The Nightmare Man is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a fast-paced horror mystery novel with a pace that had me gripping the edge of my seat wThe Nightmare Man is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a fast-paced horror mystery novel with a pace that had me gripping the edge of my seat with everything coming at me at once. What really stressed me out though was the character of Mills. The poor man had so many conflicting conditions in his old age that revolved around sleep. He had insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep paralysis which honestly is the real horror of the book.
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I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. The story would go in different directions that kept changing up the book where there was never a dull moment. The Nightmare Man had twists and turns that were surprisingly unsurprising at times.
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The characters were interesting, and I enjoyed the relationships between all of the characters too. I don’t like it when characters hold secrets from each other and the reader throughout a novel. This story had our characters leave certain things vague on purpose. Some of that was because the chapter would end on a cliffhanger. That of course, sucked me into reading the next chapter. The biggest surprise for me was how quickly some characters would get around to believing farfetched things that other characters experienced.
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I would normally try to give a summary of the story, but I feel like it would give too much away. My bare bones summary is that an author’s books come to life in a small town. Except it’s not just the graphic killings in his book, but other weird mysteries and crimes that have haunted a town for years. Strap in because the ending comes at you in a rush while leaving room to write a sequel. The book played out like a horror movie with its pacing, and I actually think this book would work almost better as a movie.
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Overall, I enjoyed the book and the mysteries it threw at me. The fast pace was nice, but it can be a bit much as well. I would recommend this book for horror fans rather than mystery fans unless you like dark mystery tinged with the supernatural as well. I am definitely looking forward to other books coming under this pseudonym by the author.
A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher was a good book that I thoroughly enjoyed. She is an author that consistency puts out horror books that I canA House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher was a good book that I thoroughly enjoyed. She is an author that consistency puts out horror books that I can devour and enjoy. This was a fun shorter novel that really didn’t have a downside for me. I enjoyed all the characters and the mother of our protagonist was a saint.
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Kingfisher is great at bringing out the creepy imagery and atmosphere. She does so here as well. The setting though was more simple and easier to picture compared to her other novels (at least for me). Our main character, Sam, stays at her mother’s home after complications with a dig were uncovered. She discovers her mother acting weirdly just as her brother warned her about. To get to the bottom of this mystery, Sam will be forced to interact with a colorful group of neighbors in a rural suburban community.
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I felt like the characters were fleshed out well and experienced more development compared to characters in her other novels. The story was easy to follow, and I kept wanting to read the next page without stopping. The pacing was nice with a supporting cast of characters that enhanced the story. I also got to learn a plethora of insect and vulture facts.
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Overall, I enjoyed this the book way more than I expected to. Nothing really surprised me, but I didn’t care at all because I had an enjoyable time reading it. I would recommend this story to horror fans regardless of whether you are a hardcore fan of the genre or you have a mild interest in in it.
After enjoying Alex North’s previous two books, I was excited to get started on this one. For some reason, there wasn’t as much hype surrounding this After enjoying Alex North’s previous two books, I was excited to get started on this one. For some reason, there wasn’t as much hype surrounding this book’s release like the author’s other two books even with its interesting premise. My verdict on this book is that I wanted to like it more than I did because I think Alex North tried too hard to top his other books.
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I like how short and easy it is to read just as with the author’s previous works. On the other hand, I felt that there were too many POVs jumping around in different timelines as well. The plot became too convoluted since it wasn’t linear. The book felt rushed in wrapping certain while other things really weren’t properly wrapped up.
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Normally, I am all for twists as I really enjoy them. It seemed like the author tried to be too smart with the twist, philosophy (think Laplace’s demon), and story. I didn't get surprised by anything unlike his last book because of that. I enjoy the author’s flirtation of supernatural elements in his previous mystery books, but the use of the supernatural was too blatant in this one for me. The overuse of it took away from the story.
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I just did not connect with many of the characters. Katie started out as a solid character for me, but there were instances where she acted out of character which dialed back my fondness of her. I felt bad for Chris but could not connect with him without there being more chapters dedicated to his pov. Other characters felt generic, but I guess my two favorite characters were Siena and Pettifer. The thing I enjoyed the most about the characters was the relationship between them and how it developed (Mother-daughter and siblings especially). (view spoiler)[ I did not enjoy the pov of a certain 2nd generation angel maker because he was a psychotic zealot with tunnel vision. That’s the downfall of having a pov of a psychopath since it's hard to develop them as characters. (hide spoiler)]
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Motivations for certain characters actions also weren’t properly explained. (view spoiler)[ For one, why was Michael fixated on Siena instead of Katie or Chris since Siena isn’t an anomaly. Who killed Alan? It could have been the goon that Edward dispatched, but Edward seemed like he would have reacted to it in a different way and addressed it in his inner monologue. Speaking of Edward, why wasn’t the topic of his Angels addressed? He supposedly had a lot (number never really addressed), and yet it seemed like there was no investigation following those disappearances.
There were other things glossed over too. My biggest gripe was with the father of Edward and Alan. The book made it seem that the nutjob serial kill was in fact some prophet with supernatural abilities. He was straight up despicable, yet the events of the book seemed to confirm he was right since it never addressed the reason for why the book had power in the first place. (hide spoiler)]
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Overall, I ended up liking the book, but I didn’t love it. It felt like Alex North tried to do too much with story and it backfired and wasn't as engaging as his other books since the story bogged it down. That being said, if you enjoyed his previous works such as the The Whisper Man you probably will at the very least enjoy it.
Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is my latest foray into Amanda Lovelace’s fairytale and folklore-inspired poetry. While*As always, spoiler warning!*
Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things is my latest foray into Amanda Lovelace’s fairytale and folklore-inspired poetry. While this volume was on the shorter end, I still enjoyed it and found that many of its poems resonated with me.
“Who said you can’t/Wear a flower crown/& still remain/A fearsome thing?”
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The main mythology Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things draws from is the story of Persephone (also known as Kore), the goddess of spring and of the underworld. (view spoiler)[A complex and fascinating dichotomy, Persephone’s story is one of my favorites from Greek mythology, and I was thrilled that Lovelace was channeling Persephone in her poetry here. (hide spoiler)]
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The symbolism here is fairly obvious in that spring can be associated with the traditional notion of femininity, that of being beautiful, yet delicate. Yet, Persephone also has a tougher side of her, in that she helps to oversee the underworld, no doubt getting a full look at death in all its forms.
