The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

The Caretaker is a great example of a horror story where the scale is handled right. It tells the story of Macy Mullins, a girl on the brink of bankruptcy who is struggling to support her and her sister after the death of their father. Macy gets offered a housesitting job where all she has to do is follow a peculiar set of instructions and she'll be paid a crazy amount of money. But what happens if she slips up?

I really enjoyed the general atmosphere, pacing and writing style of this book. The tone hit a good balance of being creepy but clear, and I found Macy to be a fairly interesting protagonist. Her situation was heartbreakingly believable and I never found myself confused by her actions or attitudes to what she was doing,

Having said that, the problems kind of came in the latter half of the book. Whilst the story remained compelling and well-written, I began to find Macy a bit frustrating as a character. Horror books rely on suspense and suspense is killed both by a character being too competent and by a character being too incompetent. Without giving too much away, I felt Macy's actions became very repetitive and this killed some of the believability and investment for me. I think balancing her successes vs her failures more would have kept me more on my toes and my interest going.

Overall, The Caretaker is an interesting horror book and one I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I did find moments of it genuinely creepy and scary, I just wish the story had changed things up a bit in the second half. I recommend checking it out if you're looking for a unique twist on 'isolation horror' but I also think this author has some room to grow and I am excited to see what they do in the future

Overall Rating:

3.5/5 stars

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

 

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

His & Hers is the story of two exes and their respective involvement in a murder investigation as a reporter and a police officer. When Anna's ex-friend and Jack's current lover Rachel is found murdered in a car, it becomes the start of a murder spree focused around people from their past. As they both try to figure out what's going on, trust begins to wane on both sides and neither knows exactly who to trust.

This was an enjoyable thriller, albeit one which suffers a little from its own simplicity in plot. Due to the author and general blurb, I was expecting a twist going in and so I spent a lot of the time trying to work out what it was instead of focusing on the story being told. The story itself is a decent one but if you're used to other works by the author, you might be disappointed by the relative 'straight-forwardness' of the thriller element. It is engaging and surprising, but doesn't have a huge trick like some of the other works.

As an audiobook, this mostly worked well but there was some confusion in the voices. There are two narrators for Anna and Jack, and then additional sections narrated by the killer. Presumably to prevent it being obvious who is the killer, they are alternatively narrated by Anna and Jack's voice actors using a distortion technique, but this only serves as a distraction. I do wish they'd just gotten in a third voice actor rather than swapping between them, as again it just primes you for a twist at best and is distracting at worst. I found myself just ignoring these sections mostly as they weren't particularly insightful or interesting.

Overall, this was an enjoyable enough listen. The narrators did a great job with the material and the story is interesting enough to keep your attention. If you go in expecting a typical (well-written) thriller, then you're in for a good time

Overall Rating:

The Decagon House Murders Vol 1 by Yukito Ayatsuji, Hiro Kiyohara

 

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

Having read the novel version of the Decagon House Murders earlier this year and being very impressed, I was really excited to see a manga was being produced. I am pleased to report that it did not disappoint! This is a fantastic adaptation of the book's content and a really fun way to experience the story. The character designs are great and, as someone who struggled a little bit with character names in the book, I found it actually helped me tell characters apart much more easily. I also found the subplot a lot more interesting in this format than in the novel. This volume covers a decent amount of the first book and seems like fantastic value as it told more of the story than I was expecting. I 100% recommend this, both as a way of consuming the story and for the story itself. This is a brilliant murder mystery and the manga format only adds to the enjoyability. I am eagerly awaiting the other volumes.

Overall Rating:

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Serpent's Tail / Profile Books in exchange for an honest review.

It has been a long time since I've read a book that has made me struggle to put into words the effect it has had on me. Particularly when it comes to this book, I feel it is better to go in blind so I can't actually say too much about it. On the surface, The Last House on Needless Street is a familiar story. We are introduced to Ted, a man who was suspected of kidnapping a little girl several years ago and who now lives with a mysterious daughter and a cat. The cat acts as a secondary narrator and this is where the weirdness starts.

Almost immediately you get the sense that something is 'wrong' with this picture, and it's that wrongness that draws you in and keeps you hooked. It is very easy as a reader to make assumptions and this book plays with this, making you feel like you are wandering into an obvious trap and yet you can't see how else things could go. The result is this book casts a brilliant spell. It consumed me in a way few books can, and I was desperate to keep reading it at every opportunity.

