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.

THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS :: Stephen Graham Jones

Seeing a deer or horns on a cover is like seeing a horse, I'm instantly drawn and usually can't resist. When I saw the rack on The Only Good Indians, I was instantly intrigued. I've also heard good things about Stephen Graham Jones's work and had wanted to read something of his for some time. Cover gut wins again, because The Only Good Indians knocked my socks off and is my first five-star book of the year. (I don't really rate with stars, but it seems like the easiest way to get the point across that this book kicks ass.)

Lewis is of the Blackfeet Nation, but he's been off the Reservation for a decade, living happily with his white wife. One day while up on a ladder fixing a temperamental light fixture, Lewis thinks he sees a young elk through the blurry spinning blades of the fan, lying on his living room floor. "And Lewis knows for sure she’s dead. He knows because, ten years ago, he was the one who made her that way."

Jones slowly teases the events of ten years ago, though their import is abundantly clear. Lewis and his three best friends broke tribal rules and entered a hunting ground reserved for elders. In a truck no less. The details are spooled out over the course of the book, but they are sufficiently bad to feed Lewis's growing paranoia and belief that the elk has returned for revenge. As he becomes convinced those around him are the elk in disguise, things get bloodier and more horrific. Watching things spiral as the hunted becomes the hunter is a bit magical in Jones's hands. It's just brilliant on so many levels.

The story itself is a gas, and while deeper themes run all through the narrative they are never heavy-handed. Of course there is basketball, because basketball and Reservation are nearly synonymous. I love that Jones's best hoopers are female, as are the best and smartest fighters.

Jones's work is billed as horror and while I get that point, genre labels can be restrictive and keep people away. I usually don't read horror per se, but there is horror that I really enjoy. Please don't let that label keep you away if you don't think you're a horror fan. It is gritty, don't get me wrong. Gird your loins, but dig in.

STREET SENSE: What Entertainment Weekly calls "One of 2020’s buzziest horror novels” should really be billed as "One of 2020's buzziest novels." I didn't know there was buzz when I picked it up. Buzz can be misplaced. In this case it's spot on. And when this is how the author describes himself, how can you resist: "Stephen Graham Jones is a Blackfeet Native American author born and raised in Texas. An NEA Fellow, and Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Award–winning author, Jones is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder. Jones is into werewolves and slashers and zombies. If he could, he would wear pirate shirts and probably carry some kind of sword."

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: The door on Lewis’s side opened like a whisper, like fate, and when he committed his right foot down to the powdery surface that ended up being two feet deep, he just kept falling, his chin stopping a hand’s width into the powder the front tires had churned up. His forward motion never faltered, though. He crawled ahead like a soldier, pulling with his elbows, his rifle held ahead to keep the barrel clear. And—that was when the frenzy washed over him.

COVER NERD SAYS: I picked this by the cover. I have now bought all the rest of SGJ's work. I'd say that was a success. Intriguing, appropriately dark, a little creepy.

THE RETURN :: Rachel Harrison

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Rachel Harrison's horror thriller debut, The Return, is a gas. Elise, Molly and Mae are stunned when their friendship fourth, Julie, quickly marries a virtual stranger. It would have been the shock of their lives if Julie hadn't then gone missing. Exactly two years later, Julie shows up, unharmed but with no memory of what happened.

Mae sets up a reunion at the Red Honey Inn (a "pastel Frankenstein's monster" straight from "some warped fairy tale"), isolated in the Catskills. Prepared for Julie to be different, they're stunned when the strict vegetarian shows an unnerving love of meat. She's also understandably thin, but her skin has a bluish tint and "pools like melted wax."

Things head magnificently and creepily downhill. The hotel begins to smell like rot, footstep sounds abound and the televisions emit moaning sounds. Julie's condition worsens--her meat consumption becomes ravenous and she spits out teeth without care--and relationships start to fracture. With no idea what sinister corridor Harrison is heading down, there's no hope or desire but to hang on and read through dread-squinted eyes.

Harrison has a degree in writing for film and television and has worked on game shows and in publishing and finance. The Return is as thematically varied, but all the pieces fit into a terrific whole that's suspenseful to the end. "Whatever's happening now... it's going to catch up to us. It's going to grab us by the ankles and bring us down, not let us go. It's going to change us."

WATCH THE GIRLS :: Jennifer Wolfe

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is reprinted here with permission.