There’s a bunch of dualities here, whether it’s in Persephone having her toes both in feminine and masculine realms (her husband, Hades, is the king of the underworld and the primary god of death) and in the creation of life and its death. She is part of the cycle from beginning to end.
“When they drag you through hell/Do not simply accept it/Do not just give in/Go on & reign over the very flames that were meant to be your end/Wear them as a crown”
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I have really come to enjoy Lovelace’s modern take on classical mythology and folklore. I think the main message here is that—surprise, I know—women are complex people, defying the simple nature often ascribed to them by misogynistic views of traditional femininity.
I have been meaning to get back into poetry for a while now. The Princess Saves Herself in This One is the first entry of poet Amanda *Spoiler alert!*
I have been meaning to get back into poetry for a while now. The Princess Saves Herself in This One is the first entry of poet Amanda Lovelace’s “Women Are Some Kind of Magic” series.
This volume was the perfect segue back into poetry for me, and like Amanda Gorman (another awesome poet who happens to share the first name of the author of the book I’m discussing), it will definitely stick around in my brain, hopefully planting seeds of inspiration for my own writing, poetry or otherwise.
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Why do I have the feeling that this book left a mark on me?
Well, for starters, Lovelace tackles her own inner experience, whereas Amanda Gorman’s poetry tackles the collective trauma of a whole nation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying economic downturn. Both explorations of the internal and external are equally valid and powerful. Both explore complex topics and make the reader think. Really think.
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The Princess Saves Herself in This One is an incredibly brave and vulnerable look into Lovelace’s life, where she experiences sexual assault and the neglect inherent in her upbringing. Things no child should have to go through. (view spoiler)[Her mother dies of cancer and another sister perishes by her own hand—all of this happened to her before the age of 19. (hide spoiler)] So heartbreaking.
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But this book is also about hope. This volume’s very existence is a testament to the author’s healing.
By the end, the princess has escaped her tower and slain (most of) her dragons.
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While no one should ever have to suffer to grow, that’s what happened to Lovelace, and she’s moving forward. She can’t change her past, but she uses what she’s learned—particularly self-love—to turn the tables on her trauma, which wants her to believe life isn’t worth living, that she deserves a good life.
This book will be our Goodreads Book Club selection for January. To secure a copy and read along with us, please look for 4.5/5 stars *Spoilers alert!*
This book will be our Goodreads Book Club selection for January. To secure a copy and read along with us, please look for the book within our catalog or Libby. Happy reading!
Considering the subject matter of I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, I feel like saying I “enjoyed” the book isn’t as appropriate as I found the book heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measures.
This book won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards in the biography category, and I can see why, as I’m Glad My Mom Died is a powerful, poignant read.
Jennette McCurdy is most well-known for her roles as a child actress in iCarly and Sam and Cat. I remember watching iCarly when the show was running, and it was one my favorites at the time. McCurdy’s Sam was one of my favorite characters, and I truly had no idea what was going on behind-the-scenes. I’m Glad My Mom Died reveals Jennette’s struggles with acting, when she felt like she was only in the profession because it was her mother’s dream, not hers.
(view spoiler)[At the time, McCurdy’s mom had cancer and was dying. (hide spoiler)] Jennette loved her mother and allowed herself to be started on the path to stardom at the age of six, to make her happy and gain her approval. Seeing her mom happy at her success was supposed to be enough.
“She wanted this. And I wanted her to have it. I wanted her to be happy. But now that I have it, I realize that she’s happy and I’m not. Her happiness came at the cost of mine. I feel robbed and exploited.”
Of course, when you’re not in the job you want, you can’t stuff down the negative feelings forever. McCurdy came to resent the hold her mother had on her and their increasingly toxic relationship as mother and daughter.
She increasingly becomes anxious, shameful, and self-loathing as she struggles to tell her mother that acting isn’t what she wanted to do with her life. These feelings manifest in various self-destructive behaviors like eating disorders, addiction, and risky romantic relationships.
“Mom didn’t get better. But I will.”
The book starts with Jennette in her mother’s hospital room, where she lay dying from cancer, and Jennette then recounts everything that led up to that point.
I’m Glad My Mom Died is heartbreaking, full of dark humor, but also cautiously optimistic, as Jennette discovers therapy and is working towards getting better.
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As someone who struggles with mental illness and is in therapy, I’m Glad My Mom Died is incredibly refreshing for its candor, which is telegraphed from the start by the book’s title and cover design.
Alice Feeney was an author I have heard about but never got around to reading. I love surprise twists in books, and some reviewers have given Alice FeAlice Feeney was an author I have heard about but never got around to reading. I love surprise twists in books, and some reviewers have given Alice Feeney the moniker, "The Queen of Twists." I heard good things about her newest book and dove right into it as soon as I got it. I was expecting to get my mind blown with twists, but well... that didn’t really happen. I did enjoy the book though.
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Our story follows poor broken Daisy Darker, who is invited to the family home on an isolated island for her grandmother’s 80th birthday. She is shunned by most of her family due to past events, yet makes the trek for her beloved Nana, who is her beacon of light in this tumultuous family affair.
Sparks ensue when family and friends meet after a long time. That is until the 80 or so clocks in the house strike at midnight, and poor Nana meets her prophesied doom.
Was it an accident or were more nefarious plots at play? It turns out more nefarious things are afoot when the family members start dropping like flies after every hour with family videos on VHS tapes left as clues.
Daisy must get to the bottom of this before things are too late and must confront past familial strife if she wants to survive the night.
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The novel features an array of characters all with differing personalities with some not being revealed until the end. The grandmother, Nana, was my favorite character. She was the true savage of the family.
She would not hesitate to call mistreatment out. Her first call with Conor’s father was such a great speech. When Nana read her will it was just too superb and made her my favorite right then and there while slinging mud at all of her family members.
Daisy was exasperating at times because of a certain thing that I won’t spoil. Otherwise, she really was an interesting character. Trixie was another character I liked too. The other characters were flawed human beings though and the more revealed about certain ones, the more I was hoping they would be on the chopping block next.
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There really is barely anything I disliked about this book because I liked the writing so much. The first chapter was written so well that it made me excited for the rest of the book. Emotional scenes were stirring, and there were a plethora of them.
Thankfully, the author can write these well. Alice Feeney also captured the atmosphere quite well throughout the book where you could just feel it oozing off the pages.
There were little poems scattered throughout the story that I just loved and how some of them felt like twisted little nursery rhymes. I was also thankful that there was only one point of view that was followed (it was done for obvious reasons). The only parts of the book that felt like a letdown were the big twists and Daisy’s ramblings at times.
