New York Times bestselling horror writers Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon create a music festival to die for in this illustrated novel with artwork by Peter Bergting!
The Valhalla music festival commemorates a long-ago Viking slaughter, but when strange things start to happen it seems the massacre may be far from over. When festival-goers begin to disappear, and musicians find themselves playing mysterious and ancient songs as if possessed, the fans have to figure out what’s going on before the festival site’s haunting past comes back for blood.
Review:
When I opened my Nigh Worms package this month and pulled out the physical copy of Festival by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, I wanted to read it immediately. This illustrated hardback is very appealing to the eye. The cover looks like the cover of a metal album, and the illustrations throughout the text get more and more intense and interesting as the story progresses. I read this as quickly as possible because I had to see how these illustrations fit the story.
The story itself is about The Valhalla Festival, a festival taking place where locals slaughtered hundreds of Vikings. Of course with any haunted ground story, and the music summons the ghosts to come back for revenge. In the short novella, there are several different perspectives and a dozen characters. This type of overview is good for an idea this ranging (you want more than one perspective in a story about a music festival, a place where thousands of people are gathered) but not so good for a story this short. It does not feel like I get a good understanding of the characters before the action starts to take place, so I was not really attached to any of these characters when the ghost Vikings started killing them. I like the ideas of the story, but the execution feels rushed and average.
But the book is cool and the illustrations are great. I have thought about buying copies for friends because I love the physical book. I would also collect a series of these books, short hardback horror stories with great illustrations. This is a great addition to any horror collectors shelves.
A spine-chilling, propulsive psychological suspense from international sensation Camilla Sten.
The medical term is prosopagnosia. The average person calls it face blindness—the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face, even the faces of those closest to you.
When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, her anxiety mounts. The dark feelings of having brushed by a killer, yet not know who could do this—or if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality.
Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a dark past for over fifty years.
Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go to this house of secrets, looking for answers. But as they get closer to bringing the truth to light, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
A heart-thumping, relentless thriller that will shake you to your core, The Resting Place is an unforgettable novel of horror and suspense.
Review:
Camilla Sten’s last novel The Lost Village was the worst book I had read in a long time, so when I saw that she had a new novel coming out, I knew she deserved another chance. The good new is that The Resting Place is markedly better than The Lost Village. The bad news is that this does not really mean much.
Eleanor has prosopagnosia, a condition where she cannot recognize faces. When her grandmother is killed, she bumps into the killer but she cannot recognize them. A few months later, she learns that she has inherited an estate in the Swedish woods. Eleanor goes with her boyfriend Sebastian, her aunt Veronika, and the lawyer to straighten out the state affairs. The family mysteries start to come into the open and the killer is revealed.
This is better than her last novel but it is still not great. The characters are uninteresting, the tension is not high, the reveals are not surprising, and the only thing that really carries this novel is the setting. They are in a house in the middle of a blizzard, and I am a fan of books where the natural elements are just as dangerous as the people sheltering themselves from them. Even still this setting does not do enough to carry The Resting Place past the point of being a mediocre, pretty generic thriller. The plot is pretty bland but it does not help that the writing is just boring. I do not know if it is the fault of the writer or the translator, but so much of the writing is cliché and poor that it is difficult to stay focused. The most interesting aspect, Elanor having prosopagnosia, is used more as a plot device than something that seriously affects the plot. Eleanor is staying in a house where her boyfriend is really the only person she is close to. She seems very aware of who is who all of time, except for when it is good for the story. I would like someone with prosopagnosia to read this and tell whether or not this is a good representation. My guess would be no.
I do not plan to read any more of Camilla Sten’s novels for a while. These two have done nothing for me, and there is nothing in her writing that has held my interest to continue to read her works.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
From the award-winning author Alan Heathcock comes an American myth of the future: a vision of civil war, spectacle, and disaster of biblical proportions.
In a future America ravaged by natural disaster, pandemic, and political unrest, a fundamentalist faction emerges. As the Novae Terrae gain power, enticing civilians with bread and circuses, a civil war breaks out between its members and the US government.
Mazzy Goodwin, a young soldier, only wants to find her little sister, Ava Lynn. One day, she wakes in a bomb crater to find wings emerged from her back. Has she died? Been gifted wings by God? Undergone a military experiment?
