Lee Mandelo
name: Craig
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World]]> 59883848 A profound exploration of the spiritual power of nature--and an urgent call to reclaim that power in everyday life.

Since the beginning of time, humankind has looked upon nature and seen the divine. In the writings of the great thinkers across religions, the natural world inspires everything from fear to awe to tranquil contemplation; God, or however one defined the sublime, was present in everything. Yet today, even as we admire a tree or take in a striking landscape, we rarely see nature as sacred.

In this short but deeply powerful book, the bestselling historian of religion Karen Armstrong re-sacralizes nature for modern times. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the world's religious traditions, she vividly describes nature's central place in spirituality across the centuries. In bringing this age-old wisdom to life, Armstrong shows modern readers how to rediscover nature's potency and form a connection to something greater than ourselves.
]]> 224 Karen Armstrong 0735282420 Craig 0 to-read 3.61 2022 Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World
author: Karen Armstrong
name: Craig
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/12
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants]]> 17465709 Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.]]> 408 Robin Wall Kimmerer 1571313354 Craig 0 to-read 4.52 2013 Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
author: Robin Wall Kimmerer
name: Craig
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture]]> 173404158
You either were there or you wanted to be. A defining New York City institution co-founded by Norman Mailer, The Village Voice was the first newspaper to cover hip-hop, the avant-garde art scene, and Off-Broadway with gravitas. It reported on the AIDS crisis with urgency and seriousness when other papers dismissed it as a gay disease. In 1979, the Voice ’s Wayne Barrett uncovered Donald Trump as a corrupt con artist before anyone else was paying attention. It invented new forms of criticism and storytelling and revolutionized journalism, spawning hundreds of copycats.

With more than 200 interviews, including two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Colson Whitehead, cultural critic Greg Tate, gossip columnist Michael Musto, and feminist writers Vivian Gornick and Susan Brownmiller,former Voice writerTricia Romanopays homage to the paper that saved NYC landmarks from destruction and exposed corrupt landlords and judges. With interviews featuring post-punk band, Blondie, sportscaster Bob Costas, and drummer Max Weinberg, of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, in this definitive oral history, Romanotells the story of journalism, New York City and American culture—and the most famous alt-weekly of all time.]]> 608 Tricia Romano 1541736397 Craig 0 to-read 4.25 The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture
author: Tricia Romano
name: Craig
average rating: 4.25
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/03/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Spite House 60784411
When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

The job calls to Eric, not just because there’s a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it’ll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running. A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father’s love, Johnny Compton’s The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making.]]> 261 Johnny Compton 1250841410 Craig 4 3.50 2023 The Spite House
author: Johnny Compton
name: Craig
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2023/11/27
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves:
review:
This was a fun and creepy read and more than I expected. Perfect for the Halloween season.
]]> Mongrels 26156471 A spellbinding and darkly humorous coming-of-age story about an unusual boy whose family lives on the fringes of society and struggles to survive in a hostile world that shuns and fears them.

He was born an outsider, like the rest of his family. Poor yet resilient, he lives in the shadows with his Aunt Libby and Uncle Darren, folk who stubbornly make their way in a society that does not understand or want them. They are mongrels, mixedblood, neither this nor that. The boy at the center of Mongrels must decide if he belongs on the road with his aunt and uncle, or if he fits with the people on the other side of the tracks.

For ten years, he and his family have lived a life of late-night exits and close calls—always on the move across the South to stay one step ahead of the law. But the time is drawing near when Darren and Libby will know if their nephew is like them or not. And the close calls they’ve been running from for so long are catching up fast, now. Everything is about to change.

A compelling and fascinating journey, Mongrels alternates between past and present to create an unforgettable portrait of a boy trying to understand his family and his place in a complex and unforgiving world. A smart and innovative story—funny, bloody, raw, and real—told in a rhythmic voice full of heart, Mongrels is a deeply moving, sometimes grisly novel that illuminates the challenges and tender joys of a life beyond the ordinary in a bold and imaginative new way.]]> 302 Stephen Graham Jones 0062412698 Craig 5 3.90 2016 Mongrels
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Craig
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/10/23
date added: 2024/02/24
shelves:
review:
Stephen Graham Jones� takes on werewolf lore while also presenting a powerful story about family relationships, all through his unique perspective. Loved every page, as expected.
]]> The Maidens 45300567
Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.]]> 337 Alex Michaelides 1250304458 Craig 0 to-read 3.61 2021 The Maidens
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Craig
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Silent Patient 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 Craig 0 to-read 4.17 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Craig
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Deacon King Kong 51045613 The funny, sharp, and surprising story of the shooting of a Brooklyn drug dealer and the people who witnessed it—from James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known in the neighborhood as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Causeway Housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range.

The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's novel and his first since his National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird. In McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local NYPD cops assigned to investigate what happened, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood's Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.

As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of New York in the late 1960s—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth finally emerges, McBride shows us that not all secrets can be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in compassion and hope.]]> 370 James McBride 073521672X Craig 3 4.11 2020 Deacon King Kong
author: James McBride
name: Craig
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/20
date added: 2023/08/20
shelves:
review:

]]> The Devil's Playground 62793677 A riveting 1920s Hollywood thriller about the making of the most terrifying silent film evermade, and a deadly search for the single copy rumored still to exist, from the internationally acclaimed author of The Devil Aspect.

