Harleen by Stjepan Sejic

We really don't get a lot of storylines about Dr. Harleen Quinzel before she becomes Harley Quinn. I loved the way this comic portrayed the progression of her character from genuinely wanting to help the patients in Arkham Asylum to becoming one herself. The Joker is also brilliantly shown in his madness and egocentrism, without stealing the spotlight of Harleen. The artwork overall is colorful, but also dark enough to be creepy.

This is a great comic for Harley Quinn fans.

208 pages

Hunting Annabelle

Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a delicious and mysterious psychological thriller by a debut author, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

This story will have you second-guessing every character and every event that occurs from start to finish. There’s so much suspense that it deserves all 5 of the dark, twisty, and murderous stars that I awarded it.

Here are my 10 favorite things about it, with no spoilers:

1. This is Dexter level on the murderously creepy scale.

2. I love a potentially unreliable narrator, especially when I desperately want him to be somewhat reliable but can’t be sure if he actually ever is or not.

3. It’s so layered and nuanced. I feel like I need to go back and read it again right now, so I probably will. I want to take everything in again, since so much happened so fast.

4. Heard does some amazing things with description. I feel like I’m right there seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling, and hearing it all.

5. The characterization is so complicated and fascinating.

6. The mom. Wow. She’s something else. Talk about an intense side character.

7. The audiobook is also amazing, and I love the narrator, Tim Chiou. I wish he would narrate more books.

8. Talk about kicking a character when he is down…repeatedly. There are no easy fixes or lazy solutions in this story. Sean just has to cross all of the muck to get to the other side, and it just keeps getting deeper.

9. Here’s what it felt like to read this one: “Okay, I know exactly what is happening now”. . . twist. . . “So I was wrong before but now I’ve got it”. . . Twist. . .” I’m pretty sure”. . . twist. . . “It just has to be”. . . twist. . .”Oh, my God! It’s totally”. . . twist. WTF???

10. The cover is perfection. I adore it. I have some bookmarks, and I really want to cut one of them apart to highlight book quotes from this novel between the title, kind of like the cover. That may happen.

As far as I’m concerned, this book is A+ from start to finish, and you should all go out and snatch it up for some murdery holiday reading (come on, we all know how you really feel about those in-laws).

It would also make a great present for your favorite book nerd friends, your least favorite family members, and all frenemies. Books like this can be a great way to say, “Hey, everything is fine. I just might want to murder you today,” or even, “I swear, I’m not trying to frame you. Mostly.” ;)

Pages: 336

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

 The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Pages: 182
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An atmospheric tale of a psychological suspense. A professor studying psychic phenomenon invites people who have experienced a psychic event once in their lives to spend the summer with him at Hill House, which is rumored to be haunted. The house is avoided by the townspeople who live in the valley below and the housekeeper and caretaker won't stay on the property after dark. Is the house really haunted or is it just the power of suggestion?

The book is short, but the detail and build-up to the scary moments may take to long for some readers. I enjoyed it, but a friend found it boring.

The 1963 film The Haunting is a great film version of the book but the 1999 remake should be avoided.

The current Netflix mini series, The Haunting of Hill House, uses the setting, character names and some direct quotes from the book, but weaves it's own story of psychological suspense, this time with a family as the people living in the house. Netflix definitely got the Gothic, creepy atmosphere and music right. I enjoyed this version as well.

House by Frank E. Peretti and Ted Dekker

 House (Books of History Chronicles)
by Frank E. Peretti and Ted Dekker
Pages: 368
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Two writers of supernatural thrillers with a Christian viewpoint join forces for this haunting story of the darkness inside all of us.

Two couples are stranded on a back-roads highway in the middle of the woods in rural Alabama. Separately, each couple arrives at the only shelter for miles. An unassuming house in the middle of nowhere inhabited by an elderly couple and their adult son. Unfortunately, the family does not have a phone to call for help and their is no cell reception. They all sit down to supper together when they are locked inside the house a psychotic killer. He loves to play games and this one will be over at dawn.

