It Calls to Me

The beach that I stand on could almost pass as any other beach if not for seething black water that hid monsters I have tried — and failed — to describe.

The waves break inches from where my toes are buried in the sand as I look out over the ocean that I know is endless. I have no proof of this fact, just a feeling of dread in my gut as I take in the horizon, a knowing without actually knowing. In the distance, where the ocean should meet a steel grey sky, the horizon is not quite right, because the ocean both meets the sky and doesn’t. I blink and I can see where the two meet, but I blink again and the horizon feels further away, a gap between the two that my mind struggles to fill and make sense of.

I don’t like it here, on the beach, but I like being in the forest even less and the ruins even less than that. Those areas too have monsters, though I’m better at describing them than I am the monsters in the waters, and those ones have a much easier time reaching me. The fiends of the forest and ruins, however, don’t like the beach so I am — more or less — safe here as long as I keep away from the water.

A high, keening noise behind me pulls my attention from where I struggle to understand the horizon that I see. I start, one foot slipping from beneath the sand, but gain my balance and look over my shoulder toward the forest. It lays maybe half a football field length away from where the tide crashes against the beach and, at first, I see nothing amongst the strange trees that are like no other trees back home. Then a creature of alabaster white peeks its long face from behind one of the trees, its longer fingers with too many joints curling around the trunk.

It makes the noise again, a call to me that I can’t understand, though I know it’s bidding me to come closer. It has a vaguely human look to it, if someone were to stretch a human into proportions far beyond their limits, and it reminds me of an article I read about a phenomenon called the uncanny valley. The fear that is like ice in my veins and the revulsion that chokes me is, essentially, instinctually. My very being screams that what I’m looking at isn’t right and shouldn’t exist, yet the creature stands before me with flat black eyes like wet river stones that stare at me.

The fear isn’t all instinctual, though, because I’ve seen others like it and what they can do.

There’s a hunger in these lands, this universe, that is driving the creatures to madness. It’s a ceaseless hunger, from what I’ve seen, which can never be satisfied. The universe is on the brink of collapse and it’s only a matter of time until ours falls into the hole that is left. Whether we survive that event, I don’t know, but I hope we do not because I fear if we do, either we will become the creatures or we will just feed their endless appetites until there’s another collapse and another universe falls through the hole.

As I watch the creature watching me, it leans out a little further until stringy black hair sweeps past its shoulder. It opens its mouth and I can see sharp teeth like arrows ring the O of its mouth, not unlike a lamprey’s. Past the teeth is a darkness so black that I feel parts of myself falling into it. The noise it releases is different from before, still high-pitched but warbling, stuttering even, as it tries to make a noise that it is unaccustomed to. It has the effect of two clashing pitches overlaying each other, both fighting for dominance, and it hurts my ears until it settles into a noise that makes my teeth ache and hair stand on end. It’s nails on a chalkboard and then it’s something else, a mimicry of a child’s terrified scream, and the ice in my veins seeps into my core.

The scream continues and I find myself half turned toward the creature. I have the urge to run, but not away, toward the creature, and pinch myself high on my inner forearm where the skin is most sensitive. Pain flashes through me and clears my thoughts, turning the scream back into the keening call. For a moment, those black eyes flash with a terrible depth and I know I’ve angered the creature. I almost expect it to step from behind the tree that hides its tall, lanky body, but I know it won’t.

Nothing ventures the beach but me.

The creature hisses, its stretched features twisting and crumpling until its whole face is like a black hole, and then it turns. It lumbers back into the greeny-black darkness of the forest, its steps heavy despite its emaciated appearance. I watch it go and then watch the spot where the gloom swallows it, the thing there and then not.

Satisfied that my unwanted observer has gone, I turn back to the ocean. I do not know if the creatures of this universe are actually mimicking noises from home or if my mind simply cannot comprehend them and substitutes the closest thing I can understand. It’s unsettling, either way, and dangerously hypnotic. It’s a trap the creatures layout, whether intentional or not, and one of the reasons why I stay out of the forest. And ruins, where what populates those are far worse than the ones of the forest.

It’s easier to understand what you’re hearing is not what it’s pretending to be when you can see what’s making the noise. Though the creatures still hold some sway, pain clears the mind, a clear experience, a moment of clarity that the mind grasps. Pain is the only thing truly known in this universe.

I realize the strangeness of my situation — this situation — and the questions that must be bubbling beneath the surface. I don’t have all the answers or most of the answers or even some of the answers. I only have but a couple, less than what would fill two cupped hands could they be held.

I’ll do my best to give those answers, but I don’t have long, as I must leave soon. The call of this universe, the sway it has over me, it sinks into the pores of my skin, slips through the tendons of my muscles, bores its way through my bones, until it is etched into my soul where it scratches little bits of me away with each visit, each passing moment. I can feel it when I’m home, a lightness that horrifies me because it represents something taken, stolen, yet given over willingly every time I cross the threshold. It’s a price I know I must pay, but it’s a terrible price for what happens when I can no longer pay it? Will I be locked out of here forever? Or will I be stuck here forever?

I do not know what is worse.

I do not have the answers to these questions so I will give the answers I do have.

Plenty of people have been here, as impossible as that sounds, though many don’t remember it and many more don’t realize it. It exists in our dreams, in the darkest corners of our mind, where the nightmares reside. It’s in the horrific monster that startles you awake, the edges of which are blurry until only the fear remains. It’s when you fall, endless, the feeling that the ground is always right there blinding you with terror. It’s when you see yourself and all the dirty, nasty thoughts that twist you ‘round and ‘round until your soul is teased beyond recognition only for you to gasp awake, the need to be better invading your brain, needling away at it.