1927: Mary Rourke—a Hollywood studio fixer—is called urgently to the palatial home of Norma Carlton, one of the most recognizable stars in American silent film. Norma has been working on the secret film everyone is openly talking about... a terrifying horror picture called The Devil’s Playground that is rumored to have unleashed a curse on everyone involved in the production. Mary finds Norma’s cold, dead body, and she wonders for just a moment if these dark rumors could be true.

1967: Paul Conway, a journalist and self-professed film aficionado, is on the trail of a tantalizing rumor. He has heard that a single copy of The Devil’s Playground —a Holy Grail for film buffs—may exist. He knows his Hollywood history and he knows the film endured myriad tragedies and ended up lost to time.

The Devil's Playground is Craig Russell’s tour de force, a richly researched and constructed thriller that weaves through the Golden Age of Hollywood and reveals a blossoming industry built on secrets, invented identities, and a desperate pursuit of image. As Mary Rourke charges headlong through the egos, distractions, and traps that threaten to take her down with the doomed production, she discovers a truth far more sinister than she—or we—could have imagined.]]> 368 Craig Russell 0385549016 Craig 0 to-read 3.79 2023 The Devil's Playground
author: Craig Russell
name: Craig
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Stormy Weather (Skink #3) 13061
"Hysterically funny...Hiaasen at his satirical best." - USA Today

Two honeymooners wake up early, make love twice, and brace themselves for a spectacle they won't be watching from the sidelines. A seductive con artiste stumbles into a scam that promises more cool cash than the lottery. A shotgun-toting mobile home salesman is about to close a deal with disaster. A law school dropout will be chasing one Gaboon viper, a troop of storm-shocked monkeys, and a newfound love life, while tourists by the thousands bail from the Florida Keys. We're now entering the hurricane zone, where hell and hilarity rule. And in the hands of the masterful, merciless Carl Hiaasen, we're going to have some weather.]]> 388 Carl Hiaasen 0446677167 Craig 4 3.95 1995 Stormy Weather (Skink #3)
author: Carl Hiaasen
name: Craig
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2011/05/09
date added: 2023/07/29
shelves:
review:
Perfect reading for a poolside vacation - lots of interesting characters and plot twists, very fun and entertaining. I will definitely be adding Hiaasen to my list of "go-to" authors.
]]> The Woman in the Window 34848682
It isn't paranoia if it's really happening . . .

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn't, her world begins to crumble?and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

Twisty and powerful, ingenious and moving, The Woman in the Window is a smart, sophisticated novel of psychological suspense that recalls the best of Hitchcock.]]> 429 A.J. Finn 0062678418 Craig 5 sharon-recommendations 3.91 2018 The Woman in the Window
author: A.J. Finn
name: Craig
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/16
date added: 2023/04/16
shelves: sharon-recommendations
review:
What a fantastic fun read! Kept me guessing even after the big twist, and I loved it. I didn’t want it to end but couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend to all mystery fans!
]]> The Sun Down Motel 45885644
Upstate NY, 1982. Every small town like Fell, New York, has a place like the Sun Down Motel. Some customers are from out of town, passing through on their way to someplace better. Some are locals, trying to hide their secrets. Viv Delaney works as the night clerk to pay for her move to New York City. But something isn't right at the Sun Down, and before long she's determined to uncover all of the secrets hidden…]]> 327 Simone St. James 0440000173 Craig 5 3.99 2020 The Sun Down Motel
author: Simone St. James
name: Craig
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/04/15
date added: 2023/04/15
shelves:
review:
I loved the blend of horror and mystery, and was kept guessing right up to the final reveal. Really enjoyed the premise, setting, and main characters. Most enjoyable read in quite a while!
]]> Later 54798175
Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King's classic novel It, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.]]> 248 Stephen King Craig 4 3.99 2021 Later
author: Stephen King
name: Craig
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/02
date added: 2023/04/02
shelves:
review:
I’ve resisted Stephen King’s recent hard crime books because I’m such a fan of his earlier straight up horror that I expected to be disappointed� I finally read this one based on a recommendation and am so glad I did. I’m excited for more!
]]> The Chill 54304275 A supernatural force—set in motion a century ago—threatens to devastate New York City in this “terrific horror/suspense/disaster novel� that “grips from the first page� (Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

Far upstate, in New York’s ancient forests, a drowned village lays beneath the dark, still waters of the Chilewaukee reservoir. Early in the 20th century, the town was destroyed for the greater good: bringing water to the millions living downstate. Or at least that’s what the politicians from Manhattan insisted at the time. The local families, settled there since America’s founding, were forced from their land, but some didn’t leave�

Now, a century later, the repercussions of human arrogance are finally making themselves known. An inspector assigned to oversee the dam, dangerously neglected for decades, witnesses something inexplicable. It turns out that more than the village was left behind in the waters of the Chill when it was abandoned. A dark prophecy remained, too, and the time has come for it to be fulfilled—for sacrifices must be made. And as the dark waters begin to inexorably rise, the demand for a fresh sacrifice emerges from the deep�

“A must read for fans of eerie, gripping storytelling� (Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times bestselling author), The Chill is “a creepy tale of supernatural terror� (Publishers Weekly, starred review).]]> 464 Scott Carson 1982104600 Craig 4 3.56 2020 The Chill
author: Scott Carson
name: Craig
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/03/05
date added: 2023/03/05
shelves:
review:
This was a fun read that reminded me of early John Saul, with themes of past wrongs and supernatural vengeance.
]]> Between the World and Me 25489625 “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.�

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,� a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.]]> 152 Ta-Nehisi Coates Craig 0 to-read 4.40 2015 Between the World and Me
author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
name: Craig
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hide 58890948
The prize: enough money to change everything.