Overall, I don't think there's much else I can say except that I think most people should give this book a try. The horror is subtle and slow, and it creeps up on you. I think even those who don't enjoy horror as a genre but enjoy thrillers or similar mysteries would get something out of this book. It has a lot of depth and interesting things to say, as well as just being a fantastically written and immensely entrancing story. I know this book will stay in my mind for a long time after reading it and it was an experience I won't forget.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Promise by Katerina Diamond

 

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

I will start this review by saying I requested this ARC a long time ago before I realised police procedurals weren't really my thing, so take my opinion with a pinch of salt. Having said that, The Promise is a fairly decent addition to the genre which mostly suffers from having quite a lot going on.

The Promise is the story of DS Adrian Miles and his partner Imogen Grey, who get involved in a serial killer case where the murderer is finding women through a dating site to strangle to death. Parallel to this, we are told a story about a teenage boy named Connor who has recently moved to the UK and is being physically abused by his dad. There is also a set of chapters from an unknown female POV of a woman telling the story of how she met her abusive partner.

You might already be able to tell that this is a lot but sadly, it isn't enough to hide the solution of the serial killer mystery. I had it worked out by 50% of the way through and it became very linear from there as I waited for the characters to catch up with me. I am not familiar with this series and so I also found it difficult to work out if Adrian or Imogen was meant to be the protagonist. From the blurb I see it was meant to be both of them, but Imogen felt more like the main character and Adrian's parts felt a bit intrusive as a result. It added even more to a story which already had three POVs.

The strengths of this book were that I felt it handled the police procedural stuff well and I didn't feel as bored as I normally do with the genre. Connor's storyline provided a lot of the heart and depth to the book and, though it was predictable, I still think his sections added a lot and were probably my favourite of the bunch. The characters were solid and well-written throughout, and the detective team had some nice interactions. It was also paced pretty well. It maybe could have been a little shorter but it was clear, easy to follow and the plot kept moving.

Overall, The Promise is a decent example of its genre. It's not the most groundbreaking thriller but Diamond clearly has talent and I had a better time reading this than some procedurals. If you're a fan of the genre, you will almost certainly love this more than I did.

Overall Rating:

Malorie by Josh Malerman

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

SPOILERS FOR BIRDBOX AHEAD.

I wasn't sure what to expect from a Birdbox sequel. The first book ended so perfectly that, while I was excited for this book, I wasn't entirely sure it needed to exist. Malorie opens by undoing the positive ending of Birdbox rather abruptly which was jarring, but thankfully it was all uphill from there.

Malorie is interestingly named because really it's the story of her and her children. We initially pick up two years after where Birdbox ended, followed quickly by a ten year time skip. Olympia and Tom are now 16 year old teenagers with stronger opinions and thoughts of their own. Tom in particular is beginning to doubt his mother's view of the creatures and thinks there might be another way to live his life rather than in fear of them. When Malorie gets some news which causes them to consider venturing out from their home, Tom's new rebellious streak only continues to grow.

I was really surprised by how much I ended up loving this book. I genuinely think it improves upon the first as it expands the world, raises the stakes and crafts a far less predictable story (in my eyes). I had no idea where this story was going to go and it was exciting to see how certain things developed. The tension built throughout the story and I loved the new characters and new elements of the world we were introduced to. I only really had one criticism and that's that certain aspects of the ending felt a bit too contrived. There was one story element I was enjoying and it was a key part of Malorie's paranoia, but then this element gets pushed too far and I feel it was a little hard to swallow. It's a shame because it was the only thing that got in the way of me enjoying it really. I really enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook as well and I felt she added a lot to the story.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Malorie. I'm so happy that I got the chance to read a sequel to a book I really enjoyed and that it managed to expand upon and continue the story in such a satisfying way. This is definitely worth a read if you've been sitting on the fence about it and the audiobook is a great way to experience it.

Overall Rating:

.5

Wife After Wife by Olivia Hayfield

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK in exchange for an honest review.

Don't be fooled by this cover, this is not a thriller. It is however an exceptionally good book! This is a retelling of the story of Henry VIII and his marriages, reimagined in the 1980s to modern day. I have a cursory knowledge of this part of history but I think one of the strengths of this book is you can enjoy it regardless of your historical knowledge. If you know the story, you can appreciate the amazing amount of work that has gone into researching this and how it is cleverly twisted to work in the modern day. If you know nothing, you can be surprised by the engaging plot and frankly very interesting life of the main character and his wives.

