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I really don't know how to talk about this plot at all without giving anything away. I will say it is not the haunted house story I expected, but something totally different and unique. I had never heard of a spite house before picking up this book. According to google "A spite house is a building constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes." If you look it up be sure to click on images because there are some doozies. They really do exist. Anyway...
Eric Ross and his daughters are in dire straights. They've been hiding out for unknown reasons, and money is running out. The youngest daughter has been taught that if Eric or the older daughter says run, it means she must run and hide and not come out until they find her. We are not told at this juncture what they would need her to hide from, but it was not at all what I suspected.
When Eric sees an ad that promises a huge payout just to stay for free in a spite house and record any strange goings on it seems like just the break his family needs. This is where I thought the bumps in the night would lead to a typical haunting but instead, this story travels down a more unusual and twisty path.
The story is told from multiple points of view, which at times made it a bit frustrating. I would have preferred fewer chapters that veered away from Eric and his daughters. Still, it was a good read in "spite" of that. The ending had my jaw dropping!
My thanks to Tor Nighfire

If you enjoy short horror fiction as much as I do, these stories are for you. These 19 tales are cleverly crafted and I had multiple favorites including the title story.
In The Infection Party a pandemic has arrived but never fear, the religious zealots have a plan, much like those who host chicken pox parties they will attempt to infect all their kids at once to get it over with. It's scientific don'tcha know!

The Halloween Mummy is about a costume malfunction that has far-reaching consequences more dire than mere temporary embarrassment.

I Will Not Eat The Son Of God finds the fun and fellowship of a church potluck interrupted by a gluttonous stranger and his disturbing children.

When Sith Arrives, someone tries to drown a kitten and gets what they deserve.

Mama's Hand Of Glory was chopped off her dead body and kept in the china cabinet. Too bad it didn't stay there!

What Aunt Kaye Brought begins with seeing her lick the bathroom towels which let me know straight off that whatever she is bringing is nothing good and nothing anybody would want.

I enjoyed all the stories but those for me were the 5 star reads in this collection.
It's the most fun you'll ever have with plague and pestilence. Perhaps the author will tackle fire and flood next. If he does I'll be there for it!

Dakota and her adoptive parents return to their former home to settle affairs and pack up belongings after her brother's sudden death in the house. They all knew he did not like to go out but his funeral drives that point home when the attendees are people he only ever knew from the internet.

Dakota and her parents have never recovered from the first death in the home 20 years ago. The house was meant to be a place full of love and laughter. They had planned to adopt many more children, adding on bedrooms as needed. After the death of their toddler staying in the home became unbearable, and the thought of more children was just too painful. Everyone eventually went their separate ways and only Lennox stayed behind, never wanting to leave the house.

Dakota is wracked with guilt over not having visited Lennox more, and when she learns the reason why he never left the house it's all the more heartbreaking.

Mouse Trap is more a story of grief and loss than the scares I was expecting.
It's heavy with guilt and regret, loneliness and despair. I would recommend it for fans of more subtle horror with a dose of family drama as opposed to anyone looking for chills.

I was happy to be invited to read this young adult novel with the gorgeous cover and intriguing synopsis.
Angel Falls is a poignant coming-of-age tale with supernatural overtones, told from the alternating points of view of two young teens, Jessie and Jared.
It will definitely be a summer to remember for Jessie Reeds. First love, family secrets, spooky woods, and more await her in the seaside town of Beauport where she stays with her father to settle the estate of a recently deceased relative. Here she hopes to reunite her parents before the permanent split she fears is coming.

Jared is a teenage resident of the village who is desperately trying to support himself and his father as they fall deeper and deeper under a mountain of bills that no child could possibly pay alone.
Jared's father has succumbed to such a deep depression he is no longer a functional parent.
When Jared and Jessie meet they will uncover secrets in both of their pasts as well as a strange dark history of the village. Between the two of them they may have the power to make their fondest wishes come true but at what cost?

