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Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

22 Friday Nov 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

This was my third Hendrix novel, following How to Sell a Haunted House last fall, and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires earlier this year. I loved the first two, and expected to enjoy this one as well. Possession horror and high school friendship over an 80s backdrop? Count me the hell in. My Best Friend’s Exorcism didn’t disappoint.

Synopsis: Childhood best friends Abby and Gretchen have everything going for them at the start of their sophomore year—they’re pretty, popular, and at the top of their class in their prestigious private high school. But when Gretchen starts to act different, Abby becomes worried. Gretchen isn’t herself anymore, and Abby decides she must be possessed by a demon. As her own life begins to crumble around her, will Abby’s love for her best friend be enough to save Gretchen from the forces of evil?

***

This was a really fun, fresh take on possession horror. I loved it for both that and its gorgeous portrayal of female friendship. It featured several great moments of visceral horror that will be plastered in my mind for the foreseeable future. I do wish we learned more about how Gretchen actually became possessed—things are implied, but I found myself craving a fuller picture of what really happened to her. Other than that, though, I fully enjoyed this book and would re-read it in the future.

❓ What’s your favorite movie or novel featuring a tale of possession?

Review: Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

15 Friday Nov 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫/5

The fourth and final book in Maguire’s Wicked series, Out of Oz, had been sitting on my shelf for a decade before I finally decided to buckle down and read it. I was pretty disappointed in book three, A Lion Among Men, so I was apprehensive about this one. Wicked is among my all-time favorite books, and I didn’t want my last memory of the series to be negative. In the end, Out of Oz was pretty decent. I can’t say it’s my favorite of the series, but it brought a satisfying end to the saga of the Thropp family and seemed like a good way to wrap up Maguire’s vision of a gritty and complex land of Oz.

Summary:
Social unrest bubbles through Oz as Munchkinland fights to maintain its independence and the forces of the Emerald City scheme and struggle to bring the economically crucial province back under control. Amidst the chaos, Lady Glinda finds herself under house arrest, while the Cowardly Lion is on the lam with the Clock of the Time Dragon, and rumors begin to spread of the return of Dorothy. Stuck in the center of all this hubbub is Rain, the daughter of Liir and supposed granddaughter of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. As she comes of age she’ll find that there is perhaps nothing more dangerous and challenging than being true to her roots.

***

Slipping back into Maguire’s Oz is like taking a vacation to a favorite country. It’s old, filled with secrets, and constantly healing from wounds caused by perennial conflicts. But it has a charm and richness that makes me want to keep coming back (which is probably why I’ve re-read Wicked more than almost any other book in my library). Out of Oz takes the reader through this well-developed backdrop to check in on familiar characters and meet many new and interesting ones. I loved getting to spend time with Glinda again, and even the Lion didn’t annoy me as much this time around. The main character, Rain, has a great arc and her growth as she navigates a difficult upbringing in a chaotic time is ultimately quite satisfying.

That being said, I didn’t quite LOVE this book. There were spans when it just seemed to slog on pointlessly and I couldn’t wait to be done with it. I also strenuously object to the off-screen death of a particular character whose existence seemed so important to the plot of the previous two books. Having that character die in an off-hand way for seemingly no reason felt like a slap in the face.

But this book does something right, because by the end I was riveted, emotional, and loathe to say goodbye to Oz and its colorful characters. My final impression was that this book did a great job wrapping up the Wicked Years quadrilogy.

❓ The film adaptation of Wicked (the musical) is out this month. Are you planning to go see it?

Review: None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

08 Friday Nov 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

This gem, Lisa Jewell’s suspense thriller None of This is True, was recommended to me by a good friend earlier this year. I had no idea it was a Booktok trending book until after I finished it, but in this case (for me, anyway) I’d say Booktok was right on the money. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Summary:
Podcaster Alix Summers is on the lookout for a new project when she meets the odd, timid Josie Fair at a pub where they are both celebrating their birthdays. After embarking on a journey to record a podcast about Josie’s life, Alix discovers that this woman has overcome so much and is determined to change her life. But there is something…unsettling about Josie. Too intrigued to stop recording the podcast, Alix will soon learn the truth about Josie’s past—because if there’s one talent Josie has, it’s for bending the truth.

***

None of This is True has the perfect blend of character building, drama and suspense. Character POVs flip back and forth between Josie and Alix, interspersed with interviews from the podcast with people who knew Josie before…The Incident. What was The Incident, you ask? Well, you have to engage with all the lead-up in this story to find out. Jewell gives nothing away for free.

