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How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady HendrixWhen Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn't want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn't want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father's academic career and her mother's lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn't want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world. Most of all, she doesn't want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she'll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it'll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market. But some houses don't want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them...
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I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham JonesBestseller Jones (the Indian Lake trilogy) again riffs on 1980s slasher movies in this indulgent bloodbath. Tolly Driver witnesses a massacre at a high school party at the hands of Justin Jones, an undead classmate who died during a vicious prank gone awry. Having gotten infected with a couple drops of Justin’s blood, and reeling from a near-death experience stemming from his peanut allergy, Tolly finds himself driven by the urge to go on a murder spree of his own. He dons a mask and slashes his way through his small Texas town. Only his childhood friend, final girl Amber Dennison, serves as a tether to the scared and fragile kid he was before the killing began. Will she be able to stop the slaughter once and for all? The story has a clear love for the splashy slasher films that inspired it, and Jones does a great job of landing the plot’s gorier excesses as the bodies pile up. Unfortunately, chaotic plotting undercuts the story’s tension and narrator Tolly’s many tangents make the pacing somewhat start-and-stop. Still, fans of meta horror will find a lot to love as Jones remixes well-worn tropes with glee. |
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You Like It Darker: Stories by Stephen King""You like it darker? Fine, so do I," writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life--both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel "the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind," and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again. King's ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it.
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Incidents Around the House: A Novel by Josh MalermanMalerman (Spin a Black Yarn, 2023) is back with a new novel that begins uneasily and relentlessly builds to full-out, feel-it-in-your-gut terrifying. Eight-year-old Bela, the sole narrator, lives in suburban Detroit with Mommy, Daddo, and “Other Mommy,” a being who lives in her closet but comes out frequently to ask the young girl, “Can I go inside your heart?” Readers enter as Other Mommy is losing patience with Bela, getting bolder, even leaving the house to remind Bela that she must say yes, and soon, or else. Bela immediately grabs readers’ attention and pulls them into her disquieting world, while Malerman finds effective ways to add context from the adults’ points of view without sacrificing Bela’s authenticity or the fast pace. Readers will be ensnared for the duration, wanting to look away or take a break from the unceasing onslaught, but they cannot, because Other Mommy will follow—even off the page—not allowing anyone to escape. For fans of Baby Teeth (2018), by Zoje Stage, and Hex (2016), by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. |
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Indian Burial Ground by Nick MedinaMedina (Sisters of the Lost Nation, 2023) returns with another mystery encased in supernatural mythology, set on a Louisiana reservation. Noemi, 38, is starting to see a future for herself when her boyfriend is unexpectedly killed. Louie, the uncle who helped to raise her until the age of five, returns for the annual powwow just as Noemi is receiving the terrible news, reminding him of the summer of 1986 when a series of deaths led to the unraveling of his life. Told from both Louie and Noemi’s points of view, the story moves fluidly between past and present, enhancing the unease and layering the dread, allowing readers to feel the reverberations of both horrible secrets and reservation life over time. However, despite the pain and fear, there is ultimately a celebration of life at the novel's core. A great choice for fans of mystery-horror hybrids that offer a compelling, character-focused story that entertains without shying away from a direct portrayal of the generational trauma experienced by marginalized people, similar to Cynthia Pelayo's Children of Chicago (2021) or Erika T. Wurth's White Horse (2022).
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Middle of the Night: A Novel by Riley SagerIn 1994, 10-year-old Billy was kidnapped, leaving best friend Ethan with nothing but a recurring dream and a knife hole in the side of their shared tent. Billy was snatched while the boys were camping out in Ethan's back yard, which left the close-knit cul-de-sac residents of Hemlock Circle reeling. Now, 30 years later, as Ethan moves back home, he can't help but feel that Billy is still here, toying with him, begging him to remember the events of that night. Did Ethan really not wake up, or could he be blocking out what happened? Worse, could he have recognized the killer? Flashbacks from various characters will keep readers guessing, even if Ethan's childhood scenes feel a bit too mindful for the average 10-year-old. Themes of survivor's guilt and grief are touched on and add a heartfelt, empathetic aspect. While the paranormal element would have benefited from more exploration, it adds a pleasant chill as the tension gradually builds, ending in head-spinning reveals. VERDICT Red herrings abound, and there are twists aplenty in Sager's latest (following The House Across the Lake). His signature style will leave readers dizzyingly satisfied.