Even though everyone is desperate to win--to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts--Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that.

It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't.

But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.

Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.

Come out, come out, wherever you are.]]> 240 Kiersten White 0593359232 Craig 0 to-read 3.30 2022 Hide
author: Kiersten White
name: Craig
average rating: 3.30
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mexican Gothic 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 Craig 3 3.66 2020 Mexican Gothic
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Craig
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2023/02/04
date added: 2023/02/04
shelves:
review:
This was a fun read. I loved the setting and gothic themes, and especially enjoyed the unexpected twist. My only criticism is that I kept feeling like I wanted more - more character development, more lingering on gothic ambience, more of a payoff from the climax. But still a solid and worthwhile read.
]]> Gallows Hill 59746719
When their daughter, Margot, inherits the family business, she wants nothing to do with it. The winery is valued for its unparalleled produce, but it's built on a field where hundreds of convicts were once hanged, and the locals whisper morbid rumors. They say the ground is cursed.

It's been more than a decade since Margot last saw her childhood home. But now that she's alone in the sprawling, dilapidated building, she begins to believe the curse is more than real―and that she may be the next victim of the house that never rests...]]> 377 Darcy Coates Craig 0 to-read 3.84 2022 Gallows Hill
author: Darcy Coates
name: Craig
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book of Cold Cases 58371432
Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases--a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes.

They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?

A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.]]> 344 Simone St. James 0440000211 Craig 0 to-read 3.76 2022 The Book of Cold Cases
author: Simone St. James
name: Craig
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Crossroads 55881796 Jonathan Franzen's gift for wedding depth and vividness of character with breadth of social vision has never been more dazzlingly evident than in Crossroads.

It's December 23, 1971, and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless--unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life, beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen of her high-school class, has sharply veered into the counterculture, while their brilliant younger brother Perry, who's been selling drugs to seventh graders, has resolved to be a better person. Each of the Hildebrandts seeks a freedom that each of the others threatens to complicate.

Jonathan Franzen's novels are celebrated for their unforgettably vivid characters and for their keen-eyed take on contemporary America. Now, in Crossroads, Franzen ventures back into the past and explores the history of two generations. With characteristic humor and complexity, and with even greater warmth, he conjures a world that resonates powerfully with our own.

A tour de force of interwoven perspectives and sustained suspense, its action largely unfolding on a single winter day, Crossroads is the story of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis. Jonathan Franzen's gift for melding the small picture and the big picture has never been more dazzlingly evident.]]> 592 Jonathan Franzen 0374181179 Craig 4 4.05 2021 Crossroads
author: Jonathan Franzen
name: Craig
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2023/01/22
date added: 2023/01/22
shelves:
review:
Franzen is a master of family drama, and his skill at conveying the interior lives of his characters is amazing. As usual with his work, the first 100 pages where you are getting to know the characters and there stories feels like a cumbersome and tiring task, but then without quite knowing when it happened you’re suddenly completely invested and can’t put it down. A great commentary on the challenge of family intimacy, faith, and how we reconcile those with our own interests and desires.
]]> <![CDATA[Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries]]> 60041102 Two teens. Two diaries. Two social panics. One incredible fraud.

In 1971, Go Ask Alice reinvented the young adult genre with a blistering portrayal of sex, psychosis, and teenage self-destruction. The supposed diary of a middle-class addict, Go Ask Alice terrified adults and cemented LSD's fearsome reputation, fueling support for the War on Drugs. Five million copies later, Go Ask Alice remains a divisive bestseller, outraging censors and earning new fans, all of them drawn by the book's mythic premise: A Real Diary, by Anonymous.

But Alice was only the beginning.

In 1979, another diary rattled the culture, setting the stage for a national meltdown. The posthumous memoir of an alleged teenage Satanist, Jay's Journal merged with a frightening new crisis—adolescent suicide—to create a literal witch hunt, shattering countless lives and poisoning whole communities.

In reality, Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal came from the same dark place: Beatrice Sparks, a serial con artist who betrayed a grieving family, stole a dead boy's memory, and lied her way to the National Book Awards.

Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries is a true story of contagious deception. It stretches from Hollywood to Quantico, and passes through a tiny patch of Utah nicknamed "the fraud capital of America." It's the story of a doomed romance and a vengeful celebrity. Of a lazy press and a public mob. Of two suicidal teenagers, and their exploitation by a literary vampire.

