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Kat

koosli@outside.ofa.dog

Joined 9 months, 1 week ago

aka @koosli@aus.social. I'm almost exclusively reading horror fiction, truly the greatest of genres.

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The Reformatory (2023, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) 4 stars

Gracetown, Florida - June 1950

Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at …

Inside, it's too tense to read

4 stars

My main worry when I started this book was that it wouldn't do much but cover the well-trodden ground of US race politics. That worry was founded, but at the same time this is such a we'll-executed book it doesn't really matter. It was evident early on what was going to happen, save a few minor plot twists. So it was a bit predictable, but also meant that the book was very tense all the way through - I was terrified of reading the climax. At the time I was going through a difficult period in real life so I avoided reading more than a little bit at a time. The scares in this book aren't supernatural. They're real and they're pretty sadistic too. I know I'm not selling this book but it was good - the characters, even, especially the minor ones, were well-written and the world fully realised.

Horrorstör (Paperback, 2015, Knaur HC) 4 stars

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees …

Splatta packmöbler

4 stars

I was completely taken by the Ikea catalogue parody design of Horrorstör and that counted for a lot. I enjoyed this a lot although once the shit hit the fan it seemed a bit rushed. Grady Hendrix can be very scary but in this case didn't quite make it. The ending however did not cop out. I recommend this if you're looking for something light and fun in between horror reads.

Interview with the Vampire (2004) 2 stars

Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne …

Haemostly whined about being a vampire

4 stars

So I did enjoy this - it made me happy. Even though it was overly long, kind of boring and whiny. Oh Louis, get over yourself. Like re-reading Pride and Prejudice, or Dracula, in that it's the kind of book that makes me want to tell the characters off. But not as well-written as either. Anne Rice farts around too much, and obviously had her own tortured relationship with good, evil, sin, etc to process via this book. Anyway. It was better than I expected.

The Angel of Indian Lake (Paperback, 2024, Titan Books) 4 stars

Book 3 of the Indian Lake trilogy

Final final girl

4 stars

It's finished! I adored this trilogy, especially the first book because it was such a revelation. I will definitely be re-reading them all not least because there are so many characters and waiting for the next book to come out meant forgetting some.

I find my interest in slasher movies is even greater than it was, now having read these.

Can't wait for whatever SGJ does next.

Bureaucrarboreal surpassment, fur and fuzz it

4 stars

I am trying to tittle each review this year with a book-related pun but I can't think of one for The Snail on the Slope. So instead I've gone with something as baffling as the book itself.

Snail is such a funny book while also being a bit of a slog. It goes off on tangents all over the place and not a whole lot happens. That is the point, though, so don't be put off if you are partial to Soviet satire. I think of it as Kafka with a sense of humour.

Heart-Shaped Box (2007) 3 stars

Heart-Shaped Box (2007) is the debut horror novel of author Joe Hill. The book was …

Dirty deeds done by dudes

3 stars

Loved the premise and the beginning chapters, but ultimately HSB avoids all possibilities for something insightfully great. Instead, it's all male gaze, breasting boobily and women suffering. Written in 2007 and aged badly. Joe Hill picked the wrong hero.

Maeve Fly (2023, Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom, Tor Nightfire) 3 stars

The misanthroppiest place on earth

3 stars

Maeve works as a Disney Princess at Disneyland, haunts dive bars on the Sunset Strip and lives with her Old Hollywood grandmother. She's cultivating her misanthropic side but it's not quite enough, eventually settling on going the full Patrick Bateman.

I like how CJ Leede writes (I'm talking the phrasing and such, not the subject matter) but this book seemed a couple of drafts away from being finished. There is too much that doesn't add up, too many loose ends and late/improbable reveals. And I'm taking into account the cartoony, turned up to 11 storytelling.

A lot about it was fun, although it was too sadistic and mean-spirited for me. Guess I'm not ready for this anti-hero.

This Thing Between Us (Paperback, 2021, MCD x FSG Originals) 4 stars

It was Vera's idea to buy the Itza. The "world's most advanced smart speaker!" didn't …

Ordinary household bleak

4 stars

Upsetting but well done, this book is great in how it deals with grief, identity and the migrant experience. It's very scary too. Content warning for dog lovers :(

Your name is mud

5 stars

It's starting to feel like I'm dishing out five star reviews simply because I'm enjoying reading so much. Well here comes another one I very much enjoyed.

Unquiet is a mysterious, gothic, and almost romantic story of a young woman (Judith) faced with the return of her supposedly dead brother-in-law. He (Sam) can't remember what happened and is compelled to stay hidden; Judith is alarmed at the idea of keeping news of his return from her absent sister as well as the impropriety of having a man in her house while her family is away. You see, it's 1893, a woman can be rooned.

Unquiet mixes together folklore, superstition, visual art, ambiguity and a very strong feeling that something isn't quiet right. I loved how it stayed so tense without too much needing to happen. Very deft.

A Head Full of Ghosts (2015) 5 stars

"The lives of the Barretts, a normal suburban New England family, are torn apart when …

Richard Scary's Best Book Ever

5 stars

Top tier horror. The story of a troubled teen and a reality TV show depicting her alleged demonic possession, as told by her little sister. One of those books where, upon finishing, you immediately want to go back to the start and read it again.

The name of the tutor cracked me up... not subtle

This Book is Full of Spiders (Hardcover, 2012, Thomas Dunne Books) 3 stars

"Fan favorite David Wong takes readers to a whole new level with this blistering sequel …

Pretty spider for a white guys

3 stars

This book is a near-perfect study of an author assuming their entire readership will be like them - USian white het dudes. It does better than John Dies at the End on this front, but once you notice it's hard to ignore: someone is a reporter or a lady reporter: a man or a black man etc etc. The author also goes out of his way to make jokes about black people, not wildly racist ones, rather expressing an urge to laugh at not with. My position on this kind of stuff is to read, use your brain and notice, and move on. It really just means I'm unlikely to recommend the book to anyone else. Aside from all that stuff, it's a much better book than JDatE. It is a novel rather than a series of episodes and it's a lot funnier. The story itself is a bit thin …

Mexican Gothic (Hardcover, 2020, Del Rey) 4 stars

From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes this reimagining of the classic …

Fun galore

4 stars

Very gothic old school style horror complete with a crumbling house up a mountain, shrouded in mist and riddled with mycelium. I found this very creepy and engrossing, and the details of the mystery at hand kept me wondering.

A House With Good Bones (Hardcover, 2023, Tor Nightfire) 4 stars

A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones …

Gran plans

4 stars

Sam, a thirty-something entomologist, temporarily moves back to the family home to cover a housing gap. The house, where her mother now lives, was originally the home of her now-deceased grandmother, the cruel and overbearing Gran Mae. Sam notices some jarring differences in both her mum and the house, and the story unravels from there.

This book was the perfect easy and entertaining read to end and begin the year with. I enjoyed it and finished it very quickly. I could have done with more tension and a bit more length once the horror really kicked off. Also more insects! Still, T. Kingfisher remains one of my favourite recently-discovered authors and I will read every horror book she puts out.