Smorgasbord Fantasia

  A startlingly original tale - Leech by Hiron Ennes has been on my reading list ever since tordotcom released it way back in 2022. This and Manhunt were two of my most-anticipated titles that had me super intrigued. Now that I finally finished it, I am glad I got around to it. It's a very cleverly written story about what it means to be human, in a wonderfully constructed gothic horror setting in a bleak post-apocalyptic scifi world. The tale is narrated by a millennia-old parasite that has ingratiated itself into the human society taking over as The Institute, posing as 'doctor' on duty from the more prosperous industrial town of Inultus, complete with the world's best medical resources and library. The way it hides in plain sight, is by taking over the minds of any promising young person who can be trained as a doctor, within the institute. As the story starts, we learn that the institute has sent one of it's hive-mind doctors to investigate the death of one of t...

 This was the first book from celebrated author C J Cooke that I was reading and I cannot believe I have been living under a rock, not having read anything from this prolific and talented author before!  A Haunting in the Arctic is exactly what the name suggests - a book that follows the harrowing journey of a whaling ship in the brutally cold extremes of the arctic and the lives of two women, Nicky and Dominique across two different timelines, closely linked to the fate of the ship itself. Let me state this at the outset that this book is not for the fainthearted and the narrative has some extremely disturbing scenes around sexual violence, so exercise caution and be aware of this if you ever pick up this book. Having said that, C J Cooke does a bang-up job of immersing us into this extremely poignant and heart-wrenching story, melding together elements of grief and longing in an intense psychological drama with a brilliant twist by the end.   The story is set acr...

A haunted house horror story based on found footage and epistolary evidence didn't seem like it would stick the landing. I mean, horror is meant to be an immersive experience right? Right in the thick of things, the juddering shadows, the slow-building tension and the nerve-jangling screams?  Think twice - In Episode Thirteen , acclaimed horror writer Craig Dilouie has rewritten the rules of this genre giving us a fantastic view of the horror that consumes the lives and work of this TV Filming crew; Paranormal investigators who are shooting at one of the most famous haunted locations in America - an old ramshackle building known as the Foundation House, where in the early 60's a bunch of scientists had conducted experiments in order to prove the existence of ghosts and also, use this to help with their hypotheses on expanding the human mind potential.  As an idea, this premise sounds almost ridiculous but Craig pulls it off spectacularly well, in giving us an intimate deeply ...

Hide is the first adult horror foray by Kiersten White , to be released in May this year.  Kirsten White impressed me with her historical YA book series, " And I Darken " a couple of years back and so I jumped onto this one, her first adult book with supernatural horror elements. The premise was absolutely gob-smacking - an abandoned amusement park and fourteen contestants in a game of hide-and-seek. Except that if you are found, then it is game over. Like literally so :)  Anyways - first things first, was the book great and live up to the expectations? No. It didn't. It pains me to say so, because the premise and even the execution was terrific. But I just couldn't get to like the characters and so wasn't practically living in their heads, in all those moments of absolute terror as they find out the truth about this hide-and-seek game. And in such a horror themed novel, unless the lead is likeable (like a gritty, clever heroine) we typically don't tend to en...

Jason Arnopp was one of my favorite authors when I read " Last Days of Jack Sparks " last year ( as with most of you, I am sure who have read that splendid addition to the genre of horror!) - So it was with a bit of a trepidation that I came in to read Ghoster ( was one of my most-awaited titles of the year!) The premise holds a lot of promise - and creepy intrigue. Kate Collins, a paramedic is about to move in with her boyfriend Scott Palmer in the next two days but her lover has stopped answering his calls. Has he "ghosted" her? Kate, who suffers from a "smart-phone" addiction problem, first "super-liked" Scott on one of the popular dating apps on her phone, only to bump into him in person at this de-addiction camp. The initial 'like' soon turns into a roaring long-distance relationship with frequent to-and-for between Leeds and London until we come to that fateful day, when Kate discovers to her mounting horror that Scott has ...

