Reviews

Three Masquerades by Rachel Ingalls

shagdalen's review

challenging funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

alex_kies's review

The cover and Daniel Handler both suck, but Rachel Ingalls doesn't.

2kerrymehome's review

5.0

a TREASURE of dark situational comedy (/horror? thriller? so fun to be between genres) and you would never believe it reading the first third of any of these novellas. I love how the characters are placed in uncomfortable situations and forced into decision making that reflects their own deeper insecurities and inconsistencies. I love that the weirdos Rachel Ingalls concocts are more logical than the point of view characters.

yoonahbrow's review against another edition

5.0

Beautifully creepy.

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

5.0

Rachel Ingalls is a genius, and I bow down before her skill. All of these stories start out relatively normal and escalate into true horror-inducing eeriness. (Horror as in the old gothic term) I also love how she writes women. Her main characters are the genuinely realistic and layered "Strong Women" people claim they want and then are absolutely savage toward.

mercourier's review against another edition

3.0

The first novella: meh. Second novella: *shudders*. Third novella: unexpected terror.
This woman is a mash-up of Jennifer Egan, Shirley Jackson and Stephen King.

theperfecthour's review against another edition

5.0

Three Masquerades is an excellent series of novellas about the terror of being trapped. It was an awful but apt choice to finish during the month of our quarantine (April 2020). Although the first two novellas unnerved me, I didn't even break a sweat reading On Ice. Being a young woman stuck in a hotel with a bunch of dull ladies of a certain age? That's always been my life!