A well done, page-turning anthology of stories about home being where the horror is.
A collection of contemporary horror fiction.
This debut offering from Whisper House, edited by its founder Capone, features a selection of horrific short stories united by home-and-neighborhood themes, with contributors ranging from seasoned, award-winning veterans of the publishing world to newcomers seeing their work in print for the first time. The stories cover the whole of the human landscape, from city life to country life to the most obviously terrifying location of all (the suburbs), and they vary in length from just a couple of pages to an average page count of around 10. The ethos of the anthology will be familiar to fans of Stephen King (there are virtually no stories here that aren’t explicitly cut from King’s cloth): the unexpected horror in the quotidian and familiar, whether it’s the neighborhood playground or that particular terror of modern life, the local homeowners association. In Sam Weller’s “Creepy Crawly,” the hapless narrator finds himself in an increasingly aggressive standoff with a millipedelike creature in his apartment (“We both lived in a hole-in-the-wall,” he observes. “And if you really look at it, in one way or another, don’t we all?”), and a Jewish mother and her son encounter particularly virulent xenophobia in an Adelaide suburb in Jordan King-Lacroix’s “Just Being Neighborly.” Capone edits this collection with evident skill, choosing solid work and arranging it effectively. Brisk, businesslike entries like “Decorations” by J.D. Simpson, featuring a town that takes Halloween very, very seriously (“Around eleven forty-five, the temperature plunged” on the big night. “Dead grass hardened into hoary spikes of frost; fog formed in the shivering woods”), contrast well with more diffuse outings like “The Annual Family Reunion” by Christina Griffith. As in all anthologies, there’s some uneven qualities, but fans of modern horror will find plenty to please them here.
A well done, page-turning anthology of stories about home being where the horror is.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798989391936
Page Count: 344
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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