Razor-sharp writing distinguishes stories that enthrall as often as they unnerve.
Machines, dolls, and ghastly things animate von Hessen’s debut collection of somber horror tales.
In “The Contagion,” the Dreiyer family’s annual road trip includes a stop at a bed-and-breakfast—that’s where 7-year-old Sylvia peeks into a trunk of dolls, one of which, she swears, moves on its own. Decades later, when looking for inspiration for a TV show she’s working on, she returns to the inn and makes a startling discovery. Von Hessen’s 14 stories herein tackle such diverse subgenres as the undead, body horror, and something more Lovecraftian (“Spectral Golem”), but there’s a discernible theme of identity that runs throughout the book. Characters interrogate their pasts; the narrator of “The Patent-Master” travels to an island coastal town, where the discovery of their late mother’s former profession is the first of many surprises. In one of the collection’s highlights, “The Obscurantist,” Brooklyn-based Andrei’s lifelong obsession with a girl who once appeared on an obscure variety show ultimately leads him down a dark path. These tales are bleak, forgoing humor and zeroing in on individuals who find themselves in miserable, appalling, or lethal circumstances. A few of the entries dive deep into visceral and grotesque imagery; one that’s sure to turn stomachs is “Roscoe’s Malefic Delights,” which is about a newly opened eatery with only one item on its menu: These “delights” (“reminiscent of blood-drained white worms or skinned, flattened rats’ tails or stringy strips of tripe”) definitely don’t look appetizing, but their appearance may not be their worst attribute. In every chilling moment and unexpected turn, the author’s prose is nothing short of intoxicating—unforgettable passages equate one man with “the human embodiment of a prolonged sigh”; a “sloshing” akin to a “half-empty jar of preserves” describes something that ideally shouldn’t be making that sound.
Razor-sharp writing distinguishes stories that enthrall as often as they unnerve.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9798218491857
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Grimscribe Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A pulpy throwback that shines a light on abuses even magic can’t erase.
Hung out to dry by the elders who betrayed them, a squad of pregnant teens fights back with old magic.
Hendrix has a flair for applying inventive hooks to horror, and this book has a good one, chock-full with shades of V.C. Andrews, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Foxfire, to name a few. Our narrator, Neva Craven, is 15 and pregnant, a fate worse than death in the American South circa 1970. She’s taken by force to Wellwood House in Florida, a secretive home for unwed mothers where she’s given the name Fern. She’ll have the baby secretly and give it up for adoption, whether she likes it or not. Under the thumb of the house’s cruel mistress, Miss Wellwood, and complicit Dr. Vincent, Neva forges cautious alliance with her fellow captives—a new friend, Zinnia; budding revolutionary Rose; and young Holly, raped and impregnated by the very family minister slated to adopt her child. All seems lost until the arrival of a mysterious bookmobile and its librarian, Miss Parcae, who gives the girls an actual book of spells titled How To Be a Groovy Witch. There’s glee in seeing the powerless granted some well-deserved payback, but Hendrix never forgets his sweet spot, lacing the story with body horror and unspeakable cruelties that threaten to overwhelm every little victory. In truth, it’s not the paranormal elements that make this blast from the past so terrifying—although one character evolves into a suitably scary antagonist near the end—but the unspeakable, everyday atrocities leveled at children like these. As the girls lose their babies one by one, they soon devote themselves to secreting away Holly and her child. They get some help late in the game but for the most part they’re on their own, trapped between forces of darkness and society’s merciless judgement.
A pulpy throwback that shines a light on abuses even magic can’t erase.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780593548981
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.
A disturbing household secret has far-reaching consequences in this dark, unusual ghost story.
Mallory Quinn, fresh out of rehab and recovering from a recent tragedy, has taken a job as a nanny for an affluent couple living in the upscale suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey, when a series of strange events start to make her (and her employers) question her own sanity. Teddy, the precocious and shy 5-year-old boy she's charged with watching, seems to be haunted by a ghost who channels his body to draw pictures that are far too complex and well formed for such a young child. At first, these drawings are rather typical: rabbits, hot air balloons, trees. But then the illustrations take a dark turn, showcasing the details of a gruesome murder; the inclusion of the drawings, which start out as stick figures and grow increasingly more disturbing and sophisticated, brings the reader right into the story. With the help of an attractive young gardener and a psychic neighbor and using only the drawings as clues, Mallory must solve the mystery of the house's grizzly past before it's too late. Rekulak does a great job with character development: Mallory, who narrates in the first person, has an engaging voice; the Maxwells' slightly overbearing parenting style and passive-aggressive quips feel very familiar; and Teddy is so three-dimensional that he sometimes feels like a real child.
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-81934-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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