I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Title: The Haunting
Author: Natasha Preston
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: September 26, 2023
Genre(s): YA Horror
Source: NetGalley
Rating:
#1_ New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling _author Natasha Preston is back with another pulse-pounding, twisty read!
Haunted by the past . . .
Penny's trying to forget about her ex, Nash. His father was arrested for the brutal murder of four teenagers on Devil's Night last year. Penny's parents have forbidden her to have anything to do with Nash or his family. It's hard not to think of what happened as spooky season gets underway—but she's trying.
That stops when she goes to the Halloween store with her friends to find a costume. What she finds instead is ripped from a horror movie: a classmate bleeding out on the floor of a dressing room. Stabbed.
Is a copycat killer on the loose? The adults are saying no. But Penny knows better.
If you’re looking for a Halloween themed YA horror novel, you won’t go wrong with The Haunting. But be warned, the title has nothing to do with ghosts.
Characters
We have a group of friends, one of them being ostracized by the town and the rest of the friend group – except for one person. They’re great characters, although you really only deal with two or three of them for most of the book. You’ll see Penny, Nash, and Zayn more than you’ll see any of the others, but they’re all mentioned several times as well. We don’t have a whole lot of background on any of them, but we don’t really need it and they’re written well enough that it doesn’t matter.
Atmosphere
It’s a serial killer at Halloween – what more could you ask for in an atmosphere? It isn’t Michael Myers (and we can all be thankful for that) but it doesn’t need to be. That being said, the atmosphere was fraught with tension because of the killings and it was pretty great.
Writing
Natasha Preston’s writing style is easy to read and makes it hard to put a book down. Honestly, it wasn’t the story or the writing that had me putting the book down, it was my iPad getting too heavy to hold up anymore. LOL I have another book of hers in my NetGalley queue and I’m really wanting to get to it now because she has a captivating writing style.
Plot
I really liked the plot to this book. A small town one year after a serial killer took the lives of five students. The killer, locked in a federal prison in another state. But now the killings have started up again. Is it a copycat or was the wrong person locked up for the first murders? And why is this killer focused so much on one of the friend group? It’s a great plot and very well executed.
Intrigue
I kept needing to know what was going to happen next. Would they find another body? If so, who would it be? Would it be someone we’d met in the story already or someone completely new? And who the heck was behind all this? I had my guesses on that one, but it took me a couple tries to get it right and there was a twist I never saw coming. So yeah, this book has intrigue.
Romance
You have to love the fact that neither Penny or Nash are really over each other – or out of love. No matter how cold Nash acts towards Penny, she still cares and Nash cares for her. It’s cute, it’s sweet, and it’s totally inappropriate with a serial killer on the loose… but that’s OK because they aren’t actually a couple at this point.
Ending
The ending is why this book got 4 stars instead of 5. I’m so angry about the ending… I can’t say much more because I’d spoil it but oh I was so mad I almost threw my iPad.
Conclusion
This book is a great read for the spooky season or any other time you like to read horror novels. There’s plenty of suspense and horror to go around with this one. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars and I do recommend it to anyone who likes horror novels during spooky season (or any other time).
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Title: Hatchet Girls
Author: Diana Rodriguez Wallach
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: October 10, 2023
Genre(s): YA Horror
Source: NetGalley
Rating:
Set more than one hundred years after the Borden murders, this propulsive, supernatural thriller imagines what might happen if history were to repeat itself today. Perfect for fans of Kara Thomas and Courtney Summers!
When Mariella Morse accuses her boyfriend, Vik Gomez, of murdering her wealthy parents with an axe, the town is quick to believe her. It doesn’t help that Vik is caught standing over her parents’ bodies with blood on his hands, unable to remember anything about the night in question.
But Vik’s sister, Tessa, knows that Vik would never be capable of such a gruesome crime. Haunted by the mistakes she made that led her family to move to Fall River, MA in the first place, she sets out to prove her brother’s innocence.
Tessa’s search for answers will lead her into a sprawling, notoriously cursed forest, where she and Mariella must face a darkness that has lurked within their town since before the days of Lizzie Borden—the original axe murderess of Fall River.
Content Warning: Violence, mentions of murder, blood, grief, abuse
I’m going to be honest – while I did enjoy Hatchet Girls, I’m not going to say it was my favorite read of 2023 by any means. The characters were good, some had more background than others, and in some cases, I think some of the characters could have used a bit more background.