Let's get this out of the way first. Yes - it's a  Jay Kristoff  book. And that guy is right now everywhere! [  Dark Dawn  just released and it's a bestseller for all the good reasons - I am on that book right now, more on this later!] But  Illuminae  was probably an experiment. That went wildly successful. What else can you say about this beautiful beautiful book ! ( I mean literally! The physical copy of this book is a visual candy layered with all sorts of gooey goodness shots! It's an amazing piece of art!] A talented writer duo belting out a concept that bordered on insane: A space warship guiding a research ship adrift in the outer reaches of space somewhere, homeless and also hotly chased by another dreadnought hell bent on blasting them both out of existence. And well, when the future of everybody on-board depends on just these two teenagers, driven by heartbreak and longing for each other, that makes for a very thin premise indeed. Add ...

I got wind of Laura Purcell through one of the blog reviews of her latest, The Poison Thread.  And so without much clue about what was on offer, I decided to take a plunge.  And boy, glad that I did. T he Silent Companions is one of the most best horror novels I have read this year. The best kind of horror are so well orchestrated so to catch you unawares. Silent Companion succeeds wildly at that - in creating a creepy, atmospheric, gothic victorian horror novel that checks all my boxes for a great chilling read. Highly recommended. So the central narrative is set in 1885 and revolves about Elsie Bainbridge, a middle-class English woman who has married into a richer family. Her means of climbing up the social ladder was to ensnare Rupert Bainbridge, an entitled English lord who owns a familial estate known as the Bridge, back in the serene countryside. However, even as the novel starts it becomes clear that Rupert is dead and its Elsie who has inherited the property ...

Christina Henry 's darker take on the fairy tales has been nothing short of riveting. I personally was a huge fan of Alice and this summer, Christina ups the ante, with The Girl in Red - a terrifying post-apocalyptic take on Little Red Riding Hood. Check out the amazingly gorgeous cover: Here's the official blurb: From the national bestselling author of Alice comes a post-apocalyptic take on the perennial classic "Little Red Riding Hood"...about a woman who isn't as defenseless as she seems. It's not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn't look anything like the one she gr...

Every once in a while there comes along a well executed, darkly comic and exuberantly horrific story that forces you to just drop everything else, stay up way past your bedtime reading - dunking coffee to stay awake, looking over your shoulders all the time, grinning like an idiot while your heart is hammering away like a jazz concert on boosters till you hit the last line and then again, stay up all night just thinking about this book. This. Was. That. Book. I know I am perhaps two years late in reading this phenomenon of a book but good books persist beyond years. And hey apparently there's a movie being made on the book (and heck, I am not surprised as to how well this lends itself to being movie fodder! And Jason Arnopp himself is a scriptwriter with some serious credits to his name) So the Last Days of Jack Sparks is sort of an autobiographical account of this pop journalist Jack Sparks who is out to debunk the myths around the phenomenon of supernatural horror/...

I recently finished binge-watching  the vastly popular and extremely thrilling Stranger Things on Netflix - Set in the cozy nostalgic 80's, in a small town in Pennsylvania, US in late Nov'83, the series explores the themes of supernatural horror and the amazing endurance power of the human spirit. Paying homage to the nerdy pop-culture of the 80's ( Hell, the series-premiere starts off with the eleven-year old boys playing Dungeons and Dragons in full earnest!) Stranger Things is one of the most original series, from the Netflix stables ever, I think. A gripping mystery that blows up into creepy horror that really fucks with your mind with a propulsive story-telling that is almost pitch-perfect. Notice, I said almost ? So I went absolutely  nuts over the first season. Blowing through the eight episodes in less than a week, I felt like Netflix finally got over this habit of hooking us in, with an irresistible opening bait and premise, that ultimately leads to dis...