Unmask Alice . . . where truth is stranger than nonfiction.]]> 349 Rick Emerson 1637740425 Craig 0 to-read 3.93 2022 Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries
author: Rick Emerson
name: Craig
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Devil House 57693663
Now, he is a true crime writer, with one grisly success--and movie adaptation--to his name, along with a series of subsequent lesser efforts that have paid the bills but not much more. But now he is being offered the chance for the big break: To move into the house--what the locals call "The Devil House"--in which a briefly notorious pair of murders occurred, apparently the work of disaffected 1980s teens. He begins his research with diligence and enthusiasm, but soon the story leads him into a puzzle he never expected--back into his own work and what it means, back to the very core of what he does and who he is.]]> 403 John Darnielle 0374212236 Craig 3 It just didn’t live up to my expectations. The shifts in narrative were disjointed and I spent a lot of time struggling to understand where it all was going, which would have been fine if the payoff was stronger. Some the sections read as great short stories, but ultimately it just didn’t work for me as a comprehensive piece and was overall disappointing. ]]> 3.21 2022 Devil House
author: John Darnielle
name: Craig
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2022/11/28
date added: 2022/11/28
shelves:
review:
I had such high hopes for this book based on the description and pre-release reviews, and unfortunately
It just didn’t live up to my expectations. The shifts in narrative were disjointed and I spent a lot of time struggling to understand where it all was going, which would have been fine if the payoff was stronger. Some the sections read as great short stories, but ultimately it just didn’t work for me as a comprehensive piece and was overall disappointing.
]]> <![CDATA[Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America]]> 60215300
Yet as with other long-accepted origin stories, this one, too, turns out to be based in myth and distortion. In Indigenous Continent, acclaimed historian Pekka Hämäläinen presents a sweeping counternarrative that shatters the most basic assumptions about American history. Shifting our perspective away from Jamestown, Plymouth Rock, the Revolution, and other well-trodden episodes on the conventional timeline, he depicts a sovereign world of Native nations whose members, far from helpless victims of colonial violence, dominated the continent for centuries after the first European arrivals.

From the Iroquois in the Northeast to the Comanches on the Plains, and from the Pueblos in the Southwest to the Cherokees in the Southeast, Native nations frequently decimated white newcomers in battle. Even as the white population exploded and colonists� land greed grew more extravagant, Indigenous peoples flourished due to sophisticated diplomacy and leadership structures.

By 1776, various colonial powers claimed nearly all of the continent, but Indigenous peoples still controlled it—as Hämäläinen points out, the maps in modern textbooks that paint much of North America in neat, color-coded blocks confuse outlandish imperial boasts for actual holdings. In fact, Native power peaked in the late nineteenth century, with the Lakota victory in 1876 at Little Big Horn, which was not an American blunder, but an all-too-expected outcome.

Hämäläinen ultimately contends that the very notion of “colonial America� is misleading, and that we should speak instead of an “Indigenous America� that was only slowly and unevenly becoming colonial. The evidence of Indigenous defiance is apparent today in the hundreds of Native nations that still dot the United States and Canada. Necessary reading for anyone who cares about America’s past, present, and future, Indigenous Continent restores Native peoples to their rightful place at the very fulcrum of American history.]]> 592 Pekka Hämäläinen 1631496999 Craig 0 to-read 4.00 2022 Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America
author: Pekka Hämäläinen
name: Craig
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/11/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Chasing the Boogeyman 55711747 The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Gwendy’s Button Box brings his signature prose to this story of small-town evil that combines the storytelling of Stephen King with the true-crime suspense of Michelle McNamara.

In the summer of 1988, the mutilated bodies of several missing girls begin to turn up in a small Maryland town. The grisly evidence leads police to the terrifying assumption that a serial killer is on the loose in the quiet suburb. But soon a rumor begins to spread that the evil stalking local teens is not entirely human. Law enforcement, as well as members of the FBI are certain that the killer is a living, breathing madman—and he’s playing games with them. For a once peaceful community trapped in the depths of paranoia and suspicion, it feels like a nightmare that will never end.

Recent college graduate Richard Chizmar returns to his hometown just as a curfew is enacted and a neighborhood watch is formed. In the midst of preparing for his wedding and embarking on a writing career, he soon finds himself thrust into the real-life horror story. Inspired by the terrifying events, Richard writes a personal account of the serial killer’s reign of terror, unaware that these events will continue to haunt him for years to come.

A clever, terrifying, and heartrending work of metafiction, Chasing the Boogeyman is the ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime. Chizmar’s writing is on full display in this truly unique novel that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.]]> 322 Richard Chizmar 1982175168 Craig 4 3.91 2021 Chasing the Boogeyman
author: Richard Chizmar
name: Craig
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/11/03
date added: 2022/11/03
shelves:
review:
Loved it! The story is simple (serial killer preying on small town America) but the creative format (presented as a true crime memoir) and nostalgic setting (1980s) add up to an incredibly creepy, scary, compelling read that really got under my skin. A perfect Halloween weekend read.
]]> Cloud Cuckoo Land 56783258 When everything is lost, it’s our stories that survive.

How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.

Constantinople, 1453:
An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.

Idaho, 2020:
An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?

Unknown, Sometime in the Future:
With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.

Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.]]> 626 Anthony Doerr 1982168439 Craig 5 4.24 2021 Cloud Cuckoo Land
author: Anthony Doerr
name: Craig
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/08
date added: 2022/10/08
shelves:
review:

]]> Lock Every Door 41837243
As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story—until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid's disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building's hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.]]> 381 Riley Sager 1524745154 Craig 4 sharon-recommendations 3.88 2019 Lock Every Door
author: Riley Sager
name: Craig
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/08/28
date added: 2022/08/28
shelves: sharon-recommendations
review:
Another reliable thriller from Riley Sager. I loved the gothic setting of an old NYC building and the “neighbors are not what they seem� trope, all of which (intentionally I expect) called to mind Rosemary’s Baby. As I’ve found with Sager’s other books, the resolution wasn’t all that surprising, but there were enough twists and turns getting there that I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
]]> ǰǰö 13129925
To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

A traditional haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting, ǰǰö is designed to retain its luster and natural appearance for a lifetime of use. Pleasingly proportioned with generous French flaps and a softcover binding, ǰǰö delivers the psychological terror you need in the elegant package you deserve.

Designed by Andie Reid, cover photography by Christine Ferrara.]]> 248 Grady Hendrix 1594745269 Craig 4 sharon-recommendations 3.64 2014 ǰǰö
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Craig
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/10
date added: 2022/07/10
shelves: sharon-recommendations
review:
Gary Hendrix is fast becoming one of my favorite current horror writers! Reading this felt like watching a fun 80’s horror flick, and I loved every minute of it. More please!
]]> The Seed Keeper 52639051 A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakota family's struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.

Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakota people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn't return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato--where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they've inherited.

On a winter's day many years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home. A widow and mother, she has spent the previous two decades on her white husband's farm, finding solace in her garden even as the farm is threatened first by drought and then by a predatory chemical company. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron--women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools.

Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors.]]> 372 Diane Wilson 1571311378 Craig 4 4.27 2021 The Seed Keeper
author: Diane Wilson
name: Craig
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/07/09
date added: 2022/07/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Last House on Needless Street]]> 54621094
All these things are true. And yet they are all lies...

You think you know what's inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you've read this story before. That's where you're wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it's not what you think...]]> 337 Catriona Ward 1788166167 Craig 0 to-read 3.82 2021 The Last House on Needless Street
author: Catriona Ward
name: Craig
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Craftsman (The Craftsman, #1)]]> 37638143
OLD ENEMIES... NEW CRIMES

Thirty years ago, WPC Florence Lovelady's career was made when she arrested coffin-maker Larry Glassbrook for three shocking murders.

Larry confessed; it was an open and shut case. But now he's dead, and events from the past are repeating themselves.

The town Florence left behind still has many secrets. Will she finally uncover the truth? Or will time run out for her first?]]> 418 Sharon J. Bolton 1250300037 Craig 0 to-read 3.87 2018 The Craftsman (The Craftsman, #1)
author: Sharon J. Bolton
name: Craig
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Blood Sugar 58517116 “I could just kill you right now!� It’s something we’ve all thought at one time or another. But Ruby has actually acted on it. Three times, to be exact.

Though she may be a murderer, Ruby is not a sociopath. She is an animal-loving therapist with a thriving practice. She’s felt empathy and sympathy. She’s had long-lasting friendships and relationships, and has a husband, Jason, whom she adores. But the homicide detectives at Miami Beach PD are not convinced of her happy marriage. When we meet Ruby, she is in a police interrogation room, being accused of Jason’s murder. Which, ironically, is one murder that she did not commit, though her vicious mother-in-law and a scandal-obsessed public believe differently. As she undergoes questioning, Ruby’s mind races back to all the details of her life that led her to this exact moment, and to the three dead bodies in her wake. Because though she may not have killed her husband, Ruby certainly isn’t innocent.

Alternating between Ruby’s memories of her past crimes and her present-day fight to clear her name, Blood Sugar is a twisty, clever debut with an unforgettable protagonist who you can’t help but root for—an addicting mixture of sour and sweet.]]> 336 Sascha Rothchild 0593331540 Craig 0 to-read 3.82 2022 Blood Sugar
author: Sascha Rothchild
name: Craig
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Eat Our Own 27276249
But what the actor doesn’t realize is that the greatest threat might be the town itself, and the mysterious shadow economy that powers this remote jungle outpost. Entrepreneurial Americans, international drug traffickers, and M-19 guerrillas are all fighting for South America’s future—and the groups aren’t as distinct as one might think. The actor thought this would be a role that would change his life. Now he’s worried he won't survive it.

Inspired by a true story from the annals of 1970's Italian horror film, We Eat Our Own is a journey behind the scenes of a shocking film and a thoughtful commentary on violence and its repercussions.]]> 320 Kea Wilson 1501128310 Craig 3 3.29 2016 We Eat Our Own
author: Kea Wilson
name: Craig
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/30
date added: 2022/06/30
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Heart Is a Chainsaw (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #1)]]> 55711617
That’s not the only thing that’s getting carved up, though � this, Jade knows, is the start of a slasher. But what kind? Who’s wearing the mask? Jade’s got an encyclopedic recall of every horror movie on the shelf, but� will that help her survive? Can she get a final girl trained enough to stop all this from happening? Does she even want to?

Isn’t a slasher exactly what her hometown deserves?

This new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, Stephen Graham Jones, called “one of our most talented living writers� by Tommy Orange, explores the changing landscape of the West through his distinct voice of sharp humor and prophetic violence.

