Hi hello and Happy Halloween!
As promised, here are the reviews of my spooky October reads. I more or less stuck to my original list, minus one (Apparations) that I didn’t get to and plus a few (below) that unexpectedly landed in my lap via library holds.
I gotta say, this is probably one of the best months for reading that I’ve had in a while! I genuinely enjoyed everything I read this month which, lol, doesn’t happen all the time.
Note: This should go without saying, especially with horror, but if you want to read any of these and have any sensitivities to certain types of content, I strongly encourage you to check the content warnings. These books are particularly riddled with ‘em and I don’t want anyone to be bummed out on account of my recs.
Also, a note about my rating system: I realize that the way that everyone rates books varies. For some people, 3 out of 5 is merely average. I rated several of these 3 stars and wanted to clarify that for me, 3 means that it is like, a pretty good book. I rate almost nothing 5 stars (a 5 star read for me is something that absolutely blows me away and keeps me thinking about it forever after—it is an unobtainable goal haha), 4 stars is “great,” 3 stars is pretty good, 2 ranges from “decent but coulda done without it” to “meh, but not terrible.” 1 is obviously “bad” haha.
Ok, without further ado…
(Reviews written in order of when I read them, not in order of my preference).
Boys in the Valley, by Philip Fracassi
This book got a lot of buzz in the ol’ horror book community when Stephen King tweeted a rave review about it last year(ish?). It’s described as “The Exorcist meets Lord of the Flies, by way of Midnight Mass,” which obviously had me intrigued.
The gist: The story takes place in the early 1900s, at an orphanage for boys in a remote valley of Pennsylvania. The orphanage is run by priests, so there is a big religious-horror element here. One night, a group of men turn up at the orphanage asking the priests for help–one of the men at the door is, uh, unwell. The priests decree that he needs an exorcism. Possessed-dude doesn’t survive the night, and after his death, things get…weird at the orphanage, to say the least.
Thoughts: I really liked the beginning and end of this book, but in my opinion the middle got a little muddled. The reason why Lord of the Flies (the readalike I see mentioned again and again for this book) is so good is that it highlights group mentality, and what happens when people start succumbing to chaos and power dynamics, and I…don’t feel like that was what was going on in this book. In fact, feel like if this story leaned into that perspective, this could easily have been a 4+ star read for me.
I liked Peter (the main character), but he was a little…bland. I thought David was the most interesting character in this book and kinda wished he was the MC over Peter. I hated that Grace was literally just a plot device for Peter’s character arc. She was the only female character in this entire book and frankly I’d rather her have just been left out than used the way she was–again, this is a personal gripe that I have with horror as a genre, but I can’t NOT say it.
I did appreciate that this book is literally all about spooky children–man, there is something about a terrifying child that really hits every time for me. There is a lot of gore, claustrophobic tension, and creepiness throughout, but if I am honest I did not find this as scary as some other readers made it out to be.
Overall rating- despite the above misgivings, I still gave this a solid 3/5 stars, would recommend it if you're into terrifying kids and/or possession tropes.
A House with Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher
The gist: Our main character, Sam Montgomery, is coming home to spend some time with her mom, in the family home that used to be owned by her grandmother (in rural North Carolina). Immediately, Sam notices something is up with her mom. Mom seems jumpy, and the house has been redecorated from the inviting (if eccentric) decor that her mom usually likes, replaced with white walls and “decor” that is a lot more sterile. During Sam’s stay, we get to know the family history/dynamics through a variety of hilarious dialogue and memories, plus a lot of bizarre occurrences happening in the house and, more importantly, the garden. To find out what’s got her mom so bugged out (pun intended, ha ha ha), Sam goes digging for answers–but she doesn’t love what she uncovers.
Thoughts: This was a cute, fun read. Spooky vibes but not SCARY, ya know?
I thought that the main character was quirky and interesting, and I def enjoyed having the story from her POV. Sam is a scientist—an archeoentomologist, to be specific—and definitely has scientist sensibilities when dealing with, uh, otherworldly elements. She’s also just downright hilarious—I had several laugh out loud moments.