I feel like I knew these characters, almost like I watched Jessie and Jared move on from childhood to maturity. I had a lot of sympathy for them both as I watched them longing to change things that could have been, and finally learning that we must all accept the reality of the way things are instead of how we wish they could be.
This was a bittersweet tale of loss and loss, and growing up.

As a Halloween loving horror fan who grew up in the 80s, I was giddy with excitement over the description of this book. Pair that with the fact that the setting is a fictional town called Coventry as I sat here reading it from my home in an actual town called Coventry and the anticipation was almost more than my little dark heart could handle.
I love holiday themed horror, especially when that holiday is Halloween. So I wondered, could All Hallows possibly live up to my expectations?
YES! This is my first 5 star read of the year.

A perfect blend of nostalgia, realism, and the supernatural collide on Parmenter Road where the nice guys, the racists, the bigots, and the hypocrites coexist as neighbors. There were characters I loved and characters I loved to hate. I felt like this could be any town in 1980s New England including my own. In the midst of The neighborhood Haunted Woods attraction, and the annual Halloween festivities, something uninvited stirs on this special night when the veil is thin. A doorway opens and something comes through to crash the party. As marriages crumble and friendships are tested, peculiar children not of this world walk this final October Eve, blending in with the trick-or-treaters, and begging for help. Not all will survive the night.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press

It is not my usual type but once I started I just couldn't look away.

Drew is on a road trip with his two brothers-in-law. The plan is to pack up mama and move her and her belongings elsewhere before she ends up living too close to them. None of them have a relationship with her or want her around for reasons that become apparent later in the book. When they get there she is missing and there is a mix of relief and a who cares attitude other than some slight worry about the possibility of being blamed for her disappearance. At this point the reader knows where mama has gone... but our characters don't.

A surreal mix of incest, child abuse, politics, and bees follows.

Yes. Bees. and I will never look at them the same way again.

I'm not sure what I expected from the synopsis but I was taken aback by this bizarro tale of family dysfunction that morphed into a satire of the far left versus the far right, communism, and sex in what I would describe as a dystopian ecological horror.

If you are looking for over the top violence and a totally berserk plot this may be for you.

My thanks to Ghoulish Books.

When this gorgeous cover passed through my feed it grabbed hold of me like a magnet. I have previously read one novel and a short story by Brian Moreland and enjoyed them both, so I knew I could settle into Blood Sacrifices for a good gory time. I didn't even stop to read the synopsis, I just looked at the cover and dove right in.
The book opens with a prequel to The Witching House and sets the stage perfectly for the blood-soaked tale to follow. When urban explorers arrive to the old Blevins house they will learn the hard way that just because a building is abandoned does not mean there isn't something that still lives there.
Some of the language was a bit cringe worthy but it still managed to be my favorite.

The Seekers is about Daniel, an undercover journalist who lives with the homeless while gathering material for a book, and the aftermath when he has written it. To be honest this one was just not for me. I was into it at first but I lost interest in the parts about the mafia.

Darkness Rising is an ugly and ultra violent story of abuse, torture, and revenge. Poor Marty just wants a friend or someone to love, any bit of kindness would be welcome. Instead, his one chance at love is ruined by three maniacs who kill for fun and profit, and they will be very sorry that they ever crossed his path. Marty is a character that I felt a lot of sympathy for even when he went from sweet to psycho. You'll need a strong stomach for this one.

I was first attracted to this cover since I can not resist a creepy scarecrow. The synopsis further piqued my interest even though I thought it may not be all that original. This is not the first time in horror that strange murders have seemed to copy an author's book. However, this is not the same old hat.

This is a story that spans generations. Ben and his sister grew up in a dysfunctional family and suffered the tragic loss of their younger brother who has been presumed dead. Not long after this, their parents were killed in a car crash. Years have passed but Ben has kept secrets, including the fact that he still looks for his brother. His sister Emily has also kept secrets concerning what really happened to her in their grandfather's forbidden room. There is much I could tell you about grandfather but I don't want to spoil anything for you. Suffice it to say that although this may sound more like a psychological thriller it is grandpa that brings about the supernatural horror.