Go up the mountain to Proofrock. See if you’ve got what it takes � see if your heart, too, might be a chainsaw.]]> 405 Stephen Graham Jones 1982137630 Craig 4 3.52 2021 My Heart Is a Chainsaw (The Indian Lake Trilogy, #1)
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Craig
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/25
date added: 2022/06/25
shelves:
review:
So much fun! Stephen Graham Jones� love letter to horror is a thrilling ride and I’m excited for what comes next!
]]> The Night Will Find Us 55009280
Rocked by violent tragedy during an end-of-school-year camping trip, six teenage friends � Parker, Chloe, Adam, Nicky, Josh and Nate � find themselves lost and running for their lives through the darkest depths of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a million-acre forest in the heart of the state. Banding together to survive, they soon discover that there is something far older and far crueler waiting for them in the woods � something that doesn’t want them to escape.

As they plumb the depths of this forest that has seemingly swallowed them whole, haunted by ghosts figurative and literal, they come to understand the nature of the ancient cosmic horror that lies dead and dreaming in a lake in the center of the woods. As one among them is transformed through his own desperation into an agent of this dread, formless horror, the ones that remain must fight back to survive as they explore the dead towns and endless sprawls of trees, rivers and campgrounds deep in the Barrens.

Steadily picked off one by one by this malevolent force and their turned friend, hope finally comes for the survivors in the form of their respective bonds to the forest itself � one a long-buried secret, the other an uninvited connection that allows one of the friends to see further than she ever could before. Together, their fight to finally escape twill take them to the heart of the woods and the secrets buried there, but only one of them will make it out alive.]]> 336 Matthew Lyons 1684425425 Craig 0 to-read 3.63 2020 The Night Will Find Us
author: Matthew Lyons
name: Craig
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Last Final Girl 16039485
Aerial View: A suburban town in Texas. Everyone's got an automatic garage door opener. All the kids jump off a perilous cliff into a shallow river as a rite of passage. The sheriff is a local celebrity. You know this town. You're from this town.

Zoom In: Homecoming princess, Lindsay. She's just barely escaped death at the hands of a brutal, sadistic murderer in a Michael Jackson mask. Up on the cliff, she was rescued by a horse and bravely defeated the killer, alone, bra-less. Her story is already a legend. She's this town's heroic final girl, their virgin angel.

Monster Vision: Halloween masks floating down that same river the kids jump into. But just as one slaughter is not enough for Billie Jean, our masked killer, one victory is not enough for Lindsay. Her high school is full of final girls, and she's not the only one who knows the rules of the game.

When Lindsay chooses a host of virgins, misfits, and former final girls to replace the slaughtered members of her original homecoming court, it's not just a fight for survival-it's a fight to become The Last Final Girl.]]> 206 Stephen Graham Jones 1621050513 Craig 0 to-read 3.11 2012 The Last Final Girl
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: Craig
average rating: 3.11
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Where the Crawdads Sing 36809135
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.]]> 384 Delia Owens 0735219117 Craig 3 4.35 2018 Where the Crawdads Sing
author: Delia Owens
name: Craig
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2022/04/29
date added: 2022/04/29
shelves:
review:
4 stars for the beautiful writing - the author’s background as a nonfiction writer about her work as a wildlife scientist shines through. Unfortunately, 2 stars for the predictable plot and weak character development (and please don’t get me started on the police procedure caricature).
]]> Home Before Dark 50833559 What was it like? Living in that house.

Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.

Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.

In the latest thriller from New York Times bestseller Riley Sager, a woman returns to the house made famous by her father’s bestselling horror memoir. Is the place really haunted by evil forces, as her father claimed? Or are there more earthbound—and dangerous—secrets hidden within its walls?]]> 389 Riley Sager 1524745170 Craig 4 sharon-recommendations 4.05 2020 Home Before Dark
author: Riley Sager
name: Craig
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2022/04/21
date added: 2022/04/21
shelves: sharon-recommendations
review:
I loved the premise, and the bulk of the book was a fun ride, but the climax was a bit too predictable and not as fulfilling as I hoped.
]]> A Flicker in the Dark 57693172
Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.]]> 357 Stacy Willingham 1250803829 Craig 0 to-read 3.96 2022 A Flicker in the Dark
author: Stacy Willingham
name: Craig
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The House Across the Lake 58909880 The New York Times best-selling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night is back with his most unexpected thriller yet.

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.

With his trademark blend of sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy surprises, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake unveils more than one twist that will shock readers until the very last page.]]> 369 Riley Sager Craig 0 to-read 3.57 2022 The House Across the Lake
author: Riley Sager
name: Craig
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Kill Creek 34065268
When best-selling horror author Sam McGarver is invited to spend Halloween night in one of the country’s most infamous haunted houses, he reluctantly agrees. At least he won’t be alone; joining him are three other masters of the macabre, writers who have helped shape modern horror. But what begins as a simple publicity stunt will become a fight for survival. The entity they have awakened will follow them, torment them, threatening to make them a part of the bloody legacy of Kill Creek.]]> 416 Scott Thomas Craig 4 3.73 2017 Kill Creek
author: Scott Thomas
name: Craig
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2021/11/19
date added: 2022/04/03
shelves:
review:
This book gave me all the vibes that I craved as a horror-obsessed teenager in the 80s, and I loved it!
]]> Five Total Strangers 49169365 A hitched ride home in a snow storm turns sinister when one of the passengers is plotting for the ride to end in disaster.

