Let the Right Book In

The Girls Are Gone is a pretty insane true crime story, a family drama as opposed to a grizzly murder case. And that’s fine, not all true crime needs to be infused with murder, but I’m struggling to understand why this needed to be a full-length novel. “This book is about a family destroyed by crimes that often go unnoticed.” In the midst of their parent’s divorce, teenagers Samantha and Gianna Rucki go missing. And whilst their father is doing everything he can to find them, their mother is off sunning herself on extravagant holidays. And that’s only a smidgen of all the DRAMA! The book is full of court transcripts and blog posts/news articles. It’s the equivalent of following a divorce and custody case, but unfortunately that involves having to read EVERY single statement and interrogation. I have no issue with reading court proceedings - Helter Skelter has quite a lot of them and I LOVE that book - but this was just dull. So much repetition, I just wanted to shout, “I GOT IT, OKAY?!...

If you like slashers and you don’t mind a lot of blood, guts and gore, then you need Dead Girl Blues in your possession IMMEDIATELY. “There was so much blood. So much blood.” After a young woman dies in Willow Zulawski’s arms, she is led down a dark path into the murky and seedy world of snuff films. Willow must take things into her own hands when those around her start showing up dead... There’s a very small list of authors who when a new release drops I will clear the deck and read the book right away. Stephen King, Joe Hill... and David Sodergren. His horror novels thrill and excite me like no other. He perfectly blends his humour with old-school horror and the results are ridiculously bingeable! Sodergren has a knack for delivering strong female protagonists, reminiscent of the final girl. His two most recent leads have offered LGBTQ+ representation and are fiesty women who speak their mind. I’m HERE for it! I also love it when no character is safe. The stakes are raised, everyone’...

I wouldn’t say I am an outdoorsy gal, but this book made me want to run off and live in a marsh and be at one with nature. That alone is an extraordinary achievement! “Autumn leaves don't fall, they fly. They take their time and wander on this, their only chance to soar.” Set in North Carolina, Where the Crawdads Sing follows the life of Kya, a young girl who grows up isolated in a marsh. When handsome town resident Chase Andrews shows up dead, rumours circulate that it was Kya who was behind the murder. During my research, I discovered that Delia Owens has a PhD in Animal Behaviour and has co-written a number of nature books. So imagine my surprise that Owens writes fiction so beautifully. Often academic writers can be a little dry (such as myself), but Owens’ prose was breathtaking. I simply adored that Owens incorporated her own knowledge about nature and animals into the story, but in a way that suited the narrative instead of a case of info-dumping for the sake of it. It worke...

If It Bleeds is some of King’s best work in recent years, showcasing his talent once again when it comes to the novella. In each of these novellas, King reflects upon death in some way, and he handles it so perfectly. For me, it sits firmly up there snuggled close to Different Seasons and Full Dark, No Stars. “I will live my life until my life runs out.” Mr Harrigan’s Phone was simply a lot of fun! A little creepy at times and the writing just felt like old King, but with more modern topics, like technology. Maybe a little unsatisfying for me personally, but still very solid. The Life of Chuck is the story of a man’s life told in reverse and it works so beautifully. This is the type of King story I love most of all. When he just sucker punches you with a story full of heart and emotion. I may have even shed a tear... In If It Bleeds we get to meet up with Holly Gibney once again in a sequel to The Outsider. In some ways it feels like a rehashing of that story, but it held my attention ...

If, like me, you would happily read Stephen King’s shopping list and if you’re a completionist, then Secret Windows should be on your wish-list. Any opportunity that arises where I can get inside King’s head, I will GRAB with two hands. “Well, that’s what writers do. They create ghosts and watch them walk around the room.” Secret Windows was initially suggested as a kind of sequel to On Writing. I wouldn’t necessarily put it into that bracket. It’s more like a random collection of different essays, short stories and introductions he has written for books, like John Fowles’ The Collector and Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door. And that was my only real issue with this one. I’ve already read both of those introductions, as I’ve read those books. I’ve already read his introduction to Night Shift. And I’ve already read Danse Macabre, so I’ve read his piece on horror fiction. Oh, and a story from Everything’s Eventual - In the Death Room - is included in here too. And guess what? I’ve read t...

