Set in 1950s Florida, The Reformatory follows twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, who is sent to the segregated Gracetown School for Boys after defending his sister Gloria from the unwanted advances of Lyle McCormick. But Robbie’s sentencing isn’t just punishment for that act. It’s a trap. His father, Robert Stephens, is a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman who has fled to Chicago. A union organizer with enemies in powerful places, Robert is being lured back through the incarceration of his own son.
We soon learn that Robbie is spirit sensitive. He sees ghosts, or “haints,” and this gift is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because he feels the presence of his mother, a comfort that helps him endure the atrocities he faces. A curse because he also sees the ghosts of boys who came before him, those who died violently at the hands of the evil, psychopathic Warden Haddock, by fire, by beating, by every manner of physical and emotional harm imaginable, all desperate to avoid being sent to the “Shed.”
Meanwhile, Gloria is fighting on the outside to secure the legal help her brother desperately needs. Alongside Ms. Lottie, the woman tasked with caring for Robbie and Gloria after the death of their mother and a Warrior Queen if there ever was one, she races to get Robbie released before it’s too late.
The Reformatory is classified as a literary, historical, and horror novel. And while you might assume the horror comes from its supernatural elements, make no mistake. The true horror here is entirely human. It is the vile and calculated evil of those who use their power to torture children and discriminate against people whose skin is a different colour than their own. The ghosts are almost beside the point.
Trigger warnings: physical and sexual abuse, blood and violence.
Rowen Sterling is the daughter of worm farmers. You would think worm farming would be a rather mundane, banal job but unfortunately Rowen has had her share of trauma, not only did her mother die a violent death at the hands of another, her father has become distant and, she’s in her senior year of high school and has some important life decisions to make, like what college to attend, and if she is falling in love her her best friend Lucas. And just to compound these stresses, Rowen has been having disturbing dreams of murder and death. One night, Rowen is kidnapped and taken to a facility called Rosewood. Her father is behind her kidnapping and claims it’s for her own good. You see, Rowen is blessed/cursed with a gift; she can predict who will die and who will commit murders just by touching them. The trainers at Rosewood tell her that those with a red aura will commit a crime of passion, and those with a black aura are psychopaths. And that she and the other young people at Rosewood will be trained and tasked with going out into society to determine who is indeed an imminent criminal. Rowen is all for her involvement; her mother, after all, was murdered, and she would like to prevent the same trauma from happening to others. However, it’s not that simple. A load of ethical questions come into play, like how moral is it to imprison someone who hasn’t committed a crime yet? And, what if you sense an aura around someone you love?
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. Its premise was interesting, albeit a bit confusing at times (parts of the characters’ backstories seem ill-placed). The artwork is wonderful, coloured in white, black, and various shades of grey, with additions of red and pink. Colours and artistry that suit the subject matter very effectively.
The story is bloody and violent and definitely aimed at 15-18 year olds.
Since the death of her father, Sonia Wilson has had to put aside her beloved profession of being a scientific illustrator and become an art teacher. With only a few friends and an oppressive headmistress, she seeks employment elsewhere…but there aren’t a lot of positions available, because she is, after all, a woman in the late 1800s. So when the reclusive scientist Dr. Hadler hires her to illustrate his work of bugs, worms and squiggly, squirming critters, she willingly obliges.
After trekking through the woods with creepy Mr. Phelps, who offered to chaperone her and narrate the nightmarish folktales of devils and blood thieves you would meet in the woods, she arrives at Dr. Hadler’s North Carolina mansion….wonderfully creepy, atmospheric.
Sonia soon realizes that the doctor’s work is rather odd and that the artist before her disappeared under mysterious circumstances, compounded by the fact that the animals in the area are behaving rather creepily, she begins to regret her decision to work. Also, what is with the creepy shed on the property, a place that the doctor brings live chickens and keeps under lock and key?
The story is narrated by Sonia, whose voice is so personable and funny (which is wonderfully juxtaposed against the creepy atmosphere). I really wanted to be her friend and, over a bottle of wine, hear all about her experience. Just a heads up, if you don’t like bugs and blood, this novel may not be for you. Kingfisher is quite graphic in her descriptions.
Except for a few parts that seemed somewhat redundant (especially when Sonia is questioning the reality of a horror she saw), the novel is humorous, suspenseful, and everything I expected from the author.
…oh, and I absolutely loved the Kents.
This is an great Southern Gothic to add to you audio book list.
I listened to the audio of this novel. Mary Robinette Kowal is the narrator, and she is absolutely wonderful. She is very effective with voices, accents, and intonation of emotion. I would definitely listen to other audiobooks she narrates.
Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the copies.
You’ll be able to buy Wolf Worm at the end of May.
If you’ve never heard of Mona Awad, I need you to stop what you’re doing and pay attention, because I’m about to send you down a rabbit hole you will not regret.
I’ve only read three of Mona Awad’s works, and all three can be classified as dark academia my favourite genre. Canadian author Mona Awad has quite theimagination. She writes novels that read like fevered dreams, especially for those of us who have a history of viewing ourselves as insecure, anxious, and at times with self-doubt.
My first experience with Awad was her novel All’s Well. Honestly, I bought,this novel, because I thought the cover was beautiful, and because it was a reference to Shakespeare’s play. Miranda Fitch is a college drama teacher who is bound and determined to produce Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, mostly because she wants to relive a time in her life when she was at the height of her acting career, playing the lead role of Helen. Her students, however, are equally bound and determined to perform Macbeth — a play that Miranda holds directly responsible for her debilitating chronic pain. When she meets three strange men at a bar (men who symbolize the three witches of Macbeth) Miranda engages in the most bizarre conversations. Soon after, the physical and emotional pain she carries begins to transfer onto the people she dislikes, and Miranda starts to feel a dark, intoxicating sense of power at the expense of others.
Now, Bunny. Bunny is the most wild of novels. Samantha McKey is part of a creative writing cohort at an Ivy League university. The entire story is told from her point of view, but we glean through her narrative (and she is an extremely unreliable narrator) that she is a loner. She views herself as superior to the others in her cohort, referring to them as “the Bunnies.” Soon, however, she is invited to join the Bunnies’ “Smut Salon” — a gathering where they meet to discuss their work. But the Smut Salon goes far beyond discussion. Soon the Bunnies are kidnapping, killing, and conducting all sorts of experiments to create. There are hints woven throughout that Samantha may be mentally ill, and that the world of the Bunnies and the Smut Salon is entirely a creation of her own mind.
The sequel to “Bunny:” “We Love You, Bunny,” made me rethink every interpretation of “Bunny” I ever had. It’s written from the various points of view of the Bunnies themselves …they finally get to tell their side of the story. It seems Samantha, our protagonist and narrator from “Bunny” has written a bestselling novel about, of all things, the Bunnies themselves. And they are not happy. Why? because they are not exactly written in the most flattering light. They kidnap Samantha and tie her up in the same attic where they once held their Smut Salon and conducted their gruesome creative experiments. In fact, the axe is still there — and it’s often picked up like a talking stick by the various narrators.
Where Bunny felt to me like a story about identity, creativity, and what one will sacrifice in order to create both an identity and a piece of art, We Love You, Bunny is more about on the creative process itself. It presents such questions as who owns a piece of art, what constitutes plagiarism, and what makes a creative work credible. Both novels, I believe, require a second reading and a long conversation in order to peel back all the layers
:Mona Awad is not for everyone but if you are someone who loves stories that blur the line between reality and imagination, that make you question everything you think you know about a character, and that stay with you long after you’ve closed the book she just might be exactly for you. I would love to know if any of you have read her work, and what you thought. As always, happy reading.
Full disclosure, Catriona Ward’s writing is a favourite of mine; she could rewrite the ingredients of a cereal box, and I’d love it. So I was fully expecting to love this new novel of hers, and I did. Although it isn’t my favourite novel of hers, it was still a good, creepy, suspenseful, mystery, thriller, and horror novel.
