For the Love of Books by Graham Tarrant

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

I very rarely read nonfiction, despite having quite an impressive collection of various nonfiction books. When I saw this on Net Galley I thought it looked so interesting that I couldn't resist requesting it and I'm so glad I did! This is an absolute must-read for anyone with an interest in books, authors or literature-based history. It is full of fascinating facts about such a wide range of authors, mostly focusing on the more literary ones but occasionally dropping in facts about contemporary writers.

I loved how this book was laid out and it made it immensely readable for me. Each chapter has a theme (for example, authors who went to prison or famous crime fiction) and then is divided further into sections about specific authors or events. There are also additional information boxes which, while a little randomly placed in topic, were formatted perfectly in ebook format. None of them divided up any of the smaller sections which was fantastic because I hate it when I have to flick back and forth.

The breadth of topics was good, although I must admit a lot of the references to american authors were lost on me. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing since I loved learning about something entirely new, but I did find it interesting how absolutely none of them were covered by my UK-based education. I'm sure someone with a higher degree in literature would find it even more interesting having heard of more of the authors, but it definitely didn't deter from my reading experience. It also covers authors from many different countries which is really cool. I think both people with an expert knowledge of literature and people with a casual interest in books will find the information in this book fascinating. While I can't say for definite how common this knowledge is within the field, there was enough variation and detail that I can't imagine anyone knowing everything already.

Overall, this is a fantastic trivia book for people who love books. It's well-written, well-organised and full of both indepth anecdotes and fun little snippets you can randomly share. I am so glad I read it and I will definitely be suggesting it to my bookish friends.

Overall Rating:

Will Haunt You by Brian Kirk

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

This book honestly has me so confused. This is one of the hardest books for me to rate because I just don't know what to make of it. Will Haunt You is a horror book about an aging rockstar who has read a book and now weird things are happening to him. The book he has read is the one you are reading right now by picking this up and so there are a lot of meta comments strewn throughout it. I actually felt this part of it was a little underused and there could have been greater potential for creating horror through this. However, that's not the book's biggest problem.

This plot...what plot? I had no idea what was going on half the time. It was like a series of events strewn together that made no cohesive sense and didn't build up to a proper plot. This is definitely not a small problem and I would have rated this book lower if not for the fact I enjoyed reading it so much. Brian Kirk is actually an extremely talented writer to make this absolute mess even remotely work and he definitely deserves props for that. I was never bored and I never switched off, despite not knowing what on earth was actually happening most of the time.

The characters themselves are also pretty decent. Our protagonist remains likeable despite doing a lot of terrible or questionable things. His wife is a strong character once she makes an appearance. I would have liked to learn more about Solomon, the person responsible for giving the main character the book in the first place, but that's an extension of my criticism towards the meta aspects. The female groupie character also could have benefited from a little more expansion, especially as her part is essentially over once the wife appears.

Overall, this is a baffling but enjoyable book. I would love to read more by Brian Kirk as with a more solid plot, he could easily produce a 5 star read for me. As far as horror books go, this has some major flaws but is personally saved for me by strong writing and enough intrigue to keep me reading. It's just such a shame I couldn't rate it higher.

Overall Rating:

The Doll Collection by Ellen Datlow

I stumbled across Ellen Datlow when I was browsing through the old Goodreads award pages to try and find more horror to read. It turns out she is a very prolific editor of anthologies and I promptly added several of her works to my TBR. The first I decided to read was The Doll Collection which is a horror anthology all about creepy dolls. However, in the introduction to the anthology a neat twist is revealed-the authors were specifically instructed not to use the 'creepy doll comes to life' cliche. Instead what we get is a fantastic collection of horror stories where dolls feature prominently in some way. This leads to a lot of scope in creativity and was a brilliant surprise.

As per usual with my anthology reviews, I am going to go through each story briefly and give my opinion of it. There are a lot of stories in here so you definitely feel like you get your money's worth in that regard, even if they weren't all winners.