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I think I expected too much when it came to the twists. I guessed one of the big surprise twists in the first twenty or so pages. (view spoiler)[ Now, when I say spoilers ahead, I really mean spoilers ahead. Don’t keep reading because seeing one can ruin the reading experience like it did when I guessed it. I confess when our main character did the little monologue on the plane about not telling her secret, I said aloud, “Well, you’re ___, right?” I thought the author was being tongue and cheek with it because it seemed so obvious with all of the context clues. I kept getting frustrated because it seemed the charade kept going throughout the book. It wasn’t until the big reveal with another character finally addressing it that I realized it wasn’t supposed to be as obvious as I thought. Realizing it early on though definitely changed my reading experience.
I was locked in on one of the killers because of certain things they said and how obvious some things were, but red herrings did make me second guess myself numerous times. The other killer I only guessed in the latter half of the book because of the Agatha Christie story that was referenced in the book and in the blurb (I tried to purposefully avoid mentions of the story since I expected it to give something away. Well, it did.). I don’t like the meditation excuse and instead wanted a plant from the garden (lots of things revolving around flowers) being able to put someone in a death like state. I also guessed who Trixie’s father was right away though considering Lily’s personality I theorized it could have been this character's father too.
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I actually wanted Daisy to be the murderer or at least a mastermind. I still think that the obvious twist about her contributed to a red herring. Nana constantly mentions about how Daisy should act and pretend certain things in flashbacks. Because of that I felt like Daisy could have been the murderer but was playing it up for the audience. Almost everyone in the end did really have it coming to them. I know it’s morbid, but they were not good people. (hide spoiler)]
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I might have guessed most of the twists early on, but I still enjoyed this gothic, locked-room murder mystery. I do want to read another book by the author because I enjoyed her writing with this entry, but most importantly, I want to see her twists in other books since she has that Queen of Twists moniker for a reason. I would recommend this book to pretty much everyone since I feel like it can be enjoyed by many.
As always, beware of spoilers if you haven't read this book! Contains spoilers for both books one and two in the "Beartown" series.
Us Against YouAs always, beware of spoilers if you haven't read this book! Contains spoilers for both books one and two in the "Beartown" series.
Us Against You is the second book in one of my new favorite series, where hockey is nothing and everything for the small town of Beartown.
“The worst thing we know about other people is that we’re dependent upon them. That their actions affect our lives. Not just the people we choose, the people we like, but all the rest of them: the idiots. You who stand in front of us in every line, who can’t drive properly, who like bad television shows and talk too loud in restaurants and whose kids infect our kids with the winter vomiting bug at preschool. You who park badly and steal our jobs and vote for the wrong party. You also influence our lives, every second.”
The fallout from the last book, Beartown, continues. Beartown’s ice hockey club is on the verge of bankruptcy, and general manager, Peter Andersson, is desperate to find a way to save it.
This leads to somewhat shady dealings with a local politician, to counter the huge investment in rival town Hed’s hockey club—where some of Beartown’s best flocked to a club they felt would give them the most chance of future success.
However, these shady dealings come to haunt Peter.
But one of his great loves is hockey, and he knows hockey is the heart of the community when everything else seems on a downward spiral. (view spoiler)[ The political machinations eventually force Peter to resign as general manager. (hide spoiler)]
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Once the finances are taken care of, the next goal is to build a team.
Elisabeth Zackell is brought in to coach a team that is centered around Amat (like Dash from The Incredibles, he is very fast), Benji (one of the more intense hockey players on the team), and Vidar (formerly stayed in juvenile detention/drug treatment, but is a stellar goalie).
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I have to say that I really enjoyed the dynamic Coach Zackell had with the team, once the pearl-clutching about her gender passes amongst the team members (like other fields, women are underrepresented in hockey leadership roles). She is intelligent, tough, and uncompromising, reminding me very much of Kira in a way.
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While the new Beartown team is gearing up for the big game with Hed, the tensions between the two towns and rival hockey teams are coming to a slow boil. But once the boiling water overflows, it really overflows. (See Beartown for a similar dynamic.) There are various juvenile pranks, most of which result in the various defacings of the flags of both teams.
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Because both towns’ identities are heavily intertwined with hockey—hockey is practically a religion—these things snowball into a disastrous event that leaves Beartown’s hockey team down a player. (view spoiler)[ Vidar is lost in a tragic car accident. (hide spoiler)]
“Life is a weird thing. We spend all our time trying to manage different aspects of it, yet we are still largely shaped by things that happen beyond our control.”
Will Beartown prevail in the game? Can Beartown and Hed come to some sort of peace?
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No spoilers! I’ll let you read and find out for yourself!
As always, buckle up, because things are as intense as ever.
I would talk more about the great character development, but those dynamics could help spoil the story also, so I'll omit that discussion in this review! (I’ll be reading the last entry in the series, The Winners, ASAP, because I need to know how things end up!)
Milk and Honey is the first book of poetry I've read by Rupi Kaur. I really enjoyed this one, even if it dealt with difficult subjects, such as abuse,Milk and Honey is the first book of poetry I've read by Rupi Kaur. I really enjoyed this one, even if it dealt with difficult subjects, such as abuse, trauma, and recovery. Whatever form of writing you engage in, you are making yourself vulnerable to the reader. It is very clear that Kaur is putting herself out there in this poignant and beautiful volume.
All of the poems really resonated with me, featuring messages of hope after suffering trauma and learning to love yourself in all your imperfections. I think the one that resonated the most with me is:
I don't know what living a balanced life feels like When I am sad I don't cry I pour When I am happy I don't smile I glow When I am angry I don't yell I burn
The good thing about feeling in extremes is When I love I give them wings But perhaps that isn't Such a good thing cause They always tend to leave And you should see me When my heart is broken I don't grieve I shatter
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Why those lines resonated the most with me I think is that we all experience powerful emotions as human beings, and we aren't always able to optimally regulate our expression of them, whether we're dealing with mental illness or grief. Or stress or just having a bad day. Moreover, I think some people see expressions of valid emotions as overbearing and improper, which can be frustrating for the person feeling them.
Additionally, I have been told that I am a very sensitive person. I tend to feel things deeply, and this poem gave voice to the very real double-edged sword that can be when trying to be yourself and interacting with the rest of the world.
The amazing thing about poetry is that so few words can evoke such powerful feelings in readers. For example, emptiness on a page can evoke feelings of sadness and hollowness. That the writer only has the strength to pen these few words, but still want to get their voice out there and heard. (Well, at least for me. I'm not sure how others interpret poetry--how many words on the page, how they are arranged, etc.)
