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Suspicious Minds
by Gwenda Bond
What it is: A prequel to the hit Netflix series explores several of the show's mysteries and includes details about Eleven's mother and her time as a test subject in the MKUltra program.
Why you might like it: Because we are all going through Stranger Things withdrawal...
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The Hunger
by Alma Katsu
What it is: a sinister retelling of the ill-fated Donner Party, in which a mysterious illness makes the travelers ravenous for human flesh.
Why you might like it: The Hunger offers a fresh take on a famous tragedy, blending historical fiction with the supernatural.
For fans of: Chilling historical horror à la Dan Simmons' The Terror.
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The Listener
by Robert McCammon
What it is about: 1934. Businesses went under by the hundreds, debt and foreclosures boomed, and breadlines grew in many American cities. In the midst of this misery, some folks explored unscrupulous ways to make money. Angel-faced John Partlow and carnival huckster Ginger LaFrance are among the worst of this lot. Joining together they leave their small time confidence scams behind to attempt an elaborate kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in New Orleans. In a different part of town, Curtis Mayhew, a young black man who works as a redcap for the Union Railroad Station, has a reputation for mending quarrels and misunderstandings among his friends. What those friends don't know is that Curtis has a special talent for listening... and he can sometimes hear things that aren't spoken aloud. One day, Curtis Mayhew's special talent allows him to overhear a child's cry for help (THIS MAN IN THE CAR HE'S GOT A GUN), which draws him into the dangerous world of Partlow and LaFrance.
Why you might like it: a gritty depression-era crime
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The Migration
by Helen Marshall
Description: Sophie Perella is about to begin her senior year of high school in Toronto when her little sister, Kira, is diagnosed. Their parents' marriage falters under the strain, and Sophie's mother takes the girls to Oxford, England, to live with their Aunt Irene. An Oxford University professor and historical epidemiologist obsessed with relics of the Black Death, Irene works with a Centre that specializes in treating people with the illness. She is a friend to Sophie, and offers a window into a strange and ancient history of human plague and recovery. Sophie just wants to understand what's happening now; but as mortality rates climb, and reports emerge of bodily tremors in the deceased, it becomes clear there is nothing normal about this condition--and that the dead aren't staying dead. When Kira succumbs, Sophie faces an unimaginable choice: let go of the sister she knows, or take action to embrace something terrifying and new. Tender and chilling, unsettling and hopeful,
Why read it? The Migration is a story of a young woman's dawning awareness of mortality and the power of the human heart to thrive in cataclysmic circumstances.
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| Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones by Micah Dean HicksThe premise: In depressed Swine Hill, the dead outnumber the living, whom they possess to keep the barely functioning town afloat.
What happens: Henry is forced by his ghost to create a race of hybrid pig people that render Swine Hill's workforce obsolete. Now it's up to Henry's sister Jane (herself possessed by a telepathic ghost) to save her family before the townsfolk kill their entire family.
Read it for: a heady mix of weird fiction and allegory. |
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| House of Echoes by Brendan DuffyWhat it's about: Plagued by writer's block and seeking a fresh start (and perhaps inspiration for his next novel), author Ben Tierney moves his family to the Crofts, a historic mansion in upstate New York.
Sounds idyllic, right? Alarmed by his son's dalliance with a mysterious woodland presence, his wife's paranoia, and his own discovery of mutilated animals on the grounds, Ben researches the tragic history of the Crofts and discovers chilling connections between past and present.
For fans of: Jennifer McMahon's The Winter People. |
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| Misery by Stephen KingWhat it is: the terrifying story of romance novelist Paul Sheldon's captivity at the hands of his vengeful "number-one-fan" Annie Wilkes, who demands he bring her favorite character back to life...or else.
Don't miss: revealing meta-commentaries about the triumphs and travails of being a successful author; the Dickensian novel-within-a-novel Paul is forced to write at Annie's behest.
Did you know? In a 2014 Rolling Stone interview, Stephen King said that Annie Wilkes was a metaphor for his drug usage. |
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| I Am Providence by Nick MamatasWelcome to...Summer Tentacular, an annual H.P. Lovecraft convention populated by neurotic fans...and a serial killer?!
Starring: horror author Colleen Danzig, who becomes an unwitting Nancy Drew after her roommate Panossian is murdered; Panossian himself, who narrates Colleen's sleuthing with knowing Lovecraftian flair.
What sets it apart: Equal parts humorous and suspenseful, this satirical homage to Lovecraft thoughtfully mines the author's complicated legacy. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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