The world sees a miracle. Mazzy is coaxed into seeing it as an opportunity: to become the angel-like figurehead of the revolution, in return for being reunited with her sister. Her journey leads her to New Los Angeles, where the Novae have set up the headquarters for their propaganda machine–right in the ruins of Hollywood. Aided by friends old and new, she must navigate a web of deceit while staying true to herself.
Told in sharp, haunting prose, as cinematic as it is precise, Alan Heathcock’s 40 is a dizzyingly fantastical novel about the dangers of blind faith, the temptation of spectacle, and the love of family. In a tale by turns mythic and tragic, one heroine must come to terms with the consequences of her decisions–and face the challenges of building a new world.
Review:
Alan Heathcock’s novel 40 is a novel with a huge, sweeping story. The novel starts with Mazzy, an American soldier who wakes up in a bomb crater with wings on her back. She is seen as an angel and becomes a symbol of the movement to Novae Terrae, a religious extremist group who is also working to destroy the government and become the New America. Mazzy gets deep into their organization for one simple reason, they have kidnapped her sister and she wants her back. 40 is filled with climate disaster and a dystopian setting which reminds me a great deal of many of Margaret Atwood’s novels, particularly The Heart Goes Last. Heathcock brings his own spin to this subgenre and it is definitely a great addition.
There are so many elements of 40 that I can focus on and explore. The biblical plot. The dystopian world. The fight between the government and the people. The way that Mazzy as a soldier reacts differently to scenarios because she has a history as a soldier. The way that sometimes Mazzy has to be trusting of whatever people are telling her because she has no other choice, even if the people that surround her have their own agendas and are not the most trustworthy individuals. There are so many different angles that can be discussed and explored. One of the most interesting things to me is not one of the main themes but part of the setup of Novae Terrae against the government. There are not many pages strictly dedicate to this, but it is the major motivation of the entire movement. When Jo Sam and the Novae were cutting off food supplies, using drones to fight the military, and eventually being too clever for the military. These moments make me think about how someone with a little bit of strategy and a great deal of support like Jo Sam can crumble an already weakened structure. This America is not built like the current America. This America has been ravaged by plagues, floods, earthquakes, and other climate change disasters that help the Novae Terrae take advantage. They step in and offer a utopian escape for many who have lost everything already. By being the problem for the government and then being the solution for the citizens, this group has been able to get an upper hand on the entire situation.
I enjoyed 40 and Alan Heathcock’s writing. This novel is fast paced and magnificent, and it can be in a class with all of the other great dystopian novels. It is much different than his story collection Volt, but it is a direction that I am ready to take with him.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A mysterious woman stalks a seaside town. An isolated couple inhabit a house full of tropical birds. A rowboat floats down a river toward a witch’s cave. Death wanders an unnamed city during the plague. Sara Century’s debut short story collection carries with it surreal visions inspired by pulp paperbacks, art house films, comic books of all flavors, and classic queer villains. A Small Light & Other Stories gathers tales that hinge on troubled characters with nothing left to lose encountering existential horrors, where everyday problems escalate into insurmountable monsters, and we find ourselves unable to escape dreams long since transformed into nightmares.
“Century’s fiction packs the potency of a nightmare that haunts the mind long after one has woken. She weaves dark poetry out of her character’s relationships and crafts imagery designed to unsettle and inspire awe in equal measure. These stories whisper in your ear in the dark of night, and you will find yourself welcoming their insidious omens with outstretched arms.” – Brendan Vidito (Pornography for the End of the World)
“Sara Century writes with subtle intensity and care. In a genre often extreme, alien, and operatic, her horror stories drop us into the small center of our familiar, vulnerable human core and send ripples spreading outward, enlarging gradually to create a total emotional effect. A Small Light is a book full of dark awakenings.” – Joe Koch (The Wingspan of Severed Hands, Convulsive)
Review:
“Every love story is a ghost story.” – David Foster Wallace
I could not stop thinking about this line from David Foster Wallace while reading the nine stories in Sara Century’s debut short story collection, A Small Light and Other Stories. Every single one of these stories exemplifies this quote. Each story is the interpersonal relationship between women, whether it be mother and daughter, sisters, or, as in most of these stories, girlfriends and wives. The ghosts float through all of these stories. Ghosts of loss. Ghosts of desire. Ghosts of hope. I cannot help but think that the real horror in this collection is the horror of sadness, grief, and longing. This type of horror is the horror that readers always feel deeper than any story about a monster or a serial killer.