One can't help but become ensnared by Watch the Girls even before the first chapter opens. Starting with Jennifer Wolfe's dedication to her agent, "for liking it weird," followed by a John Updike quote, "Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face," Wolfe's nods to the odd are spot on, and the creepiness of the thriller is utterly engrossing.

Fifteen years after her youngest sister's disappearance, former teen star Olivia Hill (now Liv Hendricks) has distanced herself from her family, been fired from the Scooby-Doo-esque reality mystery show Bullsh?t Hunters and crowdfunded her own web series to explore unsolved mysteries. This lands her in the small central California town of Stone's Throw, secretly hired by local horror film auteur Jonas Kron to investigate the disappearance of several young blonde women from aptly named Dark Road just outside of town. The secluded mountain village is as quaint as it is bizarre; home to apple orchards, a film festival, a wolf sanctuary and the lore of the Ulv Konge ("Wolf King"), a nightmarish creature created by Kron.

Wolfe, who also writes YA as Jennifer Bosworth (Struck), twists together a wide spectrum of themes on an action-packed track through Crazy Town. With dark woods, missing women, eccentric locals, unsettling wolf masks, secret messages and nighttime stalkers, Watch the Girls has all the nightmare fuel of great horror movie camp mixed with an absorbing mystery. Although it strays into implausibility as Liv's past timeline converges with her present, there is no denying Girls is "nervously-eat-an-entire-box-of-cookies-without-realizing-it" good.

STREET SENSE:  Wolfe handles the mixed genres in an impressive manner and there is no doubt this is a compulsive read. Those factors help with the stretching of credibility that goes on, but if it's realism you're looking for, horror/camp-ish titles aren't your bag anyway. This one is just straight creepy fun, with some scenes that might be skip-worthy for the squeamish.

COVER NERD SAYS: I definitely appreciate the simplicity of this cover. The camera eye, along with the title, surely evoke the creepiness within. I wasn't altogether sure what girls were being watched by whom, but this cover really made me want to find out.

THE CHILDREN'S HOME :: Charles Lambert

I'm only a child but already I have understood the wickedness of the world.

I'm writing about Charles Lambert's The Children's Home because I finished it a while back and I'm still thinking about it. And I can't figure out how I feel about it. It's weird. Weird can be good. It's creepy, and creepy is often great. I'm just not certain there was enough substance to carry the weight of the creep and the weird to the finish line. The ending fell somewhat flat, and while normally that would irk me to no end, I can't say I didn't enjoy the ride. Despite feeling a bit unfulfilled, I didn't dislike the book. In fact, I actually really liked it. Which might be the weirdest thing of all.

So why did I pick up the book? Hello?! Have you seen this cover? (More on that later, but really, look):

Morgan Fletcher is a shut-in (where and when is anyone's guess), living alone in his family's mansion behind a wall erected during earlier, troubled times (of which we really get  no real description or explanation). Morgan has lived this way, without interaction from the outside world, since a disfiguring childhood incident.

Years later, a woman named Engel shows up to tend to him and the house, an idea Morgan presumes is the brainchild of his estranged sister, Rebecca, since Engel seems to know so much about him. Shortly thereafter, odd kids of all different ages start showing up on the property out of nowhere. Often creepily (as if there's any other way, but still, just to be clear):

One morning, shortly after breakfast, Morgan was standing by the drawing room window and gazing out into the garden when a square of air above the lawn seemed to ripple as though it were silk and a knife had been drawn across it, and a child appeared on the lawn and began to walk towards the house, perfectly confident, it seemed, that she would be received. As she was.

If you are watching and loving the original French version of the television series The Returned (running on Sundance and available through Netflix), then this book is probably your jam. Imagine a bunch of little Victors showing up out of nowhere and inhabiting the mysterious old house of a scarred recluse, disappearing and reappearing seemingly at will, and just when said recluse needs quiet or thinks of them.

So the kids are now part of the house, and they wander around finding weird things, sometimes seriously eerie and bizarre things, things undiscovered even by Morgan, who has lived in the house his entire life. Morgan wonders about the kids, *I* wondered about the kids. There is constant kid-wondering throughout the book:

He knew there was a mystery about these children, and not only in the nature of their arrival, but he pushed the thought aside.

There are times I think they were all together before they came here, whenever they were, wherever that was.

"It's as though they came from the air," he said.