We also meet a cast of very fun side characters—all mostly women—including a neighbor who had a bit of an on-going garden competition with deceased grandma, and who happens to have a pet vulture. Loved her, haha.
As I said above, this book was infused with humor—it reminded me a bit of Grady Hendrix's "How to Sell a Haunted House" in the writing style, except it never gets quite as gory as Grady does. It does lean into some of the traditional horror elements toward the end of the book, but the bulk of the plot felt a lot more mystery/suspense imo. This is in a sense a haunted house book but it also…isn’t? You’ll see what I mean.
I'd say this is a good pick for someone lookin' for a weirdo Halloween-season read but who maybe isn't into dark horror/doesn't want to give themselves nightmares.
Overall rating- 3 outta 5 stars. Would recommend for for fans of: haunted houses, family drama/complicated family dynamic stories, witchy vibes, supernatural scares, plant-based horror, horror “light”
The Devil Takes You Home, by Gabino Inglesias
This one wasn’t on my original October TBR, but I got the audiobook from my library holds and since it’s horror, I figured I may as well include it. It was…whewww, a lot.
The Gist: After Mario’s young daughter dies of cancer, he finds himself not only deep in mourning, but also deep in debt. He and his wife divorce, adding to his hardship. He had some friends on the wrong side of the law prior to his daughter’s death, and after, he ends up getting more involed with them, ultimately taking a job as a hitman—he knows it’s wrong, but he can’t deny that he’s making a lot more money for a lot less work. It helps that he finds catharsis in ridding the world of “bad people” (but he also kind of likes the violence). Alone and miserable, he agrees to do one final job before retiring from his life of crime—a job that he thinks will set him up for life. He’s promised a large sum of money to help with the hijacking of a cartel’s cash. He teams up with two others wayward criminals—Brian and Juanca, and the story that unfolds from there is one that is wild, brutal, and sort of terrifying. They encounter a lot of horrors—both natural and supernatural—along the way.
Thoughts: This one was absolutely bananas. The writing is beautiful, but it’s also violent and gory and horrifying. Mario is a character that you can’t help but sympathize with, despite the fact that he makes a lot of poor choices along the way. I was rooting for him and even liking him, even though he’s…probably not that good of a person.
The book read a lot like a thriller or an action movie. I saw another review compare it to the Netflix series “Ozarks” and honestly, yeah, I see it. You have this guy trying to do the best for himself and his family (his motivation for trying to earn money as a hitman is to start a new life and try to get his wife back), but in doing so he makes one bad decision after another and winds up entangled in the world of drug cartels.
I don’t honestly find myself terribly interested, usually, in stories around drug crimes (never forget the times my ex tried to watch The Wire and Narcos with me and I fell asleep about 10 minutes into every. single. episode. lmao sorry, Matt) so I was not sure if I would like this particular book. However, despite the story being very much about a cartel/hitmen/etc, I felt like it was also very much character driven—enough so that the cartel/drug stuff was really secondary to the turmoil Mario was going through. I love a good character driven plot, so I was sucked in.
I’m not going to sugar coat it here: the horror elements of this book were brutal. As in, horrible and grisly, to the point that I can’t stop thinking about them. There are moments of pretty extreme body horror; this is not for the faint of heart. I actually gasped out loud at one particular scene—I don’t want to spoil, but if you read it, you’ll know, trust me). There is a good amount of supernatural horror in this one, and I think the author did a good job at working the supernatural stuff in with the real-world horror stuff. Actually, I particularly liked how this book managed to work in elements of real-world horrors—poverty, racism, and especially grief, are all very present and heavy in this one—in such a way that you almost kind of question which is actually worse.
Warning: the ending of this book is an absolute gutpunch.
There are large portions of this book that are written in Spanish, and only the most important bits are translated to English. I do think this adds kind of a cool element to the book, though at times it was frustrating for me–I am not terrible at reading/writing Spanish (thanks, Duolingo) but I was doing the audiobook of this, and I missed a lot of the Spanish parts because it was too quick for my Gringo brain to comprehend. Still, I appreciated the linguistic choice the author took in doing it this way.