Skin and Bone, Tim Lebbon-While hiking on a snowy mountain, a man discovers something very sinister indeed. This was a perfect example of how creative the doll concept could get and an interesting start to the anthology. One of the most linear and straightforward of plots (in a good way).

Heroes and Villains, Stephen Gallagher-A famous ventriloquist has died and someone is hired to use his dummy for an event celebrating his heroic death. Unfortunately some dark details surrounding his death are revealed. This was another cool concept but it wasn't told in the best way for me. Something about it almost dragged and I think the reveal would have worked better in a punchier story. Still a decent read.

The Doll-Master, Joyce Carol Oates-A man has a doll collection...or does he? I knew exactly where this story was going from the start but that wasn't necessarily an issue. I think the reveal happening earlier would have been more beneficial since it was so obvious. Pretty creepy with a sense of surrealism about it.

Gaze, Gemma Files-I started to read this story and only got a few pages in before skipping it. Something about glass doll eyes? The writing style did not agree with me.

In Case of Zebras, Pat Cadigan-Whilst working at a hospital on community service, a young girl finds a doll on a crash victim. This one was well-written but far, far too confusing and muddled. I didn't really get what was going on and I felt it could have been executed a lot clearer.

There Is No Place for Sorrow in the Kingdom of the Cold, Seanan McGuire-A fantasy story about a woman who makes dolls and these dolls become vessels for emotions. This was fascinating as a story and I got sucked into the world very quickly. My only criticism is it could have been darker. It was more fantasy than horror and the setup for horror elements was definitely there.

Goodness and Kindness, Carrie Vaughn-A man becomes convinced that Kewpie dolls are linked to kindness and obsessively collects them. This was an okay story with a somewhat sinister undertone to it but was ultimately a little average for me and I don't remember it that well.

Daniel's Theory About Dolls, Stephen Graham Jones-When a mother miscarries, she tells her two young sons that their baby sister is a doll they bury in the backyard. This has a troubling effect on one of them. This was one of the stronger stories definitely, with very weird but interesting horror elements. Again, it seemed to be told in a more confusing style than it needed to be but I did enjoy it.

After and Back Before, Miranda Siemienowicz-This is set in a dystopian world and I can't really say much more about it. Very confusing narrative but a creepy and strong ending.

Doctor Faustus, Mary Robinette Kowal-Whilst working on a play, a real demon is accidentally summoned and a puppeteer must use her skills to escape. This was very very loosely related to the doll concept but apart from that, it was a decent horror story. Quite short and simple but again, that's not a bad thing.

Doll Court, Richard Bowes-A man starts dreaming of doll court, a place where previous childhood crimes against dolls are punished. This was another great idea executed in a slightly muddled way. It was done well enough to keep me interested but there was a weird book element that I wasn't sure needed to be there (unless it's a reference to something I don't understand).

Visit Lovely Cornwall on the Western Railway Line, Genevieve Valentine-A woman sees a young girl on the train holding a doll. I didn't really like this story sadly. I didn't get what it was trying to do and I ended up skimming most of it.

Ambitious Boys Like You, Richard Kadrey-Two men break into a house with the intention to steal things. However, the old man who owns it has installed some horrifying forms of defense. This was absolutely my favourite story of the whole lot. It had an interesting and well-executed concept, some great horror moments and created genuine tension.

Miss Sibyl-Cassandra, Lucy Sussex-A doll is sold at auction. Honestly I skim read this one since it was told in letter format and I found it very hard to follow.

The Permanent Collection, Veronica Schanoes-Told from the point of view of an expensive doll in a doll collection, this is the story of the owner of the collection and how he abuses dolls. There could have been more done with this concept but it was one of the stronger stories and had some neat moments.

Homemade Monsters, John Langan-A child creates his own homemade Godzilla figure when his family can't afford one. His friend trashes it and then horror things happen. Again, a super creative use of the doll concept and I mostly thought this was done well.

Word Doll, Jeffrey Ford-I honestly don't remember this story at all unfortunately.

