Horror

Book Review: WE LIVE HERE NOW by Sarah Pinborough

| Jessica Crawford

We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinboroguh is 291 page standalone novel published by Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar in 2025.

Genre:

Horror

Blurb:

After an accident that nearly kills her, Emily and her husband, Freddie, move from London to a beautiful Dartmoor country house called Larkin Lodge. The house is gorgeous, striking—and to Emily, something about it feels deeply wrong. Old boards creak at night; fires extinguish; and books fall from the shelves—all of it stemming from the terrible presence she feels in the third-floor room.

But these things happen only when Emily is alone, so are they happening at all? She is still medically fragile. Her post-sepsis condition can cause hallucinatory side effects, which means she cannot fully trust her senses. Freddie does not notice anything odd and is happy with their chance at a fresh start. She, however, starts to believe the house is haunted by someone who had been murdered in it even though she can find no evidence of a wrongful death. As bizarre events pile up and her marriage starts to crumble, Emily becomes obsessed with discovering the truth about Larkin Lodge. But just as the house has secrets so do Emily and her husband.

Opening Line:

The raven watches the stone house on the crossroads through the long year.

My Thoughts:

This horror novel skews more thriller than the spooky kind I usually prefer, but once I got into it I tore through it in one day!

It’s got short chapters from two POVs–most from the wife but some from the husband, both in first person present tense. Is it a tad silly at times? Sure (oh, these four specific books fell off the shelf in the study inside the house? Must have been the “breeze”!) Was the “post-sepsis syndrome” question overused? Kinda. By the end, does it offer full explanations as to why things are the way they are with the house? No. But it was definitely interesting and I was hooked while I followed along on Emily and Freddie’s journey. And the ending was just right!

Of note: if you require an irreproachable, fully good character to root for in your stories, this book might not be your cup of tea. Also, if you’re marriage is currently struggling, maybe don’t pick this one up just now. But otherwise, I recommend this as a great choice for spooky season reading.

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Book Review: THE BOG WIFE by Kay Chronister

| Jessica Crawford

The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister is a 336 page standalone novel published by Counterpoint in 2024.

Genre/Subgenres:

Gothic, Contemporary Magical Realism, Mystery

Blurb:

In this atmospheric Appalachian gothic, the Haddesley siblings of West Virginia must unearth long-buried secrets to carve out a future when the supernatural bargain entwining their fate with their ancestral land is suddenly ruptured

Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a “bog-wife.” Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails—or refuses—to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.

Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.

Brimming with aching loss and the universal struggle between honoring family commitments and the drive to strike out on one’s own, The Bog Wife is a haunting invocation of the arcane power of the habits and habitats that bound us.

Opening Line:

On winter nights, they burned heavy bundles of dried peat in the hearth and inhaled the scent of sacred ground burning while their father paced the length of the room, reciting the history of the Haddesley compact.

My Thoughts:

Anything that lives and does not live alone makes compacts.

This book is not horror, per se, but it’s still a great fit for spooky season! Described as “Appalachian Gothic”, it’s basically a family drama/saga about a group of adult siblings who struggle to know what to do when the compact between their family and the bog on their land doesn’t play out the way their father always instructed them it would when he died (to borrow words from another Goodreads review I got a real kick out of, the promised swamp tart is a no-show!) Have they failed as custodians of the bog? Did they perform the rituals wrong? Is the whole thing just totally insane…or a lie passed down through the generations?

We see this story unfold while following each of the Haddesley siblings: Eda, who has dedicated her life to making sure her family maintains the compact through ritual; Charlie, the eldest son who was always a disappointment as the one set to inherit the family legacy as patriarch; Wenna, the one who tried to escape it all and lived in the “real world” for ten years before returning for her father’s burial; Percy, the custodian of the bog; and Nora, who just wants the whole family to get along and to feel accepted as one part of the whole. Then there is the matter of their mother, the last bog wife, who disappeared over a decade ago…

The occult parts of the story were really interesting, and the tension was ratcheted up by discord among the siblings and their plight to understand what went wrong and how to fix it. I do have to admit that I felt let down by the last 50 pages–the resolution just had a very different feel from the rest of the book, which was a 5 star read for me. So altogether I’d probably call it 4.75 stars.

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Book Review: WHAT STALKS THE DEEP by T. Kingfisher

| Jessica Crawford

What Stalks the Deep by T. Kingfisher is a 179 page novella, the third in the Sworn Soldier series, published by Tor Nightfire in 2025.