The pace of this book drew me along like a pet chasing a treat, making it impossible for me to put down. It was also just the right length—long enough for the plot to simmer and play out in a satisfying manner, but not bloated with unnecessary details or side plots. I listened to the audiobook version of this, which was brilliantly acted and worked extremely well with the podcast/interview aspect of this novel.

I loved this book, and will definitely be a return customer for Lisa Jewell in the future.

Review: The Angel of Indian Lake by Stephen Graham Jones

01 Friday Nov 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫/5

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while (hello, all two of you), you know that I’ve been really enjoying Stephen Graham Jones for the last couple years, and in particular the books in his Indian Lake series. Though I was ravenously hungry for the conclusion to this trilogy, after its release in March I waited patiently for my turn to borrow the audiobook of The Angel of Indian Lake from my local library through the Libby app. It was worth the wait—though now that I’ve seen these characters through to the end, I’m a little sad that it’s over.

Summary:
Jade Daniels is getting by, somehow. With medication for her trauma and a new job as the history teacher at her old high school, she tries to put the past behind her. But it’s kind of hard when, once again, people around her start dying. As she fights for her own life and the lives of those she loves, she’ll have to marshal all her final-girl strength to lay to rest—once and for all—the evil fueling the carnage in Proofrock.

***

Fast-paced, thrilling and more violent than ever, The Angel of Indian Lake pulls no punches. The prologue does a great job setting the tone, and then we’re right back with Jade as she tries to hold it together in order to navigate this new bloodbath. Seeing her (and Letha as well) develop as a character throughout this series has been a real treat. I think she’s one of my favorite paper friends I’ve made on my reading journey over the past couple years. The desire to see how she’ll claw her way out of challenge after challenge makes this book an incredible page-turner

My only frustration here was the number of callbacks throughout the book. It was constantly referencing characters I’d completely forgotten about, and paired with the heart-poundingly fast pace of the plot, it was a little confusing to follow. I think that means I just need to re-read from the beginning, which I’m actually not mad about.

All in all, I thought The Angel of Indian Lake was a brilliant conclusion to the fun and bloody Indian Lake Trilogy—altogether a fully fitting tribute to the slasher genre.

If you’re intrigued by this review and curious about the rest of this series, check out my reviews of the first two books, My Heart is a Chainsaw and Don’t Fear the Reaper.

Review: Butcher by Joyce Carol Oates

25 Friday Oct 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

I am always blown away by the literary wonder woman Joyce Carol Oates. Earlier this year I was lucky enough to attend a live interview and book signing featuring this absolute icon, as part of the AViD visiting authors series put on by the Des Moines Public Library. At the age of 86, Oates still manages to put out at least one book every year, in addition to numerous short stories, poems and collections. Seriously, what a powerhouse.

Anyway, the event in question was celebrating her newest novel Butcher, which I couldn’t go home without a (signed!) copy of. This book promised to check so many of my “yes” boxes: historical fiction, an old-timey asylum, medical horror, cathartic revenge, and the humiliation of an infuriatingly wrong yet cocksure man in a position of authority. I was fully on board. Butcher didn’t disappoint.

Summary:
Butcher is a collection of essays, journals and interviews chronicling the life of Dr. Silas Weir, the “Father of Gyno-Psychiatry.” Forced to take a position at a New Jersey asylum for “female lunatics” following a professional humiliation, Weir carves out a niche for himself by subjecting the neglected women under his care to a wide range of horrifying experiments so he can publish the results. Operating unsupervised and unchecked in his position for decades, Weir becomes obsessed with a young servant named Brigit, who will become both his primary experimental subject and his eventual undoing.

***

This book was equal parts horrifying and intriguing. Using multiple points of view, Oates paints a thoroughly convincing picture of a 19th century doctor drunk on power and hungry for notoriety. Through Weir’s own journal entries, we see a man who is unapologetically classist, repulsed by the female body, and so self-assured in his own faith and medical training that he truly believes he’s blessed with divine insight to heal the female body and mind—even as he subjects his patients to the most inhumane treatments. Weir is a great example of an unreliable narrator: he’s really convinced that he’s doing good for his patients, although the subtext shines through bright and clear to show the monster hiding underneath. His point of view is fleshed out by the accounts of other characters such as Weir’s own son and his star patient Brigit, which serve to highlight how warped the doctor’s own self-image has become.

As monstrous and misogynistic as Dr. Weir is, his character toes the line between realistic and cartoonishly evil. Oates manages to make him sympathetic—even as awful as he is, he’s at least in part a product of his time who ultimately wishes to do good. Again and again he is validated by men who, like him, believe in the inherent inferiority of women, the inherent virtue of social station, and the pursuit of science above all other considerations. Though he is the villain in the end, the catharsis of his downfall is tempered by the tragedy of lost potential.