Another thing to be praised is what an easy read this is. The writing is so engaging and, despite it being a fairly long book for its genre, it never once dragged. In fact I read all of it in two days because I could not put it down. The character guides allow it to be more accessible for people who don't know their history, but it can be easily understood and followed without them. There are lots of characters but they are handled well and I never lost track of who anyone was. Henry is made very likeable despite his flaws and some artistic license is taken to make the plot flow better which I fully support. I even read the interview with the author at the end (which I almost never do) and I loved the explanations for why she made the changes she did. I can't see anyone but the strictest historian being bothered by them.

Overall, this is one of the best retellings I have ever read, if not the best. The source material is perfectly translated into modern day with what is clearly a lot of work from the author, and none of the writing style or enjoyment is sacrificed in order to make that happen. This is such an engaging book and it's clear to me that Hayfield is incredibly talented. If you want a fun way to digest history or just a really good adult contemporary book, I could not recommend this more.

Overall Rating:

.5

A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill

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

This is such a hard book to describe. A Cosmology of Monsters is the tale of Noah and his family, a group of people all battling various monsters, both metaphorical and real. This is definitely lighter on the horror elements so don't go into this expecting a particularly scary tale. Instead this is more of focused look at one family with a rather bizarre (not in a bad way) supernatural angle. This is a horror only in so much as there are monsters and various horror elements (a ghost house, HP Lovecraft) are mentioned frequently.

This book has very compelling writing and was easy to follow most of the time. It is split up into parts and in between the parts are short chapters which I found a little odd. These short chapters were the only parts I found hard to follow. My main issue with this book is it felt like it frequently changed plot and then never returned to those elements. We start with Noah's parents and the story of how they met, which is fair enough I suppose. But then we are focused on his older sisters and his parents never receive much attention again. Then it moves onto Noah and, while his sisters remain present, their various plot elements aren't really resolved in a satisfactory way. The writing saved this from being a total disaster but I did feel confused about which parts of the plot were meant to matter, be it thematically or in terms of the actual story being told.

There were also unexpected romance elements in this which were...interesting. I don't want to spoil anything but it caught me off guard and it meant this was a slightly different story than I expected. Again, this was written so well in terms of tone that it didn't matter as much but I still feel it's worth mentioning. This does not have the tone of a horror book and I feel that's important to know going in. It offers an interesting look at how tragedy affects a family, mental health, coming of age and other engaging themes.

Overall, I am unsure what to make of this book. There are parts I really like, parts I can appreciate for what they did and parts that leave me a little disappointed. I think this is definitely a book that will stick with me a long time and one that is certainly worth trying if you're intrigued by the premise. Horror lovers might be left a little wanting by this book but for those who enjoy quiet tales with a focus on theme and character, this is definitely worth a shot.

Overall Rating:

The Alibi Girl by C.J. Skuse

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

I can't believe this is the first C.J. Skuse book I've ever read. I've heard such rave reviews about this author and when the opportunity to read her new release came up, I knew I couldn't pass on it. Could The Alibi Girl live up to the hype? Absolutely yes.

The blurb for this book is so vague and I don't want to give much away, but essentially our main character is a woman named Ellis. She has many, many fake names and spins a different story about her life to pretty much every person she meets. The reasons for her doing this are not as clear as they seem, and the story starts to unravel when things from her past catch up with her.

This was a great thriller, fairly straightforward in plot but with excellent writing to keep things moving forward. It's weird because normally the sparser plot would bother me but Skuse writes such brilliant characters that it didn't matter much at all. Ellis herself was so interesting to me and I loved how she was done and how that reflected on her past. The other characters (who will not be named for plot reasons) were also detailed and engaging.

This review might seem a little thing but trust me, this is a great thriller experience and it's best to go in as blind as possible. There aren't tons of twists and turns but this is a tightly plotted, well executed story and I cannot wait to seek out more of Skuse's work.

Overall Rating:

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison

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

YA thrillers get a bad rep and to be fair, most of them don't live up to their synopses. Thankfully Good Girls Lie manages to be the exception to this rule and delivers an intriguing, well-paced and engaging story.

British Ash has just arrived at The Goode School, an american boarding school for teenage girls of the highest caliber. She has a troubled past but she's determined to keep her head down...that is, until she accidentally gets involved in one of the school's secret societies and catches the attention of the Head Girl. When her roommate is found dead, Ash must fight harder than ever to keep her secrets to herself. Even from the reader...

