Reading like a horror story about writers, for writers, The Dark Game is about 10 authors invited to a retreat by the most famous author in the world, only to discover there‘s evil in the mansion where they‘re staying, and they‘ve unwittingly had a hand in making it more powerful.

Gillian is a married mother of two who has vivid nightmares due to an awful childhood. What they uncover and lead to makes for a horror story that will make you want to stop reading and take a deep breath before finishing. Jack &Jill is a story about how the cyclical nature of abuse can manifest itself in many ways.

Stirring the Sheets is a beautiful, dark story about a man struggling with grief over his wife who died a year ago. I won‘t spoil anything, but the man works in a funeral home, and one day a body comes in that resembles his wife. It‘s a very sweet love story. I promise.

The 5th Gray Man book and they keep getting better and better. Court is back on US soil and on the run from pretty much everybody. He has to stay on the offensive to find out why his own agency wants to kill him, though. Plenty of action, intrigue, and humor makes this a great addition to the series.

Leibowitz is primarily a cautionary tale about nuclear war and history repeating itself. However, the main theme to me is the unreliability of history and religion. I finished reading and thought about how much out world has been shaped by misconceptions, misconstrued beliefs, ignorance, lies, and misplaced power. Some of the science fiction seems outdated, but the themes are just as important now as they‘ve ever been.

A horror story, a love story. Kate and Andrew go to Maine to spend a summer by a lake, and try to enjoy life while Kate is suffering from a debilitating disease. Their stay is far from peaceful as they are terrorized by something in the woods. It‘s a slow, suspenseful transition from the horror of the disease to the horror outside, and Shea pulls it off masterfully. Make sure you read the Afterword for one more emotional punch.

What a great book! And it‘s Petrie‘s first novel? Unbelievable. The Drifter is the first in a series about a Marine vet coping with PTS, in this story trying to help the widow of a friend, and getting caught up in a plot that could kill thousands. Petrie writes like a pro, establishing characters I hope I can see again, and deftly throwing in red herring and avoiding cliches. Read this book!

Burning Sky is a surprise mashup of military action, horror, science fiction, and religion. Ochse gets compared to Cormac McCarthy quite a bit in blurbs, and McCarthy is mentioned in the book quite a lot, but the comparisons aren‘t because of style or talent so much as the authors‘ use of violence while exploring universal themes. This book is much deeper than you would expect.

A creepy, creature book from the early '70s, The Hephaestus Plague is about a swarm of new insects that have the ability to start fires. While scientists and the government attempt to find ways to kill the bugs, the insects start showing signs of high intelligence. It's a good story, but the parts that should really creep us out are rushed and not as effective as they could have been.

A solid entry in the series. Not my favorite, but I do like how these latest stories are developing Pike.

Great addition to the Cole/Pike series. Pike is the main character here, so it has less humor than the Cole-centered books, but it develops Pike more than those, also. Lots of action, some double crosses, red herring, and great characters.

A futuristic murder mystery set in an Antarctic mining base at the beginning of the 6-month night, Night Shift is a tense thriller and a claustrophobic nightmare. Triggs balances several characters and motives well in this book that would make a great movie one day.

Book 3 in The Expanse series is action-packed, political, even religious, and it is epic science fiction. The chapters in this story revolve around four characters (sadly, not my favorite, Avasarala), and the book ends where series 3 of the TV show ends. Without being too "spoilerish", I can say the story line is now open to go in many different places.

What a great surprise this book turned out to be. It‘s an urban fantasy, ghost story about a crackhead who can see ghosts, but it‘s so much more. It‘s a story about love and friendships that never die. Wonderful characters, sharp dialogue, and well-placed humor make this an above average supernatural story.

Taken as it is, it is a story about a boy born to parents in the 1960's England who is so ugly, primal, different...that he tears the family apart. It is, however, a moral allegory. The Lovatt's are a couple who want a huge family, but can't afford it or manage it without a lot of help, and the fifth child puts a stop to their wishful lifestyle. They wind up sacrificing almost everything, and their fifth child becomes a societal problem.

A classic English ghost story, but written in 1983, The Woman in Black is chilling, atmospheric, and a perfect October read. The movie was a fairly faithful adaption, but Hill‘s wonderful prose should be experienced first, if possible.

