The Haunted Stacks

by Bec

How to Sell a Haunted House

Premise: after the death of her parents, a woman goes back to her childhood home to get their affairs in order. Once there, she finds her fucking awful brother being fucking awful, and some creepy puppets being creepy.

Review: this one really had me. Grady Hendrix excels at writing viscerally despisable men. I hated the bones of the brother. I wanted to drown him, I wanted to feel his body go slack.

I also hate puppets so much, so I was frowning deeply for much of this one.

It kept me rapt all the way through and a couple of times I had to put it down for a second to hope it wasn’t going where I thought it was going.

Recommended?: Yep.

Final Girl Support Group

Premise: in a world where movie serial killer tropes are real life, a group of final survivors of serial killers meet up to help each other heal. But obviously more murders happen after that due to the fact it is a horror novel.

Review: this one had too many names. I struggled to keep track of people. There is a lot of good action in this one though it was a bit dry at the start. I liked where the story took us, but my attention did waiver throughout. I did not call the ending which was nice.

Recommend?: If you like slashers.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires

Premise: conservative US community has a vampire move into the neighbourhood, with results.

Review: I really enjoyed this one. Per Grady Hendrix’s skill for writing godawful bastard men who I hate, a lot of the characters made me very upset. There is an unexpectedly graphic sexual assault which sits strangely with the rest of the descriptions of violence in the book, which are much less visceral. I think it could have been left out entirely or described in the same level of detail as the rest of the violence in the book. A lot of the misogyny rings despressingly true in this one and the kids and husband of the main characters are just the worst.

If you don’t mind frothing at the mouth with rage this is an enjoyable read.

Recommend?: Yes IF you don’t mind graphic sexual assault in a novel.

Horrorstör

Premise: haunted IKEA.

Review: too many dang names. I found this one super dry and it was a slog to get through. I just didn’t care about the characters. However the illustrations of the weird furniture are cool.

Recommend?: No.