My only minor complaint with this book was that there are multiple moments of pretty heavy handed (in my opinion) social commentary—I didn’t hate it, but I also feel like when it is harped upon in horror it kind of takes me out of it. I mentioned above that I liked the “real world horrors,” and I do—but there were moments here where I felt like the author belaboured the point, you know? Like, as a reader, I can pick up on context and interpret the commentary, I don’t need you to beat me over the head with it.
I did really like this one, though. Overall rating - Probably 3.75-4 outta 5. Would recommend for fans of horror-thrillers, action-packed plots, S.A. Cosby, Breaking Bad / The Ozarks, crime stories.
The September House, by Carissa Orlando
Y’all know I wasn't going to let October pass without reading a haunted house book. This one has been on my TBR for a while and I was very stoked to read during the spookiest month of the year (though perhaps regretable not to have had it in September, ha ha ha).
The gist: Margaret and Hal buy a big old house, and turns out…it’s haunted. There’s ghosts of the previous inhabitants, and every September the walls BLEED. Most people might move right back out, but not Margaret. She loves the house, and she’s determined to stay. She finds some…creative ways of coping. Hal, on the other hand, decides he can’t stand it, and abruptly leaves. But after he leaves…no one hears from him again. Katherine, their adult daughter, decides to come into town to look for Hal right at the start of September, much to Margaret’s chagrin. Katherine knows nothing about the history of the house or the hauntings, and Margaret plans to keep it a secret. But as it turns out, there are more secrets to the house than she bargained for.
Thoughts: Man, I really liked this one. I know I am biased due to being a haunted house stan, but this was so fun. It is definitely a different spin on a haunted house tale, in that most of the time the characters aren’t determined to simply ignore the horrible things that are going on.
The book definitely isn’t the scariest thing you’ll ever read, to be honest. It for sure has some creepy moments and gory imagery, but also manages to be laugh-out-loud funny at times. I thought the author did a good job with balancing this—it reminded me a lot of Grady Hendrix’s style. Actually, this type of haunted house story was sort of what I was expecting from Grady when “How to Sell a Haunted House” came out—which is not to say that I didn't enjoy Hendrix’s take on a haunted house, but the whole possessed doll aspect of that plot caught me a little off guard. Never fear: this one is an actual haunted house story, complete with a whole cast of ghostly characters and a twisted back story.
As with many haunted house tales, I can’t say much else without spoiling, but this was a winner for me.
Overall rating- 4 out of 5 stars, and the main reason I knocked off one star is that I am not sure how I feel about the ending (but when am I ever?). Def worth the read imo, especially for fans of: Haunted houses (duh)/ghosts, complicated mother-daughter dynamics, strong female protagonists, the comedy-horror writing style of Grady Hendrix.
Dead Flip, by Sara Farizan
The gist: Maz, Sam, and Cori grew up as best friends. When they’re 12, Sam goes missing. Five years later, the year is 1992, and Maz and Cori are no longer friends, in part due to their differing opinions about what happened to Sam. Cori believes Sam is probably dead, while Maz believes he was…uh, sucked into a haunted pinball machine?
Then one day, Sam returns–except, he’s still 12, whereas his besties are 17. Maz and Cori reunite to try and solve the mystery of what the heck is going on, all the while realizing that something is not quite right with Sam…
Thoughts: Okay, this one definitely squarely in the YA camp, which isn’t the jam of most adults, I am aware! I personally enjoy a fluffy YA read from time to time, which is why I picked this one up. I liked a lot about it—it reminded me a bit of Stranger Thing, vis-a-vis the whole “group of dorky teens dealing with supernatural weirdness in the 90s” kind of way. It could easily have been written by RL Stine. If you told me this was based off of an old Goosebumps book, I would totally believe it. It was a fun read, and definitely campy. The story was sweet in that coming-of-age sort of way, and I do love a story that focuses on strong platonic friendships.