This is Kope‘s 2nd book about “Steps” Craig, an FBI tracker with a unique ability to hunt killers. Whispers of the Dead is more a procedural work than an action thriller. The main character and his partner, as well as the rest of the characters, are well-defined and likable. What‘s great is that there is depth to the killer in this work. (S)he is not a one-dimensional, evil person. This book has heart.

Very good ending to the Hatching series. Boone somehow makes the spiders even more creepy and dangerous, while balancing several story lines simultaneously. There aren't as many spider scenes as in the first two books, but the ones that are here are terrifying. Good October read.

An intricately-plotted thriller. Kill the Father is an international bestseller and I believe Dazieri‘s first U.S. wide release. Looks like this will be the first in a series involving two interesting, damaged protagonists.
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A haunted house story that‘s more about a couple drifting apart than ghosts. It‘s an unsettling book, and you‘re left to wonder at what‘s real and imagined. I was left feeling that the whole story was a metaphor for the dangers of trying to solve relationship troubles by buying a new house.

The second book in The Expanse series is great combination of action, sci-fi, political intrigue, and family drama. The first book introduced the characters. This book gives them the freedom to be who they are. It‘s wonderful.

A decent collection of short stories centered around flying, Flight or Fright has a couple of great stories, a few very good ones, and only three I would consider filler. I won‘t clarify which stories fall into those categories in my opinion. Read them for yourself. It‘s a good set of stories.

Not as comic or violent as it has often been described, but it is balanced tale of a pair of hired killers , Eli and Charlie Sisters. It‘s a story of a journey the brothers take both literally, to California during the gold rush, and figuratively, to find out how they want to live their lives in a cruel world.

It‘s a wonderful story of a fractured family fighting off a supernatural threat (that can stand in for any number of family obstacles). So well- written with characters you‘ll care about and pull for.

The House by the Cemetery is almost like two separate books. The first 2/3 is suspenseful horror; the last 1/3 is an unrelenting gore fest.

I think the book could have used fewer characters, and the ending was fun and extremely gory, but it made the story seem uneven pacing-wise. It‘s a good, but not great, horror story.

This book was sent to me by Flame Tree Press as an ARC for an honest review.

As much as I love Bruen and the Taylor books, this one is not a very good one. This seemed to be a lazy effort. I had the killer figured out halfway through, the author spends too much time on pop culture references (that seem dated and irrelevant at times), and one recurring character is introduced/described twice, in almost the same wording. It's very disappointing.

A terrific thriller and family drama about people coping with loss by spending time at an island retreat. The retreat is not what it seems, of course, and Halcyon turns into a story of physical and emotional survival. Deftly written and sparked by current real-world fears, it‘s a great book.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. The 4th Gray Man book improves on the 3rd, with a new adversary and a new (sort of) ally. He's tasked with trying to stop a political assassination that would be pinned on himself AND staying ahead of his new enemy, the CIA, Mossad, and a private company out to kill him. Another day in the life of Gentry.

I suppose I wanted this to be more of a horror book than a tongue-in-cheek lesson on HPL and his mythologies. It‘s campy, pulp fiction, but I didn‘t care for it. For me, it got old quickly.

Thomas‘s first novel is a haunted house story with teeth. Besides a novel about a house with a past, Kill Creek is an interesting story about the business of writing. It‘s not difficult to pick real life authors to personify the 4 horror authors here. Most of the book is a gothic horror story, but it ends with a big bloody bang. Sorry if this review is poorly written. I‘m drunk. Read this book.

Ballistic is a gritty bloodbath of a story. The Gray Man finds himself stuck in a war between rival cartels in Mexico while trying to protect the family of close friend who was recently killed. Gentry's character takes on a new dimension in this novel, and as always, there's a high body count and plenty of action.

So much more complex and emotional than I expected. The tension level rises as you try to figure out what‘s going on, and you‘ll be amazed that a novel can be terrifying, claustrophobic, and hopeful all at the same time. Terrific novel.

Emotional and terrifying, Blanky is a great novella about a man who has lost his infant daughter and struggles to stay sane facing his grief...and the fact that his daughter‘s baby blanket has found its way back into the house after being buried with her. Burke is a master at writing stories that make you want to leave the lights on.

