Summer Scares Display
Some people say that as soon as the 4th of July is over, Halloween season is here! Listen, I love Halloween, but I'm just not ready to take things quite that far. Athough I do love to read horror year round! A scary story is perfect for summer--check out one of these creepy tales right now:
One of the newer titles in our collection is "Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zheng" by Kylie Baker. "Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner . . . in Chinatown. The bloody messes don't bother her, not when she's already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister being pushed in front of a train. Before fleeing the scene, the murderer whispered two words: bat eater. Months pass, the killer is never caught, and Cora can barely keep herself together. . . . Cora tries to ignore the rising dread in her stomach, even when she and her weird co-workers begin finding bat carcasses at their crime scene clean-ups. But Cora can't ignore the fact that all their recent clean-ups have been the bodies of East Asian women."
I tore right through "William" by Mason Coile when it released earlier this year. "Henry is a brilliant engineer who, after untold hours spent in his home laboratory, has achieved the discovery of his career-he has created artificially intelligent consciousness. He calls the half-formed robot William. No one knows about William. Not yet anyway. Henry's agoraphobia keeps him inside the house, and his fixation on William keeps him up in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily. When Lily's coworkers show up one day, wanting to finally meet Henry and see their new house, the smartest-of-smart-homes, things start to go wrong. Because William can "talk" to the house, and it turns out he's not a fan of visitors--especially not the man who seems to know Lily a little too well. Soon Henry and Lily discover the security upgrades they wanted to keep danger out are even better at locking people in." "William" is a clever, twisty, one-sitting read-- a timely exploration of our intimate relationship with technology and the enormous responsibility that comes with invention, with parenthood, with marriage.
I am a huge fan of Stephen Graham Jones, and his historical horror novel "The Buffalo Hunter Hunter" was phenomenal. "A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice. A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits." This is a Native American "revenge story" that you'll think about long after you've finished.
"The Man Made of Smoke" by Alex North is on my nightstand right now, and I can't wait to dive into it. This is his latest gripping serial killer thriller featuring his signature shock and suspense. "Dan Garvie's life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child-narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years? In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past."
"Nowhere" by Allison Gunn was a book I read and featured in my weekly "Rapid Recommendation" posts a couple of months ago. "Rachel Kennan, the new police chief of a fundamentalist southern town, relies on her job to push through the pain of losing her young son and the identity she buried years ago. Her husband Finn, a washed-up writer and recovering addict whose alcoholism led to the tragedy that ruined everything, fights to redeem himself and to keep his family from falling apart. Two partners trapped in a miserable marriage, their surviving daughters are the only thing keeping them together as they battle secrets that threaten to destroy them. A disturbing crime rocks the small community, sending Rachel chasing leads in a place that does not take kindly to outsiders, particularly ones with secrets. When something in the forest starts calling to the children, a metastasizing ancient fear spawns hate among the townspeople, placing the Kennans directly in the line of fire. Left with no choice but to rely on each other, Rachel and Finn must join forces to face threats inside and out-only to realize that the true terror is their reflection in a child's eyes, and the truth about the death of their son." As a parent, I thought this one was particularly scary.
You'll find these and lots of other titles in our "Summer Scares" display. For additional title suggestions, see the lists below:
