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Thirst: A Novel (2024) by Marina Yuszczuk.
Since the 1970s, countless academic books have argued that we live in a death-denying culture and, by now, the claim is acknowledged as a truism. Still, despite the idea’s prevalence, Marina Yuszczuk’s Thirst (2024) is the only horror novel I’ve read that grapples with the modern erasure of death and the history leading up to…
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The Night Guest (2024) by Hildur Knútsdóttir
Spoiler Alert: OK, not a true spoiler–this book is too complex to have a simple ending that can be “given away.” Still, the review may tell you more than you want to know. No big deal. Read it anyway. Anyone who has used a fitness tracker or biometric watch knows that the data these devices…
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Rest Stop: A Novella (2024) by Nat Cassidy
Last month, I reviewed Rebekah McKendry’s Glorious, a movie about a man who confronts cosmic forces from within the confines of a roadside restroom. Maybe bathroom horror has infiltrated the Zeitgeist of the past few years because now I’m discussing Nat Cassidy’s Rest Stop (2024), a novella that also leverages the generative power of a…
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So Thirsty: A Vampire Novel (2024) by Rachel Harrison
From The Harpy to Night Bitch and beyond, novels with monstrous women are popular in contemporary literature. Every time I open a book, there’s a female protagonist who expresses her authentic self by turning into some sort of creature. Have I hit the saturation point yet? I hadn’t thought so until I picked up Rachel…
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Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires (2011)
I’ve been taking a break from horror novels to read more non-fiction. But just because I’m shifting gears doesn’t mean that I’m leaving the darkness behind! While true crime is a popular destination for vacationing horror fiction fans like myself, serial killers and the like have never been my jam. Instead, I’m more at home…
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The Bog Wife: A Novel (2024) by Kay Chronister
Spoiler Alert: OK, not a true spoiler–this book is too complex to have a simple ending that can be “given away.” Still, the review may tell you more than you want to know. No big deal. Read it anyway. Kay Chronister’s The Bog Wife: A Novel (2024) is Frankenstein meets We have Always Lived in…
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My Death (2004) by Lisa Tuttle
As a reader of horror, I rarely encounter tales of time travel and its effects on subjectivity, topics typically reserved for science fiction and fantasy. While I usually steer clear of these genres–just my preference and not a pronouncement on their quality–I suspect that I might enjoy them if their tropes were stripped of techno…
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Consumed: A Novel by David Cronenberg (2014)
If there is a cosmic force out there distributing talents, it seems to have given them all to David Cronenberg. His debut novel, Consumed (2014), demonstrates that, not only is he an amazing filmmaker–the genius behind masterpieces like Shivers (1975) and The Brood (1979) among many others–but he’s also an incredibly talented writer. Consumed offers…
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Exhumed (2024) by S.J. Patrick
As soon as I saw the title and cover art of S.J. Patrick’s Exhumed (2024), I knew that I had to read it. To me, an ornate toe-pincher wrapped in chains is the visual promise of a great vampire novel. The book isn’t quite that. Its characters are simplistic and the temporal scope of the…