Over the past few months I have been reading a LOT of horror and thrillers (and one nonfiction that reads like a thriller). Since we are in October, it seems to be an appropriate month to share a list of horror and thriller books I have been enjoying. So, dear readers, grab your warm fall blanket, a hot apple cider, and settle in for this list of recommendations fit for the season!
The Blood Countess by Shelley Puhak
I begin this list with The Blood Countess. Unlike the other books on this list, The Blood Countess is a true story. In a blog post from last year I wrote about how I had read through Infamous Lady which tells the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory through the lens of primary source documents, including those from the trial of her servants. As is detailed in The Blood Countess, Bathory herself was never put on trial and was never able to defend herself. I found this book to be incredibly eye opening not just about the events surrounding Countess Bathory, but the revelation that when this happened the notorious European witch hunts were just beginning. Was Bathory really just an early victim?
What is different about The Blood Countess compared to other accounts of Bathory that I have read was that it put the events and primary source texts in the context of the time period. Much of what led to Bathory’s downfall had much to do with political and religious posturing and maneuvering. In many ways this is a real life Game of Thrones tale. We have pressure from the Hapsburgs, the Ottoman Turks, German mercenaries, and rebels to the crown. We have mistrust and violence between Catholic and Protestant leaders. We also have mistrust and violence between the Protestant Lutherans and the Protestant Calvinists. In this roiling pot of shifting alliances, greed, and lust for power we have many men who will do whatever it takes to stay on top-even if that means taking advantage of a lone female ruler. Coming away from this, I truely believe now that Elizabeth Bathory was the victim. Everything negative we know of her comes from the account of the same powerful men that brought her down. In contrast, the women in the Countess’s life spoke highly of her as a fair and just ruler who looked after her people. This is a powerful and must read story for all those interested in hearing the voices of the unjustly accused-not just Bathory, but the other women accused of witchcraft themselves. Their stories should never be forgotten.
Click HERE to request a copy of The Blood Countess!
The Lighthouse Witches by C.J. Cooke
Speaking of witches, I present to you The Lighthouse Witches. I could not put this one down. It was suspenseful and kept me hooked from start to finish. This tale takes place on a moody Scottish Isle at a decrepit lighthouse. The story spans three time periods: the 1600’s, 1998, and 2021. Each of these plot points is tied together with the island Lon Haven and the lighthouse called The Longing.
In the 1600’s the European witch hunts are in full swing. Patrick’s mother, along with other women in the village, are accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Patrick starts delving into witchcraft to see if there is a way to prevent this tragedy.
1998: Liv is a single mom with three daughters who are living out of a car. She takes the job of painting a mural inside The Longing on the island of Lon Haven. It is a weird project, but she starts to make friends and comes to enjoy life on the island. There are things that seem off, however. The villagers say that the lighthouse was built upon the ruins of an old fort where witches were burned at the stake. There are whispers of a curse on the island, that the witches made an alliance with the faerie folk to steal children away and replace them with Wildlings. It sounds like a bunch of silly superstition until two of Liv’s daughters go missing…
2021: Luna, middle daughter of Liv, is an adult and pregnant with a child of her own. She has never stopped looking for her missing sisters. Unexpectedly she gets a call that Clover has been found! Filled with questions, Luna races to the hospital where Clover is being held expecting to find a full grown adult version of her sister safe and sound. No adult version of Clover awaits her at the hospital. The room Luna is shown to holds a girl the same age as Clover was when she disappeared. She looks like Clover, she has Clover’s memories, but how can that be? This Clover is prone to violent outbursts and has no memory of where she had been or what had happened to her. She does not even remember anything after her disappearance. Luna knows the answers lay in the one place she swore never to return to: Lon Haven. Luna will have to confront not just the ghosts her own past but the dark history of Lon Haven in order to discover the answers behind what happened to her family.
Quotes that I enjoyed:
“We are not just made of blood and bone-we are made of stories. Some of us have our stories told for us, others write their own-you wrote yours.”
“Forgiveness is a kind of time travel, only better, because it sutures the wounds of the past with the wisdom of the present in the same moment it promises a better future.”
Click HERE to request a copy of The Lighthouse Witches!