Overall, this was an interesting collection but it failed to live up to its potential. Many of the stories seemed to use a confusing narrative style that made it difficult to tell what was actually going on, and that made me disconnect. I skimread a couple and while there were some gems in here, the majority of stories were just average. I am still keen to check out other anthologies that Datlow has edited and I hope they leave more of a lasting impact.

Overall Rating:

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson

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

This is my first Peter Swanson book and sadly I'm left a bit wanting. Firstly, the blurb on Net Galley was slightly misleading. The one on Goodreads is clearer but there is zero ambiguity as to whether or not Hen's neighbour is a murderer. I was expecting a story centered around Hen doubting herself and trying to prove whether or not he killed someone, but instead this is predominantly about a serial killer almost befriending the one person in the world he can talk to about his murders. It is confirmed almost immediately that Matthew is a killer, and almost as quickly that Hen isn't in any danger from him.

Beyond the initial opening, there are very few thrilling things that actually happen. Rather than events, this book is squarely focused on different characters talking to each other. Normally I am into stories like that but this one was rather dull. I think ultimately the characters were too flat for it to really work for me. Hen was decent enough and I think Matthew was the best-developed out of all, but the side characters were painfully uninteresting. There was also a weird thing where practically every adult character got propositioned for extramarital sex at least once. I found it a little hard to believe that all of them had the opportunity to cheat within such a short space of time.

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THE PLOT, STOP READING NOW. PLOT STRUCTURE WILL BE REVEALED BELOW WITH NO DETAILED SPOILERS BEYOND THAT.

I am not going to go into detail with spoilers but there is something that happens near the end of this book that I 100% did not see coming and sadly, it wasn't a thing I am usually keen on. Ironically, I initially thought that something else I am not keen on was going to happen instead but for once, I thought it would have worked really well. Sadly another thriller trope I disliked turned out to be the true twist and while it did turn a mediocre book into one with a punch, I don't think it worked particularly well for the storyline. Swanson deserves kudos for genuinely surprising me in such a big way because it has been a long time since that has happened with a thriller. However, that could also be because the general plot is so straightforward that I wasn't expecting anything more from the story itself.

PLOT STRUCTURE SPOILERS OVER.

Overall, the writing for this book is strong and it could have been a lot worse than it was given how basic the driving story is. I still plan to read more from Swanson and am more hopeful for his other books, but ultimately there just wasn't enough going on here for me to love.

Overall Rating:

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding

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

Ooh. Normally I am not a fan of thrillers where you don't know whether something mystical is happening or not. However, with Little Darlings it really works. This is the story of new mum Lauren who, after giving birth to twins, starts to really struggle with motherhood and finds changeling stories filling her mind. Her husband Paul is not as helpful as she'd hoped he would be and it culminates in Lauren being convinced her babies have been swapped with fairy alternatives. To get them back though, she must make a dark decision...

This is a fairly straightforward story for a thriller but honestly that is one of the book's greatest strengths. The whole time you are guessing whether there is a mundane explanation for Lauren's beliefs or whether perhaps something magical has occurred. The book never loses focus of this key element and as a result, it is a tightly-wound and atmospheric read. You're kept at a slight distance from most of the characters but again, it really works. Can you trust Lauren's perception as our narrator? Is her husband just selfish or is he up to something more sinister? The detective character adds a much-needed outsider viewpoint and her thoughts mirror that of the reader's. It all adds up to a great reading experience and Golding clearly has writing talent.

I will not give anything away about how the story ends or whether the book crosses into full-fledged fantasy or not, but rest assured that the ending is both satisfying and excellently built to. This is a fantastic debut novel from Golding and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for her future work. If you enjoy thrillers that slowly suck you into their world and deal with some harsh aspects of reality at the same time, I highly recommend checking this out.

Overall Rating:

Odd One Out by Nic Stone

This book!!!

This book has reduced me to a rambling wreck. The first thing I have to say is that I absolutely love it and I want you to go read it right now. This was soooo close to being a perfect read for me. It was 5 stars literally until the last few pages and I was so disappointed by how it ended that I had to knock half a star off just for that. Having said that, this is one of the most important and well-crafted books I have ever read and I literally think every teenager should at least try to read it, if not every person.