The first few stories did not do much for me. I was not instantly hooked into this collection, but by the time that I read the title story, “A Small Light”, I was starting to understand the theme of the collection and how everything fit together. “A Small Light” is about Ashley and Sandra, spouses who have decided to go on a camping trip. Of course things do not work out as planned. This reads like it can be turned into one of those cool little indie horror movies that are exclusive releases on Shudder, where the horror is slow and methodical but definitely being a menace in the woods. The next story, “Red Lips in a Blue Light” was first published in The New Flesh, the David Cronenberg inspired anthology, and this was when the hooks of this collection really grabbed me. I love how different this is from the rest of the collection, yet it fits into the themes perfectly. The rest of the collection breezes by, each story being as good as the next, and I decided to reread the beginning now that I knew the themes of these stories. I liked the stories the second time better than the first.
A Small Light and Other Stories has a group of stories that really fit into a nice collection that has some really standout stories. Many of these can be turned into very cool films, and I would be excited to watch every one of them. I will come back to some of these stories, particularly “A Small Light”, “The Hollow Bones” and “Red Lips in a Blue Light” because they are just so good.
What Moves the Dead is Kingfisher’s retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.
What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.
Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.
Review:
After I read this novella, I did a Google search of T. Kingfisher and learned many things about her. The first is that T. Kingfisher is a pen name. The second is that she has released over 40 books. The third is that I should have been reading her works much earlier. As it is, What Moves the Dead is the first of her books that I have read.
A riff on the The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, What Moves the Dead is the story of Alex Easton going to visit their childhood friend at the house of Usher after they receive a letter requesting help. Their friend, Madeline Usher, says that she is sick and dying and needs help, so Alex rushes there as soon as they can. What Alex finds there is a perfect gothic story, brother and sister holed up in a damned house, along with a doctor they do not trust. Everyone and everything falling apart. The horror and mystery that Alex finds there makes What Moves the Dead a fast paced, thin novella that is really satisfying.
Much of the success of this novella can be attributed to T. Kingfisher’s writing. In a short period of time, she develops the setting and the characters with such detail that it feels as if I read a 400 page novel. The writing in this novella is masterful, and I found myself rereading sentences because of how gorgeous they are. This is one of those novellas that I will probably reread simply because of the writing. There is so much depth to some of the scenes and writing that I can really feel the dampness and sickness that is seeping from the walls and the pages. I cannot recommend What Moves the Dead enough. I know now that I have to read some of T. Kingfisher’s other works.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
When Alex Foster accepted the caregiver position with the eccentric Nox family, she was issued a single rule. Don’t wander past the creek. Alex isn’t interested in exploring the Nox’s vast wooded property. After escaping an abusive past, her sole focus is building a safe future for herself and her unborn baby. Except, a series of chilling events threatens her happily-ever-after. Now, she must fight to survive an ancient evil before all hope is lost. There’s something beyond the creek, and it’s hungry.
Review:,
Nico Bell’s novella Beyond the Creek is a tale of two halves. The first half we are introduced to a situation that feels very much like traditional gothic horror. A woman, Amy, takes a job at an old mansion being the caretaker of Phillip Nox, a stubborn old man who has had a series of strokes. The house is creepy, the rest of the family is standoffish and unpleasant, and we are led in a direction that we have seen before. The way that Nico Bell builds the characters and the scenes keeps us engaged and entangled in the story. We really care about the characters, particularly about Amy who is running from a traumatic situation, pregnant with an abuser’s baby, doing her best to survive while staying hidden. This job for the Nox family is important and dire for her, so we feel her anxiety and fear when things are not going good with her relationship with the rest of the family.
Halfway through the novella, everything changes completely, and this turns from a spooky gothic horror novella into a pure horror novella. We are so engaged in the story by this time that there is no way we can put the book down. The action is quick and sharp, and we are gripped with same horror that Amy is facing.