The truly terrifying thing about this book, though, is that Silas Weir and his writings are heavily based on actual historical documents, and likely on a specific figure: J. Marion Sims, the “father of modern gynecology.” Like Weir, Sims gained his notoriety by performing medical experiments without anesthetic on vulnerable women—in Sims’ case, enslaved women. Both the fictional and historical men do unspeakable harm in the name of medical progress, the portrayal of which Oates never shies away from.

I was engrossed by this book. Its masterfully executed themes and haunting imagery have stuck with me months after the fact. It will definitely worm its way onto my reread pile in the next couple years—perhaps sooner than later.

Review: Jude’s Diary by Christiane Erwin

18 Friday Oct 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Last fall I was lucky enough to win an Instagram giveaway from indie author Christiane Erwin for a copy of her YA supernatural thriller Jude’s Diary. It took me too long to get around to reading it, and even longer to post my review—but it’s never too late to get the word out. This is one author I look forward to supporting and reading more of in the future.

Summary:

It’s senior year, and Alissa is at the top of her game: she’s gotten into her dream school, is acing all her classes, and is about to graduate as valedictorian. But it seems someone is out to sabotage her. Alissa isn’t one to take that kind of insult lying down. She’ll do anything in her power—including manipulating the school outcast Jude Peary—to come out on top. Jude is always scribbling in her notebook, so Alissa plans to use whatever information she can find inside it to her advantage. But Jude isn’t quite who she seems to be, and this plan of Alissa’s may end up being more complicated than she’d anticipated. How far will Alissa go to get what she wants?

***

Jude’s Diary certainly kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. Alissa is a capable schemer and it’s fun to watch her machinations succeed and fail. She’s so compelling as a flawed main character, and seems so on top of everything at the beginning. It’s interesting to see control slowly slipping from her hands even as the seemingly hapless Jude seems to be lucking out at every turn.

My only complaints about this novel were that the ending felt rushed—just a little too neatly wrapped up—and certain details (which I won’t go into to avoid spoilers) didn’t make sense to me. Still, it’s a suspenseful romp and I look forward to reading more of what I now know is a series. Yes, it turns out that Jude’s Diary is Erwin’s first installment in a series of books featuring Alissa. Can’t wait for the next one!

Review: Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

11 Friday Oct 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

I’d promised myself that I was going to take a bit of a horror break…but I couldn’t resist diving back into Stephen Graham Jones’s Indian Lake Trilogy. After a slow-burning but ultimately thrilling origin story in My Heart is a Chainsaw, Jade/Jennifer Daniels is back for a frigid, bloody time in Proofrock. This sequel takes place four years after the events of the first book. After reading it, I’m even more in love with this series than before.

Summary:
The Lake Witch Slayings have made Proofrock, ID a magnet for slasher fans. But Jennifer Daniels, newly released from prison and hoping to find her feet back in her hometown, has left all that behind her. The slasher films, the trivia, the meaning she tried to find in it all — she can see now that it was a defense mechanism holding her back. So when prolific serial murderer Dark Mill South escapes into the nearby wilderness during a blizzard, Jennifer tries to ignore the slasher parallels. Even when the bodies of local high schoolers start turning up, she knows she can only provide practical help as this new massacre plays out. But a Final Girl can only play dumb for so long. If she starts paying attention, Jade may finally see that Dark Mill South isn’t the only unhinged killer stalking the young people of Proofrock.

The structure of Don’t Fear the Reaper is quite different from that of its prequel. Where My Heart is a Chainsaw alternates between Jade’s third-person perspective and excerpts from her slasher-themed extra credit essays, Don’t Fear the Reaper bounces between a wide variety of viewpoints. While we get to hear from Jade again, we’re also treated to the perspectives of familiar characters like Letha and former-Sheriff Hardy as well as a medley of new victims, opportunists and predators all trying to make it to the end of the slaughter. All of this action is framed by the words of a new essayist, a student at Henderson High who’s obviously studied the Lake Witch Slayings extensively.

I had a great time trying to suss out the motivations of the different players in this plot. Naturally one can’t help but zero in on Dark Mill South as the sure threat — he’s introduced right away as a creative killer with a passion for his chosen sport (murder). But beyond him there’s a whole cast of questionable characters whose potential motives muddy the waters: the new history teacher harboring an unhealthy obsession with Lake Witch Slayings; the twins who seem to be at the center of these new killings; the mysterious new essayist who knows so much about not just the murders but also about Jade’s life; the resurrected spirit of Stacey Graves, the Lake Witch herself.

Now the audiobook version of this novel is a special treat. It features a full cast of voice actors, with each of the fourteen POV characters having a unique narrator. Headliners include Indigenous actress Isabella Star LaBlanc as Jade, and Evil Dead (2013) star Jane Levy as Letha. Every performance was high-quality, and they add so much to the tense pace that Jones establishes for this novel.