Then there are the handful that know their dreams bring them here, that their nightmares are not the random firing of synapses, but a sort of travel. Their visits are brief and fleeting, even when they learn to control their dreams. They walk on the beach, amongst the trees, around the ruins, and even float above the ocean, here but not, a part of but separate. The creatures can sense them, instilling into those visitors a primordial fear that has existed since mankind was sentient. However, those who seek this place risk madness, still risk parts of them being carved and sliced and severed away.

And, finally, there are those like me, those who can step over in the waking world back home. There are very few of us. I know this in the same way that I know the black ocean is endless.

This place exists beneath our universe just as ours exist beneath another, layers on infinite layers. It’s easy to pierce the veil downwards, to pull on the unraveling thread until a finger, an arm, a body can slip through the tear, you just have to find where it’s thinnest, where it’s worn and waiting to be unzipped, tugged free. It’s in the liminal spaces, the places that exist as the in-between in our world, places specific to travel, that exist solely to get from here to there. Tease it apart at the right point, find the end of that thread, and you can step through to here.

It’s harder to punch upward, if you’re wondering why we don’t see this universe in our own. Although, we do, just a little. Like I said, in our dreams — nightmares — and in the dark where shadows move at the farthest edge of our vision.

But that’s enough for now, enough answers, for what I’ve been waiting for is about to arrive.

The ocean churns ferociously, white caps frothing on the tips of cascading waves that try to devour one another. Other than the thrashing ocean, it falls silent, so silent I hear the blood pumping in my veins and the growth of the hair on my skull and the tumbling of stale air in my lungs. The smell of rot and decay becomes overwhelming, as if everything in the water has died and floated to the top, though I see nothing but black darkness, a liquid abyss that calls to me, beckons me to step in until it slips above my head, closes out the light, slides into my nose and mouth and ears, and press against my eyes so close that it even seeps in through there.

Like all things, it’s not there and then it is, the only creature I’ve given a name.

Leviathan.

It calls to me stronger than all the rest, the sound vibrating through me until I’m at risk of coming apart at my seams, where I am thinnest. It’s in my mind, bouncing between the folds of grey matter. It vibrates the liquid in my eyes until the sight of the monstrosity is a blur. My heart shudders as it struggles to beat, the blood within rippling in suspended motion.

I hear its voice and I hear its words, though I do not understand them, only that it calls to me.

Leviathan. The Leviathan.

It’s all I could think to call it as monster and creature does it no justice. Leviathan gives only the smallest speck of what I see before me. Something so large it can’t exist, shouldn’t exist. The ocean’s water pulls away from me, more and more sand revealing itself the more and more Leviathan surges from the water. 

Its body is black as pitch, darker than shadows, and seems to absorb the watery light of this universe, as if light cannot exist in the same place it does. It’s what gives the ocean its black colour. 

It continues to rise, revealing more of its body, a body that defies description. Mountains ridge Leviathan’s back, so tall I cannot see their summits. Water cascades over the beast’s craggly body to fall back to the ocean, micro waterfalls, droplets in the face of Leviathan’s enormity.

It’s easy to see where the story of Jörmungandr came from, though this serpentine thing needs an endless ocean to hold it, not a single trip around the world. 

It rises still.

This is what I’ve been waiting to see, what draws me back to this universe, what the price of my soul is worth.

I can see Leviathan as it rises to the cosmos of this universe, I can feel its hunger reverberated in my body. I know when it feasts on the very fabric of the universe itself, the only thing that can satiate Leviathan’s hunger, and soon, there will not be enough left.

This is why it calls to me, why I step over the threshold again and again. I am the Witness.

I think here is the layer underneath the infinite layers. I think here is where universes end and I think Leviathan is the Devourer.

And I think our universe’s time is short.

A PDF and EPUB version of this story is available for purchase for $1 on my Ko-Fi page.

Book Review: The Lights Go Out in Lychford by Paul Cornell

Before I start, I do want to thank Tor for the series and clarify that I won this book (and the rest of the series) in a small sweepstake they held on Twitter. The Lights Go Out in Lychford is the fourth book in Paul Cornell’s Lychford series, a set of novellas that take place in the fictional town of Lychford in the UK. The books follow a trio of modern day witches who are tasked with the protection of Lychford and its magical boundaries.

In the previous book, one of the newer witches, Autumn, who bases a lot of her magic in scientific systems, accidentally went a little overboard and ended up weakening the boundaries between the human realm and the other magical realms. In an effort to bring the borders back to something a little more stable, Judith, the oldest and wisest of the witches, essentially sacrifices part of herself. Which leads to Judith’s deteriorating condition in the fourth book. She has, essentially, developed Alzheimer’s, and we see her losing herself bit-by-bit when we’re with Judith’s POV and through the eyes of Autumn and Lizzy, her apprentices. It is both Judith’s downfall and the antagonist’s – Maitland – downfall.

In The Lights Go Out in Lychford, Lizzy and Autumn – especially Autumn – have to step up in a big way. They discover wishes are being granted for seemingly no cost but it’s clear that Maitland is collecting a debt she fully intends to collect from the town. While Lizzy and Autumn try to figure out Maitland’s end game, Judith is caught up in a game that she can no longer play – except, the old Judith is a whip and foresaw some issues arising from her previous decisions.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Just when Maitland is about to enact her plan to blow the borders wide open once more, wide enough that the other magical realms collapse into the human realm, Judith’s planning catches up with the Big Bad. Separately, but still together with her apprentices, Judith, Lizzy, and Autumn foil Maitland’s plans. Unfortunately, this final act requires another sacrifice from Judith – one that she doesn’t come back from – as she gives her life for her family, friends, and annoying neighbors that she claims to dislike but why else would a woman go so far to protect a piddly little town.

