Unquiet
Things

At Haute Macabre this week, all the books we’ve been gorging ourselves on lately! I foresee your summer reading list getting a little out of hand. Here’s a quick link list of each of the books mentioned–plus two that didn’t make the list, but were worth a mention…

• The Hunger by Alma Katsu
• Experimental Film, by Gemma Files
• Final Girls by Riley Sager
• The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
• Kabiyo: The Supernatural Cats Of Japan by Zack Davisson
• The Terror by Dan Simmons

Additionally, I read the oft-recommended The Troop, by Nick Cutter. I finished it just before starting The Hunger, and it was an interesting juxtaposition, these two books about insatiable appetites and voracious hungers. The Troop largely takes place on an isolated island where a boy scout troop has taken their annual trip, during which they are stalked by, and exposed to a terrifying biologically-engineered nightmare. Described as “part Lord of the Flies, part 28 Days Later”, this was probably one of the grossest books I have ever read. But it was a lot of fun, too!

Just a few nights ago I finished The Family Plot by Cherie Priest; previously I’d only read Boneshaker and Maplecroft–the former a steampunk type affair and the latter a Lizzie Borden/eldritch horror sort of mash-up, and while both were wildly enjoyably, I felt I hadn’t yet read any proper “spooky” horror from her. The Family Plot a, haunted house tale with southern gothic trappings, volatile family dynamics, and lots of oddly precise details about how to salvage parts and hardware from a beautifully decrepit old home, fits the bit perfectly.

Bonus! I know my book lists consist, predictably, mostly horror and ghosts and spooky stuff. If historical fiction is more your cuppa, might I point you to my darling sister’s picks for the month of May, in her ongoing, monthly, “Brilliance of Books” selection?