Genre

Horror

The Blurb

The next installment in the New York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America.

Alex Easton does not want to visit America.

They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted.

But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin—who went missing in that very mine—well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do…

Opening Line

So this is America.

My Thoughts

“That is horrifying and I want to go home,” I said, although I pronounced it, “Ah, I see.”

Another absolutely delightful entry in the Sworn Soldier series!

As usual, Alex Easton finds themself enmeshed in the investigation of truly creepy happenings. This time, they’ve traveled to America at the request for help from their old friend, Denton. The doctor’s cousin has gone missing while exploring an old abandoned mine, where he wrote about hearing strange sounds and seeing the ominous glow of a red light deep underground, a light that winked out when he tried to approach it to investigate. Can Alex, Angus, Denton, and a couple of fresh faces find out what happened to the missing man before yet another nightmarish being finds them?

This third novella in the series is still creepy, hilarious, heartwarming in equal measure. You don’t necessarily have to read them in order to enjoy them, but this installment does reference things that happened in the first book, including spoilers. The Big Bad in this one relates to something relatively obscure I had been thinking about recently, which only further cements for me the conviction that Kingfisher writes these books specifically for me. I love them so much!

“Most of your muscles have to have your bones to anchor them and push against. Imagine…oh…trying to punch someone with your tongue…”

There was a pause while we gave this particularly vivid mental image the credit it deserved. I opened my mouth to mention a young lady of my acquaintance in Paris, but caught a glimpse of Denton’s expression and closed it again.

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Book Review: WHEN THE WOLF COMES HOME by Nat Cassidy

| Jessica Crawford

When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy is a 304 page novel published in 2025 by Tor Nightfire.

Genre:

Horror, Paranormal

Blurb:

One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first, Jess thinks she understands what they’re up against, but she’s about to learn there’s more to these surreal and grisly events than she could’ve ever imagined.

And that when the wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.

Opening Line:

Daddy is roaring.

My Thoughts:

What a wild ride!

Nat Cassidy’s horror pulls no punches, so make sure to read the content warnings at the beginning of the book, but honestly I thought they made it sound way worse than it actually was. His writing is as entertaining and humorous as it is gory (…well, maybe not quite – it’s pretty gory!) This time around, it’s also really touching.

Jess finds herself in charge of a terrified young boy on the run from his father, and neither might be quite what they seem (if you prefer stories rooted firmly in reality without any speculative/fantastical elements, look elsewhere). This is a road trip adventure that will keep readers on the edge of their seats while also pulling on their heart strings. A theme of this book is the old FDR quote about the only thing to fear being fear itself. I was riveted, amused, and loving the journey…

BUT THEN.

This was a 5 star read for me right up until a resolution I was deeply unhappy with. I suppose it was an ending that made a good deal of sense, but certainly it could have gone another way.

Despite how upset I was with how the author chose to conclude this book, it’s still true that I loved the experience of reading it overall, and so 5 stars it is–but just know I am currently not speaking to Nat Cassidy (but will continue reading anything he writes)!

P.S. As an 80s kid myself, I can confirm Who Framed Roger Rabbit was terrifying

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Book Review: GIRL IN THE CREEK by Wendy N. Wagner

| Jessica Crawford

Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner is a 272 page standalone novel published in 2025 by Tor Nightfire.

Genre:

Horror/Sporror

Synopsis:

The Girl in the Creek by Hugo Award winner Wendy N. Wagner is an atmospheric and eerie story about a Pacific Northwest forest that seems to be devouring all who enter. A perfect read for fans of T. Kingfisher and Jeff VanderMeer’s cli-fi cosmic horror.

The Clackamas National Forest has always been a sanctuary for evil—human and alien. The shadows of looming trees and long-abandoned mines shelter poachers and serial killers alike. Then there’s the ruined hotel on the outskirts of picturesque small town Faraday, Oregon, nestled in the foothills of Mt. Hood. The one drowning in mushrooms and fungus not even the local expert can identify. Not to mention the stacks of missing persons cases. Freelance writer Erin Harper arrives in Faraday to find out what happened to her brother, whose disappearance in the forest has haunted her for years. But someone else has gone missing. And when Erin finds her in the creek, the girl vanishes again — this time from the morgue, and days later her fingerprints show up at a murder scene. Maybe it’s a serial killer, or maybe it’s the spores infecting the forest and those lost inside. Erin must find answers quickly, before anyone else goes missing. But she might be next…

Opening Line:

The body lay at the very limit of daylight, the last clear place on the stones before woods framing in the ancient adit began to peel away from the walls and pile up in moldy heaps.