There are certain themes in this novella that make me understand the choices that the characters make. Sometimes I read or watch horror and think, “Why is this character even involved? Why don’t they just run off and live the rest of their life?” Nico Bell really gives good reasons why Amy wants to stay and fight the horrors that await her at Nox House. There are themes of abuse, and these themes are so intertwine with the decisions the characters make. Everything action makes sense. I do not think that every author spends time with the “why” of the characters motivations as much as they should. Beyond the Creek is a fantastic example of writing characters who are fully developed with honest motivations and believable choices when confronted by some serious life and death horror. Nico Bell’s writing and storytelling should not be missed.
Marguerite, a beautiful woman, has disappeared from her small town in Upstate New York. But is foul play involved? Or did she merely take an opportunity to get away for fun, or finally make the decision to leave behind her claustrophobic life of limited opportunities?
Her younger sister Gigi wonders if the flimsy silk Dior dress, so casually abandoned on the floor, is a clue to Marguerite’s having seemingly vanished. The police examine the footprints made by her Ferragamo boots leaving the house, ending abruptly, and puzzle over how that can help lead to her. Gigi, not so pretty as her sister, slowly reveals her hatred for the perfect, much-loved, Marguerite.
Bit by bit, like ripping the petals off a flower blossom, revelations about both sisters are uncovered. And subtly, but with the unbearable suspense at which Joyce Carol Oates excels, clues mount up to bring to light the fate of the missing beauty.
Review:
I have been reading Joyce Carol Oates books off and on for about 20 years. Her writing has certain themes, particularly trauma toward women and the disappearances or deaths of loved ones destroying people. She has been writing variations of this theme since 1964 with over 150 published books to her credit. She is now eighty-four, and it seems as if her production is still as steady as it has always been. The first book I read was The Tattooed Girl, when it was new in 2003, and it blew me away. The story, about a girl with a tattoo on her face who becomes an assistant to an aging author, even though her goal is to destroy him, was so incredible that I read several of her novels back to back. She has a certain style to her writing and a certain gothic creepiness that nobody else can duplicate. Since 2003, I have tried to keep up with some of her novels and collections here and there, but there really are just so many and there is so much to read in the world that sometimes her newest book slip through the cracks.
We can tell that 48 Clues Into the Disappearance of My Sister is a Joyce Carol Oates book just by the title. We already know that there has been some foul play to a young girl and that the narrator, the sister, is trying to cope with her disappearance. The thing is we do not know what direction Oates is going to take this idea. We learn quickly that the woman who disappeared is Marguerite, a beautiful woman who disappeared one morning and was not found. The narrator of the story, is Georgene, her younger, not as pretty or popular sister, works at the post office, lives in her childhood room, and is jealous and angry toward Marguerite and how their lives are completely different. When Marguerite disappears, these feelings are really amplified, making Georgene deal with these feelings as well as the strangers who are now trying to butt into her very private life. Two greatest things about Joyce Carol Oates is her character studies and her creepiness. In this case, the character Georgene is placed under a microscope and every thought, feeling, and action really explains her bitterness toward life. As far as creepiness, Oates writes many of her stories in a way that there feels like there is an undercurrent of evil in every character and in every character’s actions.
This novel is written in 48 clues that adds to the story, but not all of the clues are physical things. Some are reactions, feelings, and behaviors. The mystery is how this all adds up. Clues in her novels never fit perfectly together, and it is up to the reader to decide what really happened to Marguerite. We are given the tools but we have to build the conclusions ourselves. This makes for a novel that is equal parts fascinating and disturbing. For as much as people like true crime podcasts and documentaries, it is a wonder why Joyce Carol Oates is not having a resurgence. Much of her fiction is built in a way where the reader is to draw their own conclusions. 48 Clues Into the Disappearance of My Sister is one of those mysteries that can really lead to a debate with a group of friends over what really happened to Marguerite, because the clues point to several possibilities. This is the type of fiction Oates has been writing for a long time, and this makes stories just as interesting now as they were decades ago.
I received this as an ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
For Mortimer, there are only two things in life to fear: kidney stones and children’s birthday parties. For his son, Ichabod, its bullies and lame birthday presents. The father and son duo are about to spend an afternoon facing their worst fears at the quirkiest place on Earth: Reg E. Rat’s Birthday Fun Center.