Young David may be creepiest slash best of all. He learns to read and soon enough wants to, and does, teach the others, regardless of their age. Then they start studying Morgan's library. David constantly references something foreboding, something he wants to "be a surprise." He is the source of passages like this:

Why should I have spoken to David? With a sense of fear he couldn't understand, he wondered, And what would David have said? Do I need David's consent before I do things? Who is he? What does he want from me? 

A moan of disappointment rose from the backseat, but David turned round swiftly and hushed them. "He's right. Not yet," he said. "We're still not ready." "Ready for what?" said Morgan. David was normally so patient. But this time he said, "How many times must you ask and not be told before you stop? Why can't you just wait?"

The Doctor shivered as David reached into the pram and gathered something in his arms. The children sighed with pleasure and the Doctor gave a short, involuntary cry, like a bark, which sounded to him as though it had come from someone else, from somewhere close by. David was clutching a severed head to his chest.

Intrigued now, aintcha? Just wait until David starts saying, "The time will come. You'll see."

The the men in the black car show up. OMINOUS. I really had little clue what was going on. I'm still not sure I have a clue what was going on. But the story and the writing were so atmospheric, and the ambiance of menace hung about so wonderfully, and the arc of magical realism was just so funnily bizarre that I'm not sure I mind as much as I would normally.

I marked a ton of passages and still enjoy them so much I can't narrow them down to quote a few here. As I read each one for this review, I thought, "Oh yeah, that was great, but what in the ever-loving hell WAS IT and how do I explain it?" There is an ending, though I'm not sure what exactly it was. I'm not selling this very well, am I? I'm not sure I should be. And yet it was kind of awesome, and I want someone to read this and tell me that they don't get it either but they liked it as much as I did. So, someone get on that, eh?

STREET SENSE: I'm not even sure what to say here, other than I read this book several weeks ago and it is still the cause of curiosity for me. I have enjoyed reading over the passages and being reminded of the feelings I had when I read it. Confusion, angst, anticipation, more confusion. If you like atmospheric, creepy reads, get on this one. Then explain it to me.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: He imagined himself the dirty secret at the heart of the world, the overlooked madwoman raving in the attic of a house that occupied everything there was, each brick and pane and board, the wondering prince in the hair-filled mask of iron he had dreamt of as a boy and never been able to forget.

COVER NERD SAYS:  I was sold from the cover of this one before I knew the first thing about the plot (which is about the same as I know now - bazinga!). I can't even really describe how much and why I love this cover. It's so evocative of danger and violence, yet also artistic and beautiful. A mix of natural and man-made with a hint of devastation rolled in. It also reminds me of this picture I took of some burned bushes near my house, which were both ugly in their burned devastation and beautiful where the burnt ashy skin had broken and the new red surface was showing through. I think I'd best go before you all find out I'm as weird as this book.

A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS :: Paul Tremblay

Lock up your siblings and hide under the covers, this one's a corker. If you're a fan of spooky creepy and/or psychological suspense, Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts is your spirit book (no pun intended). The story is told from three perspectives - present day 23-year-old Meredith "Merrie" Barrett sharing the story of her childhood with best-selling author Rachel Neville, flashbacks to the horror that befell the Barrett family fifteen years ago (where we spend most of our time), and mysterious blog posts detailing the events and the reality show that chronicled them. It's a catalog of perspectives, none of which can be counted on as reliable, which only heightens the sense of dread and apprehension Tremblay aptly creates.

The trouble begins at a difficult time. John Barrett has lost his long-time job, and the financial pressures are putting a strain on his marriage as his wife Sarah tries to hold everything together. Fourteen-year-old Marjorie and eight-year-old Merry cope as best they can, Marjorie often setting aside her teenage ways and "closed-door policy" to tell stories to Merry.

But Marjorie's stories begin to turn dark, and her behavior soon follows. She tells Merry "green growing things" are going to take over the world and everyone will die. She claims her possessions rearrange themselves in her room while she sleeps, speaks in voices, and rages about the ghosts she hears in her head, how there are too many and she can't escape them.

It's apparent to everyone Marjorie is having a psychological break. Or is she?

Psychiatry and medication don't help and Marjorie's behavior worsens. It gets louder, scarier, more physical, and more pronounced, along with the family fractures. All the while, Marjorie is giving Merry mixed messages, on one hand claiming she's faking, while on the other hand warning Merry to remember her stories in order to save herself.