As a child, Ben already knew he wanted to be a writer. Now he has grown up to be a best selling author. He has written a gruesome novel full of grisly murders. Unfortunately, he is struggling to complete the sequel, his marriage is falling apart, and the police have lots of questions for him about the dead bodies that are turning up in real life exactly the way he wrote them in his novel.

Detective Mills is trying to unravel this mystery but he has secrets and demons of his own that have burdened him for most of his life. His daughter Sam has followed in his footsteps of police work and their dysfunctional relationship further complicates matters.

The Nightmare Man is full of unexpected surprises and twisty paths that I didn't see coming. The relationship between Detective Mills and his daughter and the relationship between Ben and his wife feels genuine. It is dark, and original, and cleverly written. Each character, even those who play a minor role have their own creepy backstory. The chills are many and the fear runs rampant especially if like me you have ever been plagued with nightmares.


My thanks to Crooked Lane Books

Trevor age 15 and Faith age 14 know next to nothing about their biological parents. As far as they are concerned they never had parents until they were taken from the foster home and adopted together. They lead very sheltered lives, having no interaction with other children or with anyone other than their adoptive parents. Their mother tells them this is to keep them safe from the evils out there but in reality, it is to protect herself from others finding out about her own evils. The children's adoptive father is conveniently on the road most of the time, and looking the other way when he is home.

I must say I really hated Trevor and his mannerisms. The smirking and shrugging made me want to smack him even though I couldn't actually see him doing it I could picture it in my mind. The father could have been a likable character if not for being so weak-willed and always kowtowing to his wife's demands.

The story is told from Faith's point of view and is at times only what is going on in her thoughts, which gets a bit draggy. It's also fairly predictable but I will probably tune in for the next installment to see how it ends.

My thanks to Gallery Books.

It's no secret that I have been a fan of C.J. Tudor ever since The Chalk Man was released. I also have a great love for, and addiction to short horror stories. I had high expectations for A Sliver Of Darkness, and I was not disappointed.
I was hooked from the first story, End of the Liner which incidentally is how I've always pictured a Disney Cruise. (sorry not sorry) Much like reality, this suspenseful little story is all about your own perception of good and bad.
The subsequent stories kept up the pace and maybe even gained momentum. I also enjoyed the author's introduction to each story which told how these tales came to be.
Normally at this point, I would tell you a bit about my favorites in the book but I enjoyed them all. If you are looking for a shivery, chilling, thought-provoking, good time check out this collection.

My thanks to Random House Publishing Group -Ballantine Books

Morgan has always had a complicated relationship with his famous photographer mom. There is love there, but there is also the camera, always present and intruding on personal events and what should have been private moments.
Now suddenly, there is Sebastian, the manikin his mother claims is just for a series of photos but has become another intrusive presence in Morgan's life.

This was more of a psychological/family drama than the actual horror I was expecting. Not to say it wasn't a good story although it did move a little slowly in the middle. It kind of bothered me every time the word manikin was used since it was specifically mentioned that it had been purchased at a children's clothing store that was going out of business, and to me, that would be a mannequin which is what department stores use to display clothing and not a manikin which is what you get from a medical supply company to practice CPR and such. But that could just be my OCD kicking in.

Anyway, it was a decent story in which an obsession leads to an unexpected outcome, but there are no scares involved.

I received an advance copy for review.

This is the first time I have had a chance to sit down and read since before we moved to our new home. I'm so glad I picked this anthology to start with. I'm going to keep this short and sweet because we are still getting settled in here.

This book contains stories by some of my favorite writers as well as some authors I was not familiar with. There are tales of the strange and spooky, darkly humorous stories, a bit of body horror, and even a thriller about revenge thrown in for good measure.
You will read about an easy cure for whatever ails you, A woman who just wants a break from her heavy load of responsibilities, A son caring for his father as the end of his life quickly approaches, bizarre neighbors, a remarkably affordable and effective home security system, and more. A few of the endings were more vague than I'd like but that is my only complaint.
Close to Midnight is an entertaining read for anyone who enjoys short horror stories.