I read mostly horror/thrillers anyway, but of course I’m going to read a bunch in October! Here are my October reads and what I thought of them:
The Family Plot by Cherie Priest is a fantastic take on the classic haunted house trope. Instead of an unassuming family moving to a haunted house in the countryside to escape the city, this book follows a salvage team trying to gut an old mansion before its demolition. They run into several ghosts, and one doesn’t want to have to leave. The movie Session 9 comes to mind, except The Family Plot has less internal tension within the crew and also a more structured, fleshed out story for the ghouls.
This is a great read, especially if you love a haunted house tale. The descriptions of the mansion and the grounds it sits on are phenomenal. Priest really knows how to put you in the story through visualization. Her character work is also top notch and that includes the ghosts. I felt for every character, even the very worst of them. This was the first book of Cherie Priest’s that I’ve read, and it definitely impressed me enough that I will be looking into more of her work.
Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix is the most modern take of the haunted house trope I think I’ve ever read as it takes place in a huge retail furniture store.
Amy isn’t as enthusiastic about working at Orsk as some of her coworkers are, but she needs the money ergo she needs to keep the job. Except her manager is one of the coworkers who live and die by the Orsk code and has been breathing over her shoulder and nit-picking everything she does. So, when he calls her in for a private meeting, she is sure she is about to be fired. To her surprise, she isn’t. In fact, her manager is asking her and another devoted Orsk employee, Ruth Anne, to join him for a late-night patrol of the store. Every morning they have been finding damage to property in the store, and he wants to know why and put a stop to it. Amy and Ruth Anne aren’t expecting much from this overnight shift, but they agree for the overtime pay. None of them have a clue of what they are truly in for.
Grady Hendrix never disappoints; he has easily become one of my favorite authors. He’s amazing at delivering spooks as well as laughs. And this one just may be my favorite of his that I’ve read! Very funny but paired with a level of creepiness that just gets under your skin. The ghosts are spooky and actually pretty vicious, and the banter between characters is spot on. I highly recommend this one (as well as pretty much anything else by Grady Hendrix).
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu is a quick read and perfect for October. It’s a classic vampire tale as beautifully written as Dracula, which is why I’m surprised I’ve only just come across it (big thanks to the reddit community r/booksuggestions). Perhaps it was a bit too risqué for the time it was written. Lots of good books from later eras get buried for such a reason. This one certainly made me want to search for some other classics that are currently not on my radar that possibly should be.
The story revolves around an incident that happened to our narrator, Laura, when she was a young girl. A stranger named Carmilla became a temporary ward of her father’s while the girl’s mother went off on a very important, secret rendezvous. Laura was instantly drawn to the girl but also slightly repulsed by her. However, she was easily won over by Carmilla and cared for her deeply. But still there was a strangeness to her that sometimes chilled Laura. Carmilla would at times become a bit feverish in her affections towards Laura, making her confused and uncomfortable. The moments would pass as suddenly as they’d appear, and Laura would chalk them up to a strange condition of the nerves. But things only got more bizarre. As a bond between the two formed, Laura was drawn into a nightmarish world of unsettling dreams, haunting shadows, and a sinister presence desperate to keep hold of her.
The Grip of It by Jac Jemc is the most psychological haunted house story I think I’ve ever read. Despite the strange phenomenon that other people besides our main characters, Julie and James, can see – like the bruises that seem to move and expand around Julie’s body and the creepy drawings that appear on the walls – you are still left wondering if any of it is real. Julie and James quickly lose their credibility with their family, friends, other members of the community, and eventually with us as well.
The way Jac Jemc wrote short chapters, often with choppy sentences that jump from topic to topic quickly, was a brilliant move because it is a bit disorienting. Each chapter feels like a mini nightmare. Sometimes, after finishing a chapter, I felt the same way I occasionally do when waking from a particularly disjointed dream. Not all of the potential haunting manifestations are all that creepy, but the slight confusion that the style of narration causes heightens the unease making for a very interesting read, especially considering how formulaic haunted house tales can get with it being such a commonly used plot device. I will always commend authors for trying something new and unique with a popular topic.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager follows the story of Kit McDeere, a home-health aid, as she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her new patient. Lenora Hope has a reputation in Kit’s hometown as the seventeen-year-old who killed her entire family more than 50 years ago. Although Kit is unsure of Lenora’s innocence, she tries her best to give her the benefit of the doubt as she has recently got a taste of what it is like for a whole town to believe you are a murderer. Her last patient overdosed on pain medicine that she forgot to lock away at night. No one believed that it was an accident, but there was no proof of her guilt. Not able to legally fire her, her employer decides to force her to take on the most unpleasant assignment he can – taking care of a potential murderer. Paralyzed and unable to even speak, Lenora quickly loses any intimidation that her reputation initially instilled in Kit. Only able to move her left hand, Lenora draws Kit in even more with a tempting offer typed out on an old typewriter: I want to tell you everything.
Riley Sager sure does know how to write a mystery! This book had me hooked from the beginning and kept me riveted until the very end. A master at the red herring, Sager had me jumping from suspect to suspect and still had me shocked at the big reveal. Though, it’s hard to claim that this book has only one big reveal. There are so many twists and turns and secrets that once the revelations start, they crash into you like a giant snowball leaving you stunned. If you can guess all of them before they are revealed, then I’d say you need to become a detective because that is quite an analytical mind you’ve got! If you like mysteries, you have got to dive into this one.
For All Story Lovers! 