⭐⭐⭐ I went into Camp Blaze expecting a grimy, over-the-top slasher and, to be fair, that’s exactly what it delivers. Unfortunately, it rarely feels like it wants to be anything beyond that. The entire novel leans so heavily into shock value that it starts to feel repetitive long before the ending arrives. Every brutal scene … Continue reading Blood, Screams, and Not Much Else
⭐⭐⭐ I’m always up for anything involving zombies or virus outbreaks, so The Splits by M.V Clark immediately felt like something right up my street. It has that kind of premise that promises tension, collapse, and all the messy human reactions that come with it—and going in, I was expecting to really get pulled into … Continue reading A Strong Premise That Doesn’t Quite Stick the Landing
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ There’s something ridiculously satisfying about going back to a book you already know you love and finding out it still completely holds up—and that’s exactly what happened with my reread of Relic. Honestly, if anything, I think I enjoyed it more this time around.It’s easy to forget just how tightly put together this book … Continue reading A Relic Worth Returning To: Pendergast Steals the Show
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I went into My Sister, the Serial Killer expecting something a bit louder, a bit more overtly shocking. The title kind of dares you to brace yourself for blood, chaos, and brutality. But what Oyinkan Braithwaite actually delivers is something far more unsettling—and, honestly, far more impressive.This isn’t a story that lingers on the … Continue reading Cleaning Up After Her
⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is my second read-through of Meg by Steve Alten, the first being about ten years ago. Back then, I gave it a full five stars without hesitation. It was fast, exciting, and exactly the kind of over-the-top creature feature I loved. Coming back to it now, with a bit more reading experience under … Continue reading A Big, Dumb, Bloody Good Time (With a Few Cracks Showing)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I went into The Judge’s House expecting a quick, slightly dusty Victorian ghost story, and what I got was something far more quietly unsettling than I anticipated. It’s short, sure, but Stoker absolutely understands how to make brevity work in his favour here. There’s no wasted space, no meandering setup — just an atmosphere … Continue reading Judgement Without a Jury
⭐⭐ I really wanted to like The North Woods, but by the time I finished it, I mostly felt tired and a bit let down. The biggest issue for me is the pacing. The story takes an absolute age to get going. There’s a lot of scene-setting, atmosphere-building, and slow circling around ideas, which isn’t … Continue reading A Long Walk Nowhere
There’s a particular kind of unease that creeps in when you realise the monster (or antagonist, the terms are often interchangeable) isn’t lying, and everyone else is. Not because the monster is gentle or fair or deserving of sympathy, but because it never pretends to be anything other than what it is. The fear doesn’t … Continue reading When the Monster Is the Most Honest Character
Jack Mercer had been on the road since dusk, running a long-haul job that took him across a stretch of desert most truckers avoided when they could. The route wasn’t unsafe so much as unnerving. It had no towns for miles, no reliable radio signals, no lights except the ones you carried with you. Some … Continue reading The Thing By Mile Marker 19
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ T. Kingfisher’s What Moves the Dead quietly unsettles you rather than going for big shocks, and that’s exactly where it shines. A retelling of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, it keeps the bones of the original story but dresses them in something far stranger, funnier, and biologically grotesque. The atmosphere is … Continue reading A Creepy, Clever Reimagining That Gets Under Your Skin
Gareth Ellis - Author 