TWO-CENT TUESDAY

Below are a few (somewhat) brief $.02 opinions about books I've read or listened to recently but don't have the opportunity to review in full. Many of these titles I enjoyed as much or more than those that got the full court press. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack if they strike your fancy whether they struck mine or not.

STAY AWAKE, by Megan Goldin

This was such a fun and different read. Liv Reese wakes in the back of a taxi with no idea how she got there. When she's dropped at home, a stranger answers and claims to have never heard of her. Liv is further confused by the bloody knife in her possession and the strange writing on her body. One of the messages says "Stay awake." She's then shocked by a news story about a bloody murder in a condo. The horrifying part? Written across the window in blood, for everyone outside to see, are the words "Stay awake." Liv can't trust anyone so she runs, tries to avoid sleep (every time she wakes she has once again erased her memory of the last two years), and figure out what happened to erase so much of her life. A race against the cops and evil forces ensues that kept me sitting with this book 'til I finished. A fun concept cleverly written, I recommend this one to anyone who wants a few hours of escapism.

WE SPREAD, by Iain Reid

This fantastic cover would have made me pick this up even if Reid hadn't exploded my brain with I'm Thinking of Ending Things a few years back. We Spread gave me similar creepy feelings of horror and the unknown as I read it, but it was also much different. Penny has lived in the same apartment for decades with her unnamed partner, an artist. She herself is a painter, but does not have the confidence to show anyone her work. After her partner dies and she has a fall, Penny's landlord packs her up and takes her to Six Cedars, a unique care facility that has only four rooms and two staff members. The food is good, the views beautiful, the care detailed. But the schedule is strict, the rules plenty, and no one is allowed to go outside. As strange things begin to happen to Penny, she questions how she ended up at Six Cedars and what the intent behind the "care" really is. Reid does spooky ambiguity better than just about anyone and We Spread is full of it. Ultimately, it's either a creepy tale of the horrors of elder care, or a heartrending look into aging and losing what one used to be.

I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS :: Iain Reid

"How do we know when something is menacing?"

Holy cats. Iain Reid's I'm Thinking of Ending Things borrowed my brain, melted it, and almost didn't give it back again. This atmospheric creepfest conjured up great visceral reactions reminiscent of two other similar favorites of mine: Josh Malerman's Bird Box and Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts. Totally different books/stories, but the same masterful grasp and gradual throttling of the reader until you're struggling to take a breath and don't want to for fear it will be overheard and SHIT WILL GO DOWN, YO.

Ahem. This debut novel is hands down one of my favorite reads this year. As soon as I finished I wanted to go right back to the beginning and start over again, fleshing out all the little details I'd missed or not realized the significance of the first time through. I also realize this one is likely not for everyone. While I'm not a fan of labels, I'd say if you're into psychological suspense/mindfuckery, run to your nearest bookseller and grab a copy. It's only 224 pages, but it packs a wallop like a 600-page tome.

The premise, what bare bones I'm going to give you of it, is deceptively simple: Jake and his somewhat recent girlfriend are on a road trip to visit his folks at the rural farmhouse where he grew up. The genius is not in the premise, but in the dastardly, stomach-knotting execution. This is the novelized version of the most perfect suspense film you can imagine, the one that has you continually on tenterhooks from your state of elevated unease.

I knew little about this one going in, which was the perfect way to read this book, I think. I had my own blind idea about what the title meant. And I was wrong. And right. And wrong again. Nothing is that simple in this little package of unease.

The farmhouse is a mind-bend in and of itself, and I swear I held my breath through the entire visit. I just read a passage in another book (Noah Hawley's fantastic Before the Fall) which spoke to a horror movie being at its best when it takes a normal scene and imbues it with silence, letting our own minds fill in with suspense and anticipation. Reid worked my nerves this way like a master violinist on a Stradivarius.

You'll find yourself questioning what in the ever-loving hell is going on through most of this book, yet Reid gives you enough line to hang onto that you don't even mind dangling over the precipice. I rarely reread books, but I'm anxious to go back through this one, because I think it was put together masterfully. I'm all-in for Reid's next work.

STREET SENSE:  I highly recommend I'm Thinking of Ending Things to fans of psychological suspense who enjoy a sense of unease along with a bucketful of "what the fuck?!" The fun of this book was being kept wondering just how I was being manipulated.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  The opening passage. I was hooked:

I'm thinking of ending things.
Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It dominates. There's not much I can do about it. Trust me. It doesn't go away. It's there whether I like it or not. It's there when I eat. When I go to bed. It's there when I sleep. It's there when I wake up. It's always there. Always.
I haven't been thinking about it for long. The idea is new. But it feels old at the same time. When did it start? What if this thought wasn't conceived by me, but planted in my mind, predeveloped? Is an unspoken idea original? Maybe I've actually known all along. Maybe this is how it was always going to end.

COVER NERD SAYS: This was one of my favorite covers of the year before I even read the book, so I was very happy that the insides were just as good. I love everything about this cover, which is almost as "WTF?" as the innards. It portends a wild ride, and it's spot on, even if the prose is more slow suspense than full of speed.