In my opinion, Milk and Honey makes accessible to readers complex themes and ideas animating much larger novels in so much fewer words.
And that kind of conciseness of language is just as beautiful as detailed or flowery prose.
The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah, is a novel set in 1970s Alaska. Ernt Allbright is a Vietnam POW who suReview originally published November 2018
The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah, is a novel set in 1970s Alaska. Ernt Allbright is a Vietnam POW who suffers from PSTD. Because it is 1974, PSTD hadn’t been diagnosed nor recognized. His family just understands that he is “messed up” from the war.
Ernt has decided to pack up the family and move to Alaska after a fallen soldier buddy willed his little slice of desolate heaven to Ernt. Wife Cora and daughter Leni, 13, are apprehensive about the move, naturally, because Ernt suffers so terribly. The thought of Alaska sounds so appealing to Ernt, while both Cora and Leni believe his anxieties and depression will only amplify, especially when winter sets in and they are surrounded by snow and constant darkness. Despite her apprehension, Cora borrows a bit of cash from her parents, and they head off in their well-used VW van.
The family is always struggling financially as Ernt is unable to hold a job, so with the little cash they borrowed, the first place they visit before heading to the gifted cabin is an outpost to stock up on living supplies. Large Marge, as she is called, is a former prosecutor from a big city. Marge runs the outpost, and with her great intuition, she figures these three out straight away. She helps them get set up with the immediate essentials and doesn’t hold back with her warnings of all of the dangers lurking in remote Alaska.
Large Marge, and then later the other folks they meet, spend a lot of time warning of bears, and the merits of preparing for winter, even though it was early summer. They have all stressed the fact that living in Alaska during the winter took a special skillset that not everyone is equipped with.
After acquiring the supplies to get them started, the Allbrights head to the cabin, which is more primitive than they had imagined. No running water or electricity. Cora and Leni are anxious and weary at the prospect of their new living situation, while Ernt seemed energized by the challenges they face.
Surprisingly, Ernt manages to keep his mood swings and general mental health under control for a while, but it’s just a matter of time before he begins over-drinking, and his mood swings grow out of control. For years, Cora had been the target of Ernt’s violent outburst. Cora always accepted his apologies and made excuses for her bruises. When Leni becomes the target of Ernt’s physical violence, all things change.
If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t have read this book before the holidays because it was an emotional read filled with heartbreak and frustration. However, I will say that the author did an amazing job at providing me a perfect visual of Alaska and the hardy folk that call Alaska home. I have a renewed respect for the land and its inhabitants. The desolation and winter darkness, along with imminent danger, were palpable.
See also:
My other favorite reads lately have been The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult; The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor; Plainsong and Eventide, both by Ken Haruf; The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian; and One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus.
Please check out our website at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org for catalog resources or for upcoming programming schedules. Please visit and like us on Facebook as well!
My co-worker recently showed me a book that was leaving our library and traveling to another. The cover piReview originally published January 2015
My co-worker recently showed me a book that was leaving our library and traveling to another. The cover picture of two elderly wrinkled hands was intriguing, and the blurb on the back cover got my attention because it is about ancestry. The book, The Waiting by Cathy LaGrow, is exactly as I expected, and I recommend it for anyone wanting a happy ending to a story about the discovery of an unknown family.
In 1928, Minka was a naïve young woman living in South Dakota who found herself in a precarious spot. She was walking with a girlfriend in a remote area when two men assaulted them. Minka didn’t realize she became pregnant this way. The times would not allow her to raise a child as a single mother and she could not rely on her parents to raise a child out of wedlock. She relinquished the baby girl to a Lutheran orphanage, and never forgot the child she called Betty Jane.
She did go on to marry and raise two other children, who blessed her with grandchildren, but she never stopped loving and thinking of her firstborn. When Minka was in her nineties, she received a phone call about a woman named Ruth who needed to know some family health information. She couldn’t believe that Ruth’s (Betty Jane's) children found her and want to meet her after 70 years.
Her lifelong prayer is answered, and the newfound blessings are so long deserved. Author Cathy LaGrow is Minka’s granddaughter, who painstakingly researched the details of the story, and so lovingly captures the heart and soul of a woman who held no grudges. For those who are interested, this story also has a local connection through Ruth’s adoptive family.
The Waiting can be found through the La Crosse County Library system with locations in Holmen, West Salem, Campbell, Onalaska, and Bangor, or you can reserve a copy through the La Crosse County Library website at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org. This book is definitely is worth the wait!
Every parent’s worst nightmare becomes a reality for Hannah as she hears the shrilling scream of her twelvReview originally published October 2014
Every parent’s worst nightmare becomes a reality for Hannah as she hears the shrilling scream of her twelve-year-old daughter, Emily, followed by the screeching of car tires and crunching metal. This is how Amy Hatvany’s book, Safe With Me, begins and keeps you captivated until the very end. The book explores the complexities of organ donation, friendships, and abusive relationships.
While Hannah is waiting to find out if her daughter will survive, she recounts Emily’s childhood and how she came to be a single parent with the help of a sperm donor and her very supportive brother and parents. Hannah is soon told that Emily is on a ventilator with no brain activity and that Hannah will have to make the decision if she would want to donate Emily’s organs, something Hannah can’t even wrap her head around right now.
In another hospital, a doctor is telling a mother, Olivia, that they might have a liver for her fifteen-year-old dying daughter, Maddie. As Olivia is thrilled beyond words that her daughter may actually get a liver and survive her illness, a sense of dread hits her while realizing another mother somewhere is dealing with the death of her child.
A year later, Hannah, still overcome with grief, meets Maddie, a girl who she is immediately drawn to. Maddie, who is finally able to go to a regular school after being sick and overcoming her illness with the help of a liver transplant, has had a hard time adjusting to her new life. Between the guilt she feels about the child that died so she could be saved and the ongoing problems her parents are having, school hasn’t been what she dreamed it would be.
After having a particular awful day at school, her mom decides to treat her and take her to a salon to get a haircut and style to boost her spirits. The new salon they choose to stop at happens to be owned by Hannah. While Hannah suspects after talking and getting to know Olivia and Maddie that Maddie received Emily’s liver, she was afraid to say anything.
The three of them form a fast friendship and get very close until the secret Hannah’s been keeping comes out as well as a secret Olivia’s been keeping. Although the subject matter of the book is sad, it is also the story of people being there for one another and making a difference in someone’s life.
