The Bottom Line: A psychic thriller that ranks among King’s best. Stephen King’s latest thriller The Institute is in no way a sequel to Dr. Sleep (which itself was a sequel to The Shining), but thematically speaking, it’s a close cousin. As in Dr. Sleep, villains with terrifying psychic powers are hell bent on leveraging […]
The Bottom Line: Original, audacious and raw. A truly dark treat for fans of the serial killer genre. Russell Pisarek, the budding killer at the heart of The Bedwetter, is truly in a class of his own. Should Lee Allen Howard’s The Bedwetter be adapted for TV, the money line in the series trailer will surely be, […]
The Bottom Line: Atmospheric and engrossing, Damned is a perfect read for fans of gothic paranormal fiction. The first entry in the Magnus Blackwell series takes place on an island off the coast of Maine, more than a century after the series prequel. Architect Will Bennett has purchased Altmover Manor as a surprise for his […]
The Bottom Line: A gritty tour-de-force medical thriller that showcases both the wonders and horror of 20th-century medicine. One of the year’s best thrillers. The Madhouse is the story of New Orleans native Alex Gage, who struggles out of poverty to become not only a respected psychiatrist, but also an aspiring reformist. The story begins […]
The Bottom Line: Magical, mysterious, sensual and utterly profound. One of the year’s best thrillers. When the dying star of a famous performance troupe goes missing right before show time, her standby, Miriam, prepares to take her place in the performance. As is their custom, Dune, the troupe’s leader, hypnotizes her before the curtain rises. […]
The Bottom Line: Although not officially a part of King’s Mr. Mercedes series, there’s enough left of the original trilogy’s magic here for one more good story. King’s marriage of the police procedural and horror genres pays off once again. In The Outsider, a small town is rocked when a longtime little league baseball coach is […]
The Bottom Line: Horror fans will find a treasure trove of supernatural surprises in Daniel Barnett’s Longreave. Set in a hotel called Longreave, situated in the fictional Atlantic seaboard town of Manxfield, author Daniel Barnett delivers plenty of creepy ambiance, especially when he introduces Mark Currier, a man who is picking up the pieces after […]
The Bottom Line: Mr. Cavallo’s talent at balancing the gritty world of policing with the seemingly mystical world of the occult makes for a study in contrasts that will make you want Diana on another case ASAP. Frank Cavallo’s Rites of Azathoth throws readers into the world of FBI criminal profiler Diana Mancuso. She’s retired […]
The Bottom Line: A serial killer reckons with supernatural adversaries in this cleverly plotted horror novel. James Dalrymple’s dark thriller focuses around the night up-and-coming attorney Daniel Monson’s life changes forever. On his way home from work, he nearly runs over a woman on the road – or so he thinks. To his surprise, the […]
The Bottom Line: A chilling erotic horror novel about demonic possession and the decay of the American south. Trent St. Germain’s The Incubus and the Others revolves around the Laneharts, an aristocratic family based in a 200-year-old former cotton plantation in Louisiana. After the death of the family patriarch, the Lanehart siblings return home for […]
