Tag Archives: horror

Book Title:
What Big Teeth
Book Author:
Rose Szabo
Page Count:
394
Publishing Date:
February 2nd, 2021
Publisher:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Date Read:
December 20th, 2021
Format:
Hardcover
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

Rose Szabo's thrilling debut is a dark and thrilling novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement.

Eleanor Zarrin has been estranged from her wild family for years. When she flees boarding school after a horrifying incident, she goes to the only place she thinks is safe: the home she left behind. But when she gets there, she struggles to fit in with her monstrous relatives, who prowl the woods around the family estate and read fortunes in the guts of birds.

Eleanor finds herself desperately trying to hold the family together — in order to save them all, Eleanor must learn to embrace her family of monsters and tame the darkness inside her.

My Review

I started reading this book when I was in a reading slump, and because of that it took me a good amount of time to finish it. We’re talking like a month. Which is completely unlike me, but it wasn’t … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Come Closer
Book Author:
Sara Gran
Page Count:
196
Publishing Date:
July 1st, 2003
Publisher:
Soho Press
Date Read:
March 1st, 2022
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Purchased

Synopsis

A recurrent, unidentifiable noise in her apartment. A memo to her boss that's replaced by obscene insults. Amanda—a successful architect in a happy marriage—finds her life going off kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she's doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea.

The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane?

My Review

“What we think is impossible happens all the time.” Come Closer by Sara Gran is one of those books that I took a chance on – it sounded interesting and it was available to read for free on Prime Reading, … Continue reading

5 stars
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Book Title:
The Patient
Book Author:
Jasper DeWitt
Page Count:
224
Publishing Date:
July 7th 2020
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date Read:
November 28th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

The Silent Patient by way of Stephen King: Parker, a young, overconfident psychiatrist new to his job at a mental asylum, miscalculates catastrophically when he undertakes curing a mysterious and profoundly dangerous patient.

In a series of online posts, Parker H., a young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England. Through this internet message board, Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient.

We learn, as Parker did on his first day at the hospital, of the facility’s most difficult, profoundly dangerous case—a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at age six. This patient has no known diagnosis. His symptoms seem to evolve over time. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.

Desperate and fearful, the hospital’s directors keep him strictly confined and allow minimal contact with staff for their own safety, convinced that releasing him would unleash catastrophe on the outside world. Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes it upon himself to discover what ails this mystery patient and finally cure him. But from his first encounter with the mystery patient, things spiral out of control, and, facing a possibility beyond his wildest imaginings, Parker is forced to question everything he thought he knew.

Fans of Sarah Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes and Paul Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World will be riveted by Jasper DeWitt’s astonishing debut.

My Review

My gosh it has been a long time since I’ve written a book review! I have been reading, I just…have been really lazy and haven’t reviewed any books in a while. Not sure why, honestly – I think about how … Continue reading

3.5 stars
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Book Title:
Oak Avenue
Book Author:
Brandi Reeds
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #7
Page Count:
72
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
March 1st, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A young wife and mother—new to this town and to its secrets—learns just how much she doesn’t know in this tingly tale of all the things hiding in the dark at the top of the stairs, from bestselling author Brandi Reeds.

While renovating her Victorian home, Ana Clementine finds an ornate door buried under forty years of earth. Once she restores it to the attic, she starts hearing whispers, her loving husband becomes a stranger, and her baby daughter learns a chilling new word. Maybe Ana has unlocked the house’s secrets. Or maybe she’s becoming just a little unhinged herself.

Brandi Reeds’s Oak Avenue is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

Oak Avenue, written by Brandi Reeds, is the seventh and final story in the Dark Corners collection from Amazon Original Stories. Because the story is kind of like a haunted house story, I was looking forward to this one the … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
The Remedy
Book Author:
Adam Haslett
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #6
Page Count:
29
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
March 1st, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

He’s a man with a body under siege—and the willingness to proceed with a cure so miraculous all one can do is gasp—in this chilling story by New York Times bestselling author Adam Haslett.

After years of traditional treatments and therapies, Derrick still suffers from pain ineluctable enough that it has become his identity. Then he hears of an exclusive, very private New York clinic that promises relief. It comes highly recommended by a friend. The multisession remedy unfolds as a sensorial wonder that’s so illuminating it’s enough to bring tears to Derrick’s eyes. It’s all working so well. So unexpectedly well.