Be sure to stop in at a La Crosse County Library location in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, or West Salem to find this and other titles by this author. For more information about the La Crosse County Library, check out our website at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org or find us on Facebook!
Paul Tracy is a software writer with a love for baseball, and a need to find answers to his haunted past.Review originally published November 2012
Paul Tracy is a software writer with a love for baseball, and a need to find answers to his haunted past.
In 1973, when Paul was eleven, his hero was Joe Castle, a first baseman for the Chicago Cubs. His father, Warren Tracy, was a down-and-out pitcher for the New York Mets. Paul wanted to play baseball and had a promising future, but he was continually criticized and abused by his alcoholic father.
Warren was a frustrated man who believed in a baseball code of protection and retaliation. His father’s attitude changed the lives of all the characters in this story, Calico Joe, by John Grisham.
Grisham’s method of writing combines real and fictional players in rearranged rosters and schedules. For example, he has fictional players Razor Ruffin playing for the Cubs, Benny Humphries with the Phillies, and Dutch Patton on the Braves roster. Most of the other names are real-life players from 1973, and the game events are believable.
Grisham captures the excitement that can come from attending or listening to a major league baseball game. He delivers an intriguing story most readers will enjoy in which the adult Paul Tracy is searching for his boyhood hero and seeking peace with his father.
You can find Calico Joe at your La Crosse County Library, located in West Salem, Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, and Onalaska. You can also reserve a copy at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org for pick-up at your convenience.
Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth is a story about a young boy who perseveres through tragedy with his lovReview originally published July 2012
Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth is a story about a young boy who perseveres through tragedy with his love of storytelling and love of his family. The story is told by an eleven year old boy named Gopal, whose family, like many others in a small village outside of Mumbai, suddenly find themselves in a debt they can’t pay back.
They have lost their land and can no longer survive on their crops. His father makes the decision to move them into the city where there is more opportunity for work and they have a place to stay with Gopal’s uncle.
Taking only what they can carry and very little money, the family, mom, dad, Gopal, and six-year-old twins, reluctantly head out on this journey that will change their lives forever. As they make it into the city, they soon realize it’s much different than their quiet village, with people everywhere and traffic so thick you can hardly make it across the street.
With the boy being the only one in the family who can read, he feels a heavy sense of responsibility to take care of the family. He keeps the twins entertained with his storytelling, and is always there to calm his mother and help her however he can while his father goes out to try to find a way for them to get to his uncle’s house.
His desire to take care of his family and help them survive is what leads him to some unfortunate events. By trusting the wrong people, he unknowingly finds himself enslaved and will do whatever it takes to get back to his family. This book is a children’s novel that’s about family love, determination, and how children can make a difference.
It was a great book, and thanks to the patron that recommended it to me! We sometimes forget as adults that there are many great books to read in the children’s and young adult sections of the library! It seems to be a trend that more and more adult fiction authors are writing books for children and young adults.
See also:
Another one I’ve added to my list to read, by the recommendation of one of our youth services librarians, is Virals. This is the first in a series of three, by Kathy Reichs, adult fiction writer of the forensic anthropologist Temperence Brennan novels.
Virals is about Tory Brennan, Temperence’s niece, a leader in a group of teenagers who rescue a caged dog that was used for medical testing. They are unknowingly exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that will change their lives forever.
Be sure to stop in and visit the La Crosse County Library with branches in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, and West Salem and check out our website at lacrossecountylibrary.org for all your library needs.
Review originally published May 2012 Content warning: Some descriptions of blood and gore
Jennifer Hillier’s top-of-the-line thriller, and debutReview originally published May 2012 Content warning: Some descriptions of blood and gore
Jennifer Hillier’s top-of-the-line thriller, and debut novel, Creep, launches full speed from the seductive opening and continues full-blast through to the heart pounding climax. According to Jeffrey Deaver, “You better call in sick, because you’re not going anywhere until you finish reading…”
Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology; she is an expert in human behavior. However, she has no idea that the sexy, charming student TA, Ethan Wolfe, is a sociopath. Sheila is also playing with fire by having an affair with him. When the doctor gets engaged to an investment banker who loves her deeply, she tries unsuccessfully to end her three-month fling.
The jilted Ethan has other ideas running through his mind, along with the dark obsession of Radiohead’s song Creep, hence the title. And straight from the book:
“The Stones’ song ended and he switched the stereo to MP3 mode. Fiddling with his iPod, he found the song he was looking for. After all these years, Radiohead’s “Creep” still gave him shivers. The first time he’d heard it, he’d been in love. And having sex. And strangling someone. All at the same time.”
Creep becomes the classic cat-and-mouse game of if he can’t have her…no one else can. Ethan Wolfe is not going to let her go, and makes terrifying plans to destroy Sheila and get her fired from her prestigious career.
As Sheila attempts to navigate her new life without her fiancé finding out about her sordid affair, the stakes are raised. Suddenly, a female star athlete is found stabbed and floating in the Puget Sound. Sheila has a feeling there is more than meets the eye with this former lover. She tries to counter all of his blackmailing moves until it becomes too much, and he reveals himself to her as a violent monster with no intention of letting her walk away.
If I haven’t grabbed your attention yet, how about this insert straight from the book?
“That’s Marie.” Ethan looked directly at the concrete wall. “Say hello, Marie.” Only two of them were in the room.
“Who’s Marie?” Sheila whispered, dazed. He took a few steps forward, gesturing with the gun for Sheila to follow. He stared at the wall, eye level. “If you look close enough, you can see part of her hand.”
Sheila followed his gaze to the plastic covering the concrete. What the hell was he talking about?
Then, suddenly, like one of those 3-D stereogram pictures you had to stare at cross-eyed for the image to appear, she saw it. A hand. Small, with long fingernails, clearly belonging to a woman. The fingertips jutted out about an inch from the concrete, brushing up against the plastic covering. The skin had a bluish tint. She saw a foot. Several feet actually, spread out over the wall. Pink toenail polish. Gold toenail polish. Blue toenail polish. A hand with short red fingernails. An elbow. A knee. A swatch of brown hair. It was a wall full of dead bodies.
“You asked me if I was jealous. That, my darling, that isn’t jealousy.” She felt his hot breath on her cheek. “That’s rage. That’s what I’ve been filled with every day, since the day you ended it with me.”
He pointed to the wall. “And that, my love, is what you have to look forward to.” His fingers touched her throat, and the last thing Sheila heard before she passed out was the sound of her own screaming.”
