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A Song For The End by Kit Power | Review
Well, well well. Once in a while you pick a book, and it has the ability to knock you straight on your arse! That is exactly what A Song for The End did to me. Kit Power’s writing has the uncanny ability to create a scene and torch it into your memory. Everything was vivid and pulsating and undeniably gritty and dark. A Song for the end introduces us to Bill Cutter. A man that seems to be just going from one bad decision to another. Aged thirty-five and still only a supply teacher, he’s not exactly in a happy relationship and the one thing that gives him joy is…
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Maggie’s Grave by David Sodergren | Review
If you haven’t added Maggie’s Grave to you TBR, then why the hell not? This is in my opinion the best example of a witchy folk tale horror out there. It brings it all to the table, Sodergren slaps it all down, liquified organs and all. The first couple of chapters are usually enough to decide whether a book is going to be for you…the author nailed it in one. I had a keen sense of foreboding, that small time village feel, residents knowing everything about you, talking about you, judging you. Sodergren nails it. The shades of darkness is quite literally written on the wall. “Was this parenthood? Love…
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The Malan Witch by Catherine Cavendish | Review
The Malan Witch reminded me that I don’t read enough witchy stories. This story had the eerie creepiness that made you realise that witches aren’t so ugly old hag with warts on her face, a long misshapen nose, and a pointy hat. It was easy to imagine sitting around a campfire having this story read, it was cosy and mildly unsettling. The Malan Witch has central themes of grief and loneliness being at the epicentre. Robyn has lost the love of her life in the most traumatic of consequences. Her husband died of cancer. She had to endure watching him be fit and healthy and robust what seemed like one…
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The Balance by Kev Harrison | Review
The Balance epitomises everything that I love about folktale horror. It’s a story of balance, order, the coming full circle. There’s secrets at every corner, an unknown set of scales allowing harmony and control. What happens when humanity grasps for more control, more power? Will that balance tip and allow everything to come crashing all down? Time doesn’t exist whilst reading this book. Yes, you can hear it whittling down, each tick getting louder and louder until it beats furiously in your brain, making the tension all that more palpable. The balance is a work of art. This book crept up on me and felt like a sledgehammer on the…
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The Institute by Stephen King | Review
The Institute, much like Sleeping Beauties felt like a trip back in time by Mr King. He’s back to that standard that his fans love. I’ve owned this book for over a year now and only just got the courage to pick it up. I am a mega King fan and hoped and prayed that this would be everything that I wanted and guess what the main man pulled it straight out of left field. The dynamics, the characterisation and the environment had me fist bumping the air…because you know, no-one around me likes reading and pandemic…gah! One thing you can almost bet your bottom dollar on is that King…
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Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone | ARC Review
Mirrorland…first that cover told me about all the blows it would deliver. It’s dark, it’s intimidating and the abyss you’re staring at? Yeah, it’s going to pull you all the way under. Not going to lie, I always wished I had a sister, but a twin sister? Shouldn’t that just come with a health warning, plain and simple? Your sense of identity is shrouded around being part of a pair. Mothers of twins the world over tend to dress them the same, do their hair the same and treat them the same. How to you break free when your treated as half of a whole? The first chapter of Mirrorland…