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Murder Road by Simone St. JamesJuly 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They're looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them. When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart but take April and Eddie down with it all.
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Diavola by Jennifer ThorneAnna Pace does not fit in her family. She doesn’t live up to her parents’ expectations, her sister is jealous of her beauty and freedom, and her twin brother is fed up with her inability to comply. But every year, she goes on the family vacation even though she knows it will be a week of discomfort, complicated emotions, and discussions of the even more complicated history they have with one other. Anna is prepared for all of this when she gets to the picturesque villa her parents have booked in the Florentine countryside. But she does not understand the full extent of what is waiting for her, starting with seeing a woman in a tower window—though the tower has no windows and no one has access to it. Anna, her nieces, and her brother all hear things and have nightmares. The whole family agrees the house feels wrong but are so set on following family tradition that they can’t leave. The entangled relationships hinder their chances of survival, raising the question of which is scarier: your family or things that go bump in the night? Thorne's terrifying, perfectly paced latest (after Lute, 2022) is a must-read for anyone who likes haunted house stories.
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Horror Movie: A Novel by Paul TremblayTremblay (The Beast You Are, 2023) returns with a terrifying novel about the creation of art and its effect on all it touches, told with a strong Gen X perspective and dark humor by the Thin Kid, identified solely by his character’s name in the 1993 film Horror Movie, a film marked by tragedy—he is the only surviving team member. Although never released in full, the film has achieved cult status and is being rebooted 30 years later. Moving effortlessly between “Then” and “Now," the Thin Kid speaks directly to readers, placing them under his spell—despite repeated warning signs not to trust him—explaining the details of the original film and its current reboot and including sections of the original screenplay. The result is a suspenseful story that is marked by its relentless unease and disturbing revelations about the characters, yes, but also about the readers themselves. An immersive reading experience that will forever alter the way those who encounter it watch horror movies. For fans of Peter Straub and the cursed-film trope like in Clay McLeod Chapman's The Remaking (2019) or Craig DiLouie's forthcoming How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive (2024), but it pairs even better with the menacing, intricately plotted, and unputdownable storytelling of Catriona Ward.
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Black River Orchard: A Novel by Chuck WendigThe township of Harrow has a secret. A round, red, delicious secret. Seven trees in its orchard grow apples unlike any others. When you eat them, you feel stronger, more alive, like you’ve never felt before. Soon, that feeling—that burst of vitality—is all you crave. You won’t believe what you’ll do to keep it, or what horrors lurk in the soil. The latest by the author of the Miriam Black urban fantasy series, the apocalyptic novel Wanderers (2019), and the horror-filled The Book of Accidents (2021) is a dark, frightening tale that will chill readers to the core. Wendig has numerous storytelling gifts, but his strongest has always been his approachable characters. No matter how far-fetched the situation (running from murderous ants in Invasive, 2016, or from the New Republic in the Star Wars novel Aftermath, 2015), his characters are recognizably human. Here, it's easy to imagine getting caught up in the lure of the apples whose red skin is so dark they're almost black. After taking one bite of this scary book, readers will want more.
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Centerville Library
111 W. Spring Valley Rd
Centerville, OH 45458
(937) 433-8091
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Woodbourne Library
6060 Far Hills Ave Centerville, OH 45459
(937) 435-3700
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Creativity Commons
895 Miamisburg Centerville Rd
Centerville, OH 45459
(937) 610-4425
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