Another month here and gone and some really good reads to show for it, if I do say so myself! I managed to read a total of 10, (with one DNF in there, what a shame!!), which is not the best I've done, but also not the worst!
Let's see what I read, shall we?
Night's Edge does for vampires what A Questionable Shape did for zombies... it humanizes the monsters. And it does it quite well.
In it, we are introduced to Mia, a twentysomething year old woman who still lives at home with her mother, has no social life, and a very tight curfew. Because Mia's whole existence, ever since her early teens, revolves around helping her mother Izzy maintain a semi-normal lifestyle. Because that's when her mother got infected by an incurable virus. A virus that caused Izzy to become deathly allergic to the sunlight and to require fresh human blood for sustenance. So she's relied heavily on Mia to help keep her secret, keep her fed, and keep her out of the "recovery" centers.
So yeah, co-dependency and mentally and physically abusive relationships are all up in here! Kerin also manages to delicately balance sexual identity, societal treatment of a "lesser" race, and yup, even gun law, in a way that adds to the tension rather than detracts from it.
I don't want to ruin the ride, but ultimately there are good and bad vamps - those who go out and hunt and desire to buck the system and reclaim their rightful place in society, and those who prefer to fly under the radar and simply survive. The longer Mia supports her mother, the more she begins to question which side Izzy is on and whether Izzy's been keeping secrets from her, especially when an sleezy old flame, the man who 'turned' her mother, re-enters her life. Which then causes Mia to question how much longer she's willing to put up with the life she's been forced to live.
And I'll let you wonder where it goes from there....
The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn
This one has been on my to-buy list for a while so I finally snagged it on Kindle. I was expecting it to be a little creepier, but I'm also coming to realize that I might have a slightly higher tolerance for the horror genre than I expected. I mean, put a horror film on, and I'm cringing and squirming and likely going to have nightmares when I go to bed. But reading horror... meh. For some reason, unless it's gross ass body horror, or has spiders doing spidery things, it doesn't seem to hit the same.
That said, this was pretty darn good. In it, a man survives a horrible car accident that takes his 7 year old son Ryder. Unable to cope with the grief and loss, he pushes his wife away with alcohol and pills. His therapist recommends visiting his childhood home in Arkansas, which has remained vacant ever since his aunt, who raised him, died after a terrible fall. The suggestion was meant as a way for Aaron to work on himself while he works to renovate the house, but he ends up getting much more than he signed up for. The house is legandary for being haunted, and though Aaron doesn't much buy in to the paranormal, it seems dead set on proving him wrong. Something sinister has been waiting for him to return.
The Bird Eater is a cautionary tale that will make you think twice about going home again.
Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca
If you're looking for dark and bleak, you've come to the right place. You'll meet Ghost, a widower who continues to suffer physical and mental damage after a car accident claimed his wife and unborn child; Gemma, mother to a young blind girl and whom Ghost meets during one of his routine visits to the hospital; Malik and Brett, a young gay couple who recently moved into the neighborhood and are finding the place less than welcoming; and Heart Crowley, who has discovered a way to harness a god-like power and who will forever change the lives of these very different but very necessary people.
There were some cranky plotlines that bugged me a little and a few moments where I REALLY had to let go of my inner critic, because this IS a horror novel, so there's the implied expectation to suspend reality while reading it. Each time I encountered one of those moments, I treated them much like I do when I'm watching a scary movie and keep screaming at the stupid actors to not go into the basement or get pissed at the people who can't seem to run without falling every five seconds while they're being chased... I breathe out an "I told you so" or just shake my head and shrug and move on.
Going into this, I had really high hopes, and while it didn't fully meet them, it was still a heck of a read. Everything the Darkness Eats is part cosmic horror, part missing persons mystery, and part smalltown secrets you're better off not uncovering.
Chaotic Good by Lee Klein
For those familiar with Neutral Evil))) it seems not much has changed - he's still concert going solo, still getting high and drunk in anticipation of the show, still falling down deep mental rabbit holes... and yet everything has changed - he meets up with a friend who is going through a bad time, he's recently relocated to a new home, his father's health is ailing, he's obsessing over his daughter, and people are catching the "Times Square Flu".
Honestly, Chaotic Good won't be for everyone. It's very much an auto-fictionish, stream of consciousnessish, disconnected yet intricately interconnected internal dialouge with oneself. An assessment and projection of self during the lead up to and the come down from. But for those of you who like to spend time with yourself, chat up strangers on the train/ in the bar/ in the seat next you at the show, and psych yourself up for what you know will be a good time, this will feel like home.
To give you a taste of just how all over the place this book can be:
- consideration is given to the renovation of the Penn Station bathrooms
- the smell of shit on the train causes him to wonder if he stepped in some
- there's a pair of headphones that never gets fully untangled
- and a co-worker's desktop background that annoys the shit out of him
- the overthinking of a momentary pedestrian interaction
- a reference to his other concert novella Neutral Evil)))
- a discussion about non competitive soccer games
- and some random dude in the big box store parking lot who popped out the dent on his bumper with a plunger
- and oh so much more
Chlorine by Jade Song
Chlorine was an impulse buy while I was browsing the new fiction section at B&N. I typically don't buy hardcovers, unless the book was something I was highly anticipating and planned to read immediately (cause lord knows, with the gigantic tbr piles I have, I most likely won't get to it in this decade and can wait until it comes out on paperback). I hadn't heard of it, but the cover was intriguing and the description even more so - it claims to be a "dark, unsettling horror tale". And having recently read Cassandra Khaw's The Salt Grows Heavy, I was 100% down with reading another horror mermaid tale. Only....