Let me backtrack a little. This is the story of two best friends, Coop and Jupiter. At the start of the book, Coop is crushing hard on Jupiter who is quite vocally and insistently a lesbian. They have a very intense and intimate friendship which confuses a lot of people. Then through Rae into the mix. She initially identifies as a straight girl but as she is welcomed into this intense friendship group, finds herself crushing on Coop and Jupiter. And they're both crushing on her.

The way this book handles the queer elements is beyond my highest expectations. At the start, I was worried Coop would be unlikable and problematic. Not the case at all thanks to fantastic writing and characterisation. Similarly, Jupiter does some pretty shocking things at various points but she remains so understandable and three-dimensional that I couldn't help but like her. This is honestly one of the best portrayals of queer teenage characters that I have found anywhere. I stress 'teenage' because they do act like teenagers and so their actions must be viewed through this lens. I can see some people detesting Jupiter and that might be fair enough, but for me she rang so true of the way a lot of queer teenagers might worry and think about things. Rae was just super likable and also raises some good points about how someone can be questioning and the guilt and complexities surrounding that. Her section rang particularly true to me as I have recently identified myself as demisexual and am experiencing attraction to women for the first time. I have many queer friends and for the longest time, I was afraid to say anything in case they thought I wasn't 'queer enough' or just jumping on the bandwagon.

The ending...I won't spoil it but I had a perfect ending in mind and alas, it didn't end that way. Normally I wouldn't mark a book down for that alone but because it did such a good job handing some complex queer questions and issues, I really wanted it to tackle one particular thing. HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILERS The book seemed perfectly set up to have all three protagonists enter a polyamorous relationship with each other. Instead, Rae gets shafted and pushed to one side in my eyes. Things end positively but I don't understand why polyamory wasn't considered given that all three are attracted to each other and have such a strong bond. Polyamory isn't for everyone but it really was an ideal solution in this case and it's a missed opportunity in my eyes.

Despite this, I still very much love this book. Nic Stone is swiftly becoming one of my favourite authors and I love how she is able to cover something like this so intelligently and with so much life woven into the characters. I cannot recommend it more and I hope you will give it a try.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Heartbreaker by Mark Young

I picked this collection up on a whim through my Kindle Unlimited subscription and I am very glad I did! At first I was a little worried when I started because the first story is not really horror at all and I'm not much of a sci-fi/fantasy person. Thankfully the rest are primarily horror. As per usual with my anthology reviews, I will go through each story and my opinion of it.

The Heartbreaker-This was not a great start to the anthology, mainly because it's much more of a sci-fi/action story. This is about a soldier who gains a mysterious power and wakes up in a facility after an accident. Not really what I was expecting and so I didn't enjoy it much.

Black Mist-This was a surprisingly deep story about a young girl who has been abused by her stepdad and gets the chance for mystical revenge. It felt on the cusp of problematic with some of the details, but this was one of the stories with the characters I was most invested in and I couldn't predict where it was going.

Curse of the Dreamweaver-This was a solid little fable about a footballer who doesn't appreciate what he has in his life. It's predictable and a little confusing in its description near the end. It also had some imagery that made me feel physically sick which wasn't great. However, it told a good story and there was some interesting stuff happening.

The Artist-This is about an actress who catches the eye of a mysterious man who decides he wants to paint her. It was fairly predictable but told well and had some nice elements revolving around the main character being an actress.

Let's Not Talk About Kevin-A boy named Kevin has been chained up by his family. This story has an interesting start and subverts expectations but it felt a bit lacking? I wanted more detail about what had happened to Kevin and less of the repetitive action sequence it ends with. I feel like this story had more to tell.

Heavenly Waters-A man goes fishing and encounters a mermaid. Sexy times ensue followed by horrific times. A fairly linear plot but it doesn't suffer for this. The sexual elements are...interesting.

