| Gwendy's Magic Feather by Richard Chizmar; foreword by Stephen KingWhat it's about: Years after a sinister gift-giving box wreaked havoc on her childhood, 37-year-old Gwendy finds it in her possession again.
What happens next: Returning to her hometown of Castle Rock for the holidays, Gwendy contemplates harnessing the box's power to cure her mother's cancer and solve a rash of local disappearances.
Series alert: This unsettling 2nd entry in the Gwendy series follows the novella Gwendy's Button Box, co-written with Stephen King. |
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| NVK by Temple DrakeShanghai, 2012: Married businessman Zhang Guo Xing begins an all-consuming affair with the mysterious Naemi Vieno Kuusela.
Why you might like it: This steamy supernatural thriller ramps up the tension as readers become privy to the secrets the characters are keeping from each other.
Read it for: a twist on vampire stories; an ending that begs for a sequel. |
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| The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire NorthWhat it's about: Decades after he failed to save a young Zulu boy from a lynching, guilt-ridden English doctor William Abbey recounts his experiences in 1880s Colonial South Africa and the (figurative and literal) shadow that has followed him since that fateful day.
Is it for you? Readers interested in big-picture issues like the legacy of colonialism and the nature of guilt and culpability will want to check out this thought-provoking novel; period-authentic racist language may be off-putting for some readers. |
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Burn the Dark
by S. A. Hunt
Robin is a YouTube celebrity gone-viral with her intensely-realistic witch hunter series. But even her millions of followers don't know the truth: her series isn’t fiction.
Her ultimate goal is to seek revenge against the coven of witches who wronged her mother long ago. Returning home to the rural town of Blackfield, Robin meets friends new and old on her quest for justice. But then, a mysterious threat known as the Red Lord interferes with her plans.
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Broken Monsters
by Lauren Beukes
An unusually gruesome series of murders has Detroit homicide detective Gabriella Versado puzzled -- and revolted -- by the human corpses found fused with parts of other animals. As Gabi and her team investigate these crimes, other characters face their own challenges, which gradually weave together into one intricate plot that includes the unthinkably desecrated bodies, sculptor Clayton Broom's horrific nightmares, and the aspirations of three other people. The atmosphere of doubt against a background of hope adds tension to this tale of terror, which Booklist says combines the techniques and styles of Peter Straub and Karin Slaughter.
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The Devil in Silver: A Novel
by Victor LaValle
In The Devil in Silver, a big, violent troublemaker named Pepper finds himself locked up in a mental hospital reminiscent of the one in Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the court hearing Pepper's supposed to receive within 72 hours keeps being delayed. But judicial bureaucracy and the human foibles of the hospital's staff are the least of Pepper's worries. Behind a silver door lurks the Devil himself, and he comes out to attack patients -- until Pepper and the inmates get organized and fight back. Library Journal calls author Victor LaValle's novel "exciting, insightful, tragic, and hopeful in equal proportion."
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The Wolf Gift: A Novel
by Anne Rice
Can a werewolf be a superhero whose aim is to rescue victims and do away with their assailants? In author Anne Rice's The Wolf Gift, the answer is "Yes." Recovering from serious wounds received in a home invasion, San Francisco reporter Reuben Golding discovers his hair has grown thicker, his hearing sharper, and his sense of smell keener. Released from the hospital, he uses his new powers for good -- unlike traditionally malevolent werewolves. In her Wolf Gift Chronicles, Rice explores the eternal confrontation between good and evil in fresh ways while updating the horror tradition of shapeshifters. This is the 1st in the series, followed by The Wolves of Midwinter.
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The Abominable
by Dan Simmons
Author Dan Simmons' The Abominable expertly mixes elements of horror, espionage, and historical fiction. It takes place in 1925 as four climbers attempt to recover the body of missing adventurer Lord Bromley in the wake of his disappearance (and that of historical mountaineer George Mallory) near Everest's summit the year before. To say more might give away too much, but rest assured that the chill you'll feel is as much due to the machinations of the plot and the possibility of supernatural monsters as it is to the incredibly detailed world of snow and ice-bound exploration that Simmons describes.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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