Reg E. Rat’s is full of fun and games for the whole family. It’s also filled with maniac animatronics, a questionable food menu and, somewhere in the back, the zaniest medical staff imaginable.
Spend a hellacious afternoon with Reg E. Rat and friends. You’re gonna have a bloody good time!
“Frank J. Edler, the deranged mind behind BRATS IN HELL, and DEATH GETS A BOOK, is back with his most insane and hilarious book to date. REG E. RAT’S BIRTHDAY FUN CENTER & SAME DAY OUTPATIENT CARE FACILITY is batshit crazy—full of animatronic monsters, a giant humanoid rat and brutal kill scenes. Birthday parties will never be the same. Enjoy the pizza!” — Daniel J. Volpe, author of LEFT TO YOU
Review:
A few years ago, Nicolas Cage starred in a weird little movie called Wilby Wonderland. The premise is that he has to stay overnight at a children’s pizza place and clean. Of course the animatronic animals come to life and try to kill him. In Fank J Edler’s newest novella, Reg E. Rat’s Birthday Fun Center and Same Day Outpatient Care Facility, Mr. Frank (probably) said, “I can do this even better. Let’s have the pizza place be open and have the animatronic animals kill everyone in the middle of five birthday parties. Wouldn’t that be fun?” The answer is Yes. It is a lot of fun.
Mortimer’s son Ichabod is invited to a friend’s birthday party at Reg E. Rat’s Birthday Fun Center. Like every single parent in the entire world, Mortimer does not want to go because places like this are awful, with a thousand snotty screaming kids running around, awful pizza, and nothing but a desire to escape. Added to Mortimer’s suffering is the pain of some kidney stones moving around in his lower abdomen. Nothing could be worse. Until the animatronic animals in the band come to life with the sole purpose to kill everyone in sight.
This is Frank J. Edler. There is humor and a silliness to the killing of all of the patrons and the funny and even more bizarre ways that the heroes fight back. It is easy to focus on Reg E Rat, but we cannot forget that second half of the title, Same Day Outpatient Care Facility, which is linked to the story in major ways. The two places, Reg E Rat’s and the Same Day Outpatient Care Facility, are connected and ran by the same company, but it is also the different subgenres in the same story. The Reg E. Rat side of the building is survival horror and Same Day Outpatient Care Facility is bizarro body horror. The two of them melt together and with a huge dose of comedy, we receive a fun and hilarious book.
I will always read Mr. Frank’s books because I will always be indebted to him for his “weird and wacky” fiction podcast called Bizzong!. I was introduced to so many authors that I love through this podcast that I was sad to see that Mr. Frank needed to end it for his family and for his writing. Since ending the show, he has produced some great books, and though I’ll be a Zonger for life, I am happy that he made the right decision, not only for himself but for his fans. Do yourself a favor and give one of his books a try. Reg E. Rat’s Birthday Fun Center and Same Day Outpatient Care Facility is a great place to start. Stat!
A groundbreaking Latinx Aliens novel by a rising star Latina author, featuring the fan-favorite character PFC Jenette Vasquez from the hit movie Aliens and the family she is forced to leave behind.
For the very first time, the canonical background of the breakout Aliens hero Jenette Vasquez, as well as the story of the children she was forced to leave behind as written by the rising Latina horror star V. Castro (Queen of the Cicadas).
Even before the doomed mission to Hadley’s Hope on LV-426, Jenette Vasquez had to fight to survive. Born to an immigrant family with a long military tradition, she looked up to the stars, but life pulled her back down to Earth—first into a street gang, then prison. The Colonial Marines proved to be Vasquez’s way out—a way that forced her to give up her twin children. Raised by Jenette’s sister, those children, Leticia and Ramon, had to discover their own ways to survive. Leticia by following her mother’s path into the military, Ramon into the corporate hierarchy of Weyland-Yutani. Their paths would converge on an unnamed planet which some see as a potential utopia, while others would use it for highly secretive research. Regardless of whatever humans might have planned for it, however, Xenomorphs will turn it into a living hell.