Don’t Breathe A Word by Jennifer McMahon
Dear readers, when you think of fairies what do you picture? Do you picture a lovely and whimsical Tinker Bell type character with good intentions or something much darker? I am going to be honest with you up front: this book is unsettling. Lisa believes in the Tinker Bell version. Legend says that there used to be a whole village called Reliance back in the woods near where she lives, but that the fairies spirited it away. Lisa convinces her brother Sam and her cousin Evie to help her search for the fairies over their summer break. At Lisa’s insistence, the three start to leave small gifts for the fairies. Surprisingly, they find gifts of small trinkets left for them in return. One in particular seems to prove that the fairies are real: The Book of the Fairies. It is in this book that Lisa learns of Teilo, the King of the Fairies, and the spell that will allow her to enter his realm. Lisa is led to believe that she is chosen to be his queen. Dear reader, please keep in mind Lisa is only thirteen. I did warn that this book becomes unsettling. One night Lisa visits the forest alone. She never returns home.
Years pass and Sam, Lisa’s brother, is dating Phoebe. Lisa’s disappearance was never solved. Everything is dredged up again when the couple receive a mysterious phone call from a woman claiming to be Lisa. She says she will return to Reliance on the night of the full moon and Sam and Phoebe must be there. This phone call thrusts Sam and Phoebe into solving the mystery behind Lisa’s disappearance. At every turn nothing is as it seems. Could all of this be the work of a human psycho? Or are Teilo and his followers real dark fairies capable of altering reality as we know it?
I recommend this one as a good fantasy thriller, but this one was very anxiety inducing. I do not know how she did it, but Jennifer McMahon was able to write with a pen that caused unease to drip from every word. Perhaps Jennifer is really a fairy posing as an author.
Click HERE to request a copy of Don’t Breathe a Word!
You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado
Dear readers, I could not pass up this title. I am glad I did not as it was good fun! If you enjoy telenovelas, this is the book for you! The characters even break the fourth wall and mention that it feels like they are in a telenovela. One aspect of this book I will admit up front is that I could not stand the decision making process of Xiomara. I felt she went about dealing with the situation all wrong. Her Papi Ramon literally included clues to follow in his will. I waited the entire book for her to get the clue and follow it. That said, while Xiomara was making questionable decisions, getting to know the rest of the family was a lot of fun. This book contained an over the top cast of characters in the best way possible. The best part? This entire over-the-top family is stuck together in a mansion over night. One of them is a demon and the demon needs to be killed by morning or everyone goes to hell. As the night progresses, each family member has a dirty little secret revealed that takes the drama to the next level. Really the demon could be anyone. That is part of why this book was so much fun. No two characters are alike at all. They all have their own motivations and their own personal quirks. They were so larger than life that I needed to write down each character in my reading journal just because I found their quirks and secrets fun to follow. The whole ordeal was a lot like a game of clue that got out of hand. I really had a fun time with this family.
Click HERE to request a copy of You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom!
Too Old for This by Samantha Downing
Speaking of a lot of fun, this book was a LOT of fun! Lottie is in her late 70’s and lives alone in her large rambling home. She is active in her church and her weekly highlight is attending church bingo with her two best friends. Lottie loves to cook and bake with these friends as they must impress the other bingo attendees with their treats. Lottie also has a great sense of humor. She is a sassy lady for sure! No one would suspect this nice older lady of having secrets…dangerous secrets. Lottie considers herself retired. Retired from her hobby that is. That hobby being murder. She was almost caught once. That was enough for her. Somehow she was released and said to be falsely accused.
The past comes knocking in the form of a journalist named Plum. She wants Lottie to take part in an interview for her TV show called Falsely Accused. Plum is quickly silenced…permanently. This murder plunges Lottie back in the game. We get to see how cunning she really is. Honestly it was such fun watching her work. I know it is terrible to cheer for a serial killer, but honestly Lottie is just too much fun. (Luckily, this story is not real life so I think cheering for a made up character is ok.) Lottie commits more crimes in order to cover up what she did to Plum. More people need to be silenced. It is so much fun seeing her balance her life of crime with normal things like weekly bingo and helping to plan her son’s wedding.
I very highly recommend this one. If Thriller Comedy was a genre, this would be it!
