Book Review: Pine by Francine Toon

January 18, 2020

I received this book for free from Anne @ Random Things Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Pine by Francine Toon
Published by Transworld on January 23 2020
ISBN: 9781473569232
Genres: Fiction, Ghost, Horror, General
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

They are driving home from the search party when they see her. The trees are coarse and tall in the winter light, standing like men. Lauren and her father Niall live alone in the Highlands, in a small village surrounded by pine forest. When a woman stumbles out onto the road one Halloween night, Niall drives her back to their house in his pickup. In the morning, she's gone. In a community where daughters rebel, men quietly rage, and drinking is a means of forgetting, mysteries like these are not out of the ordinary. The trapper found hanging with the dead animals for two weeks. Locked doors and stone circles. The disappearance of Lauren's mother a decade ago. Lauren looks for answers in her tarot cards, hoping she might one day be able to read her father's turbulent mind. Neighbours know more than they let on, but when local teenager Ann-Marie goes missing it's no longer clear who she can trust. In spare, haunting prose, Francine Toon creates an unshakeable atmosphere of desolation and dread. In a place that feels like the end of the world, she unites the gloom of the modern gothic with the pulse of a thriller. It is the perfect novel for our haunted times.

Just where do I start? Francine Toon has spun a beautifully unsettling story. Her imagination for novel writing is what Einstein was to science. The book cover is completely apt – it visualises everything the story promises to be. It’s desolate, it’s eerie and it’s intensely unnerving. If you have followed this blog tour and you haven’t added this to your TBR – well, there is something wrong with you! This book and it’s captivating writing has been building in hushed tones upto a deafening crescendo that refuses to quiet. This is a book that just won’t stop. Be prepared to get sucked into its pages and become one with the story.

Insanely captivating. Pine has the same effect as a rollercoaster. You are fully prepared for it to leave you spinning and delirious, but you can’t be expected to prepare for the break neck speed of the narrative. This was an unputdownable novel, it’s an overused description but the term was absolutely coined for this story. I felt haunted and deeply uncomfortable. Always the sign of an exquisite read. One chapter is all it took to pull me down into the murky depths of it’s narrative. It felt like icy tendrils determined to pull me under to my death. It is chillingly fantastic.

Our main character, Lauren (10) stay with her dad, Neil in a very small Scottish town. Immediately you can feel the eeriness creeping in like a thick fog. Suffocating. Blinding. Panicky. Who is the young woman that keeps appearing? Random occurrences, sometimes just brief but other times she stays that bit longer. Lauren however, has the ability to retain memory of her interactions with the spectre. What connection does this have? There is something truly unnerving about the interactions with Lauren, a child. The parallels between a child grieving for her absent mother and you can see the cogs turning in her mind about the possibility of her imagining these happenings. Lauren comes to you in an almost ethereal state herself. She’s dreamlike. The entire plot captures the thin line between childhood innocence and adulthood. That time in-between is hazy and grey and difficult to navigate.

I don’t want to spoil any of the plot because it is exquisite. It deserved to be enjoyed first hand and experienced in rapture. The author is a master and she abducts you, throws you in the boot of her car and drives you into the night. Its futile to fight. She dumps you into the unknown and leaves you to navigate the inky darkness alone. The author blew me away in a way that I didn’t think was possible. She’s created characters that are so endearing they spoke to soul. I closed the book feeling overwhelmed and edgy. She ticked all the boxes in the formulaic equation to a psychological thriller that I look for.

Pine is deliciously dark and creepy. It rejects originality and pushes forward and forges its own way. It’s claustrophobic and dreamlike and utterly captivating.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Francine Toon grew up in Sutherland and Fife, Scotland. Her poetry, written as Francine Elena, has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Best British Poetry 2013 and 2015 anthologies (Salt) and Poetry London, among other places. Pine was longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. She lives in London and works in publishing. Follow her on Twitter @FrancineElena

Francine Toon

ARC Book Review: Inside by D.M. Siciliano

December 24, 2019

Inside by D.M. Siciliano
Published by The Parliament House via PublishDrive on October 15, 2019
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Supernatural, Suspense, Psychological
Pages: 350
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

“Inside is a gripping, page-turning novel from a promising new horror writer.” -April A Taylor, award-winning author of The Haunting of Cabin Green and Sinkhole

1987 “Does it burn in the dark?”Reid is a bully, but he’s still Alex’s best friend. When Reid pushes Alex and their friends into invading a historically haunted Massachusetts house, Alex knows it’s a terrible idea, but indulges his friend. What could go wrong?Inside, a mysterious Shadow looms in the darkness. The door to the house vanishes, leaving them trapped. The group flees through the tiny, one-roomed house that defies logic, constantly shifting, presenting them with new doors, hallways, and rooms that seem to be plucked from their memories and fears. One by one, the Shadow hunts them, intent on burning them all from within.Is there any way to escape? Or will they be burned from the inside out?