I said, "It's okay. But you'll get better, right? Then we'll tell normal stories, like we used to. It'll be fun."
"No. You have to remember the story about the two sisters. You have to remember all my stories because there are - there are all these ghosts filling my head and I'm just trying to get them out, but you have to remember the story about the two sisters especially. Okay? You have to. Please say, 'Okay.'"
Marjorie was just a shadow on the bed. She could've been a pile of blankets, twisted and discarded. I couldn't see her eyes or her spaghetti-sauce-stained chin.
When I didn't answer her, she screamed as though she were being attacked; so loud it lifted my feet off the floor and pushed me backwards.
"Say, 'Okay,' Merry! Say it!"
I didn't. And I ran out of the room.

John begins taking solace in religion; praying for guidance and spending much of his time at the local church. Becoming more and more convinced Marjorie is possessed by an evil spirit, he seeks the counsel of Father Wanderly. At desperate ends financially, the Barretts agree to let The Discovery Channel come into their home and film the family trying to cope with Marjorie's condition, including a planned exorcism.

Things get downright crazypants in the Barrett house, and A House Full of Ghosts grabbed me and held me pretty well captive. Tremblay had me fully engaged and tense as hell trying to get to the resolution, which was a true gut-puncher and turned the book into something special. Tremblay did a fantastic job keeping me guessing, trying to figure out which character's voice to believe, especially when they all seemed a bit off their respective rockers at various times. I doubted Marjorie, I doubted Merry, I doubted everyone. Well done.

There were a few snags. I found the blog posts truly annoying. A decent premise utilized to provide a "third eye" view and recap of the reality show aired during "the troubles," they failed in the execution. Obviously written by an adult (they discuss patriarchy and urtext), they sound like they were written like a tween on speed, mixing in all caps, line outs, childish snark, and cringe-worthy vocabulary like "for realsies." It helped there were only three of them, but one dropped a major plot point (a spoiler, if there can be such a thing within the book being spoiled) as a seeming afterthought.

Adult Merry also had a strange way of communicating that left me a bit cold. I loved Merry as an 8-year-old, but had something of a disconnect with 23-year-old  Merry. Grown Merry uses the term "physical artifacts" when discussing books and muses (three times) over the possibility that she is "conflating" her memories with all of the urban legends, media coverage and pop culture references she's been bombarded with over the years. This disconnect may have been intentional, as Merry is obviously a bit messed up from the events of her childhood and has turned into something of a recluse. My reaction may have been what was intended by the author, but I was sorry for that disconnect.

Overall, I thought A Head Full of Ghosts was a terrific read and a fantastic mix of genres. I don't read much "horror" and a book including an exorcism wouldn't normally be in my wheelhouse. But Tremblay has written a story so full of questions and doubt you're never sure what it's going to turn into and I loved that feeling. While potentially clunky in less able hands, I thought the author handled the mix seamlessly, and this is one of my favorite reads from the first half of the year.

STREET SENSE: If you like scary movies, psychological suspense, potentially unreliable narration, family drama, thrillers and/or sympathetic characters, A Head Full of Ghosts is for you. Doesn't leave many of you out, does it? It's an engrossing page-turner for sure, and will more than likely keep you on the edge of your seat until the end takes the air out of you. While it does likely fit the horror genre, it's not gory horror (though there was one brief tidbit that squicked me a bit, and I'm a tough sell), so not to worry if that's not your thing.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  There was a lot to like about Tremblay's writing and I'm going to pick two, one to give you a flavor for the book and the other just because I love the line:

My cardboard house's outer walls, the windowsill flower boxes, the slate roof, and even the chimney, were scarred with detailed vines and leaves drawn in sharp black outlines and colored in green with Magic Marker. Her growing things choked my house. In the window was a piece of paper with two Richard Scarrey-style cats drawn so they were peering out of the window and at me. The cats were sisters. The bigger sister wore a gray hooded sweatshirt and looked ill, her eyes glassy and droopy lidded. The little sister was wide-eyed, determined, and had glasses on.
I got out of bed quickly and didn't wake Mom. I plucked the picture out of the window. Written on the bottom was the following:

There's nothing wrong with me, Merry. Only my bones want to

grow through my skin like the growing things and pierce the world.

* * *

"I won't, sweetie. I promise" Her promise wasn't a real one. It was simply the dot at the end of her sentence.

COVER NERD SAYS: This cover did a lot to win me over, including the fact that it took me a minute to figure it out. Once I did, there was no way I wasn't reading the book. I love the image and the palette, but most of all I love the rotation, which is something I haven't seen very often. Very well done.