• I Am Behind You - John Ajvide Lindqvist

I thought that I was gonna be hooked from the first page, but I became less enchanted as the book went on. I love stories with many different viewpoints being told and this had a bunch of interesting ones, but so much was left open ended. I love an evil kid plot line, but this one fizzled before going completely ferocious. I didn’t like the ending but I rarely ever do. I wish that there had been just a tiny bit more to everyone’s endings. 2.5/5

  • The Sun Down Motel - Simone St. James

This was easy to read and something about it kept me going but overall it was super predictable. I guessed both of the twists well ahead of time and the ghost element was a nice touch but didn’t have enough substance or scare. 1.5/5

  • Fledgling - Octavia E. Butler

Cant say enough good things about this book. Written perfectly. You love and care for every single character, the plot was fast paced and engrossing. I wanted it to be 3 times longer, or a full series. Im obsessed with her take on the Vampire lore. How they interact with humans. I cried thinking about how much I wish it was true and I could be a symbiont to a vampire. The entire book filled me with intense longing. 5/5

  • American War - Omar El Akkad

This was a good and interesting read. I like the perspective switch between the aunt and nephew. Also enjoyed the surprise Queer relationship. Scary subject matter because it feels like it could really happen. 3.5/5

  • The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell

Very well written but also very confusing. By the end I still didn’t understand how everything related to each other. He writes from different peoples perspectives and it was always jarring when he switched because he made me like each character so much. It took me longer than I expected to read it because I needed a break with each character shift. But it was very interesting and engrossing. 3.5/5

  • Slade House - David Mitchell

Existing within the world of the Bone Clocks, I loved this little book much more than the aforementioned book. It was easy to read and understand while being eerie and unique. A different characters perspective every chapter and I liked each of them for different reasons. A tasty little bite of a book. 4/5

  • Wool - Hugh Howey

Amazing concept and near flawless execution. It gave you multiple characters to care about but didn’t stuff the book full of them. The world was scary yet realistic and the author explained things in a smart but accessible way. 5/5

  • 20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill

My first Joe Hill short story collection. I liked them very much. There was scary stuff and surprises but nothing too gross. He creates very full worlds in a short amount of time and I like his characters. 4.5/5

  • The Silver Star - Jeannette Walls

I like her biography better but she is just a good writer. Makes you care about her characters. I like how she writes abo it mental illness and family. 3.5/5

  • A God in the Shed - JF Dubeau

It started super strong but then started to feel more like a youth fiction story. Lots of good and creepy ideas but didn’t fill out enough of them. I kept expecting it to be better than it was. Talented writer, but should commit to less ideas that he can really delve into. 3/5

  • A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

The most beautiful and heart wrenching book about loosing a parent to illness that I’ve ever read. I tried almost the whole time I read it. The reveal of the boy thinking he deserved to be punished because he wanted it all to be over was really powerful for me. 5/5

  • Horrorstor - Grady Hendrix

I love this book so much. Amazing re-read. Grady is a master of writing truly horrific things with an perfect humorous take. The choice to make the book like a catalogue is brilliant, I love the descriptions of furniture and all the other extras like staff review or the warden’s notes. 5/5

  • The Children’s Home - Charles Lambert

It was poetic and pretty but too obscure for me. All symbolism and just keeps getting weirder and weirder with no satisfactory explanations. I felt like it had a lot of promise in the beginning but quickly revealed that it would never make much sense to me. 1.5/5

  • Red Dragon - Thomas Harris

A good crime story although I did wish that there was more Lecter in it. Had a slightly cheesy 80s crime vibe to it but in a good way. Glad that I decided to read this series in order. 3.5/5

  • Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris

I don’t know, this one didn’t really hit it for me. There continues to be not enough Lecter in these. And all the talk of the “fat” girl victims was just eye rolling. Like honestly it was nauseating. 2.2/5

  • Hannibal - Thomas Harris

I really liked this one. It made me glad that I suffered through the first two. You actually get Hannibal content and the way it ended with Clarice was genuinely shocking. The whole series should have been less cop shit and more intense Hannibal stuff. 4/5

  • The Troop - Nick Cutter

The writing was really good and compelling but it had too much animal violence in it for me to fully love it. I had to skip lots of sections and even still read too much. But it has made me want to read more from the author because he narrated in a fantastic way and obviously has great ideas. 3/5

  • Unwind - Neil Shusterman

At the beginning I thought that it might be too juvenile but then I got completely sucked into the world and didn’t want it to end. The part where they describe the “unwinding” will stay with me. For a youth fiction title, I thought it was well thought out and delightfully creepy. 4.5/5

  • The Drowning Girl - Caitlin R. Kiernan

Gorgeously written but hard to follow in lots of places. I kept waiting for a big reveal and was underwhelmed by how much I ended up learning. Liked the gay representation. 4/5

  • Fever Dream - Samantha Schweblin

This book annoyed me a lot. It started really strong and I liked the way it’s written (a conversation with no breaks almost stream of consciousness style) but at the end it didn’t answer anything and was just confusing and vague. 1/5

  • Sawkill Girls - Claire Legrand

I loved this book! There were tiny bits of dialogue that seemed juvenile but the book is YA. Loved the gayness and the asexuality (I think my first time reading about an asexual character) It was creepy enough and sweet enough and ended on a satisfying note. 4.5/5

  • The Final Girl Support Group - Grady Hendrix

This was a lovely read. I wanted more icky details but the way he didn’t share everything made a really creepy atmosphere. It was less comical than some of his other books but it still had his classic tongue in cheek vibe. 5/5

  • Pandemonium - Daryl Gregory

This book was surprising and funny and made me think. I liked the twist. It left me with some questions unanswered and it wasn’t a perfectly “happy” ending but I’m glad to have read it. 4/5

  • The Devil in Silver - Victor Lavalle

Very interesting read! Complex cast of characters and the devil antagonist was creepy and mysterious. I wish that a little more explanation had been done about why everyone saw him with the Buffalo head but the confrontation at the end was really satisfying. 4/5

  • The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter

I expected these short stories to be more modern and was surprised that they read like classic literature pieces. I didn’t absorb everything because of the poetic writing, but there were some cool twists and turns. Overall it was much hornier than I expected. My favorite story was only 3 pages long, “The Werewolf”. 3/5

jan 17 2021 ∞
jan 10 2022 +