I hope you are all ready to sit in the corner and rock your way through this review. Inside, looked like the poster for the latest horror movie – this apt title hides the deeper meaning to the story. Huge revelations, relationships pulled so taut that they threaten to snap. This book has you standing on the precipice of hell, the flames threatening to lick at your heels, the heat seducing you within. A house is just bricks and mortar, right? Ha! the house was built with the devils’ hands, each brick more evil than the last. The house embodies a threatening shadow using your fears to destroy and weaken you. Don’t rely on your Nike’ because you can’t outrun hell.

Reid one of our five protagonists has the bright idea of breaking into a haunted house. He bullies his friends into joining him. The whole town know the house is evil, they don’t know what haunts it or why – they just know its hell personified. The premise of the house emitting an extreme heat – like hells own personal gateway. The awful truth of what lies within had me scared right from the start. The reader doesn’t have time to ponder the what’s before it all goes sideways. The evil and the fear instantly make itself known like being thrown into the eye of the storm. Can they weather it?

Not one of the protagonists wants to back out. They want to prove their worth, their courage and Reid uses all the bully-boy tactics in the book. It becomes very clear that they aren’t going to get out of this easily. They are faced with shifting walls and windows and the main exit disappearing. Interesting premise, right? The house becomes a living and breathing entity. Fear and loathing become king. These initial scenes gave me such a palpable sense of dread, the words came to life and threatened to choke the life out of me.

The Protagonists have no clue to what lurks in the dark but boy oh boy does the author know! This made me check my shoulder and windows whilst I was reading. My chest felt like it had been pumped full of icy cold dread and I was completely here for it. The story encapsulates teenager’s innocence and stamping all over it.

How long can five friends stay strong for one another? The evil picks apart their psyche, taps into their biggest fears and it plays them off against each other. Its creeping presence hunts the characters one by one and breaks them down so that their mind is broken, but also with the intention of breaking their physical form too. Would anyone survive the ordeal?

The narrative was explosive. The book, from the very first page was pulse pounding – to the point I thought my skin was going to tear and blood spurting from within. Childhood was forever destroyed but the author also brought to the forefront the dark and deep nature of traumatised upbringings. The storytelling was irresistible to the horror lovers. The author has brought together two frightening narratives spanning the evil within the house and deep nature of childhood. This is a book that runs parallel with the essence of childhood – some don’t make it out alive.

The moment I closed this book it has been haunting me…it reminds so much of Stephen King’s earlier work. It was so gripping; the tension was ratcheted up with a cold dread that had me questioning whether I needed to turn the heating up. If this is a debut…well the author is going to have a very successful career ahead of her.

Blog Tour: Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee @annecater @frazer_lee @flametreepress

November 11, 2019

Hearthstone Cottage

Author: Frazer Lee

Publication Date: October 10th 2019

Publisher: Flame Tree Press

Genre: Horror

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Book Depository| Waterstones| Amazon UK|

synopsis coycaterpillar - Blog Tour: Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee @annecater @frazer_lee @flametreepress

Mike Carter and his girlfriend Helen, along with their friends Alex and Kay, travel to a remote loch side cottage for a post-graduation holiday. But their celebrations are short-lived when they hit and kill a stag on the road. Alex’s sister Meggie awaits them in the cottage, adding to the tension when her dog, Oscar, goes missing. Mike becomes haunted by a disturbing presence in the cottage, and is hunted by threatening figures in the highland fog. Reeling from a shock revelation, Mike begins to lose his grip on his sanity. As the dark secrets of the past conspire to destroy the bonds of friendship, Mike must uncover the terrifying truth dwelling within the walls of Hearthstone Cottage. FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

review coy caterpillar - Blog Tour: Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee @annecater @frazer_lee @flametreepress

Thanks to Anne Cater @Things through my letter box tours and Flame Tree Press for my spot on the blog tour and a copy of the book. All thoughts are unbiased and my own. Hearthstone Cottage just made me crazy – in a completely amazing way. I seriously wish I had a brain that was as capable of such genius. I mainly stick to thrillers or fantasy but when I do pick up a good Horror, I usually become so immersed in the world I usually question why I don’t read more. This is one of these times. Book hangover central over here! Flame Tree Press have released some of my favourite books of the year. Be prepared for a suspenseful, creepy and raw read. Thank you, Frazer Lee, for scaring the crap out of me!