The novel unfolds through multiple perspectives and timelines, with the estate of Nowhere serving as the central, unifying “character” of sorts.
Leif Winham, a renowned actor, retreats from a life of glamour to his secluded estate, Nowhere. He leads an isolated and enigmatic existence, prompting neighbors to view him as an eccentric recluse while remaining intrigued by both his lifestyle and the estate itself.
Tom, a documentarian, is driven to investigate Nowhere and the mythology that surrounds both the estate and its founder.
Riley, a young girl, experiences significant trauma after being orphaned and placed in the care of a cruel, abusive guardian referred to as ‘cousin.’ Both Riley and her younger brother suffer under this individual, ultimately compelling Riley to make the difficult decision to escape with her brother. The only refuge she can imagine is Nowhere, a place described to her by a girl named Noon, who visits her at night. Noon explains that Nowhere is a place ‘in the mountains under the stars where everyone gets love and respect,’ and provides Riley with written directions to this sanctuary for children like her can find a home.
I found each of these three perspectives equally enthralling, and when Ward expertly weaves the storyline together, the novel becomes an impressive, intricate piece of storytelling.
I really enjoyed this novel, as I knew I would. It is deeply suspenseful, and I found the characters well-developed and interesting. I wanted to know their motivations, their backstories, and eventually how their lives unfold.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for the book
Grace is my first encounter with author A M Shine. Rooted in traditional Irish folklore, this Irish Gothic Horror novel is set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. The novel opens with a prologue in which Declan desperately tries to save his wife, Chrissy, and his daughter, Grace, from an unseen terror pursuing them. We then quickly move forward to Grace on a tour boat, braving rough seas to reach an island the captain is clearly reluctant to visit—not only because it is perpetually cloaked in dense, ominous fog, but also because he refers to it as “LaVelle’s Island.” Just a few days before, Grace had been working in her antiquarian bookstore, sharing wine with her friend Carrie, when she received a call from a priest in Croaghnakeela informing her of her biological mother’s death. Grace always knew she was adopted, but she knew nothing about her origins. Driven by curiosity and a need for closure, she returns to her birthplace.
When she arrives, her life will be forever changed. You see, the island has been plagued by an unnatural evil, a force that is responsible for the disappearance of children, but has lain dormant for years, that is, until the death of Grace’s mother, Chrissy.
The chapters focus on individual characters, gradually revealing the islanders’ histories and their encounters with evil. As the story unfolds, readers piece together the mysteries of Valentine Lavalle, the young priest’s role, Grace’s significance, and the fog’s prevalence.
The novel is grisly, unsettling, and rich in Irish mythology. I thoroughly enjoyed it; the plot twist at the end was truly wicked, especially after everything we readers have endured.
To be honest, I would have really liked Grace to have a bigger role in the novel. The fact that she owned a rare and old bookstore made me believe she would use the tomes at hand to try to solve the island’s mystery. Instead, we get Father O’Malley as the main character, who pieces together the bits of information he gets from the island’s inhabitants. Also, I prefer a simmer before a full boil when it comes to horror and mystery novels. Grace is a novel that throws you right into the violent horror that is responsible for all the death and destruction. The novel then mostly concentrates on its origin, which is fine.
Grace will be out in February.
A solid three stars. I look forward to reading more from A M Shine.
Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus Bloomsbury for the copy.
Season of Fear was the perfect book to start my new year. An easy, fast-paced read that was hugely entertaining and at times poignant in theme.
Ilse lives with her mother and sister in Heulensee, a small village surrounded by the forest Hexenwald, a forest filled with bloodthirsty beasts like the Nachzehrer, a vampiric creature, and the enormous serpents Lindurum. In order to stave off the beasts of Hexenwald, the women, just the woman, have to feed the “Saint of Fear” their terror. The more authentic and terrifying their screams, the more satiated the Saint will be. But not before it devours a woman or two.
Heulensee is a village that follows several religious practices that are detrimental to women. They are the ones who have to feed the Saint. They are the ones who must undergo a rite at 18, during which they must visit the Saint’s lair and survive the night to placate not only the monster but also the preacher.