Already in the works for August is book number two of the "Serial Killer Files" series titled Freak.
Be sure to stop by one of our La Crosse County Library locations in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, or West Salem to see what we’ve got! There’s something for everyone, including reference materials, maps, e-books, wi-fi, magazines, DVDs, special events, meeting rooms, graphic novels, CDs, audiobooks, online databases, activities, and FUN, just to name a few!
This book is our online book club's selection for August. To read along with us, please secure a copy via our catalog, Hoopla, or Libby. Happy readThis book is our online book club's selection for August. To read along with us, please secure a copy via our catalog, Hoopla, or Libby. Happy reading!
I read this since it is our August book club pick, and would give this book a 3.5 to a 4 star rating. I don't think I need to summarize the events of the book, since Cora did it so eloquently below! I will keep my review brief.
I read the The Guest List by the author a while ago, so I had mixed feelings about starting this book. I really disliked almost every character in that book, where they felt cartoonish at times with how bad of people they were. Compared to this book where they were portrayed more realistically (I actually liked Jess as a main character).
I enjoyed the relationships between characters and contrast in behaviors with Ben and Jess with their upbringing and interactions with the rest of the cast.
The constant POV changes in this book contributed more to the story in this book versus the multitude in the previous book that felt unnecessary. I liked the storyline and the mystery in this book more as well. The one thing in my opinion that the previous book had over this one is that the atmosphere and the setting were better.
I ended up liking this book more than I expected. Foley's writing was easy to get absorbed into. I wasn’t really surprised by any of the mysteries and twists revealed, but they weren’t as obvious as other books in the genre I’ve read recently.
Overall, this was a nice quick read. I have to admit that it got tiresome when all the introductory chapters of each individual ended with pretty much “everything was fine until that man, Ben, got here.”
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Cora's review:
Somewhere between 3 to 3.5 stars
The Paris Apartment was an entertaining mystery/thriller taking place in a posh Paris apartment. My rating is based on my being spoiled by The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides and that some of the twists were a bit easier to guess. All that notwithstanding, I found myself absorbed by the story.
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Everything was sketchy as soon as the story opens. Our protagonist, Jess, has come to Paris to visit her half-brother, Ben. (view spoiler)[She has escaped from a rather toxic employment situation in England and seeks to reconnect with the brother she hasn't seen in a while. There may or may not have been cash theft involved. Jess grew up in the foster care system. Ben was adopted, but she was not. She feels abandoned, but she still cares about Ben. (hide spoiler)] Jess is no angel, scrappy and reckless, yet readers will find themselves rooting for her to solve the mystery of this story.
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Jess arrives at her brother's address, but he's not answering. Of course, Ben is not there to buzz her in. He seems to have vanished into thin air. She has nowhere else to stay, so ends up getting herself into the apartment building with the help of one hostile resident and her own ability to pick-lock doors. Every apartment resident she meets over the course of a tense couple of days treat her as if she's dangerous, and tend to start at her questions of where her brother, Ben, is. Let's just say they all gave off airs of hiding something. It definitely kept me guessing.
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Let's take inventory. There's the reclusive Mimi, with serious psychological issues. (Serial killer in waiting?) She lives in one of the apartments with her more outgoing, party-girl roommate, Camille. Then there's Antoine, an abusive drunkard, whose wife, Dominique, is leaving during the time this story is set. Antoine's seeming opposite, the Cambridge-educated Nick, seems to be the most normal of them, although he is clearly troubled. Finally, living in the top-floor penthouse, there is Sophie, and her frequently absent husband, (and raging, misogynistic) Jacques.
Me @ Jacques: [image]
Jess enlists the help of a few people to help her untangle the mystery: Nick, who'd been friends with Ben in their Cambridge days and seems to want to help, and Ben's journalistic contact, Theo. (Although, I was screaming at Jess not to trust Nick, because he was clearly hiding something, like everyone else in the cursed apartment building, even if he was a "nice guy." If there's anything I've learned from the few mystery/thrillers I have read, is to trust no one. Even Theo, I had questions about.) Turns out Ben was working on some sort of investigative piece that he had pitched to Theo before his mysterious disappearance.
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This is where some things started to click for me in the story. Rich people don't like people like Ben digging into their business. This premise made the story all the more realistic, notwithstanding that in the background, the Yellow Vest protests were happening in other parts of Paris. The whole atmosphere becoming sinister and almost echoing each other. There was the obvious violence of the loud street protests and the more silent, but no less violent happenings in the shadows. This is proven by Jess's various excursions into both the rich and poor sections of Paris in search of clues.
Although, I gotta say, the author clearly set up that Ben had been hurt or worse by someone in the apartment building. I was saying to myself, "Ah yes, one of you silenced Ben and the rest of you are covering." But when what ultimately had happened was explained, I was not expecting the twists (in retrospect, I should have) involved.
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Ultimately, The Paris Apartment was a decent enough story to keep me occupied, a good literary escape into a city I have not had the opportunity to visit yet.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
This novel is our Goodreads Book Club selection for August. To secure a copy and read along with us, please check out our catalog or Libby. Happy reading!...more
Sundial was a book I added immediately to my TBR list after I finished the author’s previous book, The Last House on Needless Street . I enjoyed al Sundial was a book I added immediately to my TBR list after I finished the author’s previous book, The Last House on Needless Street . I enjoyed all the twists in that book so I was looking forward to this one. This book though is kind of hard for me to review as I have mixed feelings about it.
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The story is pretty much split into two different parts with some random pages sprinkled in from a novel the main character writes. Rob is struggling with making her marriage and family look perfect from the outside. In truth, everything is in shambles. Her husband is a serial cheater, an emotional and physical abuser, and a text book narcissist to say the least. What really frightens Rob though is that her daughter, Callie, might be trying to kill her younger sister, Annie. Rob and Callie don’t get along so she ultimately decides to go on a road trip to the middle of a desert where she grew up to straighten up Callie. This trip will determine the fate of her family one way or another.
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The second part of the story took up a larger chunk of the story than I initially thought it would. It follows Rob from her childhood through her college years. Rob was raised on a small commune in the Mojave Desert with her family and groups of top college students researching experiments. Rob lives there with her twin sister, Jack, who is her everything. The experiments are being carried out on dogs where most of them were rescued from the puppy farm which was a revealed to be a puppy mill where the owners abused the dogs intensely. Slowly, we learn that the experiments being done on the dogs attempt to wipe out the “warrior” gene which is one of a couple markers that is theorized to cause psychopathy. One event causes Jack to change, and the rest of the story deals with the fallout.
