Supernatural Horror and Adults

Trussoni, D. (2020).  The ancestor . New York: William Morrow. Inheriting a noble title, money and a castle in Italy, sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it? Well for Alberta “Bert” Monte, it’s just become a reality. With the chance to escape her stressful New York life she takes the plunge. However, Bert soon discovers that her family has a dark and complicated past. As she begins to unravel the secrets of her ancestors, she soon realizes that her true inheritance doesn’t lay in simple treasures, but in her very genes. While the story does begin with a little exposition, the author hasn’t hunkered down the story with too many details to be considered boring, and they even manage to make a few pieces of paper seem fascinating. Sadly, there is no horror present in the small sample I did read, but I still came away with a sense of suspense and mystery, already beginning to feel somewhat attached to the main character – Bert. Though the pacing could have been a little quicker, an...

Ripley, R. (2021). Shadows' end . When retired Marine Corps sergeant Shane Ryan and his friends are forced to fend off a supernatural attack at a nearby orphanage, he plans to destroy the person responsible for the terror and carnage caused. There’s a problem though, the one behind the attack is a deranged young boy who had gained the ability to command restless spirits of the dead, and the only way to stop him…is to kill him. Can Shane bring himself to do what must be done? For the first few paragraphs the story seems normal, then the character we’re following – Sally – discovers someone has shaved off all her hair. From there it’s a rollercoaster of questions, uncertainty and then the boy and a ghost appear. The eeriness of the way the boy talks about tests and experiments combined with the sudden death of Sally at the hands of the ghost really help set the tone for the rest of the story. The only downside was when the main character – Shane – talked a lot like some 80’s action m...

Duga, L. (2021).  Ghost in the Headlights . Scholastic Inc. Brianna Jenson has just moved in with her uncle Shale in rural Pennsylvania. Every afternoon, when she walks home from school, as the sun begins to set, she can hear footsteps behind her. Yet when she turns to look, there’s no one there. Then a car races along the narrow country road, headlights blinding as it almost runs her over, but there’s no one driving. As she digs into the past of Shadowrun Road, she discovers a tragedy that was never resolved. Can Brianna unravel this ghostly mystery before it’s too late? A disappointing and cliché start right off the bat, with the main character – Brianna – being startled awake, forgetting where she is and then going into a long explanation on why she’s there; this is just a cheap scare in movie format. And the long explanation? The first rule of writing – always show, don’t tell, otherwise, it’s just a boring information dump that could’ve been spread throughout the story. I don’...

Martin, N. (2021). Dark Solstice. Hey there, name’s Fergie Thompson, I’m just like any other man living in Northern Ireland…that is until my dead dad-in-law’s ghost shows up and says I need to kill a witch to save my ex-wife from being sacrificed to summon some great evil. Just like that, with nothing but a bottle of Buckfast wine and the ability to swing a Hurly stick, I’m pulled into a world of witchcraft, murderous ghosts, and cosmic horrors in a desperate struggle to save our wee tow, maybe even the whole world. Not too sure what to do about saving the ex-wife though…she probably can take care of herself. Saying I was merely sceptical with the idea of humour mixing with supernatural horror in writing is an understatement, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out how wrong I was. The bland/dry humour that one would expect to find in Northern Ireland truly came to light in the writing. Thanks to the story being in first-person with the main character being Irish, there is so. M...

Katsu, A. (2020).  The Deep . New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. Everyone knows the tragedy of the Titanic, the lack of boats and organization leading to the deaths of over one-thousand-five-hundred people, including one a man named Mark Fletcher. So, when a survivor named Annie Hebbley is working on the Titanic’s sister ship - the Britannic - discovers the unconscious body of Mark Fletcher, it’s defiantly something to be alarmed about. The author’s writing style is not unique, it dips in and out of the main character’s mind and their surroundings. This is normally the very first sign of good writing, but rarely is that the case as many let other aspects of their story fall into the shadows – such as grammar and coherent plotlines - while trying to focus on this one particular attribute. This is not the case here, however, yet I was unable to find any figurative language that stood out. Don’t get me wrong, they’re there, they just don’t have that wow factor that other books do.

Miller, K. (2021).  Don't Tell a Soul . New York: Delacorte Press. Louth, a tiny town on the Hudson River – seemingly quaint, yet, like all with everything in the world things are not as they seem. Bram wants to disappear, so that’s where she goes to live with her uncle, James. But the town is plagued by a dark past and the manor Bram now calls home may just well hide the darkest of them all, something the local legends call: the Dead Girls. In the first paragraph, the author made an interesting impression with the use of alliteration and commands your attention from there. My greatest weakness is a well-written story in the first person, many can write in the third person and do it justice, but to do so from the first takes true skill. The opening is rather grim and eerie, yet the author has also made such detailed descriptions seem enchanting. The reader is left with many questions by the end of the first chapter, egging them on to read more.