I suffered through this. I read so many glowing reviews and I just couldn‘t stand this book. Cute idea, but the story was boring and by the end, I was skimming. The author seemed to be trying to hard to clever in his style, and it just seemed cutesy.

The sequel to The Hatching is just as creepy as the first one, and it doesn't matter that the spiders in this book aren't real, I'm still more afraid of them than ever. The first wave of them has died off, but now there are more, they're different, and at least of them is a lot bigger. Skitter is really a gross, goose bump-inducing, fun read, and I'm looking forward to reading the third book, Zero Day. Sorta.

It would have been so easy to take the premise for this story and make it a torture-porn gorefest with one-dimensional characters. Instead, Burke has written a horror novel about a bloodthirsty family and those who seek revenge against them, and made it touching and full of well-defined characters. It‘s a great horror novel.

It's a mind-bending, metaphysical, cathartic story of a man who goes on a hike and winds up...well, it's hard to say where. It's a great read, funny and touching and weird as hell, in a good way.

Wow, the Gray Man is a terrific character. Greaney is in full control of his storytelling craft, and should sit right up there next to Berenson and Silva on your shelves. Highly recommend this series.

The second in the Unit 51, but not as entertaining as the first. Relationships are forming within the group, but none feel real, and I still don't "know" the characters as well as I think I should. The action is well-written, and there is a lead-in to book 3. Hopefully it will be better.

The first in the Unit 51 series, Subhuman takes on many of the topics you'd find on Ancient Aliens, mashes them together and makes a very good science-based horror/thriller. Looking forward to the next in the series, Forsaken.

Another great book by Meltzer, The Escape Artist has some very memorable characters, deeply flawed and vulnerable, and a story that not just just thrills, but teaches you something along the way.

A very disturbing novella about a neighborhood and the intertwining stories of the inhabitants, told through their lives and the life of an introspective bull terrier. The story makes you wonder what terrible things the people around you may be thinking or experiencing without your knowledge, as well as what your pet may really think about you.

An alternate-history American Western as if told by Poe, Unbury Carol is a race-against-time story about a wealthy woman who occasionally falls into a deathlike coma. Only two people know of her affliction. One wants her buried, and the other wants to save her. This doesn't reach the level of Bird Box, but it's a good read.

The UNSUB is a serial killer who stages intricate, over-the-top crime scenes as he terrorizes the San Francisco area for several years. Caitlyn Hendrix is a 2nd generation detective following in her father's footsteps, now pursuing the same killer who forced her dad into early retirement because of the psychological toll the case took on him. This is a well-crafted thriller with characters you'll want to read about again.

A disturbingly fun novella. I had no idea what to expect regarding what was in the Ohio woods, the threat to the campers, hikers, etc. Having read it, I can say I have been pleasantly creeped out.

I love well-written, science fiction/horror stories, and Sigler once again delivers in Earthcore. SOMETHING is killing people at a new platinum mine in the Utah mountains, a mine that had a rich deposit that will bring out the very best and the very worst in everyone.
The horrors are scary as hell, and it all works because the characters are believable and NOT one-dimensional stereotypes. Loved this book.

What a great premise for a horror novel, man-eating mermaids discovered in the Mariana Trench. But damn, this book was hard to get through. Clichéd characters, too little horror, and it just drags on and on. I was very disappointed in this.

A fantastic debut thriller from Erik Storey that introduces Clyde Barr, ex-con, soldier, mercenary (but don't call him that), who has to save his sister from a ruthless drug dealer. Set in the Colorado mountains, Nothing Short of Dying is a violent, visual, brutal story; I'm looking forward to the sequel, A Promise to Kill.

A fifteen-year-old boys sees the ghost of his father, in full Blackfeet fancydress attire, after sleepwalking, and the story begins. Has his dad returned to help his mentally challenged brother or his mother? Or is he back for a sinister reason. Mapping the Interior is a haunting story, in more ways than one, about present-day Native American life and cyclical nature of families.

When a story reminds you of the best of King and Lovecraft, you know you've read something great. This short story is delightfully creepy and unsettling. Here's the first sentence to whet your appetite.

"Four months to the day he first encountered the boy at Walmart, the last of Phil Pendleton's teeth fell out."