My Thoughts:

Buckle up, Readers, and prepare yourselves for Sporror galore!

Erin is ostensibly writing a piece for a travel a magazine when she visits a town in the foothills of Mt. Hood with a group of friends and acquaintances for a rafting trip. But she and her bestie Hari have an ulterior motive – they are investigating as part of their research for a podcast episode addressing the numerous mysterious disappearances in the area over the past several years. Erin’s own brother is one of those missing people. At the same time, readers are treated to occasional chapters from the POV of various lifeforms that have been infected by something called the Strangeness, all becoming various extensions of some central creeptastic intelligence.

There were a lot of characters introduced all in a short span of time, but Erin is the only one we learn about beyond surface level, and she is our only POV character beyond the chapters of the Strange. The other characters probably could have used a little more delving into; some side characters such as the police deputy and the Steadman brothers felt especially thin. On the other hand, the idea of the Strangeness was a super compelling one, and I thought its origins and history were really neat.

The pacing in this book is not quite perfect. It doesn’t lag at all, but rather somewhere around 66% or so things ratchet up from 0 to 60 suddenly, and then readers are just hit over and over again with some truly wild and grisly things happening with little lulls in between each crazy encounter.

Some of my all time favorite books are parasitic fungal horror, and while I enjoyed this story, it wasn’t quite to the same degree as those others. Perhaps because the tension and dread were a little less insidious and more in your face? I’m not sure I can explain the exact reason, but overall I still found this to be a 4 star read and think it’s a decent addition to the subgenre. A creepy as heck tale that keeps the reader engaged from start to finish.

Much thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Book Review: VICTORIAN PSYCHO by Virginia Feito

| Jessica Crawford

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito is a 208 page standalone novel published in 2025 by Liveright, imprint of W. W. Norton & Company.

Genre/subgenre:

Horror, Satire, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Dark Comedy

Synopsis:

From the acclaimed author of Mrs. March comes the riveting tale of a bloodthirsty governess who learns the true meaning of vengeance.

Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess—she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family—Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery . . . and creeping across the moonlit lawns. . . .

Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House. Brimming with sardonic wit and culminating in a shocking conclusion, Victorian Psycho plunges readers into the chilling mind of an iconic new literary psychopath.

Opening Line:

Death everywhere.

My Thoughts:

Well, that was wild!

I personally got 3 star book enjoyment from this one, but it has 5 star writing, so I guess I’ll compromise with 4.

This is basically super gory satire about the Victorian era. It was weird, and I often like weird books, but this style of weird wasn’t 100% to my tastes – although the absurdities did make me laugh out loud several times. I also prefer suspense and psychological horror to the straight up grotesque. It lacked the depth that really draws me personally as a reader into feeling connected to a story (and in this case, thank goodness for that!) But for what the author was going for, the writing really hits the nail on the head.

So clearly, I have mixed feelings on this one!

Examples of the humorous satire about a truly psychopathic governess living in Victorian times:

As advised by the Ladies’ Journal, I am clothed in a ‘plain and quiet style of dress; a deep straw bonnet with green or brown veil’ (brown, in my case, as the drab color blurs the identifying features further, obscuring my expression of unfathomable emptiness to resemble one a casual observer might mistake for solemnity).

When Mrs. Pounds makes an inquiry into her health, he scoffs at his wife’s ‘slight hysterical tendency’. She has been languishing on settees and refusing meals since witnessing the drowning of their youngest son.

‘Nothing a good rest devoid of intellectual strain can’t cure,’ Mr. Pounds says brightly.

‘Agree wholeheartedly,’ Mr. Fishal says. ‘Mrs. Fishal said writing energised her, so I took away all her quills and now she’s decreed that she’ll write in her own blood if she must.’

There is some good-natured tittering around the table, some good-natured shaking of heads. Women! Theatrical bitches.

If large quantities of gore in an effort to effect satire don’t bother you, you should most certainly read this book. But if you consider yourself on the squeamish side, you should probably give this one a pass.

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Book Review: DEAREST by Jacquie Walters

| Jessica Crawford

Dearest by Jacquie Walters is a 304 page novel published by Mulholland Books (Hachette) in 2024.