Review:
There are three types of people who will read V. Castro’s novel Aliens: Vasquez. One group is the people who love the Aliens franchise and read all of the extended universe novels. The second group is the readers who love V. Castro and her works and are excited to see what she will do with the story of one of the most iconic characters in the Aliens franchise, Jenette Vasquez. The third group is the niche reader who loves both Aliens and V. Castro. I’m in that third group. The day the novel was announced in May, I preordered it. Nothing could have been more exciting to me than the talent of V. Castro telling an Aliens franchise story.
The novel opens with Jenette Vasquez growing up, getting into trouble, and working hard to follow her dream of getting into the military and fighting in the stars. She has twin children in prison, and the next half of the novel is about her children. We know what happens to Jenette, but what happens to her legacy? Ramon wants to make money and Leticia wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps. In the end, their paths cross and they end up on a team, getting into a situation that is far from ideal, which is pretty standard when Xenomorphs show up.
This novel will appease fans of V. Castro much more than the fans of Aliens. The novel spends most of the time developing the characters, telling the story of the Vasquez family and the actual Xenomorph scenes are less than twenty-five percent of the novel.
Aliens: Vasquez is not action-packed and wall to wall danger. V. Castro writes a family saga, filled with history, expectations, and secrets. Xenomorphs happen to show up in the middle of it. The focus is more of a character driven story, and the action sequences honestly are a backburner to everything else. Having previously read and reviewed two of V. Castro’s books, I had a sense that this was going to be the way that an V. Castro’s Aliens novel was going to unfold. I was not surprised, but I can understand how some readers, particularly those looking for a rollicking action/adventure novel, can be disappointed. This is a novel in the Aliens franchise that really spends more time helping us understand Vasquez, her motivations, and the way that her legacy lives on in her children than on fighting Xenomorphs. As an Aliens fan it is still worth reading, but as a fan of the works of V. Castro, this is a must read.
A heart-pounding tale of faith and family, with a devastating twist
“A great day is upon us. He is coming. The world will be washed away.”
On the wind-battered isle of Altnaharra, off the wildest coast of Scotland, a clan prepares to bring about the end of the world and its imminent rebirth.
The Adder is coming and one of their number will inherit its powers. They all want the honor, but young Eve is willing to do anything for the distinction.
A reckoning beyond Eve’s imagination begins when Chief Inspector Black arrives to investigate a brutal murder and their sacred ceremony goes terribly wrong.
And soon all the secrets of Altnaharra will be uncovered.
Review:
Little Eve is the third book I have read by Catriona Ward, and even though this is her second novel from 2018, it has just been rereleased by Tor Nightfire. Even though it won the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel that year, this is also the first American release. The last two novels released by Ward on Nightfire have been good, but I’ve been left a little underwhelmed by them, as if there is a better Catriona Ward novel coming, better than both The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial. I did not know that she had already written and published it.
The novel is a gothic novel, cult novel, and murder mystery wrapped into one. Set in a dilapidated castle, “Uncle” and his companions Alice and Nora have adopted four children, and they worship the Adder. The children spend most of their lives starving, trying not to get punished, and being gaslighted by “Uncle” who says that the Adder is going to come for them, and one of them will be chosen and will inherit the Adder’s powers. Everyone’s life is unhappy, the girls are always trying to escape in one way or another, and eventually things boil over when Inspector Black starts to look into the legality of the things that “Uncle” is doing. There are many layers to this story, and I did find myself reading this for hours at a time, getting engrossed in what might happen next. The tension and sadness between all of the characters is compelling, and I could not help but sympathize for the children who were just trying to be in the good graces of the adults in their lives.
Catriona Ward’s writing is superb, and her characters and settings feel alive. I like most of the story and loved it until the last quarter. I am seeing a pattern in her endings. Ward as a writer who has done the same trick that she has done in all three of the novels that I have read. That trick in the last two made me anticipate it in Little Eve so that by the time of the big reveal, it was already expected. I do not know how many more of her novels I can read if the twisty endings continue to be twisty endings because there really is no longer much surprise in it. I like the ending of Little Eve much better than the previous two, and of the three novels by her I have read, this one is my favorite. The complaint is that the ending of her novels are starting to get predictably unpredictable, like she is not going to use effective twists much longer before the readers grow tired of the gimmick. Even still, it is a pretty entertaining, engaging novel, and the Catriona Ward novel I would recommend most.
I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
ghostvillehero 