Tag: thriller

The Girl In Red

What was once a quiet stroll to grandma’s house becomes a little more torturous in Christina Henry’s 2019 novel, The Girl In Red. In the midst of a global pandemic, Red (Cordelia) and her family must prepare to walk hundreds of miles to reach the safety of her grandmother’s house before they: catch the mysterious disease themselves, are forced into a quarantine camp, or are killed by a traveling militia that is pillaging and kidnapping women and children.

To my knowledge, Little Red Riding Hood is not often retold as a horror/thriller novel. Henry created an interesting premise her story. Rather than traveling to care for her sick grandmother, the heroine red must travel to her grandmother’s house to shelter herself from an oncoming pandemic and the violent dangers that surround her every waking movement. I do wish some parts of the story were fleshed out a bit more. The first two thirds of the book were slower paced and very detailed with exposition and scenery, however the final battle was a too fast for my taste and the ending was rushed. It felt as though the author ran out of time when writing the last quarter of the book and rushed the finally to make up for it. It would have been more rounded story if the same detail was given to the last few chapters.

Overall, The Girl in Red is a thrilling twist on an old classic. I wish there were some parts of the plot that were given a little more detail, but I would recommend this book to anyone looking for something new and interesting to add to their Halloween reading list.

Base notes

Is anyone entirely good or entirely evil? Lara Elena Donnelly makes us question this with their new book, Base Notes. The cost of rent is soaring across the country and is becoming a crushing burden to many, especially in New York City. A perfumer, Vic Fowler, has no choice but to rely on new steams of income to make ends meet. After receiving an offer they couldn’t refuse, Vic must convince (threaten) a few friends to assist in a bloody errand. Willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to further their business, no one is safe from Vic’s dangerous ambitions. 

I found the character of Vic to be very enthralling. For years I have wanted a story from the perspective of the villain and I may have found that in base notes. At the start, Vic is a very enjoyable and sympathetic character but as the story progresses we see Vic making more questionable choices until everyone  they know and love pay the price. Apart from Vic, all characters are extremely rich and dynamic. As a reader, you wont find a single character in Base Notes, that is entirely good or evil. Even the most likable of characters have their dark sides. 

Even with the most obvious antagonists in the story, its hard to pin down the real villain and it’s even more difficult to find the hero of the story. That may be why I found Base Notes to be such a great read. The biggest threats in story aren’t assassins in the middle of the night but crushing medical debt, student loans, and the ever rising cost of rent.

A history of wild places

Shea Ernshaw creates a mystery for all readers in, A History of Wild Places.We meet Travis Wren a psychic detective tasked with tracking down Maggie St. James, an author who has gone missing after her recent novel leads to the death of a young teenager. Just as he finds a hot lead and is right on her trail, he disappears just like the woman he has been tasked to find.  It’s not until a man (Theo) living in a near by community in the woods finds an abandoned truck and becomes curious that we begin to get some clues. Soon we are led down new path full of unanswered questions. Questions about: the missing man, the missing woman, and all the secrets that lie within a small town hidden in the woods. 

Our main characters: Theo, Calla, and Bee each have a  unique character arch. As a reader, it was quite the journey to see how each characters relationships with each other, their community, and their community’s leader changed over the course of the novel. Watching each of them work through the mysteries and questions they each encountered took me on a journey that surprised me at every turn. I particularly enjoyed how Ernshaw tackled the main characters “de-programming” themselves from their leader and community’s teachings and lifestyle. Every time I thought I could guess where the story was going, I was surprised. Nothing about Ernshaw’s work was completely un-predictable and I found that to be very enjoyable. 

A History of Wild Places is a journey of secrets, tragedy, and self growth. A great read for any true crime or cult documentary enthusiast….just be careful not to get lost along the way. 

A Flicker in the Dark

Mystery and tragedy  find themselves in A Flicker in the Dark, a thrilling novel by Stacy Willingham. We meet Chole Davis a young psychiatrist who happens to be in the  final stages of planning her upcoming wedding to the man of her dreams. All her worst night mares come true  when a local girl goes missing…Then another girl goes missing. Nearing the anniversary of her fathers crimes, she finds herself fearing that a copycat killer has begun to terrorize her hometown. With no one to trust, she fears the worst in everyone around her and begins her own investigation. Eventually she finds that the real monsters can be hiding silently behind any corner. 

I frequently found my self “on the fence,” with the character of Chole, she is a character who often has very questionable or unethical  judgment. In all, she is far from the typical, “perfect heroine,” which made her much more interesting character. However, all her faults and previous mistakes made her much more thrilling to follow in the story. However, Some of her character flaws were a bit too much and not always believable. She was stupid at times and it wasn’t always endearing. She made some poor and illegal choices that sometimes took the story to unnecessary and some times irrelevant plot lines.  

A Flicker in the Dark is a very thrilling read. Each twist and turn of the story was completely unpredictable. Even with all of the main characters flaws I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a thrilling mystery. I wont give away any spoilers but if you give Willingham’s work a try you will find yourself completely engulfed in her story, unable to put it down. 

All These Bodies

All These Bodies by Kendare Blake begins with a killing spree across the midwest that stops in the small town of Black Deer Falls, Minnesota. This is where we learn that a small family of four was attacked, leaving three killed and only one surviving infant. In the midst of all this carnage a young teen girl (Marie) is found covered in the blood of the diseased. Is she the victim or the perpetrator? How did she come to be in the middle of this carnage? The sherif’s son (Michael) , is the only one who she will tell her story too. After a rollercoaster of an investigation, the reader is left with more questions than answers.

One of the most interesting aspects of the story is the unidentifiable monster in the closet. There was a string of murders so there was clearly a killer but the killer themselves were never the most prominent part of the story. While I was reading Blake’s work, it appeared that the biggest villain in our story, was fear and the want for speedy, but neglectful, justice. The town of Black Deer Falls was terrified of whoever or whatever brutally murdered one of their own. They wanted to justice, not to wait around for a fair and speedy trail (even if it meant harassing and abusing Michael’s family and friends to get it).


While the idea of the story is very interesting and had a lot of potential, the book itself could have had a little more substance to it. I found the characters to be one dimensional, unsympathetic, unreliable, and at times a little infuriating. For example: Marie our main suspect, seemed to be hostile and uncooperative for no real reason and seems to act only as an antithesis the prosecuting attorney (Benjamin Pilson). Whereas, Michael’s (the story’s protagonist) squeaky clean image wasn’t relatable and we don’t really know much about him apart for his future aspiration to become a journalist. His character fell flat, I wasn’t sure why he was given the authority he had throughout the novel, it was simply unbelievable. All three of these characters mash up into a very unsatisfying story. After I read Blake’s work I was left with more questions than answers. Was the killer a vampire? Was Marie a vampire? Was Marie innocent or was she lying the whole time? Who can really be trusted?