END SPOILER

Like the previous books (novellas, because they really are quite short), it’s a quick read. Due to everything that has to happen in a short amount of time, the book is filled with movement and actions. Readers are also well acquainted with the characters and the setting at this point so there is very little exposition. What is there is almost exclusively relegated to the magic system and the villain’s Big Bad Speech.

What this book does really well compared to the other books is bring in the “human element” through Judith. She’s always been a character set apart from the rest so to see her deterioration and experience it both internally and externally is quite heartbreaking. She may be cold, callous, and grouchy but she took her job as the residential hedge witch and protector very seriously – something that isn’t easy to do when everyone in town thinks you’re a little off the rocker. However, her mannerisms are a cover for both her and the others. She needs to protect herself just as much as she has to protect Lychford’s residents and she finds that’s easiest when there are little warm feelings involved; however, it’s clear that she cares because she wouldn’t be able to do what she does if she didn’t. Unfortunately, it is much too late by the time the residents of Lychford realize everything Judith has done for them without a single thanks. It is only due to Autumn and Lizzy’s presence that Lychford is finally able to do right by Judith by doing right by her apprentices.

Overall, this novella is a good book. It’s easily accessible and doesn’t need a lot of bells and whistles to make it work. I enjoyed it but I do have to admit that it is just an average book. There are no doubts that people will love this book; but there are also no doubts that there are people who aren’t going to care for it. Due to its short length, I don’t think it’ll ever be a frustrating or wasteful read, but it’s going to be perfect for some people and not at all what some other people want. I think there will be a pretty solid bell curve of readers for this book. So with that, I give this book a 3.5 out of 5. It’s not my favorite in the series but it is still a good book. I’d recommend this book (and the rest of the series) to anyone who travels a lot. They’d be the perfect books for a couple hour flight where you are entertained but aren’t about to commit yourself to something huge. This book probably fits a little more into regular old fantasy because the setting really isn’t urban but you could throw a smidgen of that in there if you wanted. It’d be good for someone who wants just a bit of magic without dedicating themselves to learning a whole system. It’s light fantasy that won’t have you crossing your eyes like A Song of Fire and Ice might.

Book Review: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

After finishing up The Betrayal (review can be found here), I was ready to get back into the darker side of fiction and I found it in an unexpected way in Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House. I was still craving some horror that would scare me, although I didn’t have my heart set on it when I found the book on a recommendation list. I’d remember seeing the book a few times since the cover stood out to me so much but it wasn’t until after I had read Bardugo’s Grishaverse novels did I become interested enough to pick it up.

I am woman enough to admit that I wish I would have picked it up the first time the cover caught my eye.

To be clear, this book isn’t horror although it does have a bit of creepiness to it. It is much more dark urban fantasy than anything and the reason why I’ve started reading more of said genre. Ninth House is told in the first person perspective of Galaxy “Alex” Stern. It has two timelines: her first semester at Yale and her second semester at Yale. In sum, her first semester at Yale is spent learning the way of the Houses (like, the Houses-Houses; you know, the secret societies) and her duty as a member of the ninth house, Lethe. She’s guided through this by the senior House member, Daniel “Darlington” Arlington. Other than the fact that there are only ever three official members of Lethe, what sets Lethe apart from the other Houses/Societies is that they are, in essence, the watchers for the other Houses.

In the second timeline, which is the current timeline, Alex is unexpectedly keeping an eye on the Houses by herself, attempting to solve a murder that seems to have the Earthbound ghosts in a tizzy, attempting to solve Darlington’s disappearance, and all while attempting to pass her classes at Yale.

And, what sets Alex apart from the other current and past members of Lethe is the fact that she can see ghosts, called Greys, without any magical assistance. Before being recruited by Lethe – because she sure as hell didn’t get accepted to Yale on merit – Alex was in a bad way, largely in part due to her ability to see ghosts. It’s a situation that creates tension between Alex and Darlington before his disappearance – Alex, who never wanted to see the Greys, and Darlington, who wanted nothing more than to be able to do so. It’s the perception of a curse versus a gift that sets them in contrast but they’re forced to work together for the sake of Yale, the societies, and the normal people who haven’t an idea of what’s really happening behind the scenes.

Overall, I tore through Ninth House in just over a week. I enjoyed how the story was told with the alternating timelines, which is something that I’m not always a fan of but it works here. This is because Alex is learning in one timeline so we learn with her which allows for the worldbuilding to take place with out excessive exposition and then the second timeline has the heart of the plot in it. The way the book ties up everything too is interesting as there is an open-ended-ness to it but it also ties up loose threads nicely. This is exactly what I want in a book. I’m satisfied with how the novel ends but I’m also absolutely ready for more from a sequel. However, there was one aspect at the end that I was unsatisfied with and that’s how the big baddies came together and were handled. It felt a little too convenient especially because one of the big baddies could have easily never been revealed. Honestly, I think it could have been a thread that carried into the next book, although I understand why it wasn’t and that’s because it gives readers a hint at what Alex is and is able to do.