I thought that the supernatural element being a “haunted” pinball machine was unique and interesting, and I guess I appreciated the nostalgic nods to 90s-era childhood. That being said, I did yearn for a bit more nostalgia. There were a few references, but if you’re going to set your story in the 90s, give me the 90s, ya know?
Gripes: I felt like some parts of the book were a little underdeveloped. I realize that it’s YA and therefore it’s not going to have that adult-level development of plots, characters, etc. Still, there was room for improvement. For example, the sapphic romance plot line–I thought more could have been done here to emphasize why it was such a big deal in the 90s, but it was just sorta plopped in and then nothing really happened? Why introduce a queer character/plot point if you’re not going to develop it? That makes it feel tokeny to just plop it in there—and that, my friends, pisses me off :)
Overall rating - Not my favorite read of the month, but I still gave this one 3 out of 5 stars because it was definitely fun and fast and scratches the Halloweenie/spoopy itch without going hard into nightmare territory. Would recommend for fans of YA, Stranger Things/Goosebumps/The Goonies vibes, coming-of-age tales, supernatural horror, arcade games
Jackal, by Erin E. Adams
The gist: After years away, Liz Rocher is returning to her hometown for the wedding of her best friend, Mel…reluctantly. Liz is a Black woman, and doesn’t have the best memories of growing up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania–a small town in the Appalachian Rust Belt. Liz also hates the woods which…is a problem, since this is a woodsy town. Still, she returns–abeit reluctantly–to be there for her best friend on her wedding day. Somewhere during the course of the wedding, though, the bride’s daughter (Caroline) goes missing. Amidst the ensuing chaos, Liz realizes she has seen this before. For years, young Black women have been disappearing in the woods of Johnstown for years. Liz knows that it is up to her to link all of the disappearances–and quickly, if she wants to try and get to Caroline before it’s too late. Along the way, she starts uncovering some sinister, unsettling, and spooky truths about the town where she grew up.
Thoughts: This is probably the most un-put-downable book that I read this month. It really just sucks you in. It reads almost like a true crime book for a while, until the supernatural bits start creeping in around the edges–and I liked that.
One thing that I was super into from the very beginning is that it incorporates a lot of Appalachian folklore into the story without really calling it that. If you know anything about Appalachian horror, you know that there are certain rules– if you see something in the woods, no you didn’t; if you hear someone calling your name, no you didn’t; never whistle in the woods; if everything goes quiet, get out; don’t look in the trees; don’t give the scary things a name.
Dude, I have fallen into an absolute RABBIT HOLE about Appalachian spooky things–strongly recommended, by the way–and I was very stoked that this book was wrapped up in that. (Strong recommend to follow @morgshauntings on TikTok if you’re wanting to see some good Appalachia spoopy content).
Moreover, a lot of the horror of this book surrounds real life horrors more than the supernatural ones–things like race, class, and hate are all very much center stage. The author is very much exploring the question of, “When a Black girl goes missing, who looks for her?” –we all know it’s true that beautiful white women are usually who we see on the news and in true crime documentaries, but they aren’t the only victims of crimes. Why don’t we pay as much attention to the other victims?
I will also say that I really liked our main character, Liz. She is…absolutely flawed, haha. Like, this woman has uncontrolled anxiety, unresolved trauma, is coming off the heels of a brutal breakup, drinks too much, and is basically the last person you’d want looking for your kid if they went missing, haha. I really love a strong, flawed female character though! There is something so satisfying about having the MC be written as an actual person with real problems and odds stacked against them, who manages to still come out on the other side (not necessarily unscathed).
This was definitely a thriller with horror elements. The author does a really good job at building suspense and paranoia–the reader starts to suspect every single character in the book as being the culprit at one point or another. And still, I was surprised at the ending.
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars. This was a book that I had a hard time putting down. Would recommend for fans of thrillers, supernatural horror, Appalachian folklore (!!!), flawed women, real life monsters.
As we can see, this was a busy reading month for me—but a satisfying one, too. I still have a TBR stack a mile high of mostly horror that I’m trying to finish before the end of the year, so be on the lookout for me shrieking about those soon.
xoxo,
Amy