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And Then There Were None…: Reviewing Final Girls by Riley Sager

I’m a bit weird when it comes to the horror genre. I’m not a fan horror movies but I love horror books and I listen to “creepypastas” all of the time but I don’t watch horror movies. Thankfully, I’m familiar enough with the tropes to appreciate the structure on which the horror genre is built. I plucked this particular books off the shelf on nothing more than an impulse and I am certainly glad I did. Here is my review of Final Girls  by Riley Sager.

Quincy Carpenter is the lone survivor of the Pine Cottage Massacre, where five of her college friends were slaughtered by a man she refers to as Him. She was dubbed a Final Girl by the media and found herself a part of an exclusive group of survivors. Ten years later, Quincy finally has her life together with a successful lawyer boyfriend and a baking blog.  She is forced to confront her past when the first Final Girl, Lisa Milner, is found dead in her home. With the help of Sam, a fellow Final Girl, and her police officer friend, Coop, Quincy must race against time to find the killer before she is taken by the fate that she escaped ten years ago.

Now, I read these horror/thriller books knowing that they are not for everybody. If you are a fan of horror movies, this is the novel for you. Better yet, if you are a fan of Paula Hawkins (Girl on the Train) or Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), then you will appreciate the strong and complex female characters who must confront their pasts while trying to salvage an uncertain future. Sager provides an uncertain and gritty narrative that plays off of the classic horror movies tropes, building off of the standard slasher movie script. I found myself enjoying this novel more than I originally thought. Horror/mystery/thriller fans are sure to enjoy Sager’s Final Girls. 

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Mostly Void; Partially Stars: Reviewing Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor

For a little while, I have enjoyed the world of podcasts. I mostly enjoy listening to them when I go to bed. This particular podcast, Welcome to Night Vale, which started back in 2012 has opened up a world of weirdness, eloquence, and profoundness. Though it is not for everyone, the podcast has gained a huge fan based thanks to its story lines, voice talent, and truly bizarre atmosphere. Recently, the creators of Welcome to Night Vale have been taking on the literary world in order to expand upon the strange world that they have created.

Night Vale is like any other town, if you don’t count the glow cloud with mind control powers, five-headed dragons, and an mysterious government organization that are all normal parts of daily life in this sleepy desert town. Cecil Baldwin, the local radio host, helps to keep the town informed about the new batches of aliens or ghosts that crop up on occasion. Jackie Fierro, the owner of the local pawnshop who has never aged past nineteen, receives an odd message from a man in a tan jacket that just reads KING CITY. Meanwhile, Diane Crayton, whose son is a moody fifteen-year-old shape shifter, has been seeing her son’s father wherever she goes. Jackie’s search for King City and Diane’s investigation into her son’s estranged father brings them together in ways that will change their lives forever as questions they didn’t ask are answered as well.

Anyone who is already a fan of the podcast is sure to enjoy this novel adaptation. Fink and Cranor keep true to the creepy and profound world that they have created. With Cecil’s familiar monologues that pop up between chapters, Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel delves deep into the lives of familiar and unfamiliar residents of the town. Unafraid to embrace the strange, this novel is a perfect addition to the podcast that many have come to know, fear, and love.

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Thrills, Chills, and Gruesome Kills: Reviewing Broken Monster by Lauren Beukes

The mystery novel has been a reliable go-to for most readers. Whether its John Grisham, Janet Evanovich, or James Patterson, any of these authors have provided entertaining and intriguing murder mysteries that can keep your sanity going during a long car ride or plane trip. These writers, however, tend to become formulaic and you tend to read just to find out who the killer is. If you’re looking for a murder mystery novel that mixes it up, then keep reading to find out about Broken Monsters. 

As a detective working in Detroit, Gabriella Versado had thought she had seen it all. When a body of a boy that has been fused to the body of a deer appears, Versado realizes that something worse is about to strike the city. Meanwhile, her daughter, Layla, becomes involved with an internet stranger. A desperate journalist does whatever he can to find out more about Versado’s new crop of cases. A homeless man does whatever he can to protect his family from this new killer. Everyone soon gets caught up in a race to stop the killer who wants to reshape the world with his own artistic vision.

Broken Monsters provides a relief in the over-saturated mystery novel market. Beukes’s tone is almost humorous in how it sounds colloquial but that doesn’t detract from the overall dark tone of the novel. The characters’ story arcs are surprisingly relatable and it is easy to get attached to them. The trippy and macabre visuals that novel provides are vivid enough to send a shiver down your spine. Beukes crafts a mystery that you won’t be able to get enough of. I highly recommend this novel if you are a fan of mysteries and thrillers. It provides a story told in a unique voice with characters who stand out as real against the bizarre background.

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To a Great Mind, Nothing is Little: Reviewing The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

I have mentioned before that science fiction has always been a large part of my literary interests. I haven’t mentioned anything about mysteries yet. I’m always a sucker for a good crime novel. This all started when I decided to hunker down and read the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that this was inspired in part by the Guy Ritchie films starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. The BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have only fueled my love for the original detective series since. Sherlock Holmes is the quintessential detective, so to say. Therefore, I will be reviewing one of the few Sherlock Holmes novels that have been approved by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle estate.

The House of Silk is told through the eyes of the iconic Doctor John Watson in the classic style of a majority of the original stories. This particular story, however, takes place years after the actual events. Being that Watson is now elderly, he decides to honor his friend by retelling one of his more dark and deep mysteries. It all begins when Edmund Carstairs arrives at Baker Street and the pair how a mysterious man in a flat cap has stalked and harassed his family. The case soon takes a turn for the worse when an Irish street gang, a missing boy, and a mysterious silk ribbon become involved. Horowitz keeps to the original Holmesian cannon while still adding new elements that is guaranteed to delight any Holmes or mystery fan.

Like I said, I am a big fan of the original stories and to get a new novel in the series is delightful. Plenty of authors have tried to use the distinguished Holmes and Watson to their advantage but Horowitz is one of the few that has truly capture the essence and tone of what Doyle has created so long ago. The friendship between Holmes and Watson is even further explored in a way that is both tragic and touching. All of the great originals, such as Lestrade and Mycroft Holmes, make their return in the novel. The mystery itself is has many facets that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. As disturbing as it is intelligent, The House of Silk is a great treat for anyone who loves Sherlock Holmes and wants the classic tone of the original stories. This story could have easily been published in “The Strand.”