The Good Boy-This was about a man whose son has gone missing. His wife claims to be visited by their son's ghost and tells him to go search a cave for him. Again, there was a little confusion in the details of what was happening but it had a cool premise and a creepy atmosphere.

Living With Your Parents Can Be Murder-Did not like this story. It's about a 42 year old man living with his parents and he has like a devil on his shoulder talking to him the whole time. There were no surprises and the ending was abrupt and weird.

The Vanished-A boy who is bullied accidentally wishes away the entire world except him and his bully. I feel like this could have been better than it was but again, it was a little weird in the execution. It's low on horror elements but it was more my speed than the first story.

The Unforgiving-This one was really cool. This is about a man and his son, and the dad was responsible for bullying someone to death when he was a child. He's experiencing guilt from that in the present day so he goes to talk to his dad about it but creepy stuff starts happening from there. A lot happened in this story and it was all so interesting and hard to predict. It felt like it had enough detail to be fleshed out into a full book, compared to some of the others which are more like snippets of horror.

Gone-Oh god, this one is weird. A man gets bitten by a mosquito and then...stuff happens. Very gory and full of disturbing details, but also it doesn't go where I expected it to which was a nice surprise. Perhaps the weirdest story which is saying something.

The Diary of Ethel Edie Browne-A woman moves into her new house and discovers an old diary with dark secrets. The characters in the present day were very odd-acting but the diary part was compelling and I really liked where the story went, even though it used something I'm usually not a fan of.

Protege-A man goes to interview someone and bad things happen. This was a really good story to end on and has some genuinely scary/disturbing moments in it. This was probably the story closest in tone to a modern horror movie.

So overall, this is a good little collection of horror stories. The writing style is decent and straightforward which is how I like my horror. There is a fair amount of gore, some sexual content in certain stories and also gross-out stuff (which I am particularly sensitive to and so found difficult to read). I would recommend checking this out if you're looking for some short horror to devour quickly. There are definitely some gems in here.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Stranger Inside by Laura Benedict

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

Oh boy, this was a rough read. And it started off so promising! The Stranger Inside is about what happens when a woman comes home from a long break to discover someone else is living in her house. That alone is a great thriller premise but unfortunately that's pretty much the only great thing about this book.

A lot of other reviews have complained about the main character, Kimber, being incredibly unlikable. This actually didn't bother me much because a) I don't think anyone deserves horrible things to happen to them and so I have a high tolerance for terrible people in thrillers, and b) Kimber was so flat that she didn't have much of a personality for me to dislike. I just could not understand her actions at any point. From the very first chapter, the way she reacts to someone being in her house is just..off.

There is also unfortunately a serious case of the plot only happening because certain people act like morons. Pretty early on Kimber discovers something which could get the stranger out of her house. Does she tell the police? Nope. Instead she keeps it to herself and decides to investigate and continue not being allowed to live in her house. I understand curiousity but what she knows about the stranger isn't intriguing enough at this point for her to want to investigate further. From that point onwards I was just frustrated because everything could be stopped if only Kimber went to the police with what she knew.

The other major problem is that this book really dragged for me. This is a combination of poor pacing, a dull protagonist and a really weird way of doing plot reveals. One spoiler-free example goes like this: Kimber finds out the name of the stranger in her house. A flashback chapter then reveals who that stranger is in regards to her life. Then in the present day, Kimber finds out who that person is through a friend. Then another character tells her who that person is. Then she finds evidence to confirm who that person is. Then another character tells her who the person is. This is the same bit of information talked about again and again with no new details, and we have to sit through characters talking about stuff we already know.

The ending as a whole was a mess. There is one very weak 'twist' which you actually again, get told earlier on through narration. This basically amounts to Kimber going at one point 'Hmm, that mysterious person reminds me of X. But that's silly haha.' and then at the end, 'Omg, that mysterious person is X! Who could have seen this coming?'. I came dangerously close to not finishing reading this and I skimmed the end as a result. The final few pages hold another 'twist' which just erases a pretty major thing and it's about as awful as that sounds.

