Dec 29, 2022
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Review — The Missing Word by Concita De Gregorio

Two fall leaves against a pink background with cracks running through the picture, making it look like a broken window The Missing Word
By: Concita De Gregorio
Release Date: July 5,2022
Publisher: Europa Editions
Rating:


One of the best explorations of grief, possibly ever written, is Concita De Gregorio’s The Missing Word. Originally written in Italian and translated into English by the fantastic Clarissa Botsford, The Missing Word is the true story of a woman whose two young daughters disappear, never to be seen again. It is a story of desperation and grief, told with all the urgency of a psychological thriller. It is a story that will rip your whole soul right out of your chest, laying everything bare for all to see. And it is a story that I cannot recommend enough.

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Dec 26, 2022
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Review — Old Country by Matt and Harrison Query

Farmhouse with a single light on in a dark, foggy landscape Old Country
By: Matt and Harrison Query
Release Date: July 26, 2022
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Rating:


Brothers Matt and Harrison Query bring us a horror novel of the haunting variety in Old Country. The novel hovers somewhere between a traditional haunted house novel and something verging into the territory of a mythos, with characters facing forces far beyond their understanding.

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Nov 15, 2022
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Review — Rooms by Lauren Oliver

A house with a large tree sprouting from it and roots underneath it. Rooms
By: Lauren Oliver
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Publisher: Ecci
Rating:


Gothic horror has seen something of a revival in recent years, with many modern additions to the genre able to stand strong against past generations’ great authors of the genre. Rooms by Lauren Oliver is one such gothic horror. However, it doesn’t always manage to hit its mark, instead being a little too scattered with a few too many ongoing plots that don’t get the focus and attention each deserves. Yet, there is something here that draws in the reader, that makes you want to know more.

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Oct 24, 2022
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Review — Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey.

Several people camping. Upright Women Wanted
By: Sarah Gailey
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Publisher: Tor
Award: Hugo Award Nominee, Best Novella (2021), Locus Award Nominee, Best Novella (2021)
Rating:


Sarah Gailey’s novella Upright Women Wanted is another slim volume from an award-winning author packed with adventure and set in an interesting alternative-America setting, much like their first two novellas River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow.

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Aug 01, 2022
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Review — Road of Bones by Christopher Golden

A road lines with snow-covered, frozen trees. Road of Bones
By: Christopher Golden
Release Date: January 25, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Rating:


Award-winning author Christopher Golden’s newest horror novel depicts a cold, frozen landscape that mimics the January landscape of its release date. Road of Bones follows a two-man filming crew as they traverse the Siberian landscape in order to make a documentary about the most northern place still inhabited by humans. However, the only road there is Kolyma Highway, otherwise known as the Road of Bones, for those who died during the road’s construction were simply laid down and buried in the permafrost beneath it.

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Jul 28, 2022
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Review — Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun and Translated by Janet Hong

Silhouette of a woman in a yellow dress Lemon
By: Kwon Yeo-Sun
Translator: Janet Hong
Release Date: October 7, 2021
Publisher: Apollo
Rating:


Lemon is a slow, introspective story about a cold case murder expertly written by author Kwon Yeo-Sun and translated from the original Korean by Janet Hong. Despite being focused on a cold case, this isn’t so much a whodunit, traditional murder mystery, or thriller. Instead, we find a slowly paced, introspective tale featuring a myriad of people left behind after the murder of the nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on: how they cope and do not cope, how they move on and how time stops in that moment forever.

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Jul 26, 2022
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Review — The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Front cover of the novel The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa The Cat Who Saved Books
By: Sosuke Natsukawa
Translator: Louise Heal Kawai
Release Date: December 7, 2021
Publisher: HarperVia
Rating:


Books about books is a genre that many if not most readers often find themselves drawn to. This is true for The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa’s novel as well. Translated from the original Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, this is a Japanese novel about Rintaro Natsuki, a young man whose grandfather has recently passed away. His life is immediately upended, as his grandfather was also his guardian.

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Jul 07, 2022
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Review — Rizzio by Denise Mina

Front cover of the novel Rizzio by Denise Mina Rizzo
By: Denise Mizio
Release Date: September 2, 2021
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Series: Darkland Tales
Rating:


Denise Mina’s slim novel Rizzio packs one hell of a punch within a mere 118 pages. The multi-award-winning author brings us a new novel centered on a crime—the murder of Mary, Queen of Scots’, private secretary, David Rizzio. This is an utterly outstanding work of literary and crime fiction, one that will keep you at the edge of your seat regardless if you know the true-life story of David Rizzio and Mary, Queen of Scots.

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Jun 09, 2022
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Review — The Haunted Forest Tour by James A. Moore and Jeff Strand

A bus being grabbed by tree roots that look like a hand The Haunted Forest Tour
By: James A. Moore and Jeff Strand
Release Date: October 1, 2007
Publisher: Indie
Rating:


Horror novel The Haunted Forest Tour was co-written by James A. Moore and Jeff Strand, two authors with significant writing skill and a plethora of novels to each of their names. Moore is an award-winning author of more than forty novels. Strand has also written upwards of forty novels and has been nominated for the Bram Stoker Award ten times. Here, the pair come together for a creature feature of epic proportions.

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May 21, 2022
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Review — The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History by Ilise S. Carter

The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History
By: Ilise S. Carter
Release Date: November 15, 2021
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Rating:


Ilise S. Carter, freelance cosmetics and beauty writer, examines how lipstick in particular and cosmetics at large have influences the changing tides of American history in The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History.

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