The Jade in Don’t Fear the Reaper is more mature and self-aware. It’s clear that she’s experienced a lot of growth since the events of the first book, but still has plenty of demons to work out. But if the heart and cunning it takes to make it to the end of a slasher cycle could be characterized as a superpower, then Jade Daniels only gets more powerful in this second volume. I love her stubbornness and her…not fearlessness, but more like her determination to follow through in spite of fear.

I also want to call out one of my favorite scenes, the one where Jade and Letha are having a sort of bonding moment in the Terra Nova house. I love their friendship, and really look forward to whatever kind of -ship it might evolve into in the future.

I still don’t totally understand how everything shook out. There were so many motives, moving parts and cinematic moments. I’ll have to do a thorough reread in order to make sense of all the chaos and carnage. But this book is thrilling and jaw-dropping enough that I’m looking forward to going through it again — and maybe even brushing up on some classic slasher films while I’m at it.

This was a great continuation of Jade’s story, and I loved seeing her character adapt and grow over the events of this second installment. I’ve already read the third book, Angel of Indian Lake, which was released in March of this year. Keep out an eye for my review of that, which should be posted soon!

Review: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

21 Wednesday Feb 2024

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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫/5

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas burst onto the popular book scene last summer with an eye-catching cover and the tantalizing promise of a vampire thriller-romance (thrillmance? can that be the new romantasy?). It’s Cañas’s second novel (following her bestselling 2022 debut The Hacienda), and I was able to squeeze it in as my very last read of 2023. It managed to be a charming and gripping tale I bet many romance fans would enjoy — but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Summary:

Nena and Nestor were inseparable as children — until one night when the two 13 year-olds snuck out to search for buried silver, and Nena was attacked by some sort of savage, spider-limbed creature. Certain that Nena was dead, Nestor fled in fear, staying far away from Nena’s family’s land for over a decade. When he finally returns, ready to fight the looming threat of Anglo invaders, he’s shocked to see Nena alive, warm and…hostile. Seeing Nestor for the first time in ten years, Nena can’t help but be furious. After all, he’d promised never to leave her, and had promptly done just that. But now, with battle looming, they’ll have to deal with what it means to be in each other’s lives again as they work together to survive. It’s not just the horror of war that threatens their future — there is something else, something that sticks to the shadows and nurses a wicked thirst for blood.

***

The shining beacon within Vampires of El Norte is the romance plot, which is very sweet. Nena is the center of Nestor’s life — until he believes her dead. And Nestor is the one person Nena knows she can trust — until he runs away. The tension of their unexpected reunion and gradual reconciliation draws the reader constantly forward. I kept turning the pages because I had to know, do these two ever really talk about their feelings? Cañas has a gift for suspense and natural-sounding dialogue, so every scene between Nena and Nestor feels like you’re a fly on the wall listening in, and you can’t stop vibrating your little cellophane wings in anticipation of the impending juicy confrontation.

My personal tastes, however, skew more toward the horror side of things. The romantic aspect of Vampires of El Norte may be well-paced and compelling (if a little predictable), but I was disappointed by how little the vampires mattered to the plot. They only appear a handful of times, and could easily be replaced with something like werewolves, zombies or rabid raccoons with very little change to the story. The only reason vampires make a little more textual sense is because they’re an apt metaphor for the land-hungry American invaders, who represent the ultimate evil in the story.

Even this question of “who are the real vampires?” doesn’t matter much in the end. Ninety percent of this book is simply Nena and Nestor pining after each other, then pulling back just before they can talk about their feelings because their traumatic history and nineteenth-century Catholic propriety just keep getting in the way. The rest — the time period, the war, and the vampires — are just backdrop elements.

I don’t think that makes Vampires of El Norte a bad book. There’s so much it does incredibly well. Cañas masterfully paints a portrait of a place in time (1840s Mexico) and splashes it with a love story that even the most stone-hearted reader can’t help rooting for. Sex is never more than implied, but boy is it implied. The scene in particular where Nestor teaches Nena how to shoot a pistol is deliciously tense and unbelievably steamy for a scene where everyone remains fully clothed. So yeah, you could say that it left an impression on me. That impression just could have been a little more vampire-y.

The romance within of Vampires of El Norte is well-crafted and compelling enough to draw most readers through to the end. For vampire fans, though, there isn’t much of substance to latch onto. In the end, this wasn’t really my sort of book, but I think I would reach for it again if I’m in the mood for a nice love story. I certainly recommend it for anyone who loves a good romance with just a dash of supernatural-thriller for color.