Despite the easy convenience of the ending, this was one of my favorite books to read this year and I am very much looking for to the sequel. I gave this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars. The only thing that kept this from a higher school is that the book can be a slog. I thoroughly enjoyed Leigh Bardugo’s writing style with this novel but I know it would be a point of contention with plenty of other readers. However, if you can get past some of the wading through the heavy descriptions and stream of consciousnesses, then you’ll enjoy the book. And, honestly, I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes books with a hint of a darkness in them. I’d probably recommend the book to most anyone who was looking for a good fiction book to read.

Book Review: The Betrayal by R.L. Stine

From the master of horror himself, R.L. Stine’s The Betrayal is a (technically) young adult fiction horror novel. Keep in mind, most will place young adult (YA) fiction as fiction for those between 12 years old and 18 years old. This particular YA novel I would place for those around 14 years old, although anyone who grew up with R.L. Stine’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? will enjoy Stine’s classic style. I didn’t pick this book up looking for scares but rather to have fun in the horror genre and because I had finished Netflix’s Fear Street saga over the summer which was inspired by R.L. Stine’s own Fear Street collection.

The books jumps back and forth between two timelines: one in 1900 which follows Nora Goode and one in 1692 which follows Susannah Goode. The books opens with Nora’s timeline as she watches her home burn down with family and husband inside. She then sets about writing down the history of the Fears (once known as the Fiers) and the Goodes which is what leads to the 1692 timeline with Susannah Goode.

Once the 1692 timeline is introduced, readers spend most of the time there with little breaks back to 1900 when Nora needs a break from writing. The 1692 timeline serves as a setup for the beginning of the “relationship” between the Fiers and the Goodes who are two families living in Wickham Village. The Fiers more or less run the village while the Goodes are simple, if a little poor, villagers. However, trouble begins to start when Susannah Goode’s and Edward Fier’s relationship is discovered by Fier’s father, Benjamin.

Benjamin has big plans for his son, Edward, as he and his brother Matthew arrived in Wickham as poor men who built up their wealth and power over the years. Benjamin has arranged a marriage for Edward with a girl from another town who comes from an impressive family. So when Benjamin discovers Edward is keeping company with Susannah, a girl with little to her name, he is less than happy and demands that Edward cast off Susannah. When Edward declines to do so, Benjamin takes matter into his own hands and accuses not only Susannah of witchcraft, but Susannah’s mother Martha as well. This leads to the women being burned at the stake while the Fiers flee the village after robbing it blind.

Of course, it doesn’t end there. William Goode, father to Susannah and husband to Martha, swears revenge on the Fiers and spends years tracking them down. When he finally finds them, he disguises himself with magic, revealing that he was, in fact, a witch. He curses the Fier family and they quickly begin succumbing to accidents, death, and misfortune.

When William, in his disguise, confronts the Fiers, another witch is revealed: Matthew Fier.

In the end, an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, and also creates further revenge seekers as, at the end of The Betrayal, Ezra Fier is set on the path of revenge for the curse on his family. It is here that Nora Goode takes a break in her writing with plans to continue it later and it acts as the end of The Betrayal.

Overall, The Betrayal is a solid read. It’s also a book that doesn’t shy away from horror. That sounds weird, right? But remember, this book is YA and clearly meant for the younger end of the spectrum. It was quite surprising when R.L. Stine didn’t try to hide away the deaths that occurred in the book but I liked the fact that he is so trusting of his intended audience. Of course, there is no intimate discussion of gory details but it was still shocking to read about a character finding another one hanging in a book meant for young horror readers. I give The Betrayal 4 out of 5 stars. Again, it’s just a really solid book. There isn’t anything necessarily special about the story in and of itself but what makes it special is that it’s accessible to young horror readers. I’d absolutely recommend this book in a minute to any young teens looking for something a little darker and a little scarier. They’re not going to be kept up by nightmares but they’ll get the little frights they’re looking for. I’d also recommend this as a cooler book for any adult horror fans. It’s simple, fast-paced, and keeps in the horror theme without requiring a lot of mental commitment. It’s a great book to read between maybe two heavy or long horror books, and it’ll remind you of why you got into horror in the first place. It’s a fun read for adults.

Book Review: The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie

The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie is a horror book about five children – now adults – who escaped from a cult located on an isolated mountain known as Red Peak. When one of the survivors kills herself, it draws the others back together to first mourn the lost of their friend and then to figure out just what happened on Red Peak.

When I was on my hunt for horror books that would scare me, the cover caught my eye. I thought it was a simple but elegant cover and I knew I had to have it. Then, when I realized it was a book revolving around a cult, I thought I had finally found a book that would give me a good fright. After all, the last cult book I read (Last Days by Adam Nevill) gave me most of the scares I had been seeking, even if the ending fell a little flat for me. So with the awesome cover and the promise of a cult, I settled in to read the book.

Maybe it’s because I hyped the book up based on the cult premise or maybe because I was comparing it to Last Days, but the The Children of Red Peak disappointed me in terms of scares. The book alternates between the past during the children’s time in the cult and the present as adults as they try to come to terms with what had happened on Red Peak. I enjoyed the past timeline much more than the current timeline. The past timeline portrayed the cult – one that started off relatively peaceful and normal, if a little religious and off the grid – as it descended into a religious madness and fervor that ultimately led to the death, mutilations, and disappearance of the majority of the cult’s members. The current timeline starts with three of the five survivors going to the fourth’s funeral: Beth, David, and Deacon come together to mourn Emily who has taken her own life. It’s the first time the group has been together in years, since their time at an institute after the events of Red Peak. They begin reconnecting – David a little more reluctant to do so than the other two – and each receive a package from Emily in the days after her funeral. As their memories of Red Peak begin to resurface and make themselves know, the adults realize that they may have left Red Peak but Red Peak hasn’t left them.