Adam Haslett’s The Remedy is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

The Remedy is the sixth installment in the Dark Corners series from Amazon Original Stories. So far, I have found I really enjoyed quite a few of these stories, and a few of them just weren’t really my thing. Based … Continue reading

2 stars
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Book Title:
The Tangled Woods
Book Author:
Emily Raboteau
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #5
Page Count:
37
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
February 28th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

He went on the road expecting the worst of America, but what if the worst of America was also in him? This is the unsettling story of a man in a midlife crisis and his unexpected awakening, by award-winning writer Emily Raboteau.

Poison-tongued film critic Reginald Wright is known for his creative insults and intolerance for the garbage culture, insufferable rudeness, and thoughtless racism of predictably common people. Now, against his better judgment, and with a marriage in crisis, he’s attempting a getaway in the Poconos that quickly fulfills his every low expectation. In fact, it’s becoming a nightmare. And that’s just what Reginald needs to wake up.

Emily Raboteau’s The Tangled Woods is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

Here we are at number five of the Dark Corners series, The Tangled Woods, written by Emily Raboteau. The cover of this was kind of creepy so I was pretty excited to dive into this. The synopsis also sounded interesting … Continue reading

2 stars
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Book Title:
Miao Dao
Book Author:
Joyce Carol Oates
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #4
Page Count:
66
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
February 27th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A girl comes of age with a vengeance—and help from a friend—in a tale of unnerving suspense from National Book Award winner and literary master Joyce Carol Oates.

Bad things have been happening since Mia began to mature. Her dad left. Boys at school can’t keep their hands to themselves. A lecherous stepfather has moved in. Her only refuge is an abandoned lot on her suburban cul-de-sac, crawling with feral felines—one of which follows Mia home. Ghostly white and affectionate, she is Mia’s new companion and—as Mia’s tormenters will soon discover—her fierce protector.

Joyce Carol Oates’s Miao Dao is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

Miao Dao is the fourth installment in the Dark Corners series from Amazon Original Stories. The story is by Joyce Carol Oates, and while I have heard of this author before, I have not had the pleasure of reading any … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
There's a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed
Book Author:
Edgar Cantero
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #3
Page Count:
24
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
February 26th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

The thrill of a sleepover becomes sheer terror as kids voice their greatest fears into existence in this cheeky, vividly cinematic tale by New York Times bestselling author Edgar Cantero. Lights out.

It’s bad enough that its venom-dripping chelicerae can slice through flesh like warm butter. Worse? It’s right there under the bunk. It’s a fact now. To make it through the night, the children must obey the rules: don’t get out of bed, stay out of the shadows, and don’t wake the beast. But as the threats multiply, so do the rules of survival. And with the safety of dawn still hours away, the fun is just beginning.

Edgar Cantero’s There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider under Your Bed is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider Under Your Bed is the third book in the Dark Corners series from Amazon. This is the shortest story so far, with only twenty-some pages, and it didn’t take very long to read at all … Continue reading

3 stars
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Book Title:
The Sleep Tight Motel
Book Author:
Lisa Unger
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #2
Page Count:
48
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
February 26th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

A woman on the run finds refuge in a motel at the edge of the woods, with plenty of vacancies. Check in for the night with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.

Eve has a fake ID, a .38, and a violent lover receding in the rearview mirror. He’ll never find her at the isolated motel, and its kindly manager is happy to ease her fears. But if Eve is the only guest, whom does she keep hearing on the other side of the wall? Eve won’t get a good night’s rest until she finds out.

Lisa Unger’s The Sleep Tight Motel is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

This is the second book in the Dark Corners series from Amazon Original Stories. These are short stories that are meant to read in one sitting or so, and promise to give you that quick burst of horror that you’re … Continue reading

4 stars
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Book Title:
Hannah-Beast
Book Author:
Jennifer McMahon
Book Series:
Dark Corners, #1
Page Count:
49
Publishing Date:
September 27th, 2018
Publisher:
Amazon Original Stories
Date Read:
February 25th, 2021
Format:
Kindle Edition
Source:
Prime Reading

Synopsis

The fate of a lonely girl becomes part of a town’s shameful secret history in Thriller Award winner Jennifer McMahon’s terrifying story of guilt, retribution, and one tragic Halloween night.

Thirty-four years ago, on October 31, poor Hannah Talbott took part in a scavenger hunt gone violently wrong. The mean girls made sure of it. To this day, for a haunted local mother, the most unsettling Halloween costume of all is an urban legend they call Hannah-Beast. It’s a reminder of the past she can’t forget. Especially tonight when it’s come back, so close to home.

Jennifer McMahon’s Hannah-Beast is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.

My Review

In 1982, a girl named Hannah was teased and emotionally abused by a group of girls, and despite that, she didn’t recognize it and thought that they were her friends. They pulled horrible pranks on her, including one that went … Continue reading

5 stars
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