Outstanding writing, intriguing layers, the tension and suspense was edge of your seat stuff, relatable characters that I could see myself getting along with and the twists and turns left me aching for more. The author certainly has gained a new fan.

This book is so full of suffocating intrigue it makes you palpate trying to figure out the next bad thing that’s going to happen. This storyline seems extremely plausible especially is you know the little villages and cottages like I do that reside in the Highlands. Having stayed fifty miles north of Inverness, I know the eerie little cottages, the wilderness feeling claustrophobic at times, the air feeling stale with evil promise. These little places are great to escape everyday life, but it does feel like eyes are on you at every turn. You know you are in for a ride when the events happen before you even turn up.

The first chapter is threatening. It sets the tone straightaway, haunting and panicky. I knew this was going to be a book that I wouldn’t put down until it was finished. Boy was I right, no toilet breaks, no phone breaks…I was engrossed. It is a story of two couples Mike and Helen, Alex and Kay and Alex’ sister, Meggie. They were all excited to be spending some time at Hearthstone Cottage, Alex’ fathers’ property. They had finally got through their finals and had graduated. The hard work was over, they could finally relax and what better place than Hearthstone…right? It was in a prime location, surrounded by a loch. No tv, no internet no wi-fi, no phone signal. Escapism. Before they even get there however, they hit and kill a stag. The symbolism of the accident will come back and haunt them. The description of the dying deer had my blood pressure steadily increasing. The cottage is pregnant with a sense of impending doom. Frazer Lee has the ability to conjure fear and anxiety from his narrative alone.

Things move on from bad to worse quickly. Meggie’s dog, Oscar seems spooked and runs away. Mike starts seeing disturbing things in the loch, the fish they catch turns his stomach. Is this all happening or is the houses’ presence impacting Mike. Events take eerie turns, at night Mike seems to have scary experiences but they all turn out to be dreams. Why hasn’t anyone else experienced these things? The author uses the human psyche as a weapon. We are scared of the things that we don’t understand. Our fear can’t be explained because we can’t explain the supernatural.

Why is Mike having these experiences? Is it the weed he smokes daily? Is it the fact that he doesn’t know where he fits in the world anymore? His relationship with Helen? I didn’t understand any of it, but I was compelled to keep going, to find the answers no matter how terrible they may be.

Why didn’t they just leave?

Towards the end things just get crazier and crazier. The story is building to a crescendo. True colours become revealed. One thing this book leaves you with is questions, it makes you question even your sanity. This is a story that you can’t just forget about, you won’t come out of it unscathed.

Hearthstone Cottage is a twisty and claustrophic read. Its taut with tension and fear. Do you self a favour and add this to your TBR.

about the author coycaterpillar - Blog Tour: Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee @annecater @frazer_lee @flametreepress

frazer lee author pic - Blog Tour: Hearthstone Cottage by Frazer Lee @annecater @frazer_lee @flametreepress

Frazer Lee is a novelist, screenwriter and filmmaker.

His screenplay credits include the acclaimed horror/thriller feature Panic Button, and multi-award winning short films On Edge, Red Lines, Simone and The Stay. Frazer’s screenwriting and story consultant engagements have included commissions for Movie Mogul, The Asylum, Mediente, eMotion, and Vanquish Alliance Entertainment.

Frazer was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Gothic Filmmaker Award for his short film The Stayin 2018. His film and television directing credits include the multi award-winning shorts On Edge and Red Lines, and the promo campaign for the Discovery Channel series True Horror With Anthony Head. Frazer was named one of the Top 12 UK directors in MySpace.com’s Movie Mash-up contest by a panel including representatives from 20th Century Fox, Vertigo Films and Film Four.

Frazer’s novel The Lamplighters was a Bram Stoker Award® Finalist for ‘Superior Achievement in a First Novel’, and a Book Pipeline Finalist (from over 950 entries). His other published works include the Amazon number 1 horror/thriller Panic Button: The Official Movie Novelisation, novels The Jack in the Green and The Skintaker, and the Daniel Gates Adventures series of novellas.