When Mira flies home to spend Christmas with her mother in Pittsburgh, a record-breaking blizzard results in a cancelled layover. Desperate to get to her grief-ridden mother in the wake of a family death, Mira hitches a ride with a group of friendly college kids who were on her initial flight.

As the drive progresses and weather conditions become more treacherous, Mira realizes that the four other passengers she's stuck in the car with don't actually know one another.

Soon, they're not just dealing with heavy snowfall and ice-slick roads, but the fact that somebody will stop at nothing to ensure their trip ends in a deadly disaster.]]> 302 Natalie D. Richards 1492657212 Craig 2 sharon-recommendations 3.27 2020 Five Total Strangers
author: Natalie D. Richards
name: Craig
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2020
rating: 2
read at: 2022/02/13
date added: 2022/04/03
shelves: sharon-recommendations
review:
I had high hopes for this book based on the initial setup, and the story had enough twists to keep me interested. Unfortunately it fell apart at the end and the resolution was disappointing.
]]> The Turn of the Key 42080142
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the unravelling events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the cameras installed around the house, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman, Jack Grant.

It was everything.

She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder. Which means someone else is.

Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.]]> 337 Ruth Ware 1501188771 Craig 4 3.91 2019 The Turn of the Key
author: Ruth Ware
name: Craig
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/04/03
date added: 2022/04/03
shelves:
review:
I devoured this book in under 24 hours and loved every minute of it. Ruth Ware is becoming one of my favorite mystery authors.
]]> This Is How It Always Is 40409102 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B01HW6Z3FG

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.]]> 338 Laurie Frankel Craig 0 to-read 4.26 2017 This Is How It Always Is
author: Laurie Frankel
name: Craig
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/03/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Generation X-ed 59443589 These Gen-X storytellers once stayed out unsupervised until the streetlights came on, and what they brought home with them will terrify you. ]]> 337 Rebecca Rowland Craig 0 to-read 4.46 2022 Generation X-ed
author: Rebecca Rowland
name: Craig
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Road of Bones 57693175 A stunning supernatural thriller set in Siberia, where a film crew is covering an elusive ghost story about the Kolyma Highway, a road built on top of the bones of prisoners of Stalin's gulag.

Kolyma Highway, otherwise known as the Road of Bones, is a 1200 mile stretch of Siberian road where winter temperatures can drop as low as sixty degrees below zero. Under Stalin, at least eighty Soviet gulags were built along the route to supply the USSR with a readily available workforce, and over time hundreds of thousands of prisoners died in the midst of their labors. Their bodies were buried where they fell, plowed under the permafrost, underneath the road.

Felix Teigland, or "Teig," is a documentary producer, and when he learns about the Road of Bones, he realizes he's stumbled upon untapped potential. Accompanied by his camera operator, Teig hires a local Yakut guide to take them to Oymyakon, the coldest settlement on Earth. Teig is fascinated by the culture along the Road of Bones, and encounters strange characters on the way to the Oymyakon, but when the team arrives, they find the village mysteriously abandoned apart from a mysterious 9-year-old girl. Then, chaos ensues.

A malignant, animistic shaman and the forest spirits he commands pursues them as they flee the abandoned town and barrel across miles of deserted permafrost. As the chase continues along this road paved with the suffering of angry ghosts, what form will the echoes of their anguish take? Teig and the others will have to find the answers if they want to survive the Road of Bones.]]> 230 Christopher Golden 1250274303 Craig 0 to-read 3.36 2022 Road of Bones
author: Christopher Golden
name: Craig
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Morning Star (Morgenstjernen, #1)]]> 57799745
Above them all, a huge star suddenly appears in the sky. No one, not even the astronomers, knows for sure what kind of phenomenon it is. Is there a star burning itself out? Why then has no one seen it before? Or is it a brand new star? Slowly the interest in the news subsides, and life goes on, but not quite as before, for unusual phenomena begin to occur on the fringes of human existence.

Over these days in August, the characters the novel follows will each understand what is happening differently, and all face new struggles in their own lives.]]> 666 Karl Ove Knausgård 0399563423 Craig 0 to-read 3.89 2020 The Morning Star (Morgenstjernen, #1)
author: Karl Ove Knausgård
name: Craig
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Boy in the Woods 55821259
At first, he's thrilled. Not only does he get to hang out with the older counselors, but his secret crush is staying over until morning too. Best of all, the other campers - the ones who mercilessly made fun of Eddie's disfigured face - are long gone.
But as sun sets, an unholy terror creeps in. Something evil has infected the counselors, and Eddie willhave to do everything he can - even kill - if he hopes to survive the night.]]> 84 Scott Thomas Craig 0 to-read 3.77 2020 The Boy in the Woods
author: Scott Thomas
name: Craig
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Troop 17571466 358 Nick Cutter 1476717710 Craig 5 sharon-recommendations 3.83 2014 The Troop
author: Nick Cutter
name: Craig
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/23
date added: 2021/09/23
shelves: sharon-recommendations
review:
Stephen King said “The Troop scared the hell out of me, and I couldn’t put it down. This is old-school horror at its best.� I completely agree and that’s really all that needs to be said.
]]> Red Moon 15826602
They are our neighbors, our mothers, our lovers.