Recently it had gotten to the point where I was enjoying all the true crime books I picked up so much that I was worried I just couldn’t tell the difference between a good true crime book and a bad true crime book. Maybe my love for true crime was clouding my vision. Alas, no need to be concerned, because this was a bad one... “They’ll never believe you.” Okay, maybe bad is harsh. But it was a struggle for me. The first 150 pages are literally just the surveillance cops driving around after John Wayne Gacy while he went about his life of work, restaurants and bars. It was like Groundhog Day. For 150 pages. After that, it did pick up, but I just felt like I didn’t really learn anything new. I’m not sure if that’s the book’s fault, or if there really just isn’t much more to this case. When reading true crime my objective is to learn more about why these people behave the way they do. And this book just really provided little insight into Gacy himself, it was more a list of facts...

You know you’ve got a real special book on your hands when the first thing you do upon finishing is reshuffle your top 10 books of ALL-TIME. This hasn’t happened since East of Eden this time last year! So that is a true testament to how much I loved this book. “It would be a lie to say the time passes quickly. It never does, when you want it to.” I have a soft spot for books that explore themes of grief and loss. I also go bananas for horror - obviously. So when these elements are all mixed together in a big bowl, and when the book is written as beautifully as this one is, there is no question I’m going to love it! The Fisherman takes the form of a story within a story. Two men who have recently undergone huge losses in their life bond over the love of fishing. They venture out to different fishing spots, but Dutchman’s Creek is unlike anywhere they’ve fished before... Gee, a story about two men fishing, Johann?! I hear you cry. How BORING that must be. But believe me, tha...

First of all, there’s a dog called Barney in The Bird Eater, so we’re off to a great start in this review! The book is commendable for that reason alone. “You couldn’t live with the devil and expect to come out whole.” Ahlborn writes some of the most readable, yet highly addictive horror stories. When you pick up one of her books time flies by and before you know it, you’ve devoured 100 pages. Usually 100 spooky, chilling pages - it is always a pleasure! I really enjoy those stories wherein we are watching a character struggling with their inner demons. Their life has been flipped upside down by some tragic event, they turn to alcohol or drugs and push away everyone that is close to them. Our protagonist, Aaron, is already losing his grip before he returns to his childhood home, and what he encounters there only pushes him further toward the edge. He is tormented by a strange boy that won’t leave him alone, and piles of dead birds keep appearing in the house.... As is always...

This book is the literary equivalent of wrapping yourself up in a big blanket with a cup of coffee on a rainy day. I’m almost certain hearts started appearing around my face like the emoji when I was reading it. “Remind myself that there is no saving of people - people can only save themselves. The best you can do is help when they're ready.” Tiff and Leon are strangers who embark on a unique kind of flat share. Tiff gets the apartment (and the bed) overnight whereas Leon gets it during the day as he works night shift. Since they don’t get to see each other, they initially communicate through post-its and notes left around the apartment, as they each deal with their personal problems, including a messy break-up and a brother in jail. Pre-bookstagram in my teenage years and early 20s, these were the kinds of books I’d read all the time. But now that I’ve found the genres I love, it’s rare that I would read a romance - it just doesn’t do it for me anymore. However The Fla...

You know those books that you absolutely love, yet wouldn’t blindly recommend them to everyone? That’s me with The Terror. Absolutely LOVED it, but I don’t think it’s suited to every reader. “We are all eaters of souls.” Incase you didn’t know, The Terror is based on the Franklin Expedition, when two steam-powered vessels set out in 1845 on a mission to traverse the Northwest Passage. So think big ships and lots of snow and ice. But of course, Simmons puts his own spin on it and also throws in another threat that is hunting and killing the men. As if the threat of scurvy and hunger isn’t enough! It is clear from the outset that this book is impeccably researched and so it became a learning experience for me as well as being a damn good story! However this is also where I would warn to proceed with caution, as not everyone will enjoy the extreme level of detail given. Some parts of the story are so bloody engrossing and you simply cannot stop turning the pages, but equally y...

Imagine reading the work diary of someone whose job follows a regular pattern each day, doing the same general activities, and that’s basically what reading this book was like - with some humorous anecdotes thrown in! “An elderly customer told me that her book club’s next book was Dracula, but she couldn’t remember what he’d written.” The Diary of a Bookseller is comprised of a year of diary entries from secondhand book shop owner, Shaun Bythell. And I have to admit, learning about how a secondhand book shop is actually run was very eye-opening to me, as it’s not really something I had considered before! Each day the amount of money made through sales is recorded and it was so interesting to see this change from day to day, season to season. Takings were abysmal for quite a few of the winter months, whereas foot traffic and sales would go way up in the summer and tourist months. Bythell does have a lot of hatred for amazon, which is understandable, but at times it just wore...