Ararat by Christopher Golden delivers on exactly what it promises: bucket loads of fun, a non-stop harrowing adventure set in a claustrophic snowbound setting – the howling winds and the blitzing snowfall forms a perfect background for the blood, gore and the horror drama. I am a fan of Christopher Golden – Having loved Tin Men, a blistering scathing social commentary on the possible future of fighting terrorism, I knew I was in for a good ride with Ararat. Christopher doesn’t waste much time in setting up the premise: An adventure-loving couple Adam and Meryam, looking for their next thrill-ride decide on their next target, Mount Ararat in Turkey where it is believed that a recent avalanche has thrown open a massive cave up and rumors claim that the famed Noah’s Ark might be sighted within. A race ensues between different groups of enthusiasts who all want to get their first piece of the spoils, filmmaking crews, historians, archeology students, even the US officials want in on ...

Hatching , the new book (Coming out in July from Emily Bestler books in US and RandomHouse Penguin Canada) by Ezekiel Boone is going to be the new poster-book for an apocalyptic extravaganza -A deftly written thrill-ride that focuses on a horde of man-eating spiders devouring the world one city at a time and will definitely have you cringing and gasping in fear.  It's the ultimate pulpy fun - Ezekiel writes in a fluid fast fashion that really appeals to your heart, at the same time twisting that freak-show dial way up. The story has a bunch of realistic characters banding together to fight against a freaky horror-show, without a clue as to how to stop the marauding army of arachnids and that impending sense of doom holds sway throughout.  Spiders and the end of the world?  It really does seem a bit far-fetched right? And yet, the way Ezekiel has his story unspool, you cannot but get carried away. It all starts in the jungles of Central America where a weal...

After the Unwritten graphic novel series and The Girl with All the Gifts , M R Carey ( Pen name ) is now one of my all time favorite writer. His novels are a reality-check, a sucker-punch to the guts in the way things finally unfold, mostly bleak and grim but the overall narratives work wonders in terms of driving the plot forward. I love his novels. And so with Fellside . If you are here seeking a 'spiritual' sequel to Girl with All the Gifts or are looking to be taken on a similar flow, then you are going to be disappointed. Fellside is a different book - a book much closer to reality dealing with pain, guilt and greed - all things human in a very grim book set inside a maximum-security prison. But that short description really doesn't do the book justice - as Carey paints a sympathetic picture of Jess Moulson , the girl accused of manslaughter of a ten-year old boy and having deliberately set the apartment complex on fire, while being high on drugs. Jess is on ...

Retellings of classics have the potential to be spectacular or disastrous. Alice in Wonderland has been tried before - though I confess I haven't read the written form of such retelling but having watched a few adaptations on TV I came away sorely disappointed. Like the big screen never could justify that mad gleam in the Hatter's eyes - as matched perhaps by the twisty imagination of one such as Lewis Caroll. And with this book, Alice - Christina Henry takes a swan dive into that deep dark rabbit-hole and definitely emerges a winner! A book that is dark as sin and racy as hell on jet-fire, Alice is a masterful and disturbing retelling of the classic laced over with many layers of darkness and intrigue. Magic is unexplained as in a fairy tale - but one for kids, this is not. It's a fairy tale gone horribly wrong - more a fantastical thriller set in a madman's darkest nightmarish setting called the Old City, a far cry from the Wonderland. The story starts in a ...

Lauren Beukes has been churning out some very interesting novels over the past few years and unfortunately (for me!)I have not read her earlier books. Often described as “quirky”, “Scary as Hell and Hypnotic” by the “Kings” of Horror writing -Pretty heavy-duty endorsements! So If you like your spine-chilling horror stories, then Lauren Beukes should probably figure in your top 5 writers. Right up there with Stephen King and James Elroy. I decided to dive straight into her latest book, Broken Monsters without letting the blurbs carry me away on the wings of soaring expectations.  By the time I was about 10% into this twisted exploration of a broken modern-day society set in decrepit Detroit that I knew nothing about, I was sold. Both on the terrifying premise of the story and her terrific storytelling abilities. And while yes, Lauren begs comparisons to the established greats of this genre, she definitely is striking out her own blazing path here. Broken Monsters...