I really don't feel good when I dislike ARCs that I've requested but sadly, The Stranger Inside just did not do it for me. If characters really aren't important to you and you don't mind not being surprised by a thriller, then you might get more enjoyment out of this than I did,

Overall Rating:

The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin

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

The best word for this book is...messy? Honestly I was confused from page one when I opened it and found out that Viola wasn't the main character. The blurb heavily implies that you are going to be reading a story about Viola trying to work out if she's met Katherine before, and if she has then what to do about it. Instead almost the entire book is told from Katherine's point of view with her being the protagonist. This is confusing at first and makes for a very different plot/atmosphere than the blurb implies.

The Pupil is actually about Katherine Baxter, a woman who takes a writing class with an author she admires and then gets selected to be mentored by him with the goal of getting her published. The author's wife is also his agent and she seems welcoming but suspicious (again, the blurb kind of gives away why she is acting this way). Katherine's husband is a controlling and miserable man who doesn't really want her to write. Neither does anyone else Katherine knows.

As far as thrillers go, there really isn't a lot going on here. It's well-written but the plot is very linear and there aren't really any twists. The ending is easy to work out by the time you've reached it and so it feels more like a forgone conclusion than an explosive finale. The characterisation is fairly good on the whole (excluding the children who are just named props), as is the pacing and general atmosphere. Honestly there isn't much to critique about this thriller, there just isn't a lot that particularly makes it stand out either. The literary aspect is interesting and there could have been more done with it, but again it isn't the story promised by the premise.

Goodwin is a decent writer and I would be interested in reading more from her in this genre. It's just a shame that this book is a little low on the thrills and has such a misleading blurb attached to it. Ultimately I think this book should have either focused on Viola or made it clearer from the blurb that this wasn't a thriller about whether or not someone was being tormented by someone from their past but rather, a woman not sure if she can trust the people offering her new career choices.

Overall Rating:

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt

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

The blurb of this novel is pretty vague so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I think I kind of imagined two married people working together to murder someone to protect their son when he gets into bad stuff. For some reason I wasn't expecting their son to be a young child, and this book is actually about Natalie wanting to take revenge on a teacher who she believes has been abusing young students of his, including their son. I can't really give anymore detail than that without getting into spoilers, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by For Better and Worse.

The main reason I wanted to read this book was because I am getting a little tired of thrillers where the husband plays a minor or non-existent role. Far too often it is the case where the husband is relegated purely to a suspicious figure with little or no personality. This book seemed to hint at a larger role and indeed, Will becomes one of the two narrators later on in the story. Both Natalie and Will made for compelling characters to read about and I found myself invested in their plotlines and intrigued as to what decisions they would make.

Compared to some thrillers this is more of a slow burn, which isn't to say that's a negative. I personally enjoyed the pacing as the focus remains on the choices the characters make and how far they are willing to go to both protect their son and themselves. There aren't really any big twists (again, not a negative) but there are a few minor things which keep you guessing. The writing style is spot on and I loved how Hunt built up suspense using the dual narration. There are plenty of uncertainties to prevent you working out how it's going to go, and I was very invested the whole time I was reading it.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this thriller for people who enjoy a tense story without the need for huge twists or a breakneck pace. It explores an interesting marital relationship, the intense bond of family and the fallout that can come from when an adult sexually abuses a child. It puts a nice spin on the usual cat and mouse story and I will definitely be seeking out Margot Hunt's other work now.

Overall Rating:

Kill Creek by Scott Thomas

This is such a treat for horror fans. Honestly, I'm not entirely convinced I shouldn't just give this 5 stars straight off the bat because I loved it so much. The only thing that is stopping me is that I listened to the audiobook rather than reading it which is quite a different experience (the audiobook is many, many hours long). I would very much like to read this again and I'm almost certain I will be giving it 5 stars when I do.