The plot was pretty unique and I really enjoyed it, as well as the writing style in the book. Unfortunately, I guessed the “bad guy” way too early in the book and it kind of spoiled the book for me because of that. However, I did enjoy the way the book ends because it was pretty cool.
All in all, I gave the book 3 stars because to be perfectly honest, while it was a pretty good read and worked well for Spooky Season, it just wasn’t a favorite of mine.
I received an advance copy of this book from the author to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Title: Becoming the Boogeyman
Series: The Boogeyman #2
Author: Richard Chizmar
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: October 10, 2023
Genre(s): Horror, Crime
Source: Author
Rating:
The terrifying sequel to the acclaimed New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novel Chasing the Boogeyman, which was hailed as “genuinely chilling and something brand-new and exciting” (Stephen King) and “unforgettable” (Harlan Coben).
A riveting, haunting sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller Chasing the Boogeyman—a tale of obsession and the adulation of evil, exploring modern society’s true-crime obsession with unflinching honesty, sparing no one from the glare of the spotlight. Will those involved walk away from the story of a lifetime in order to keep their loved ones safe? Or will they once again be drawn into a killer’s web? As the story draws to its shattering conclusion, only one person holds all the answers—and he just may be the most terrifying monster of them all.
A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing an eARC of Richard Chizmar’s Chasing the Boogeyman. This year, I am honored to have the pleasure to read and review that book’s sequel, Becoming the Boogeyman.
Characters
My favorite thing about both Chasing the Boogeyman and Becoming the Boogeyman? That Richard Chizmar made himself (and his family) into characters in the story. He mixes his own real life with fiction to create the story. Are all of the characters real? No. But some of them are. Figuring out which ones, if any, are real (aside from Richard and his family) and which are fictional is part of the fun. Not to mention that some of the characters might be fictional but be based on people Richard knows in real life.
Atmosphere
This book has a downright creepy atmosphere. Imagine having written a book about a serial killer only for that killer’s M.O. to start being used to kill again – even though you know the killer is still locked up tight. And what if it seems those killings are starting to target you? Yeah – creepy, strange, and at the same time, exciting. This book put forth a great atmosphere and I absolutely loved it.
Writing
Richard Chizmar has worked with Stephen King… so obviously he has a great writing style. What l love most about Becoming the Boogeyman, and the first one Chasing the Boogeyman, is that it is written to mix reality with fiction. It is written to not only engage you but to, in some cases, make you question what parts are real and what parts aren’t. You have to be a pretty damned amazing writer to pull that off and he does is beautifully.
Plot
Oh, I could go on and on about the plot for this book. It really is a brilliant plot line. Sure, we’ve all seen the “killer was locked up years ago and now it looks like he’s back” trope. I mean, that trope has even been used on shows like Criminal Minds. But this one has twists and turns that you wouldn’t even expect in a million years. This one mixes fiction and reality and makes it into a cohesive story. It’s a superb plot using a tried-and-true trope and I’m here for it.
Intrigue
If you’re looking for intrigue this book has it by the truckload. You’re always wondering what happens next, when the next murder will be, who will be murdered, how they’ll be found, etc.. You just won’t want to put Becoming the Boogeyman down.
Ending
The ending of this book. First, figuring out who is doing it and why they’re doing it. Finding out if there’s any connection to the original killer and if so what. But the epilogue/”After” section – holy cow. That sent a shiver down my spine and made me hope for perhaps a third installment. Of course, that is all up to Mr. Chizmar. But I do really hope there is a third installment.
I gave this one 5 stars because it kept me coming back for more and wanting to know more. I can’t wait to see what other books Richard Chizmar has in store for us.
Today I’m pleased to bring you an interview with Dave Dobson, author of Kenai. This interview is part of my stop on the blog tour organized by Escapist Book Co. Thank you for allowing me to participate, and thank you to Dave Dobson for answering my questions.
Do you read reviews of your books? If so, how do you handle bad or good reviews?
I always read reviews. Some authors say not to, but I can’t help myself. I think it’s a really important part of the writing process, actually. You have to know how your ideas, your characters, your stories are received if you want to get better. Good reviews are easy to handle – they make you feel ten feet tall and you walk around all day happy. Bad reviews can be a little rough depending on what they criticize and whether the criticisms have merit – the most useful negative reviews always do get at something you’re doing wrong, or that you haven’t quite figured out yet. I have a lot of experience reading course evaluations as a professor, and after that process, you (hopefully) learn to glean what’s useful from critics while letting the rest of it slide. That’s how I approach negative reviews of my books. Which is not to say I don’t sputter at my screen occasionally.