Despite the startling lack of scares, I did enjoy the book for the most part. As I mentioned before, I liked the past timeline the most and I wished that the book could have been more focused during the times of the cult activity. It’s not that I didn’t like the current timeline but when reading a horror book, reading about a cult is more interesting than people trying to figure out their place, who they are, and what happened in the past. In fact, none of the eerie feelings arose from the current timeline except for when they received Emily’s package and at the end when they return to Red Peak, and those feelings were brief.

The one question I had at the end of the book – overlooking the questions that I don’t really need answered, which really just amounts to various degrees of what the fuck – is why didn’t we get any point of view from Amanda, the fifth survivor. She’s only briefly mentioned in the current timeline until the end, although her presence is bigger in the past. When she shows up at the end, we get hardly any dialogue with her so we can’t even get a feel for her as a character except from what readers got from the other survivors’ perspectives. Due to Amanda’s rebellious and disbelieving nature, I felt that the story – especially the current timeline – would have really benefited from having her as a more active character. I would have loved to know her thoughts about the past and what she was going through in the current situation because she’d been trying to solve the mystery of Red Peak for years. It feels like Craig DiLouie left out a huge part of the story that would have benefited the novel as a whole because I think most readers could have related to Amanda better than the other characters. Her fear would have been more real because of her personality and type of person she is. She was also older than the others at the time of Red Peak so her accounts of what happened would have hit more than the accounts of children.

Overall, I gave this story 3 stars out of 5. For a book that was supposed to be mostly horror, I didn’t get a sense of that. It was interesting to read about the descent of a cult into insanity and madness but that’s about all I really, truly enjoyed in the book. The current timeline was fine and it was interesting to see how each survivor coped with being one and how their lives differed because of that. However, the whole ending, which was what everything was building to, seemed to fall flat. The mystery of Red Peak isn’t really solved and I’m left wanting more. This books gets 3 stars out of 5 from me. The writing was good and the buildup to the end pushed me through the pages but it wasn’t what I wanted or needed. To that end, the book was fine and average. I might recommend this book to someone who likes cults specifically but I think I’d be hard pressed to recommend it to many other people.

Book Review: The Patient by Jasper DeWitt

Jasper DeWitt’s debut novel, The Patient, is a horror book that had been first featured on Reddit’s r/nosleep subreddit. While you can no longer find it on the “front page of the internet,” you can find it available in print. In my effort to find a book that will scare me, I picked this book up after finishing Ring with the hope that I’d find more frights in this one. While I ultimately found this one had more of a looming sense of foreboding, the frights and scares still fell short for me. The writing wasn’t quite as refined in The Patient as it was in Ring but it worked since the book is supposed to come across as a collection of forum posts from a psychiatrist. It’s more “found footage” than written story.

The book acts as a collection of forum posts from Parker H., a psychiatrist who recounts his time at an unknown psychiatric hospital. The hospital is the archetypical mental hospital: grey, bleak, and dreary with staff that is disconnect from the whole thing. Parker is a recent graduate and decides to go into the field of psychiatry, a field of medicine that has a special meaning to him since his mother suffered from mental health issues. He very much acts, posits, and makes it known that he sees himself as the person that can help people, especially those that can’t be helped. Which is why he takes an interest in the hospital’s long-term patient, Joe.

Joe has been in the hospital since he was a child. His parents had brought him for a psychological assessment but he was released only a couple days after. Then, in even less time, Joe was back, and permanently. An adult now, he’s the patient everyone knows about but doesn’t talk about. He’s the monster in the dark that can never be helped. And, of course, weird things always happen to those who interact with Joe. Most often, that’s death.

Parker, young and full of ambition, is not deterred from Joe: not by the nurses, not by the staff, not by the other doctors, and not by Joe himself. Parker is set in wanting to treat Joe and help him leave the hospital as a cured man. It’s only as Parker continues to work with Joe and discusses his work with his colleagues that maybe Joe isn’t what he seems. That maybe, he isn’t even Joe.

Overall, the book was a fun read even if it didn’t have the scares that I had been hoping for. I had no issues going to sleep, no issues reading the book at night, and no frights of potential monsters hiding under my bed. However, while I enjoyed the forum post format, I think that’s why I didn’t feel the scares that others did. I was being told a story and, therefore, couldn’t get lost in the story. It all came “secondhand.” The best I could muster up was the feeling of “that’s strange” or “that’s creepy” or “you didn’t see that going sideways in anyway?”

I did, however, like the mystery aspect the book put forth. I found myself ripping through pages because I wanted to know. I knew there would be a twist because there has to be in a book like this, but what that twist was, was quite interesting. It involves a monster, to be sure, but I’ll keep what kind of monster for you to figure out.

In the end, for a debut novel, Jasper DeWitt’s The Patient was good. I think he has good ideas but the execution of them didn’t quite have the impact that I’m sure he’d meant for them to have. In his defense, he hadn’t initially set out to write a book – he’d just been sharing some stories on Reddit. In fact, in an interview, he used a lot of the comments he received from his Reddit posts to help him guide the story to make it harder to guess what was going to happen. I’m sure he refined some of it before officially having it published but it ultimately fell just short for me. In the grand scheme of things, the storytelling was basic and there was nothing really complex about the plot. It’s very straightforward, which does work in this case because of how the story unfolds and is told, but I think that’s why the horror and scares lack. There’s a kind of detachment between reader/listener and author/storyteller. It’s hard to feel the fear that Parker feels outside of the feeling that something just isn’t quite right. With that, I give The Patient 3.5 stars out of 5. I’d recommend it for people who are just getting into horror, particularly teens. While I think newbie adult horror enthusiasts would like the story, I think it’d be perfect for teens looking to dabble due to length and its straightforward storytelling.