Kill Creek tells the story of four horror authors, brought together to a haunted house in a publicity stunt. Each of the four authors represents a different kind of horror. You have Sam McGarver the protagonist, kind of a Steven King type everyman. There is TC Moore, a female writer who loves gore and graphic sex scenes. Sebastian Cole is the elderly pioneer of the genre while Daniel Slaughter is a loose parody of RL Stine. All four of these characters are incredibly fleshed out and I truly enjoyed reading about them. You can tell Scott Thomas is a lover of the horror genre and this shines through his writing.

Only the first part of this book is about the publicity stunt visit. I was expecting more of the story to be taken up by this but, while I was initially disappointed, ultimately the story is stronger for this not being the case. Instead of a bog standard haunted house story, you get something a little deeper and more interesting. I was unsure where the story was heading and there is a lot of creativity to be found here. Again, Scott Thomas clearly loves horror and I was impressed by how he managed to invoke a lot of tropes whilst still putting his own spin on them.

There were a few elements I wasn't so keen on. There is some weird sexual stuff earlier on in the book which sadly isn't uncommon in horror. Thankfully this did not play a big part in the story and there were only two instances overall which I was glad about. I found the ending a little hard to follow as well in parts, though this could easily be due to me listening to the audiobook. Overall, I would strongly recommend the audiobook itself. The narrator had an easy-to-listen-to voice and gave each of the characters distinctive voices, which made for a very enjoyable listening experience.

I have made it my mission to read more horror that isn't by Stephen King in 2019 and Kill Creek has gotten this off to a fantastic start. The blurb may sound like a cliche storm but it is a well-paced, fantastically detailed and above all entertaining horror book. Fans of horror will appreciate the nuances of each of the author characters, and those less familiar with horror will appreciate the strong plot and intriguing story. I cannot recommend this more.

Overall Rating:

.5

Hunting Annabelle

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

It is so hard for me to pin down how I felt about this book. On the one hand, I felt it was fairly well-written and I was definitely engaged throughout most of it. On the other hand, I absolutely hated the ending and felt like it got very rambly and repetitive about 50% of the way through.

One thing I would like to make clear is that this should definitely be considered a YA thriller. Hunting Annabelle is about a teenager named Sean with severe mental health difficulties (labelled schizophrenia but as a psychologist, I'm not entirely convinced). Sean meets a girl called Annabelle, goes on a date with her and then sees her get kidnapped in front of his eyes. He goes straight to the police but due to his mental health difficulties and some dark things from his past, they don't believe him. He then decides to take matters into his own hands and investigates her disappearance.

For the first half or so of this book, I was very engaged and intrigued by the story. I don't really enjoy reading thrillers with unreliable narrators anymore because I tend to just switch off and wait until the author reveals what really happened at the end, but Sean's potential hallucinations are sort of kept to a minimum and aren't too intrusive. The mental health rep in this is pretty shocking but then, I don't expect a lot from thrillers. There is a fair amount of accuracy in terms of treatment and that side of things but the actual details about the condition are few and far between. Maybe this was meant to add to the ambiguity aspect but it felt lacking to me. I can definitely see it angering some people.

The problems start to kick in around 50% of the way through. Firstly, the story becomes incredibly repetitive. Sean goes to meet someone from Annabelle's past, he finds out a little more about her and then he gets the name of the next person to go see. Rinse and repeat for like 100 pages. Secondly, Sean discovers something very incriminating about a person in Annabelle's life which seems like it would be important to the investigation. An intense fight happens and Sean escapes with evidence of this incriminating thing and then...nothing happens? It isn't mentioned properly until the very end and it's incredibly distracting to have this plot device just hanging there like the elephant in the corner. I initially expected this encounter to be a hallucination of Sean which would explain why it was just forgotten about but this turns out not to be the case and it's just a really baffling writing decision.

This review is spoiler free but the final and biggest problem with this book is the ending. I found it very unbelievable and frankly a bit of a cop-out, and it soured the tone of the whole book for me. Overall, I can see some people really liking this book but I'm just not convinced it brings anything new to the thriller genre. I think the writing has real potential and there are a lot of nice elements at the start of the book. I would want to read more by the author but I can't really recommend this to people, and the problems far outweigh the good points. Sadly this was not a winner.

Overall Rating:

.5