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I must confess that the book was really hard for me to get into until maybe the final half of the book. The story did not really have an overarching mystery like some of the author’s previous works to hook me into the story. The past of Rob took up a majority of the book and felt like such a departure from the current timeline since the blurb on the back cover was about the present. The tone in the beginning of the novel was somber and dark with a lot of psychological elements thrown into it that was too heavy for me to read. Nevertheless, I persisted through to the end. The ending was great. It alleviated all my woes I was feeling, and the payoff made it that much better. The Last House on Needless Street was the same, but it still had this mystery that pulled me through the slower parts while this one did not until it was revealed. One of the best things about the novel was pov changes between Callie and Rob interpreting the same scenes and how they kept misinterpreting the other’s actions and thoughts.
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I suppose I should talk about the array of characters presented. I really didn’t like any of the characters to be honest except for Callie. I was hoping for a meteor to land on top of Irving throughout the book. I loathed his character with a passion. He was a manipulative narcissist who just had no redeeming qualities at all. Jack was a damaged character, but it kept getting harder and harder for me to feel sympathy for her. Falcon and Mia (especially Mia) were made to be sympathetic to the readers, but I was hard pressed for that as well considering the experiments they conducted. I enjoyed the pov of Callie especially as the story kept chugging along. Rob though...hmm...I didn’t like her character as a protagonist as she was self-centered and narrow minded with her head in the clouds. My personal feelings about the characters aside, the characters were really well written, and I felt the author wrote aspects of psychopathy quite well for the most part.
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Psychopathy was a large focus of the novel. Of course, with that you have to analyze the whole nature versus nurture debate that surrounds the topic. The book definitely addresses this and explores it in numerous ways. The book was well written, and the author did enough research of various subjects that she exhibited in the story. All of her research amplified my enjoyment for the ending chapters of the book since it was so interesting. I just would have like there to be something more in the earlier book because I didn’t really care for the characters. I felt like the reason I didn’t care for some of the characters was because she wrote them too well with their flaws dragging them down. I slogged through the story because the plot was meandering until the final third of the book where the story shifted gears and went into overdrive.
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I would be remiss if I did not talk about the endings and twists of the book. The last part of the book had reveals after reveals shown. I did guess most of the twists well before they happened, but a small amount caught me by surprise. I still enjoyed the twists when they were revealed since they were done well. (view spoiler)[ I was a bit surprised that the mention of an embolism was foreshadowing what was going to happen. I also was a bit surprised by the actual nature of the puppy farm. I figured Jack and Rob would have been actual relatives of the owners and probably did the deed of killing them, but I was surprised to see the true nature of place. Another thing that kind of surprised me was just how malicious and diabolical Annie was. I suspected that she was the bad child just not to that extent when it came to having such twisted plans.
I also guessed that Rob was actually the bad one as a child compared to Jack. Her personality was so self-centered, and the fact that she came off as so naïve as a child solidified it for me. I am surprised that Irving could keep Rob under his thumb so long with his abuse when obviously Rob was unstable. Rob’s more vicious psychopathic tendencies not being leaked out against Irving all these years was a bit hard to believe. She might not be a full-blown psychopath anymore, but she clearly suffered some type of mental disorder.
The biggest thing for me though is the contacts. At first, I thought it could have been a red herring. I was beginning to suspect that Jack and Rob eventually switched places due to Rob being the one who died and whoever survived used colored contacts since their eyes being different colors was their main difference. I don’t think it would have taken much to fool Irving as he was a controlling narcissist who couldn’t tell them apart at first. Then it seemed like nothing was going to come from it as it wasn’t addressed. Callie (I really liked the premise of the second Callie too) though kept on remarking that her mom seemed like she was adjusting her contacts even though she didn’t need contacts even right up to the end. Also, there was the fact that contact solution was on a receipt that Callie found on her mother’s purchases. Everything was revealed and wrapped up so the fact that the contacts were still brought up towards the end was weird. (hide spoiler)]
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The story elicited different feelings from me as you can see. Most of the story following Rob growing up was a struggle to get through as she was ignorant of a lot of things until eventually everything including unmentioned mysteries were revealed. The latter part of the book saved the story for me because I was not enjoying to novel at that point, and in retrospect I wish the author would have hinted at something juicy or a big mystery to keep my interest. The characters were well written, but I just didn’t like them. Do I recommend this book? Yeah, I do because overall, seeing how things ended up, I felt the ride was eventually worth it. If you enjoyed her last book or enjoy a lot of plot twists then I think you will enjoy this book too.
The Last House on Needless Street was the last Goodreads Horror Choice Award nominee I had on my TBR list. I kept putting off reading it since the s The Last House on Needless Street was the last Goodreads Horror Choice Award nominee I had on my TBR list. I kept putting off reading it since the synopsis didn’t really elicit excitement like some of the other nominees did.
Reading reviews of friends on Goodreads though changed my mind. This book is full of excellent writing and great twists that you never see coming. I definitely regret putting it off since I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.
The story follows three different POVs in a town riddled with disappearances years ago. One POV follows the loner, Theodore, who labeling as eccentric seems to be putting it mildly. Theodore, or Ted for short, is a difficult POV to follow at first because he just screams serial killer if you watch enough crime dramas.
Ted avoids the outside world and interacts with his cat, Olivia, and his daughter, Lauren. Things start heating up for Ted as someone new moves into the abandoned house next door.
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The next POV that is followed is of Olivia. Olivia is fine cat that may or may not have powers of her own. Olivia likes Ted, but there is only so much of Ted’s shenanigans that she is willing to put up with.
Olivia likes to see herself as a protector of Ted, yet for some reason she always gets too anxious to leave the house. Olivia has another side of her that comes out when she is hungry or when she needs its help.
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The last POV that we follow is of Dee. Years ago, Dee and her family visited Ted’s hometown on summer vacation. That summer everything fell apart for Dee. Her sister was taken by somebody and never seen again. She still holds out that her sister is still alive, contrary to what the investigation believes.
After a fallout with the police working her missing sister’s case, she decides to do some sleuthing of her own to find out who took her younger sister. Ted sits right in the middle of her cross hairs as a likely suspect even though he supposedly had an alibi for that day. What better plan than to move in to the house right next door to the alleged psychopath?
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I had a hard time choosing my favorite POV since it would change throughout the book. I initially liked Dee’s POV the most since she was trying to solve a mystery, and was the most coherent POV as well. I ended up enjoying Olivia’s POV the most though, especially towards the end of the book.