Book Review: Ring by Koji Suzuki

Ring by Koji Suzuki is a Japanese horror mystery novel that follows a cursed journalist as he tries to put an end to the curse before the curse puts an end to him. Most people probably know the American movie, The Ring, and probably are aware that it’s a remake of the Japanese movie Ringu; however, it appears not many people are aware that it was originally a book. In fact, Koji Suzuki is the premiere horror writer in Japan, much like America’s Stephen King.

Unfortunately, I found that this book didn’t quite do it for me. I bought a physical copy of it from Amazon in hopes that I could get some frights while on my flight to Myrtle Beach. Despite the fact that I read the book pretty quickly – about a week – it was only okay for me. It didn’t give me the horror or scares I had hoped for; I didn’t find it deeply disturbing like some other people had; and I think the movie was scarier (gasp, that’s the true horror).

The book’s main character is Kazuyuki Asakawa, a journalist who ends up cursed while investigating the death of his niece and three of her friends. On his way home from the office, he decides to take a cab rather than the train. While driving home, the cabbie remarks at an intersection that he’d seen a kid simply keel over and die there which draws the attention of Asakawa and he begins to investigate. He puts the pieces together that a total of four strange and unexplainable deaths occurred on the same day at approximately the same time: his niece and three friends. He begins backtracking their steps until he is lead to a cabin on a resort. While staying there, he encounters an unmarked tape that depicts various disturbing scenes until its end where he is warned about his death.

Initially doubtful, Asakawa’s sense of unease increases until he pulls in his friend, Ryuji Takayama, to review the tape and determine if the warning of a curse could be real. Together, they decide to try and solve the mystery of the tape which leads them to a woman named Sadako Yamamura. They delve into her history to try and solve the mystery behind the tape with hopes that doing so would remove the curse that is to kill them within seven days.

As I said, this book didn’t have the spooks I had hoped for. Despite being cursed, there was no haunts, no ghouls, no scares leading up to the seventh day. There was only a looming sense of urgency, which, I suppose, is the point, and what makes it a horror book. However, I just wasn’t scared or even vaguely uncomfortable at all. I even read the book at night hoping to add some creepy ambiance but it didn’t do it for me. It read much more like a mystery to be solved rather than a haunting horror.

What I will give the book though, is that I liked Sadako’s characterization much more than Samara’s from the movie. There is something about the simple suffering that Sadako goes through that makes her story all the more poignant. Samara had always been a little evil, a little vengeful but Sadako was simply a girl trying to get through life and had one final bad thing happen that pushed her over the edge. She’s tired of suffering and angry at the ones who made her suffer which finally culminates in her curse at her death.

Overall, the book was well written, although I admit I wish I could read Japanese if only to read the original. Since the language is so complex, there was undoubtedly things that were lost in translation that probably would have helped set the book up better as the horror it’s known to be. The characterizations were done well and the book was paced well. Truth be told, the book was a good book to read but it just wasn’t scary. For that, I’d give the book 3 out of 5 stars. It was a good book but it was nothing stand out. I’d recommend it to people who wanted to dip their toes into horror and enjoyed more contemporary literature.

Book Review: The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes is horror-thriller-mystery book, in sum, about a time traveling serial killer who targets “the shining girls.” It’s gritty and gore-y, and doesn’t shy away from the ugliness that arises from murder. In fact, that’s what this book hangs its hat on. The murder victims in this book aren’t displayed like beautiful art – they’re literally spilling their guts in a back alley, a bird sanctuary, the road to home. We spend most of our time with the killer, but we also spend time with his one surviving victim, a homeless man, and a handful of other characters, plenty of which are the killer’s victims. And due to the nature of the serial killer, time doesn’t flow in one direction, which is clear in the way the story is told.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I will admit that it is hard to get into. It took me the better part of a month to read this book but the final half of the book really begins picking up. It’s also jarring because not only is the serial killer and reader jumping through time, there’s the added aspect of time paradoxes and the need to close the “loops.” It’s hard to keep things straight at times as there is heavy dash of science fiction involved due to the time travelling – it can even be hard for the serial killer, Harper, at times.

The one thing that I wish was explained (or, at least more clearly explained) more is who are these shining girls? I don’t think it’s every outright said but I think they might be women who have the potential to change the world. However, it’s more like a ripple effect these women have rather than being the ONE. I think it might be more about touching the lives of others than making one huge change. Although, again, I can’t be sure.

Then, to elaborate further on this, why does the house want the death of the shining girls? Does it simply “feed” on them? Does the house fear what could become of if these women were to continue to live? Maybe it’s all in Harper’s head and he’s just trying to find an excuse to kill but he seems pretty convinced that it’s what the house wants. I have a little theory which I will get into later.

I think the book tied up and worked pretty neatly for something that was otherwise messy. Time travel without glaring holes isn’t easy to write but I think the author did a good job. I didn’t really have any questions at the end about the time travel and how it worked because it was so ingrained into the plot, yet a background device that I’m not concerned with delving into it. I did also really enjoy Kirby and Harper as the two main characters. I felt that they were well thought out and that the author did a good job at making the reader feel the appropriate feelings for both characters. There was no sympathy for Harper – which is exactly what I enjoyed. He’s selfish, greedy, and uncaring, and no amount of backstory was going to make me feel for him because he was simply so unlikeable. He felt like he was owed by the world. And for what? As far as I can tell, nothing. He’s a character who never tried to better himself, only his situation.

