The Watchers by A.M. Shine

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

The best kind of horror is thought-provoking, and The Watchers is definitely that. One day and one wrong turn in a forest later, and Mina finds herself trapped with a few other humans, at the mercy of some mysterious creatures.

This book reminded me strongly of Bird Box, mostly in tone and themes rather than content. As I write this review it has been several months since I read this book and I can still vividly remember the characters and events, something which is quite impressive given the amount of books I read. That this book left such an impression on me is not to be ignored, and I think that it's because of the strong themes and atmospheric writing throughout.

My main criticism of this book is that it's a little long. The plot is interesting and goes places I definitely didn't expect it to, but in-between all that is a little bit too much stuff. It doesn't ruin the book by any means but I think it could have been punchier and the pace might have been stronger for it.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this book out if you're a fan of horror centred around the human experience and survival situations. This is a book driven by themes and how characters respond to the situation they're in, and for that reason I enjoyed it immensely. The plot goes in a direction I didn't expect and it also has plenty of 'horror' moments to keep readers happy

Overall Rating:

The Launch Party by Lauren Forry

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Bonnier Books UK in exchange for an honest review.

A murder mystery set on the moon sounds like exactly my cup of tea, so I was very excited when I got approved for this book. The Launch Party is about what happens when you take a bunch of people into space, abandon them in a luxury moon hotel and then one of them is murdered. It is an interesting blend of a traditional murder mystery with a modern sci-fi twist, although I was hoping for a little more of the former than this delivers.

I'm not sure quite what it was about this book that meant I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. I think it is partially that the murder mystery elements are not as strong as they could be. For logistic reasons, the cast are left abandoned in space as soon as they arrive but this introduces an additional 'survival' element and immediately implies there is something going on.

The interaction between characters is also a little limited, albeit only a little. I did get a strong sense of each character but mostly through second-hand observations or from the POV narratives, not through actions or interactions. It took me a while to get my head around who everyone was and get a sense of who they were, which again weakens the mystery aspect a little.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read but it definitely lost some steam for me about halfway through. Perhaps with faster pacing or more defined characters, it would have kept my attention more. Having said that, it's an enjoyable concept and worth picking up if you like murder mysteries with a conceptual twist

Overall Rating:

.5