This story had it's scary moments, a few moments of the characters personal discovery and some internal soul-searching, but I think it could have been something more. Each of the four main characters has some trauma from their past to face as well as mistakes and sins to own up too. But there just isn't enough time given for the characters to face both their psychological demons and spiritual demons as well as the physical ones that are the eminent threat in the house. The ending felt rushed to me and as a fan of both writers previous works, it was a disappointment. 

My friends who enjoy really creepy traditional horror wouldn't like the psychological and spiritual components of this book and it is not religious enough for my friends who only read Christian fiction to enjoy.

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

 The Pillowman
by Martin McDonagh
Pages: 104
Rating: 3 out of 5

This script is not for the faint of heart. There is darkness present from the very beginning in the interrogation room of the police station, but the psychological twists and turns only get deeper as the suspect reveals the inspiration for his writing and discovers how his writing is tied to a number of child-murders in his town.

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

Summary: "A writer in a totalitarian state is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders that are happening in his town." - Amazon

This play will stay with me.  It's dark, twisted, and a fascinating commentary on humanity's art and actions.  

That's all I have.

4/5

72 pages

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I typically really enjoy stories about antiheroes or with unreliable narrators, but there was a stretch at the start of this book when I considered DNF-ing the book (which I confess I had done once before). In the end, I’m glad that I didn’t. The story has a very slow start, so it’s not until about 15% in that things started to happen. Even after that, it took a bit longer for the pace to really pick up enough to create intrigue and suspense.

Then a friend told me that she was shocked by how the story worked out, and after that, I couldn’t quit guessing and second guessing how it would all work out in the end, which helped keep me invested in the rest of the story. By the end, I had suspected and accused almost everyone and everything.

In fact, I kept texting guesses to my friend, which start out reasonable and then quickly become ridiculous. So for fun, I’ll share them all below in order. If you hate SPOILERS, please don’t read ahead, as I don’t want any of my predictions to impact how you read and view the story. It’s best to approach this story with no information or preconceptions.

Book 138 read in 2018

Pages: 323

The Predictions in Chronological Order:

The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen

The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story is absolutely demented, so I obviously enjoyed it.

This is also the perfect example of how my refusal to read book summaries and book blurbs out of an absolute dislike for even the tiniest and mildest of spoilers contributes to me sometimes selecting books that end up being absolutely nothing like I expected them to be. That's just the price that must be paid by someone who likes to go into every story as unaware of the content and storyline as possible. (Sorry to all the people who spend endless, painful hours writing perfect book summaries and book blurbs that I will never, ever read, but you can't change me. I'm committed to a preference for full ignorance when it comes to starting a new book).

So, basically, I saw a bright blue and yellow cover with fireflies and expected a potentially whimsical story about long summer nights or some such enchanting nonsense. But that's not at all what I got.

The first two chapters alone imply 4 different kinds of child abuse, and all kinds of neurotic psychosis. Plus, there's the whole super creepy setting, and then, there are some majorly epic twists that occur, throughout, that just make this story and world even more insane.

This is an intense, unusual read that is unexpected at all times. That's what I like about it. The actual content and feasibility are all questionable. Many characters make many poor decisions that I still don't understand, but that adds to the intrigue. This is one shocking, psychological, mess of a story, so I couldn't look away.

Book 106 read in 2018

Pages: 338

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware is a modern twisty, psychological thriller.

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Nora hasn't seen her best friend, Clare, since she fled their college town ten years earlier. Now, she's invited to a hen party (England's version of a bachelorette weekend) for Clare in a cabin in the woods. Nora debates about going and stirring up the past. She is happy being single and living in her tiny apartment in London while writing for a living and rarely seeing anyone. But another school friend living in London contacts her and they decide if they both go, it can't be that bad, right?

But secrets from the party members past are slowly revealed. It's not until the end of the book that all the story is revealed and the reader finds out who really did what, who said what and who survives the weekend.

Pages: 352