Book Review | The Between by Tananarive Due

The Between is a horror novel by Tananarive Due.

A brilliant novel of horror and the supernatural in which a middle-class family’s very existence is threatened by inner and outer demons

When Hilton was just a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake. When Hilton's wife, the only elected African-American judge in Dade County, Florida, begins to receive racist hate mail from a man she once prosecuted, Hilton becomes obsessed with protecting his family. Soon, however, he begins to have horrible nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are the strange dreams trying to tell him something? His sense of reality begins to slip away as he battles both the psychotic threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep.

Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between follows the struggles of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves, but may have already lost.

I was pleasantly surprised by The Between! I have had Tananarive Due on my TBR for so long. The Ladies of Horror Fiction team decided to choose her debut novel for our Women in Horror Month readalong and wow! If this is her debut, I am in for a treat with the rest of Due's catalog!

There were so many layers to The Between and they were all expertly woven together. It's a relatively short book at a little less than 300 pages. I don't want to give anything away so I'll just say this is an excellent place to start if you haven't read anything by Tananarive Due yet.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Book Review | A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn

A Dangerous Collaboration is a mystery novel from Deanna Raybourn.

Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell is whisked off to a remote island off the tip of Cornwall when her natural historian colleague Stoker's brother calls in a favor. On the pretext of wanting a companion to accompany him to Lord Malcolm Romilly's house party, Tiberius persuades Veronica to pose as his fiancée--much to Stoker's chagrin. But upon arriving, it becomes clear that the party is not as innocent as it had seemed. Every invited guest has a connection to Romilly's wife, Rosamund, who disappeared on her wedding day three years ago, and a dramatic dinner proves she is very much on her husband's mind.

As spectral figures, ghostly music, and mysterious threats begin to plague the partygoers, Veronica enlists Stoker's help to discover the host's true motivations. And as they investigate, it becomes clear that there are numerous mysteries surrounding the Romilly estate, and every person present has a motive to kill Rosamund...

A Dangerous Collaboration was delightful. I may lose my credibility when I say this, but A Dangerous Collaboration was a lot like reading a Scooby Doo novel. It was definitely an adult version of Scooby Doo, but Scooby Doo nonetheless. Veronica and Stoker were staying in a castle on a haunted island, and everything was gothic down to the candlelight and secret passageways.

A Dangerous Collaboration is the fourth book in the Veronica Speedwell series. I have not read the previous three, but this one seemed to stand alone just fine. I would have liked to have a deeper understanding of the relationships between the characters, but I was able to dive into the story well enough.

Veronica Speedwell is an interesting character. She's a lepidopterist (she specializes in butterflies), and I enjoyed all of the facts about butterflies. It never felt out of place, and I enjoyed the tidbits of nature. A Dangerous Collaboration was plants and butterflies by day, whodunit mystery and family drama by night.

I enjoyed this installment of the series. I would happily read more of them.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Review copy provided by publisher

On My Wishlist {18}

It's time for another round of "on my wishlist" where I share a few of the latest books I've been pining for lately.

Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
Published March 19th 2019 by Head of Zeus

Here are four urgent stories from author and activist Cory Doctorow, four social, technological and economic visions of the world today and its near—all too near—future.

'Unauthorized Bread' is a tale of immigration, toxic economic stratification and a young woman's perilously illegal quest to fix a broken toaster.

In 'Model Minority' a superhero finds himself way out his depth when he confronts the corruption of the police and justice system.

'Radicalized' is the story of a desperate husband, a darknet forum and the birth of a violent uprising against the US health care system.

The final story, 'The Masque of the Red Death', tracks an uber-wealthy survivalist and his followers as they hole up and attempt to ride out the collapse of society.

Cory Doctorow will be at Comicpalooza this year so I may have an opportunity to meet him. Radicalized contains four novellas, and it sounds like an excellent introduction to me. (Thank you to Michael Patrick Hicks for putting it on my radar!)

---

The Girl on the Porch by Richard Chizmar
Expected publication: August 31st 2019 by Subterranean

From New York Times bestseller Richard Chizmar, author of Gwendy's Button Box (with Stephen King) and The Long Way Home, comes a thriller that will forever change the way you look at your neighbors and best friends...