Then there’s Kirby. She’s young and tough-as-nails, and a victim of Harper’s. She’s easy to root for because you want Harper to come to justice and know there’s no other way than for someone to figure out what’s happening. He needs to be stopped and Kirby has the drive to do that.

Now, that being said, Kirby’s character is young and a little immature. She’s a young adult who is angry at what has happened to her and allows it to become an obsession. While she pieces together the (weird) mystery, even if she doesn’t completely understand it, she doesn’t quite think ahead in her actions. When she gets the big picture – even if not the intricacies – of what’s happening, she moves to action without thinking her entire plan through. It ends up putting her and others in danger, even if it “works out.”

I say “works out” like that because of the ending. (Spoilers ahead.)

As I mentioned, the book is tied up neatly which brings me to my final point: the ending. There’s the final confrontation between Kirby and Harper – with a little help from Nick on Kirby’s side – and it doesn’t go as expected. Because, of course, time travel and time loops. I don’t know the extent of the power of the house, which is why I think it would have been beneficial to explore the concept of the shining girls more, but it’s clear that itself is stuck in a time loop. I’m not sure if the time loop is of its own making to protect itself or not but I’m leaning toward it is. I think that’s why it’s after shining girls, too. Kirby’s status of a shining girl puts the house in direct danger because it’s her that burns the house down.

Except, she doesn’t.

She only burns the house down in her time. The house in the past timeline, when the previous Polish owner of the key before Harper uses it, remains.

I think the house is looking to break out of the time loop and these shining girls who have the potential to change things are also a threat to the house. It’s why it’s so insistent that Harper kill the shining girls. When and if a shining girl remains, the house basically resets itself and starts the loop over again.

Will the house break its loop or will one of the shining girls destroy it one and for all? I can’t answer that. It’s unclear if each loop is a little different as we only got the taste of one. But I don’t know if that’s a question that needs to be answered. I’m alright with not knowing.

In the end, I gave The Shining Girls four stars out of five. It took me a while to determine the rating and it honestly might be too high considering the first half of the book but I was just really impressed with the way time travel was handled and how the author took care to make sure we knew there was nothing beautiful about the murders. I originally picked up this book because I enjoyed another one of Lauren Beukes’ novels, Broken Monsters. However, this type of book would not be one I recommended to a lot of other people, even if they liked her other books. I think if someone liked the Dark Tower series from Stephen King, they would enjoy this book. I don’t think I would recommend to many people outside of that though, even if they were horror and science fiction fans. It feels like a niche taste.

Book Review: The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco is the first book in their young adult (dark) fantasy trilogy that chronicles the life of Tea, the titular bone witch. Tea starts off as the average girl until her beloved older brother is put to rest after his death at the claws of a daeva. Beyond upset at her brother’s death, Tea discovers that she has the power of necromancy as she raises her brother from the dead, binding him to her as a familiar. Tea, along with her undead brother, Fox, is whisked away by Lady Mykaela, another bone witch who serves the kingdom. From there, we follow Tea as she begins her asha – people, specifically women, who are able to use magic and spells at a deeper level – training.

I originally picked up this book because because I saw a Tweet from the author stating that people were comparing the Bone Witch series to the Shadow and Bones series which was frustrating Chupeco a little bit – understandably so. To be clear, the series are nothing alike.

First off, Chupeco’s book uses magic. Bardugo’s book uses “little science,” which might seem like magic but Bardugo makes it clear that magic is against the natural order because it, essentially, creates something from nothing (which everyone should remember from their science classes is impossible). Chupeco’s book is steeped in Asian culture while Bardugo’s is more European/Russian. The character stories are not at all similar and neither is the overarching story. The asha aspect is front and center in Chupeco’s story while the grisha aspect is simply part of the worldbuilding in Bardugo’s. I saw one comparison that the asha faced persecution like the grisha, and that is simply incorrect.

If you really wanted to, then sure, you could say the books are similar on the most surface level possible – magic, in one form or another. In reality, they are two very different and very distinct books. Although I ultimately enjoyed either series, it was for very different reasons.

Chupeco writes their story in an interesting manner – one that I enjoy – alternating between present and past. The present storytelling is from the first person point of view of an exiled Bard who is led to Tea and listens to her story. As she tells her story, the Bard acts as a witness to Tea enacting the start of a plan involving the kingdoms and the daeva. The past story is told in the first person point of view of Tea as she shifts from everyday village girl to asha novice and bone witch. The present and past storytelling weave together although they remain separate. There are hints in the past to help understand the present but neither story is complete and the timelines don’t join up by the end of the book. Despite that, Rin Chupeco does well in wrapping up the story in a way that doesn’t have me demanding answers. Of course, there are answers that I want but Chupeco’s storytelling is clean enough and descriptive enough that I am satisfied waiting for their next book. It’s a cliff hanger but Chupeco leaves enough hints and gives enough room for the reader to infer answers that the book doesn’t feel unfinished. Chupeco strikes the delicate balance between giving the reader enough so they’re not left disappointed and confused at the end, and leaving just enough of the story untold to give the reader incentive to pick up the next book in their series.

That being said, it did take me a while to get through the book. Like other reviewers have mentioned, there is a lot of description in the book and not a lot of action. The action that does occur is pretty short-lived. Due to this, the book reads as a setup for the next book. It’s a lot of background information, which isn’t really hidden because of the way the story is told, and it’s almost easy to forget because of the snippets of the present but it’s clear the book acts as a prequel to the main story. Whether that’s what Chupeco intended or not, I don’t know, but I wasn’t really bothered by it. I don’t think there necessarily needed to be more action but I think the book would have benefited from the action scenes already available being extended.