I just did not enjoy Ted’s POV, since he was an unreliable narrator with a messy train of thoughts until towards the end. I liked sifting through his actions, little details that were mentioned, and word choices he used to get to the bottom of the mystery.
I constantly questioned myself when reading each POV, because either it was so obvious with what happened and who did it (like hit you over the head obvious), or it was the biggest red herring. (view spoiler)[ I knew DID came into play in the story, but even then, the childhood and everything else was still like a neon light pointing to a character. (hide spoiler)]
It is really hard to give a synopsis for this book without giving anything away, since the slightest of spoilers could ruin some of the big twists towards the end of the book. The book was confusing at first because I would try to read between the lines of Ted’s and Olivia’s POVs, who both had confusing thought patterns.
An aspect of the story was revealed to me before I started reading, so I looked that much harder for certain signs. There were numerous details packed into the chapters that took a while to digest, and I would try to closely analyze the talks with Ted’s bug man, (aka his therapist) who prescribed him his medication.
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The author can certainly write tense scenes. The psychological terror was well written too. The thing I enjoyed the most is how the author utilized imagery and metaphors. The stairs and the dolls were great in their usage as metaphors. The carpet and mirrors definitely tipped me off to something, but I was already looking for it.
The beautiful thing is that if you think you have something figured out, some other twist will most likely surprise you. The way things were revealed were done well so that even if you figure everything out you will still enjoy each twist without it being diminished.
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I ended up really enjoying the book with how many twists were involved. I want to put more in the synopsis and talk about other themes in this review, but I feel like it would cheapen the experience of the book too much. I did enjoy how the book ended too, other than wanting to know what happened with the bug man for reasons mentioned in passing.
The author’s note at the end explaining how the story developed was also interesting to read, and she also has a spoiler warning before it. I recommend this book for those who like twists and big reveals as well as mystery and horror. I look forward to reading more books by Catriona Ward with how much I enjoyed this one.
I’ve read a couple of Sally Hepworth books now and I’ve really enjoyed them. Her characters are well developed, she has interesting sto4.5/5 stars
I’ve read a couple of Sally Hepworth books now and I’ve really enjoyed them. Her characters are well developed, she has interesting story lines, and good visual imagery! The Good Sister doesn’t disappoint!
Twin sisters, Rose and Fern, are two very different people. Rose is seemingly in charge and takes care of Fern, who has some sensory issues and handles things a bit differently than everyone else. Fern is the character you’ll fall in love with (at least I did)! She’s unabashedly honest and feels things deeply.
However, she has this deep-rooted need to please her sister, that she owes her for something that happened in their past. She feels like she owes her so much that she’s willing to get pregnant for her so Rose can have the baby she so desperately wants but is unable to have.
They didn’t have the easiest childhood, which shows itself in pieces throughout the book. I wouldn’t call it a thriller but more like a family drama. What one sister thought happened in their past is vastly different from the other sister’s recollection of events. It’s a fast read but well worth it.
If you enjoy this one, I’d give The Mother-in-Law a read as well, another good one by Sally!!
The short blurb about the book and the shorter length made this the book to perfectly round out my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2021. A coworker anThe short blurb about the book and the shorter length made this the book to perfectly round out my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2021. A coworker and I went through the October Book Page and recommended me this book even though my mind kept jumbling up the summaries for each book that was recommended. For some reason, two things were stuck in my mind, which were Amazon Alexa and La Llorona (even though she informed me later I was mistaken).
Just a forewarning, this book does feature animal cruelty and heavy subjects such as depression.
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The book follows Thiago whose wife just died. His wife was his everything so everything that follows is stained with his depression. The story shifts around with events leading up to her death. They buy a new place, but the neighbors are highly disruptive.
Both of them start to experience weird things such as cold spots, noises in the walls, Alexa talking to someone in the middle of the night, and really weird purchases on their credit cards. Before they can get to the bottom of what is happening, she gets killed.
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The death of Thiago’s wife is used as a weapon for greedy politicians. Thiago can’t stand her death being used for people’s own gain, and he can’t stand the overbearing friends and relatives of his wife. So, he decides to leave town and go to the middle of nowhere. Along the way, Thiago starts having weird things happen and starts having hallucinations until he gets to his new place.
Well, the peace is too brief as it seems something followed him there. That “something” may or may not be his dead wife (any horror reader can already tell that it’s not his wife). Thiago must figure out how to stop this thing before it gets what it wants, him.
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This book is really heavy on the grief of its main character. As a reader, I definitely felt the raw emotion through the pages as it was based on the author’s grief over losing a close relative. There really was no filter for this grief. The depressive thoughts of our main character dripped with vitriol at others. Even a young cousin to his wife wasn’t safe from this. The heavy depression had a brief relief with the introduction of something until the nasty entity decided to get rid of the obstacle as it did with so many others.
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The entity was a nasty thing when it set its sights on a target, and I enjoyed the story more because of it. The Alexa interactions in the beginning were pretty creepy. There was a freaky interaction at a diner that I couldn’t tell what was real or not since I knew something was up with the owner. The entity wasn’t shy when it came to getting what it wanted.
Though, it did try to employ some psychological manipulation. Most stories featuring a haunting or a possession feature the entity as trying to hide what it’s doing around the main character’s close ones to make them seem crazy. This thing though just doesn’t care if other’s around it can see it. It wants to possess Thiago, and it will stop at nothing to get him.
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I really enjoyed many things about this book. The pop culture references and the haunted Alexa were fun to read about. The imagery of this book was also great with how it was used. The bluntness of the creature and how people around the main character actually saw the things that were being done to Thiago were refreshing. The timeline skips to the past in the story were a bit confusing at there were little order to them.
The ending of the novel was a little confusing too, which I think was the whole point as it went with the tone of the story. The bleakness of the book though is what made me take off a star. I liked the characters, the haunting, writing, and almost everything else in the novel (including the nice easter egg on the very last pages of the book). The heaviness of the book though was just a tad too much for me with how palpable the depression was.
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Overall, I really did enjoy this book and thought it was pretty great as a horror book. The grief was a double-edged sword for me in that I liked how realistic it was without sugarcoating it, yet also not liking how bleak the atmosphere of the book was because of it. I recommend this book to horror lovers out there. I definitely, recommend this book to fans of the author Stephen Graham Jones as the author, Gus Moreno, named him as an influence in the acknowledgements. I look forward to reading more books by this author too.
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