Tag Archives: Book Review

Review for Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around The House

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Josh’s novella collection, Spin A Black Yarn, was one of my favorite books of last year. I read it in two days. I talk about it enough that my wife has told me to stop.

When I got the Netgalley approval, I didn’t know what I was getting into. It took me to some places—not the places I wanted to go—and scared me. I would have read it in a day, but I needed breaks from the seriously freaky things happening.

I have been afraid of closets since I was a kid. I don’t know why, and I can never say it. My wife doesn’t get it. I don’t like them. If you’re like me, this book is for you. If you’re not, then it’s still the book for you.

It opens with a little girl, Bella. Her parents are having issues. They have parties all the time, and something is haunting her. The Other Mommy is not like the one from Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. It’s a terrifying descent into a family dealing with something traumatic happening to their kid as they deal with their lives.

Josh is very good at traumatic experiences. He writes Bella so well. We watch her struggle through the fear of Other Mommy, not knowing when she’ll pop up or be at the end of the bed. This is a story that would do well as a screenplay.

I set the book down numerous times because of what was happening—the story’s imagery. The description of Other Mommy is something out of my childhood nightmares. I knew something would come out of the closet. I felt it as a kid.

Josh captures a child’s fear in this story: the fear of the Other Mommy, what’s going on with her parents, and not knowing how to make the Other Mommy go away.

It’s been a while since I felt a child’s fear in a story, but Josh does it quickly in this one.

The ending and the lead-up to the ending were unexpected but worked well for the story.

Review for Horror Movie By Paul Tremblay

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I write my reviews a bit differently than other writers. I try to find a comp book. I beat myself up while reading this one over it. Then, toward the end of the book, it hit me.

I read Grin Of The Dark By Ramsay Campbell a few years ago. I came to my horror journey late, and it was the first book of his I had read. It’s a weird book about a man searching for a film he remembered. It is a story about a clown who once existed. As most of Mr. Campbell’s books do, it takes some dark and surreal turns.

It’s still one of my favorite books. This trope of found footage is done all of the time in books. Kiersten White’s Mister Magic does it very well. That’s also one of my favorite reviews.

The Horror Movie feels like a bit of The Blair Witch, maybe some of Hell House LLC and other found-footage books and movies. But Mr. Campbell’s book was my first introduction to this in a novel, at least where it’s done well.

I often looked back at my memories of Grin Of The Dark when it clicked. It’s done so well and has a different take on the sub-genre that it blew me away.

I said on Threads, “You all are not ready for this book.” I stand by that. Having read all but two of Paul’s books, this felt different. Maybe he was experimenting a little, testing a few new things. It’s nothing like Cabin or Head Full Of Ghosts.

I feel this is Paul Tremblay trying out a few new things. I can’t get into them without spoiling so much of a great horror novel. The found-footage aspect of this story isn’t so much in your face as it is in Mister Magic or movies like Blair Witch or Hell House LLC. It’s a more subtle take on the genre itself.

I was uncomfortable a few times while reading it. That goes to the author’s ability to craft such a fantastic piece of art.

It’s an uncomfortable story about a kid who experienced something terrible while filming a movie when he was younger. The story then revolves around that kid working on a remake/reboot of the film that was never finished. Some aspects of the story are out there. It’s a great story, and I’ll purchase one on day one.

Paul is one of my favorite authors, and while not all of his books have hit it out of the park for me, this one did.