Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Orion in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly had no idea what to expect from this book. I was not a fan of Perks of Being a Wallflower but I could not resist reading a book with such a promising and amazingly creepy premise. Imaginary Friend is the story of a boy named Christopher who has just moved to a new town with his mother, Kate. Shortly after the move, Christopher goes missing in the woods for 6 days and reemerges a changed boy. Before he was a normal seven year old, dyslexic and struggling with school. After he is incredibly intelligent...and he can hear a voice in his head.

The first 15% or so of this book is one of the best openings I have ever read. Had the rest of the book maintained this tone, it would have easily been a 5 star read. There is just something so likeable about all of the characters and though it's weird to say in a horror novel, it's actually really comforting to read about their lives. There is still the undercurrent of things about to go wrong but it's so refreshing to read a horror book where no one is an asshole. It's a common horror trope and I didn't realise how sick of it I was until now.

It's a cliche to compare good horror to Stephen King but this honestly has a very similar feel and plot to a King novel, albeit with characters who aren't terrible people. The King quirks aren't present which helps create a unique voice, and I intend this comparison as a compliment rather than a criticism. It doesn't feel derivative, it feels exceptionally well-written.

Sadly I can't say much about what made it drop in rating except for that the plot ultimately just wasn't for me. The book becomes very focused on themes of religion and the horror elements become muddled and hard to follow. By the end I had little idea of what was going on and it made me disconnect from the work. This is mostly down to personal tastes so if you like more abstract horror or books with heavy themes, you may enjoy it more than me.

The only other thing I want to mention is there is a character called 'Special Ed'. This is initially introduced as a cruel nickname some bullies use but then the narrative continues to use it for no real reason. I just wanted to mention it as an odd choice.

Overall, Imaginary Friends is a solid book. I was surprised how engaging I found it given its length, and this was down to both the great writing style and characters. It is mostly the plot that lets it down in the end but I am glad I read it and I can see some readers really connecting with it.

Overall Rating:

.5

What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Wattpad Books in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb of this book makes it sound like a YA thriller along the lines of Pretty Little Liars or something similar. Honestly this reads more like a YA contemporary, though admittedly the lines are a little sketchy. What Happened That Night is the story of Clara, whose sister Emily has just been arrested for murdering the golden boy of the school. You soon learn that said golden boy raped and brutalised Clara earlier in the year and she believes this is why her sister killed him. Most of the book is focused around Clara coming to terms with being assaulted and the fact that she hasn't told anyone besides her sister. She is also struggling with having romantic feelings for someone new. There are a few other elements but I can't really discuss them without spoilers.

This book had a very different tone than I was expecting and I was pleasantly surprised. As a Wattpad book, I wasn't expecting stellar writing but actually the writing is fantastic. It flows well, is paced brilliantly and you get a good sense of the characters in a short amount of time. I wouldn't class this as a thriller but there are some twists in the plot and factors that will keep you guessing. It handles the topics of rape and abuse mostly sensitively, bar one exception which I will discuss in a spoiler section (highlight for spoilers) So at the end of the book, it's revealed that Emily lied about being abused and she was actually abusing her boyfriend all along. This is an interesting twist and I liked how the author showed abuse can happen regardless of the genders involved. However, having Emily lie about the abuse is a little iffy to me as abuse victims are rarely believed in the first place. It wasn't enough to put me off but it was perhaps not handled as sensitively as it could have been and it muddles the theme.

Overall, this book manages to be a breath of fresh air in a rather saturated market. So long as you don't go in expecting breakneck twists and constant action, What Happened That Night is a brilliant example of a darker contemporary book handled some tough topics well. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this author and I'm happy that Wattpad can result in quality like this.

Overall Rating:

.5

Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Blythell

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Profile Books in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit, when I first started reading this book I was skeptical. The format means that it is literally told through diary entries which I wasn't aware of, and this took a little getting used to. Even the most interesting person in the world will have dull bits in their diary, and these haven't really been edited out. It is also a sequel which again, I wasn't aware of before reading. There hasn't been a ton of effort put in to make it accessible to people who haven't read the first one so, while a lot of it you can deduce, there were quite a few mentions of people or things which I had no idea who or what they were. This was a bit jarring and it meant I almost DNFed this book immediately.