Unfortunately, Ilse has a problem. She does not feel fear. She feels sadness, anger, and a plethora of other emotions, but she does not feel fear, a fact that angers the Saint, who then threatens her that if she does not express adequate fear, it will devour her sister Dorthea. So Ilse is then banished to Hexenwald in order to find a way to defeat the Saint and save her sister. On her journey, Ilse learns about herself, the origins of the Saint, and a way to use her absence of fear to protect herself and those she loves.
I really enjoyed this novel; it reads like a traditional fairy tale, complete with folk-eating beasts and lessons to be learned.
Thank you to Little Brown and Co. and Netgalley for the copy.
This book is a creepy hybrid where young women go missing and the community comes together to track down their kidnapper, or worse yet a serial killer and a supernatural science fiction novel (I’d reference a novel in particular but then I would be hugely spoiling the plot).
The novel starts with Lia Gregg returning home to her mother, Elizabeth, and her sister, Evie, to their little house in the woods. Her father is there too, but he seems disengaged from his family and, well, is basically disengaged from the entire plot, to be honest. Lia has experienced a breakup with her boyfriend, and she’s feeling a little lost. Soon after her arrival, Evie and her friend Maddie are hanging out in the backyard when Maddie disappears. Maddie’s disappearance immediately causes concern because, for years now, young girls have been mysteriously disappearing from the area.
Soon, we, the readers, come across a chapter written from a different point of view. We are suddenly experiencing an alternative plot from the viewpoint of a very confused girl. Could she be Maddie? Could she be another one of the numerous girls who have gone missing? All we know is that she is absolutely clueless about who and where she is. All she knows is that there is this woman named “Mother” who is caring for her.
I was really entertained by this novel. It is a puzzle, and as soon as I started putting together the pieces, when all of a sudden a picture started forming, I couldn’t wait to see what the picture looked like in its entirety.
I would have a problem with the science-fiction/supernatural element of this novel, but Giraldes skillfully weaves it into her storyline.
A great book to add to your Christmas reading list!!
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the copy.
I’m beginning to really love the Sworn Soldier Series. I find our intrepid hero Alex Easton brave, highly intelligent, and wonderfully funny. They also have the most fascinating backstory, of which I would love to read more about (T Kingfisher, please write a novel about Alex’s childhood up until they become a soldier!).
Poor Alex seems to find themselves consistently thrown into a situation that includes creepy creatures and/or the supernatural. These situations do NOT help in overcoming the PTSD that comes with fighting a land war.
This time, Alex travels to the United States because their friend Dr Denton (whom we met in the first book of the series) needs their help finding his cousin. Denton’s cousin has unfortunately gone missing in the depths of a mine, of all places. Upon their investigation, they encounter gruesome, inexplicable goings on that ultimately have all those involved questioning their involvement.
I really liked this novel (as I always do with Kingfisher), albeit it’s not my favourite in the series. I found it very brief and would love to have more time with the characters.
Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for the copy
This Vicious Hunger, a Victorian Gothic novel, weaves a unique narrative that resonates with the themes of Grim’s Fairy Tales and Dracula. Thora Grieve is the daughter of an academic, a man who happens to also be an undertaker. Although Thora is a brilliant young woman herself, she is obliged to marry soon after her father’s death. Fortunately, her husband dies mere months after the wedding, and her mother-in-law informs her that she had kept a secret: an invitation to go to the city and study under the tutelage of an eccentric, renowned botanist who was experimenting with the power and potency of plants. As a woman, Thora is not allowed to live on campus, so her mentor finds a room for her at the top of an old building with a window that overlooks a beautiful garden. Soon, Thora observes a beautiful woman visiting the garden, tending to the various flowers and trees. Thora is unable to enter the garden because the gate is locked. So she introduces herself to the mysterious woman whose name is Olea. Olea refuses entry to Thora because she claims the plants she tends are extremely toxic and that she herself has developed a tolerance to their poison. Thor begins to feel an unsettling attraction to Olea and soon craves her company. Also, Thora realised that her mentor is importing dangerous plants from exotic countries with nefarious intent. As the story unfolds, Thora finds herself caught in a web of unfamiliar desires and ambitions. She begins to lose not only control but also seems a victim of her own impulses and desires. The cost of this loss is high-it could mean the sacrifice of scientific discovery, the loss of a one true love, or even the loss of her own self. Despite the occasional pacing issues, I found This Vicious Hunger to be a compelling read. While some parts felt drawn out, the novel’s narrative kept me engaged throughout.