When the Tuckers’ next door neighbor mentions someone rang their doorbell late the previous night, Sarah and Kenny Tucker check their home’s security camera and discover something shocking: the doorbell ringer also visited their house and it wasn’t a teenager playing a prank, but instead a terrified young woman with a shackle hanging from her right wrist. She anxiously pressed the doorbell again and again, glancing over her shoulder as if someone was coming for her, before giving up and taking off into the dark.

Almost overnight, she becomes known as The Girl on the Porch—and she’s everywhere. There are updates on all the local networks, national coverage on CNN and Fox News, and the video goes viral on social media. Before long, everyone has seen the harrowing security camera footage.

Kenny and Sarah figure it’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes the woman, but as the days pass and no one comes forward, odd things begin to transpire around the Tucker family: a man intensely watches them at a restaurant and then vanishes, fresh footprints appear in the garden next to their house where no one should have been, a neighbor’s pet is viciously killed and mutilated, and a mysterious man has started following their daughter Natalie...

A rollercoaster ride of compelling twists and turns, The Girl on the Porch demonstrates why Stephen King says Richard Chizmar’s writing is “powerful” and Robert McCammon calls his work “hard-hitting, spooky, suspenseful, harrowing, and heartbreaking.”

A new Richard Chizmar. What else can I say?

---

Five Midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal
Expected publication: June 4th 2019 by Tor Teen

Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución.

If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they'll have to step into the shadows to see what's lurking there—murderer, or monster?

Five Midnights is a “wickedly thrilling” (William Alexander) novel based on the el Cuco myth set against the backdrop of modern day Puerto Rico.

Five Midnights is a YA horror, and it sounds awesome! (Thank you Mogsy for putting this one on my radar!)

---

Are you planning to read any of these new or upcoming releases? What books have recently made it onto your wishlist?

Book Review | A Hawk in the Woods by Carrie Laben

A Hawk in the Woods is a horror novel by Carrie Laben.

When newscaster Abby Waite is diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness, she decides to do the logical thing… break her twin sister Martha out of prison and hit the road. Their destination is the Waite family cabin in Minnesota where Abby plans a family reunion of sorts. But when you come from a family where your grandfather frequently took control of your body during your youth, where your mother tried to inhabit your mind and suck your youthful energies out of you, and where so many dark secrets–and bodies, even–are buried, such a family meeting promises to be nothing short of complicated…

There's a lot to process in A Hawk in the Woods! I know I'll continue to think about it for quite some time. Books like this one tend to grow in my mind and in my heart as all of the pieces continue to meld together. It's a little bit like a movie you want to start back from the beginning once you have reached the end so you can experience it again knowing all of the secrets. (I'm feeling the exact same way about Jordan Peele's Us right now.)

A Hawk in the Woods is told through two different timelines. After receiving a terminal diagnosis, Abby makes plans to bust her twin sister out of prison and head back to the cabin they grew up in. One timeline chronicles Abby and Martha's childhood growing up with a mother and grandfather who were heavily involved in witchcraft and the other follows Abby and Martha in the present on their road trip home.

The multiple timelines in A Hawk in the Woods was really well done. The past and the present both managed to move the story forward, and I had trouble pulling myself away from either one.

There are story elements in A Hawk in the Woods that I love but rarely get to talk about because they are almost always spoilers. This makes it very difficult to compare A Hawk in the Woods to other books I have enjoyed. Thankfully, A Hawk in the Woods can stand on its own as an excellent debut. I can't wait to read more from Carrie Laben in the future. If you enjoy family rooted witchcraft, you are going to want to pick this one up.

⭐⭐⭐⭐★

Content warning: infant related horror; Review copy provided by publisher

Book Review | In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

In An Absent Dream is the fourth book in Seanan McGuire's fantasy series Wayward Children.

This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.

When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.

I think this one is my favorite of the series!

I'm all caught up in Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series now. I'm sad because I've been able to read four of them so close together and now I will have to wait to read the next one.

I'm not a great series reader. I burn out easily so it takes a lot for me to keep coming back to a series. I think in this case it helps that each book is so different from the last. (That and the fact that they're so good.)

I felt like there was so much allegory happening in In An Absent Dream. I would love to know what it was really about in Seanan McGuire's mind. The story was like a fairy tale, and the writing was so wonderful for me.

If you haven't started reading this series yet, just do it. I waited longer than I should have to get started.

I won't lie and say she took the story in directions I wanted it to go. I'm a little bit wrecked by this one, but also anxious to see where McGuire takes me in the next one.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