What do you think is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?
There are all kinds of scams or semi-scams that take advantage of new writers, often offering publication and editing, or movie contracts, or agent representation, but for a big fee. Sometimes they’re set up like one of those multi-level marketing organizations, where you only get published if you can sell 500 books yourself. There are a lot of good resources available to avoid them, but like other scammers, some of them are very good at what they do, and it is hard to know what to expect from the industry if you’re very new to it, so you see a lot of people fall into these traps.
What was your favorite book as a child? Did it influence you to become a writer?
As a young child, as some of the first longer books I could read, I read L. Frank Baum’s Oz books. My family had a set of hardbacks of them from when my Dad was a kid, so they were available and well-loved. Some folks don’t know that there was a whole series of books, and the movie is only the first book. There’s no doubt that those stories, with their abundant magic and quirky characters and grand adventures, led me to be a huge fan of fantasy and science fiction, and later on, to write it.
(BLOGGER’S NOTE: I own the full set of Oz books because I, too, adored them as a child!!)
What is your favorite thing to listen to while you write?
I love listening to movie music – I have a curated station I made on Pandora that I set running. Most of it is fantasy and sci fi movies, but there are a lot of others on there too. Movie music tends to be intense, emotional, and exciting, and it doesn’t usually have words, so I find it a perfect match for when I’m on a roll writing.
Do you think it helps authors to have a big ego or hurts them?
I think there are very few people who are helped by a having big ego. I think I have ample experience with that based on my college years and from working in academia for most of three decades. There are very, very few people who deserve to have a big ego, and even fewer of them are well-served by acting like an ass. One of the only exceptions I’ve ever met was Stephen Jay Gould – his ego was just a part of his character and made his writing and his personality larger than life. Muhammad Ali also made a career of it, and it fit him and what he was doing.
As a writer, you have to remember that you’re an artist trying to appeal to a broad audience, and in the modern world, that means everybody has access to whatever you put out there in public in any context. If you’re obnoxious, everybody will know, and it’s not a good look, regardless of how great you actually are. I think in writing (as in nearly everything) you’re much better served by listening to others and respecting what they have to say. Trying to build a career based on having an overbearing personality can get you some attention, but for me, it wouldn’t be a fun way to live. Maybe it works for influencers, but writers should (I hope) have a closer and more honest relationship with their readers.
Do you read the genre of books you write? Do you read your own books after they’re finished?
I read my genres, for sure, although I need to do more reading. I’ve been on a writing kick for most of the last few years, and for me, that makes it harder to sit down with somebody else’s book and dig into it – I’m distracted, or thinking about my own stories, and not enjoying other books to the fullest.
I don’t restrict my reading to the genres I write, but I write in enough of them (thriller, mystery, fantasy, science fiction) that there are a lot of books to choose from. I stick mostly to those areas, though. I have a writing buddy who writes romance, and I always enjoy reading her stuff too. I’m never opposed to trying something new as long as it grabs me.
I tend not to re-read my own books after publishing them, but of course I’ve published most of them recently enough (last 4 years) that it’s hard to know if that’s a lifetime habit or not. I will occasionally go through them doing research on a sequel or on another book, and it’s always fun seeing what I did before. I bet I’ll come back to them in a bit. I have a pretty good memory for plot and dialogue, so it might take me a while before I can forget enough to enjoy my books again without feeling like they’re overly
familiar.
***
Title: Kenai
Author: Dave Dobson
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: May 24, 2023
Genre(s): Science Fiction
A planet steeped in mystery...
Jess Amiko is long past her days as a space marine, with all the glory of that time tarnished beyond repair by what came after. Trying to rebuild from the ashes, she's taken a job as a security guard on Kenai, a lonely world far from the Council systems. It's supposed to be easy duty - quiet and peaceful, on a docile world with no real threats, watching over an archeological dig at a site built by a race long vanished.
Betrayed and attacked by forces unknown, and finding that nothing on Kenai makes sense, Jess is plunged into a desperate fight for survival that leads her deep into the mysteries of Kenai's past, and deep into the hardship and paradox the planet imposes on all who call it home.
Content Warning: violence, suicidal ideation