Having said that, I am very happy I persisted with it. There's a weird sort of comfort in reading this book and it turned out to be a unique and enjoyable experience. Something about the repetitiveness of the entries paired with the topic of running a second-hand bookshop makes for a very easy read. There were parts where I felt the author was being a little mean-spirited but, having worked as a bookseller myself, I could understand a lot of his points. I think this might have benefited from being told in themed chapters with chosen anecdotes but then, that would be a very different book.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the source material and for people who aren't looking for something too informative or brief. If you want an insight into running a small secondhand bookshop or are just interested in reading about someone's daily life, then this is the book for you.

Overall Rating:

.5

Full Throttle by Joe Hill

I received a free copy of this book for review thanks to publisher William Morrow and Edelweiss.

Despite Heart-Shaped Box being one of my all-time favourite horror books, I have yet to read another book by Joe Hill. I was so excited to receive an ARC of his short story collection and I am happy to say that it lived up to my expectations fantastically. Full Throttle is a brilliant collection of horror/fantasy stories and each one is incredibly unique. Hill's writing really is up there with his father's in terms of skill for writing short stories and this is definitely a collection I can see myself rereading again and again.

As per usual with my anthology reviews, I will give an overview of the collection as a whole before talking about each short story.

Number of stories: 13
Great stories: 6
Good stories: 3
Okay/not for me stories: 4

Throttle-A group of motorcyclists encounter trouble when a truck decides to mow them all down. This one took ages to get going and I wasn't particularly invested until the action happened. Once it did though, there were some good moments and I liked how it ended.

Dark Carousel-Four teenagers get more than they bargained for when they accuse a carousel owner of stealing from one of them. This one was pretty surreal with its horror but I really enjoyed that aspect, and Hill made it work well.

Wolverton-A man gets on a train and discovers he's suddenly in a lot of danger. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It's got kind of a silly premise almost but it was executed so well and there was real tension in it. This has also stuck with me the most out of all the stories which is somewhat surprising.

By the Silver Waters of Lake Champlain-Two children find a dead dinosaur next to a lake. This one was really underwhelming for me sadly. The execution of the twist was a bit clumsy and I didn't quite get what was going on. It had potential but just missed the mark.

Faun-A group of hunters hear about the opportunity to pay a lot of money for a mysterious special hunt. Kudos to this story for not doing the obvious and going where I expected it to. I did lose interest a little bit towards the end but it was interesting enough and I couldn't predict what was going to happen.

Late Returns-A man takes over driving a library Bookmobile and discovers he has visitors from the past. I LOVED this story. It's light on the horror but it has such a nice concept and it was a much-needed break from the darkness of the other ones. It still has enough of an edge to fit with the rest of the anthology which is also important as it doesn't feel like it sticks out or is misplaced.

All I Care about is You-A girl living in the future (?) pays to have a robot companion for an hour to help her out. There was some clumsy worldbuilding in this one and I found it a little hard to get into because of that. However, as the story unfolded I started to really love it and by the end, it was one of my favourites. Very weird, unique and so interesting.

Thumbprint-A woman comes back from Iraq after committing some atrocities. I sadly couldn't get into this story and more skim-read it than anything. It might work for some people but it just wasn't for me.

The Devil on the Staircase-I tried to read this story but just couldn't get into it and I'm honestly not sure what it was about.

Twittering from the Circus of the Dead-A teenager takes up Tweeting to annoy her mum and records her experience visiting a very unique circus. This is told entirely through Tweets and I thought it would be annoying but I actually ended up really enjoying it. The format helps build a lot of tension and it strengthens the dramatic irony the plot relies on without being grating.

Mums-A boy's mother dies and he acquires some unusual seeds from a stranger. This one had such potential but it kept missing the mark for me. Mostly it was confusing and I found it hard to follow, which may have been intentional but wasn't enjoyable for me. There are some cool moments and some creepy ideas going on here but I wish it had been executed differently.

In the Tall Grass-Two twins stop to help a child and mother lost in some tall grass and get more than they bargained for. This was definitely one of my joint favourites (along with the next story and Late Returns). It's co-written with King and you can see his influence which only makes the story stronger. An easy to follow tale with some good old-fashioned weirdness.

You are Released-I have read and reviewed this story previously so here is my original review: A very powerful story about a plane that runs into trouble, framed by swapping the focus to a different passenger every few paragraphs or so. This wasn't really horror in my opinion but I am so so glad I read it. It has a lot of really thought-provoking moments and was just excellently done.

~

Overall, I am delighted to say this collection cements Joe Hill as one of my favourite authors. It has all the skill and originality of a King short story collection but rather than feeling derivative, Hill brings his own talent and his own ideas. It's definitely a must-try for fans of horror anthologies.

Overall Rating: