Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff

This book was awesome. Lovecraftian horror infects two families in Chicago during 1950s Jim Crow era.  Tentacled rock monsters, a secret cult society of alchemists, mechanical clockwork space machinery, ghost mansions, demon dolls, and those aren't even the really scary parts. Set up as a collection of interrelated short stories, it makes for a really fun yet thought-provoking read. Also, I hear it is being turned into an HBO series soon!

Fun, social-commentary filled horror.

372 pages

HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

I found this on a list of the best recent horror novels and got really excited since I've been trying to find something that could truly scare me. This fell short. It started out strong, a rural town in New York keeps itself off the radar since the whole town is cursed/haunted by a witch from the 1600s. That's right, this witch, who has her eyes and mouth sewn shut as her whispers make people want to kill themselves, walks around the town, hangs out in your house, stands at the end of your bed for days, and then poofs out of there to hang out somewhere else. The town keeps track of her movements through an app. Now the teens of the town want to out the witch to the world so they can live normal teenage lives and things go haywire. This is where things take a deep downward spiral into awfulness. Great premise, but terrible follow-through.

Pages: 384