I will admit, it took me a little while to get into this book. It is primarily told from Ash's POV but there are a few chapters told from an unknown POV and occasionally it will focus on the Dean of the school, with these being told in third person. None of these changes in POV are indicated so it was quite jarring to suddenly find you had switched perspective without realising. However, once I got to grips with that, I became very invested in the story. One thing I really liked was you were unsure what direction the plot would take for most of the book. Once certain things are revealed it does become very easy to guess, but before that you don't get much to work with which means you can't predict what will happen (in a good way).

Ash herself was a breath of fresh air. I found her a very compelling character, even with the narrative deliberately keeping a lot of information about her back from the reader. Similarly all the other main/side characters were pretty interesting and none of them were stereotypes which is where YA thrillers usually suffer. I liked that the Dean got such a lot of focus as that rarely happens in these kinds of books.

Overall, this is a solid YA thriller to pick up. It gives you so little to work with plotwise in the synopsis but that only strengthens the style of storytelling and the way the narrative slowly unfolds. It's not the fastest paced thriller but if you crave YA thrillers with well-crafted characters and a neat little story, this is definitely worth a try.

Overall Rating:

.5

Violet by Scott Thomas

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

So Kill Creek was one of the first books I read this year and I absolutely adored it. When I heard Scott Thomas was coming out with a new horror book, I knew I wanted to read it regardless of what it was about. Then I found out the plot and got very excited.

Violet is the story of Kris, a woman with a troubled past who is dealing with the grief of her husband's recent death. In an attempt to help her young daughter Sadie, she relocates them both to her old childhood summer home. Unfortunately the house is derelict and Sadie starts to behave in a very troubling way. Soon Kris realises that something beyond decay is very wrong with the house.

I'd heard this book was a slow-burn and I definitely think that's accurate, especially when compared to something like Kill Creek. This is a fairly different style of horror but once again I was utterly absorbed by Thomas' incredible writing style. Though the horror elements don't really appear until quite late in the story, I was so invested in Kris and learning more about her that it never felt like it was dragging or moving at a slow pace. In fact I almost read the whole book in a day because I was so absorbed.

There are only really two main characters in this story and both Kris and Sadie felt very real. Kris in particular gets explored through the narrative and I loved the heart and the extra emotional investment this added to the horror element. By the time the creepy stuff starts to happen, you really feel for her and her situation. At the same time, there is almost a barrier between the reader and Kris which is just enough to make you feel slightly unsettled and adds another nuanced layer, particularly to the climax.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend giving this book a chance. It is similar in setup to Imaginary Friends by Stephen Chbosky but in my opinion this is the far superior book. Thomas is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors and I know I will read Violet and Kill Creek for years to come.

Overall Rating:

.5

Slash by Hunter Shea

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

I've heard a lot of buzz in the horror world about Hunter Shea and I was very excited to finally pick up one of his books. Slash is the story of Todd, a man whose fiance kills herself after surviving a horrific massacre five years ago. Fueled by her suicide, he is driven to return to the resort where the massacre took place in order to find out what really happened there once and for all. He is joined by several friends and soon they discover that the horror is far from over.

I wasn't 100% sure what to expect from this book in terms of the horror element. It is billed as a slasher and it definitely is that but there is a supernatural element to be aware of as well. The first thing that stands out about Slash is how fantastically written it is. I've read a lot of bad horror in my time but Shea has a great style which is very readable, and the book overall is well-paced and well-plotted. Even though I am not usually a fan of supernatural horror, I found myself devouring this due to the strong writing.

Another strength is the uniqueness of the horror element. I am not going to spoil anything but the book takes a direction with its horror that I definitely didn't expect and I don't think I've seen done anywhere else (undoubtedly it has been done but it felt very fresh). Again, it isn't the type of horror I usually enjoy and that is probably the only reason I am not personally rating this book higher. I was absorbed by the story and I think someone who is into more supernatural horror will really love this book. It was especially nice to see such creativity in what can be an often cliched genre.

My only minor quibble/warning is that there is a side character who is a stripper and she is constantly referred to as such by one of the other side characters in a way that is pretty misogynistic. It is intentional I think but the character who does it is still meant to be likeable and I just found it very unnecessary and distracting from the story.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking this book out if you are a fan of horror. I would love to read more of Shea's work and it's very impressive to see someone take the slasher genre and breathe new life into it. This is a fantastic example of how to do a unique spin on horror whilst still keeping the old favourite tones and tropes.

Overall Rating:

.5