Review: All Hallows by Christopher Golden

  Halloween night, 1984—all over Parmenter Road, anticipation hangs in the air. Kids prep their costumes for an evening of trick-or-treating, teenagers plan a night of drunken debauchery in the woods, and their parents set up a neighborhood party to let loose. And Tony Barbosa is setting up his town famous Haunted Woods to scare and thrill his neighbors for one last time before moving away.

While the adults are drinking and gossiping about their neighbors, the kids and teenagers are roaming the streets trick-or-treating—and they are not alone. Four unknown trick-or-treaters dressed in odd vintage costumes have joined the groups of kids of Parmenter Road, putting them ill-at-ease. When the neighborhood kids confront the interlopers, the strange children beg them for help and protection from an entity known as The Cunning Man. With the adults distracted by scandalous revelations that rock their neighborhood, it is up to the Parmenter Road kids to protect these strange kids from The Cunning Man.

Strengths- I liked that the book is told in multiple perspectives. In a story like this, it is the only way it could be told effectively, one character could not have achieved it. The time period chosen was perfect—1980s was the last time period where kids could roam free without parents hovering over them. If the book were set in modern day, how scary would it be in the era of cell phones, the internet, and Tik Tok videos?

Weakness- I would have liked a little less of the family drama.

I feel the publisher really missed a big opportunity not releasing All Hallows during the fall, capitalizing on the “spooky” season. This book gave me big Stranger Things meets Trick-or-Treat vibes. I could see this becoming a movie in the future, but only if Golden is involved with the screenplay.

 

4/5 Stars

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions of this work are my own.

Review: No Gods For Drowning by Hailey Piper

  

The ancient gods have left Valentine, and the monsters they protected mortals from are now seeking to hunt and destroy humankind. A serial killer has begun to ritually sacrifice victims as an offering to a blood god, who just happens to be her mother. Lilac Antonis will do whatever it takes to save her city and those she loves, especially her lover Arcadia Myrn, even if it involves murder.

While out on assignment as a flood fighter, Arcadia comes across the murder scene of Lilac’s sacrifice victims. Unable to fight her instinct as a former cop to investigate the murders, she seeks out her former partner Alex who has been assigned to the case, along with his new partner Cecil. While investigating the case, Alex and Cecil learn more about the gods and learn that they may have not left willingly and that they all may be in far greater danger than they ever suspected.

Like other works I have read by her, Piper has once again excelled when it comes to character-building. I love books with morally gray characters and this book has them in spades. I also love that this book isn’t specifically one genre—it is mythology, noir, fantasy, has Lovecraftian described gods and monsters, it is a procedural thriller, and has LGBTQIA characters as protagonists.

I both read the ebook and listened to the audiobook provided by #Netgalley and Dreamscape Media. I was instantly taken in by the voice of Jodie Harris. She could read a telephone book and I’d be riveted and hooked on every word. I hope to find more of her narration work soon.

 

4/5 Stars

Thank you to #NetGalley and #DreamscapeMedia for providing me with a review copy of the audiobook of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

Review: The New Girls Patient by Ruthann Jagge

I fell in love with Ruthanne Jagge’s writing after reading her a short story she wrote in the Good Southern Witches anthology. When the opportunity came up to review The New Girls’ Patient, I jumped on it. I knew she could write the hell out of female characters in the short story format, I wanted what she would create in a longer format. This tiny tome did not disappoint. In 41 pages, Jagge packs a whole lot of bang in this little book!

Jaimie Carver, our titular New Girl is an empathetic young woman working as a new nurse in a care facility for the elderly in the dead-end town of Crees Corner. When one of her patients dies, she leaves Jaimie a tattered notebook labeled “My Recipes”—but this notebook has more than grandma’s coconut cake recipe in it.  A lot of nasty people, some of them who call themselves friends of Jaimie’s, want this book for nefarious reasons and will do whatever it takes to get it.

I can’t say any more about this story without giving it away, and oh boy, do I want to say more! I loved this story—it is grungy, dirty, witchy, gory, atmospheric, and scary as heck. There are characters you hate and want to be punished and characters that will break your heart. Jagge packs a whole second story within this one that I want to read a whole book of. This novella is small, but it is mighty, and I cannot recommend it enough.

 

5/5 Stars

Thank you to the author for providing me with a copy of this book for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions of this book are my own.