Thank you to Orbit Books and Netgalley for the copy.
Ok, I LOVED this book. I loved the setting, I loved the atmosphere, I loved the characters, and I especially loved the writing. The novel takes place in England in the late 1880s, and Hecate goes to work at Hereford Cathedral to assist the librarian in sorting and caring for the cathedral’s extensive collection of books. Upon her arrival, Hecate soon discovers she can communicate with ghosts, and the Hereford Cathedral is riddled with ghosts! Hecate shares her gift with her father, who (being a scholarly man himself, somewhat knowledgeable in archaeology and the occult) is incredibly supportive of his daughter. All is well in the village until suddenly a murder occurs, and then another and then…. Hecate learns through her communication with the ghosts and her study of artefacts buried deep in the cathedral walls that a dark force has been unearthed and is beginning to wreak havoc upon the villagers. This novel has magic and mystery. It is a ghost story with fantastical creatures. The plot is detailed and intriguing, and the characters are engaging and interesting. Most of all, Brackston is a skilled writer with beautifully crafted prose. It is always a treat to find a novel that not only entertains its readers with a compelling plot but can also serve as a mentor text for word choice and sentence structure. There is now a second novel in this series, called The Cathedral of Lost Souls, which will be published in November that I CANNOT wait to read.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the copy.
My favourite genre lately has been Victorian Gothic. However, I have also enjoyed a good Southern Gothic novel on occasion, and The Wretched and Undone is another I can add to my list.
Polish Immigrants Marcin and Agnieska Anderwald make their way to Texas to build a new life. The frontier obviously is not for the weak, and sure enough, the Anderwald family suffers hardship of war, poverty and death. Marcin eventually has to leave Agnieska and the children on the homestead and travel to Camp Verde to make money using his carpentry skills, abandoning his emotionally fragile wife in the meantime. At Camp Verde, Marcin is indirectly responsible for the death of a soldier who causes a vengeful ghost who promises to haunt the Alderson family over generations.
This novel isn’t just filled with spirits and vengefulness; it also features an array of fascinating characters, including two camel handlers from Egypt and a muster of peacocks and peahens whose cacophonous cries serve as wards against threat.
I enjoyed the plot and characters presented in this novel, and Weiner’s writing craft is engaging and masterful.
Trigger warnings of drowning of a child, hangings, and torture.
Thank you to HTF Publishing and Netgalley for the copy.
After her mother’s death, Emily Hauk moves from her city life in San Francisco to a rural farmhouse in Nebraska. A change that would hopefully help her grieve her loss as well as slow down from the hustle and bustle of life. After all, it was easy for her husband and herself to work from home. Here, they can plant a garden, go for long walks, and listen to the silence. As an avid runner, she could run for miles and miles without worrying about the obstacles of urban life. The idyllic lifestyle Emily wishes to create for herself isn’t quite as easy to create as she had hoped. Emily soon realizes that the farm isn’t exactly as it seems; the barn appears to move independently, its distance from the house increasing and decreasing daily. Strange lights appear in the barn in the middle of the night when no one should be on the premises, and on top of it all, Emily starts hearing voices and, more disturbingly, finding human teeth on the property. Still, unfortunately, her husband doesn’t take her seriously, and neither does the local sheriff. Eventually, Emily becomes aware of the farm’s violent history, which explains the unsettling experiences she undergoes. The Farm House is a ghost story, a psychological thriller, and a crime story rolled into one. It is a perfect addition to your summer reading list!
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the copy.
Ink And Spine 