Genre:

Horror

Opening Line:

When Flora wakes, her mouth is so dry that the inside of her cheeks are stuck to her teeth.

My Thoughts:

Flora’s military husband is deployed when she gives birth to their first child, Iris. By the time the baby is three weeks old, Flora is suffering from infected nipples on top of the sleep deprivation and the concerns about her fitness as a mother – she could really use some help. Somewhat desperate, she reaches out to her mother, who she hasn’t spoken with in four years. Jody shows up to help, but will Flora regret it?

This book started out really strong for me. Much of this horror novel is spent wondering, “Is there something nefarious going on, or is it postpartum psychosis?” Toward the end things went off the rails a bit, and though I still overall enjoyed it, I wasn’t completely satisfied with all of our answers. At one point burning the birth tusk was a bad thing we didn’t want to happen, why all of a sudden is it our goal? That is just one question I was left with, but overall I’d say this was still a 4.5 star read for me.

I listened to this on audio, and it’s narrated by the author herself. She has a nice voice and doesn’t do cringey things with it when speaking the dialogue of different characters, BUT the way she chose to say some things was really odd to me. Like, the parts of character’s lines she chose to emphasize, where she paused a bit too long – if I had read those lines of dialogue they would have come across perfect for the situation, but the way she chose to read them aloud was how no one would actually speak.

Book Review: SO THIRSTY by Rachel Harrison

| Jessica Crawford

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison is a 304 page standalone novel published by Berkley in 2024.

Genre

Horror, Paranormal

Opening Line

Sunlight severs me from sleep.

My Thoughts

Sloane and Naomi have been friends for a long time despite their differences. Naomi likes to live in the moment, to do what feels good, consequences be damned. Sloane prefers to be practical and cautious, and likes the comfort bred from familiarity. The two stay at a Finger Lakes resort for a long weekend to celebrate Sloane’s 36th birthday when things take a wild turn at a party with an eclectic group of mysterious strangers. Will they continue sticking to the paths they’ve each chosen for themselves now that “lifelong” might very well mean eternity? Can their friendship survive now that their new circumstances have changed everything?

I really enjoy Harrison’s writing – I find her work so eminently readable. And so for a good portion of this book, I thought it might wind up being a 5 star read for me. But over time, I got so annoyed with both Sloane and Naomi. There were times when they were both just the worst. (Sloane would be into staying in the cottage wrapped up in cozy robes and enjoying some girl talk for her birthday, but Naomi plans a surprise for her – dragging her along to a big sexy party at the house of the guy she just met at the bar the night before, and then has the audacity to be all like, “Try being more grateful, I did this for you!” No, girl, you did not.) And while I was into the romance bit, it was definitely too “insta” for my liking.

There was a lot here about living a meaningful life versus settling, the trepidation of approaching middle age, vampires and blood lust, but mostly it was about friendship during a time of crisis. The story didn’t quite take it home for me, but I (mostly) enjoyed the ride, and look forward to reading more of this author’s work.

🔥🔥🔥🔥 This book includes some descriptions of group sex, although from the viewpoint of a bystander

🔪🔪 There is definitely some violent and gruesome content in this vampire novel, although nothing that made this reader uncomfortable

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Book Review: HYDE by Craig Russell

| Jessica Crawford

Hyde by Craig Russell is a 352 page standalone novel published in 2021.

Genre:

Mystery, Historical Fiction, Horror, Retelling/Reimagining

Opening Line:

He looked at his friend and wondered how he still lived.

My Thoughts:

Ancient Celtic mythology, ritualistic murder, Scottish nationalism, the duality of human nature!

This story is a reimagining of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The conceit is that in the prologue, Stevenson is looking for inspiration to write a story about the duality of human nature, and his friend Captain Edward Hyde says, “Boy, do I have just the thing!” and proceeds to tell him his own story.

Hyde is a police detective with epilepsy, suffering from absence seizures during which he “loses time” and cannot remember what he did or how he got to wherever he was when he comes to. As he investigates ritualistic murders in nineteenth century Edinburgh, he begins to fear what it is he gets up to when he’s not aware of his actions.

All of the keywords used to describe this book (atmospheric, haunting, Gothic) are ones that are usually homeruns for me. In theory it sounds like a good fit for me. But honestly the way this book was written had me kind of bored and flipping pages just to be done with it already. It was still good, but not great for this reader. 3.5 stars.

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