I have found that while I read a bit from just about every genre under the sun, I tend to go through what I like to call “genre phases”. Last year I was in quite the science fiction phase and the bulk of my reading was focused in that genre. This summer has seen me in quite the horror and thriller phase. Like a ravenous undead beast I have found myself devouring whatever dark tome I can get my hands on. The following recommendations are books that I have digested over the month of July. Please, enjoy the menu!
Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes
S.A. Barnes is a wonderful author that skillfully blends the genres of science fiction and horror. In this particular novel we find ourselves with a scrappy crew of astronauts who work at the outer edges of explored space repairing communication relays. They are due to return to the company soon and be shipped off to different assignments. Before that can happen, they follow a strange distress beacon to a discovery that embroils our crew in a decades long unsolved mystery.
The Aurora was one of a kind. No ship was built like it before or since. It was supposed to be the Titanic – but in space: a state of the art cruise vessel for the rich and famous. It disappeared years ago and no one alive knows what happened to it. Hoping that the find will bring them fame and fortune, our crew boards the Aurora. The scene aboard is one of blood and violence. What happened on the Aurora that drove the passengers to their doom? Are there survivors lurking on this ghost ship? Read Dead Silence and prepare for a wild ride full of jump scares and horror worthy of a big screen movie. This is exactly what I want when I pick up a horror novel!
Click HERE to request Dead Silence!
Let Him In by William Friend
Who doesn’t like creepy imaginary friends!? Let Him In focuses on Alfie and his twin daughters Cassia and Sylvie. The family is going through a lot of trauma as wife and mother Pippa has recently died. The house is large and creepy, just the kind of house a scary story needs to be set in. Cassia and Sylvie are your typical creepy twin young girls. Even Alfie is disturbed by the way the girls seem to be able to read each other’s thoughts. As a single dad who is trying to raise two girls and cope with his wife’s passing, Alfie has a lot on his plate. When the girls start talking about their new imaginary snake friend, Black Mamba, it does not seem too disturbing. They like to play pretend. Their aunt Julia (Pippa’s twin sister) is a therapist and says this is just coping behavior for the girls and their way of dealing with the loss. Alfie starts to have second thoughts when the girls reveal Black Mamba is NOT just a snake. He is a MAN. A man who can shift into whatever form he so desires. (Cue the red flags). The demands of Black Mamba begin to escalate as the story progresses. Can Alfie and Julia unravel the mystery of Black Mamba or will the girls follow Black Mamba into darkness? This is the author’s debut novel published in 2023. As this is fairly recent, I really hope to see more from him in the future!
Click HERE to request Let Him In
Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown
Society of Lies was quite popular earlier this year as it made National Bestseller and Reese’s Book Club. This one is pure thriller. No spooky business. Society of Lies follows the perspectives of two sisters: Maya and Naomi. Maya practically raised Naomi as their parents died when they were younger. Hence, she is very protective of her. Maya graduated from the prestigious college of Princeton where she was involved in Sterling Club and the mysterious Greystone Society. Because of what she witnessed and was involved in while there, Maya discouraged Naomi from following in her footsteps. Being a headstrong little sister, Naomi ignored her advice. The novel opens up a day before Naomi’s graduation. Maya was supposed to meet her sister there and they were to have a day together. Unfortunately, Naomi’s body was found in the lake near campus. Maya knows that her sister’s murder was no accident. Naomi had also been a member of Greystone Society. Maya must untangle a web of lies, blackmail, and money to find the truth of what happened to her sister. The novel swaps back and forth between past and present to craft a mystery that spans the lives of two sisters. Dive into the Society of Lies to find the darkness lurking at the heart of Greystone Society.
Click HERE to request Society of Lies
I Know My Name by C.J. Cooke
I Know My Name is C.J. Cooke’s first novel. I have a goal to work through all the books C.J. Cooke has written. While Cooke mainly writes horror, her first novel was pure thriller mystery. I Know My Name follows the paths of two characters Lochlan and an unknown woman (don’t worry you find out who she is later). The unknown woman has washed up on the Greek Island of Kommeno with no memory of her name, who she is, or how she got there. The writer’s club that rescued her claims that she washed up from a shipwreck. Meanwhile in England, Lochlan (a VERY busy businessman) gets a call from a neighbor that his wife is missing and his children were left home alone by themselves. The neighbor found them when she went to drop off a package. Lochlan knows that his wife would never leave the children, especially as their youngest is still nursing. His wife’s purse, keys, and car are still present.
Lochlan is frantic to solve the mystery of what happened to his wife and to bring her home. Meanwhile on the remote island of Kommeno, the woman struggles to remember who she is while being at the mercy of people who may not be what or who they seem.
Click HERE to request I Know My Name
Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon
I have featured Jennifer McMahon in a blog post dedicated to her work in the past. Whenever I am craving a creepy mystery thriller I make sure to grab one of her books to read. I will admit, this was not my favorite Jennifer McMahon book. Though not my favorite, it still provided some chills that I will be thinking about for awhile. One thing McMahon does very well is depicting creepy children. Emma, the child of our main characters, is NOT the creepy child of the story. She is sweet, imaginative, and relatable. Her imaginary friend, Danner, however is the stuff of nightmares. For the first half of the book she seems like a mildly disturbing imaginary friend in the guise of a child only Emma can see. She starts to let her true form come through after the halfway mark. ( I will be thinking about that for a good long time. Emma knows the stinky puddle was not from her kitten!)
The main plot of the story involves Emma wanting to get her separated parents back together. She finds a mysterious journal in her father’s toolbox detailing their time in college. It seems that her parents were a part of a group called The Compassionate Dismantlers. The journal also contains names and addresses. Emma thinks that by sending out postcards to these addresses with The Dismantler’s slogan on it that her parents’ friends will return and get her parents back together. Unfortunately, Emma’s plan backfires. One of the recipients of a postcard commits suicide and prompts a private detective to come poking into her parent’s pasts. Dismantled pops back and forth between the parent’s memories of a fateful summer and their present in trying to hide the truth. In the background Emma deals with Danner who is somehow tied to what happened and is becoming more and more dangerous.
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