They change.

When government agents kick down Claire Forrester's front door and murder her parents, Claire realizes just how different she is.

Patrick Gamble was nothing special until the day he got on a plane and hours later stepped off it, the only passenger left alive, a hero.

Chase Williams has sworn to protect the people of the United States from the menace in their midst, but he is becoming the very thing he has promised to destroy.

So far, the threat has been controlled by laws and violence and drugs. But the night of the red moon is coming, when an unrecognizable world will emerge...and the battle for humanity will begin.]]> 832 Benjamin Percy 145554535X Craig 0 to-read 3.36 2013 Red Moon
author: Benjamin Percy
name: Craig
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Final Girl Support Group 55829194 In horror movies, the final girls are the ones left standingwhen the credits roll. They made it through the worst night of their lives…but what happens after?

Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. Fromchainsaws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films—movies like The TexasChainsaw Massacre, ANightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.]]> 352 Grady Hendrix 059320123X Craig 5 3.49 2021 The Final Girl Support Group
author: Grady Hendrix
name: Craig
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2021/09/16
date added: 2021/09/16
shelves:
review:
Absolutely fantastic fun! The women who survived the slasher sprees that inspired the most iconic films of the 80s & 90s have been meeting in a secret support group for decades. But now someone has decided that their time is up, and starts picking them off one by one. Who will be the last Final Girl left standing? You’ll be guessing right until the end, and will love the ride!
]]> Survive the Night 55628983
Behind the wheel is Josh Baxter, a stranger Charlie met by the college ride share board, who also has a good reason for leaving university in the middle of term. On the road they share their stories, carefully avoiding the subject dominating the news - the Campus Killer, who's tied up and stabbed three students in the span of a year, has just struck again.

Travelling the lengthy journey between university and their final destination, Charlie begins to notice discrepancies in Josh's story.

As she begins to plan her escape from the man she is becoming certain is the killer, she starts to suspect that Josh knows exactly what she's thinking.

Meaning that she could very well end up as his next victim.]]> 336 Riley Sager 0593183169 Craig 0 to-read 3.51 2021 Survive the Night
author: Riley Sager
name: Craig
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Invited 40065317 A chilling ghost story with a twist: the New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People returns to the woods of Vermont to tell the story of a husband and wife who don't simply move into a haunted house--they build one. . . .

In a quest for a simpler life, Helen and Nate have abandoned the comforts of suburbia to take up residence on forty-four acres of rural land where they will begin the ultimate, aspirational do-it-yourself project: building the house of their dreams. When they discover that this beautiful property has a dark and violent past, Helen, a former history teacher, becomes consumed by the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a century ago. With her passion for artifacts, Helen finds special materials to incorporate into the house--a beam from an old schoolroom, bricks from a mill, a mantel from a farmhouse--objects that draw her deeper into the story of Hattie and her descendants, three generations of Breckenridge women, each of whom died suspiciously. As the building project progresses, the house will become a place of menace and unfinished business: a new home, now haunted, that beckons its owners and their neighbors toward unimaginable danger.]]> 353 Jennifer McMahon 0385541384 Craig 3 3.78 2019 The Invited
author: Jennifer McMahon
name: Craig
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/09/02
date added: 2021/09/02
shelves:
review:
This book was exactly what I have come to expect from Jennifer McMahon: a slow-burn ghost story in a New England town with a dark past. I enjoyed it, and would have given 4 stars if the ending and resolution didn’t feel so abrupt and contrived.
]]> Twelve Nights at Rotter House 43866878
When he convinces the owner of the infamous Rotterdam Mansion to let him stay on the premises for two weeks, he believes he's finally found the location that will bring him a bestseller. As with his other gigs, he sets rules -- no leaving the house for any reason, refrain from outside contact, and sleep during the day.

When Thomas Ruth, Felix's oldest friend and fellow horror film obsessive, joins him on the project, the two dance around a recent and unspeakably painful rough-patch in their friendship, but eventually fall into their old rhythms of dark humor and movie trivia. That's when things start going -- screams from upstairs, figures in the thresholds, and more than what should be in any basement. Felix realizes the book he's writing, and his very state of mind, is tilting from nonfiction into all out horror, and the shocking climax answers a question that's been staring these men in the face: In Rotter House, who's haunting who?]]> 304 J.W. Ocker 1684423686 Craig 0 to-read 3.36 2019 Twelve Nights at Rotter House
author: J.W. Ocker
name: Craig
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Deep 21412284
A strange plague called the ’Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys, then the not-so-small things, like how to drive or the letters of the alphabet. Their bodies forget how to function involuntarily. There is no cure.

But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Mariana Trench, a heretofore-unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia”—a universal healer, from initial reports—has been discovered. It may just be the key to eradicating the ’Gets.

In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But when the station goes incommunicado, a brave few descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths . . . and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine.]]> 394 Nick Cutter 1476717737 Craig 0 to-read 3.41 2015 The Deep
author: Nick Cutter
name: Craig
average rating: 3.41
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/31
shelves: to-read
review:

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