Overall, I would give The Bone Witch 3.5 stars out of 5. As I mentioned, I enjoyed the book, but the lack of extended action worked against it. I can appreciate description – it’s honestly how I write – and the amount of description did not bother me at all but I know it can be hard to slog through. It felt too much like I was being told a story – which is admittedly probably what Chupeco was going for – and that meant I couldn’t lose myself in the story. Background information can be hard to convey because of wanting to show, not tell, and I think Chupeco approached it the best way, but it isn’t really exciting. What a reader gets from a story like this is a solid grasp on the world which is beneficial for a story as steeped in culture, rules, and traditions as The Bone Witch is. It is also a safe story to tell because, as I mentioned, it doesn’t leave gaping holes to be filled by sequels while still presenting the world as intriguing enough to keep the readers wanting more – and the world is definitely interesting. A book like this, I would recommend to people who really enjoy the journey, who like worldbuilding, and who like being able to paint pictures for themselves. It’s definitely not for someone who needs action and fast-paced writing. I do want to call out the absolutely gorgeous cover for this book though – honestly, one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen on a book. Even if you don’t read the book, it’s going to look amazing on your shelf so you should buy it.

Book Review: The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle

The Murder Game by Carrie Doyle is a YA fiction book centered around a boarding school murder. We follow the main character, Luke Chase, as he works to exonerate his best friend and roommate, Oscar, from accusations of murdering a teacher, Mrs. Heckler – the second Mrs. Heckler, that is. As a sort-of celebrity in his own right, the Kidnapped Kid, who escaped a kidnapping three years before the start of The Murder Game, Luke is poised as being uniquely capable at investigating and solving the murder of Mrs. Heckler, a murder that had taken place only feet away from where he and a few friends had gathered after sneaking out of their dorms afterhours.

To say I struggled getting through this book would be a smidgen of an understatement. I sent my friend a few screaming GIFs as she urged me on to get through it. It’s a relatively short and easy book to read, nothing too complicated despite the fact that its a YA murder mystery story; however, I found it boring and clichéd. Additionally, while the writing was, for the most part, average, the ending action scenes left a lot to be desired.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where I wholeheartedly did not like a single character in it. In The Murder Game, almost all of the characters were strikingly unprofessional and uncaring. Reading about a school that seemed to treat a murder as a grand ol’ adventure or – disturbingly – like a joke was unpleasant. While I realize that high school aged teenagers are not the most mature of people, I don’t think a majority of them would be as blasé about it. When one of the more mature and sane students becomes upset over a “joke” that a student played the day after the murder of a teacher, even the main character is taken a little aback by the vehemence Liz displays.

For a character that really wants to present himself as mature, trustworthy, respectful, and knowledgeable, he really isn’t. Luke Chase just comes across as a douchy, better-than-thou high schooler. This isn’t a story in which the main character is left on his own to solve the mystery or one where no one would believe him. Luke Chase just decides to solve the murder on his own because he was near the murder that night and his friend is in trouble. Instead, he seems to go out of his way to impede an active police investigation. Which is especially frustrating at the end when he accuses the police of taking too long to locate the murderer when he ensured certain evidence was withheld or delayed from getting to the police.

The adults in this novel are no better. They are portrayed like the high schoolers except their age and positions are mentioned more often. When we do get characterization of the adult characters, it’s all half-formed and a little nerve-wracking. I would honestly hope that if any one of the adult characters were real people that they’d never be a teacher. The rampant unprofessionalism and downright creepiness of the adults makes me uncomfortable. It may be the boarding school setting that is supposed to make the adults act as they do but I don’t think so – I just think they’re poorly thought out characters. One of the teachers knows who the murderer is and more than likely actively witnessed it, and rather than tell the police, he’s too upset that he’s not treated like faculty and apparently also want’s to prove to Luke that his escape from his kidnapping was not a fluke.

That is batshit fucking insane (and not in a good way, not even close).

Speaking of which, I just want to say that having the skills to escape a kidnapping and having the skills to solve a murder are two different things. I’m not saying escaping a kidnapping is easy, by any means, but the fact that there are legitimate stories about people annoying their kidnappers enough to release them and that there aren’t any stories like that about solving a murder might indicate something.

Overall, I was really disappointed by this book. With a title like The Murder Game and the awesome cover art, I expected a, well, murder game. That’s not at all what I got. Additionally, there are a lot of plot points left out which I think was intentionally done so that they could be explored in book sequels. However, some of them shouldn’t have been because they would have helped make the story more interesting; would have helped characterize the characters; or because they are going to leave a lot of questions if there isn’t a sequel. I think it’s always a dangerous game to bank on a sequel to provide more information when releasing the first book in a series just in case it doesn’t go further. There are some plot points that I didn’t need elaborated further, such as Pippa’s deal – that was one I could wait for in another book – or even the Strangler – I bet he would get to make a comeback – but others should have been elaborated more, such as Luke’s kidnapping or Mr. Hamaguchi’s reaction to the murder (and the previous dead girlfriend tidbit is not enough).

With all of that being said, I’d give The Murder Game 2 stars out of 5. At the end of the day, it just left a lot to be desired. I think there was the potential for some good storytelling but what I got was way too much dialogue (I never notice the amount of dialogue unless that’s all there is and that’s what it felt like at times) and a pretty straightforward mystery that wasn’t really surprising. I wanted a body count and a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. What I got was Luke looking at Pippa’s ass.