A review by thequeenoftoads
Gothic by Philip Fracassi

5.0

From the outset Gothic has all the promise of being the good 'old fashioned horror' that it's claiming to be: the cover, the title, synopsis, and even the author's name. It had so much promise and then gave me exactly what I wanted.
This is horror. (That isn't to say that horror doesn't come in a variety of forms but I for one am very tired of thrillers being marketed as horror and flooding the market). It does what it says it will and hit all those sweet spots: a writer, a mysterious object that might be cursed/possessed/something else, and mystery. There was only one weird references to boobs (but a little too much fat shaming). It's easily comparable to the likes of Herbert, Laymon, Saul and John Carpenter (I have an overwhelming urge to re-watch At the Mouth of Madness after reading this).

My biggest gripe is that it moved too quickly. I would have preferred a slower decline into madness, a little more resistance. I would have liked

Spoiler

Sarah to have punched him in his stupid face, walked out, and pressed charges

.

All in all it did what it promised and I will be reading more of his work in the future (I'd also like to read Black Altar, but alas...)

I read this as an arc from Netgalley.