Let the Right Book In

When I received this book in my first Nocturnal Reader's Box, I was very intrigued. It's quite an interesting premise - five different novellas, written by five different authors, but all focusing on the same building, called Irongrove Lodge. I thought the best way to review it was to take each story individually, as some were far better than others... First up was Maggots by Nina Allan, and this was a very interesting one. It focuses on Willy Randle, a young man of university age, who has a perfectly normal life until one day after a fall, when he begins to have altered perceptions, starting to believe his aunt is not herself. He then decides he must investigate what is happening and therefore delves deeper into the mystery and secrets surrounding Irongrove Lodge. This was a good story to open the book with, in that it sucked me in and left me wanting to know more. A criticism of this story, however, is the writing itself - it was just not very good. Overall, I rated ...

Wraith is actually a prequel to Joe Hill's novel, NOS4A2/NOS4R2, and what a delightfully creepy story! It opens with a little backstory about Charlie Manx, which was just awesome. I totally wanted to know more about the origins of Charlie Manx. It then quickly switches to the main story, involving two prison guards and a group of convicts who are trying to escape. However, their plans quickly go awry and one of the convicts contacts Charlie Manx - someone who is known for helping people disappear. Little do they know they're on their way to Christmasland... My favourite thing about this graphic novel was, of course, the illustrations. They were mind-blowingly awesome. Often I would just sit and stare in a daze. It was literally like Charles Paul Wilson III crawled into my brain and encapsulated exactly how I imagined Christmasland to be and then put it on the pages. It was beautifully creepy and macabre, and so sinister. I'm in love. The story itself was fun, ...

My box finally arrived - albeit slightly later than most people's, therefore I had already been spoilered a few times on Instagram - sad face. Damn postal service!! But that didn't make me any less excited for this box. This month's theme was Paranoia, so let's delve in, shall we? First of all, the most important part...the books! I have to admit, I already knew from Instagram that one of this month's books was American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, so I was REALLY excited as this is one of my favourite movies, but I've never read the book. So when I was unboxing...imagine my dismay when I didn't see American Psycho - I saw The Silence of the Lambs instead! Fair enough, that should be a decent read too, but I was all set up for American Psycho and felt a little deflated - maybe half of us were getting American Psycho and half getting The Silence of the Lambs? But NO! This was actually a hideaway box made to look like a book! And American Psycho was...

Bag of Bones focuses on the story of Mike Noonan, a best-selling writer who's wife unexpectedly passes away. Following her death, Mike suffers from writer's block and begins to have nightmares concerning their lakeside house, Sara Laughs. Mike decides he must go back to their lakeside house in order to confront his fears. Upon his arrival, he meets a beautiful single mother and her daughter, only to find out that a crazy millionaire wants to obtain custody of the young girl, who is his granddaughter. Mike decides he must help the young mother and daughter, but other sinister forces are also at work... "And perhaps the greatest blessing was that we never knew how short the time was." I truly believe that no one can depict grief like King can. Between this and Lisey's Story, King seems to have a unique talent for describing those feelings of loss and the process of grief itself. And that is part of the reason why I love King so much, it just feels like h...