This. was. not. that.
Not to say that it's not a good read, because I read it cover to cover in one day. It's a very compelling read, and it pulls you along with practiced anticipation - it opens in the second person, with the narrator speaking directly to you, dear reader, informing you that something has happened, something that will be revealed over the next 200 pages, and GODdamn if we don't want to know what it is. Like right now. I mean... peep this opening "You are not here of your own free will. You are here because I desired you first. I lured you to me using my intentional charms: my ethereal beauty, my siren song, my six pack, my tail with scales embroidered in flesh." You see what I mean?!
I don't want to spoil the book in the event you choose to read it, but you should know this... it is not horror. At least, not in the conventional genre way. But what takes place within its pages could certainly be considered unsettling. It explores mental health issues, sexuality, body mutilation, and the devestating impact of the adult male gaze in relation to young coming-of-age women.
Quite a stunning debut, once you realize the only horror here is the misclassification on the inside flap.
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G Summers
I was really hesitant when it came to picking this one up. The food critic piece kept throwing me. Reading about writers writing and foodies fooding is not my idea of a good time. It didn't sound like something I would enjoy reading, despite the cannibalistic nature of the narrator. And I was partially right. A solid read, if a little meandering and long winded, though definitely not making it to any of my favorite lists.
When you boil it down (eh heh heh heh), we've got a woman who loves good sex almost as much as she loves good food. She sleeps around A LOT, with her bosses, with her co-workers, with married men, and gets butt-hurt when the men decide to start stepping things back. During one particularly strange incident in which she accidentally hits her boyfriend with his own car and sends him flying over a guard rail to find him impaled and dying, organs and guts exposed to the great wide open, she impulsively removes his liver, brings it home with her, and cooks it up. No tears, no guilt, just a yummy meal and a full stomach.
And thus begins a new chapter in her life... if you can't live without them, kill em and eat their tasty bits. Gotta love a woman who voraciously goes after what she wants!
Piercing by Ryu Murakami
I'm beginning to think that some of ya'lls definition of horror is much different from my definition of horror (yes, I'm looking at all of YOU who have this shelved as horror here on goodreads).
I picked this one up after seeing it on one of @baker_reads reels. His quick 10 second summary of it made it sound so much better than the actual book summary. And I'm quite glad I did (false horror shelving notwithstanding, lol)
This book is psychological horror, without a doubt. It's certainly unhinged. But it's 100 percent not straight up HORROR horror.
Here we have a father standing over his four month old daughter's crib contemplating stabbing her with an ice pick, while his wife rests peacefully on the other side of the room in their bed. He feels pretty certain he won't actually go through with it, but every night for the past ten days, he finds himself here, hovering over the crib, with the ice pick in hand, contemplating it. He worries himself sick over it, can feel the sweating and smell the charred tissue and then the prickling feeling all over his skin that makes him want to scream. He's in control, but for how long? Maybe if he stabs someone else, he thinks. Maybe that will satify the urge? Yes. Stabbing someone else will bring him calm. But where would he do it, and to whom, and how, without getting caught?
As he puts his plan into action, a series of odd events lands him face to face with someone just like him - someone hiding a dark disturbing past, someone who's also on the brink of losing control. And readers, we are content to sit back in our front row seats, shoveling popcorn down our throats, letting this fucked up story play itself out.
I wasn't prepared for how much I was going to like this book. It's so full of love and tension and confusion and atmosphere and the cosmic horror aspect blended so well into the storyline... it was just * chef's kiss *.
And hello? How in the heck does it manage to pack so much into so few pages!
I don't want to say too much about it because I want you to go read it and nothing I say will do it justice. But ultimately, it's a coming of age story about a boy who's existing pretty happily with his mom and dad and his dog Teach until his estranged grandfather shows up out of the blue. The boy can sense the changes his arrival is causing... not only to the family dynamics, but also to him, deep down inside... something that feels as though its trying to get out.
(and yes, I subtracted one star because of the dog. Damn you, Coney!)
A God in the Shed by JF Dubeau
This is one of the better horror books I've read in a while. When I saw it on one of @baker_reads' reels, I had no idea that it was part of a triology, and just ordered book two. I'm not normally a fan of series but since I started this one, and liked it, I've got to see it through!
A God in the Shed is set in a small town with a big ass secret. Inspector Crowley has just identified the Saint-Ferdinand Killer, a man responsible for over 20 deaths in nearly as many years. You would think this would put the townsfolk at ease, but it doesn't. Because the deaths were serving a greater purpose and now the very thing they were meant to contain, a god of death and hate, a god who eats human souls, will be let loose again. And the villagers fates end up in the hands of a fifteen year old girl named Venus, who manages to unknowingly trap it.
It's creepy, it's gory, and it's steeped in centuries-old dark magic. A God in the Shed unravels its mysteries slowly but is also incredibly well paced.. I flew through the 400 pages in no time as it continiously dragged me deeper and deeper into its dark underbelly!
And the DNF...
Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina
I tried listening to this on audio and it just wasn't working for me at all. I hung in there for about 4 hours but had to call it quits. I really liked the narrator's voice but the chapters are told out of sequence, which made it really difficult to keep track of what was happening when.
Maybe it works better in print, but I'm just not interested enough to give a different format a try.
How long do you give an audiobook before shutting it off for good?
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