connorjdaley's reviews
1154 reviews

Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books/Macmillan Audio for this one. I received the audio, of which there were multiple narrators, each doing a different POV that kind of felt like Scooby Doo to me (for adults, and in a good way). This is a first for me from the author. 

This is a novella that features a ragtag group of late night smokers that meet every night in the local cemetery. At the beginning of the story, which atmospherically takes place in October, they stumble upon a hole in the ground that was definitely not there before! They think that this digger may be linked to other strangenesses around town. 

Unfortunately for me, while I did enjoy each of the characters and their differences, the paraphrase of the blurb above is just about as deep and descriptive as the novella as a whole. While I’m still kind of in the middle on this one, as there were several things I did enjoy, this just read like an introduction, not a story. There’s more development of the characters as they are introduced in the switching POV than there is in the development of the story itself. 

They chase a suspect of the digging, which you’d think would be this giant reveal, but it just kind of happened before petering out. Then they were onto the next thing. Which is what left me hanging, because the atmosphere is palpable during the scene. And the scene that involves a certain rat was a highlight for me, creepy, dark, eerily toothy, but even though it does tie into the overall arc, it just needed more for me to sink my teeth into. 

I really like the cover, and as both rats and fungus are kind of topical for the FanFiAddict crew, I wanted to feel like this was a hit. I don’t want to bring in any spoilers here, but the ending felt rushed, underdeveloped in the sense that it’s just handed to you and it’s over. 

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

3.0

I went with audio for this, and I’ll tell you, Sena Bryer knocked it out of the park for me. Some really good and completely different voices in here. 

This is an interesting concept. Earth was lost, and those on Gaea are raised to train with only one thing in mind, revenge. It’s an endless war. But when the main character, Kyr finds out that her brother has gone “rogue” and that she has been sentenced to work in the nursery, a near death sentence regardless of her being a top solider, things start to become a little clearer. 

This is almost like an Inception-y, Time Travel creating changes like in Loki, multiversal kind of mixture that had a great pace to it. Can the past change the future if it’s the one that already exists? The twists are present, and they’re interesting, I just kind of felt like maybe the execution was a tad off. I found things that I thought were cool or interesting, but felt like they didn’t exactly pan out, and I wasn’t as engaged as I should have been. 

The idea of the nursery as a whole, a set of selected women that were chosen for life to birth the next generation of humans, could have been set up to make a hell of a statement…but it kind of just is what it is—lacking commentary? Even in the future, during an all-out war for survival, even while being the top marks solider out of all the women, you can still be seen as just a womb. And while that is kind of what it’s saying it also felt kind of flat, like they didn’t try to really get the point across. It also kind of felt off putting to me that Kyr’s brother, the large and muscly super solider was weird and different, and the way that it was played off was that he was different simply because he was gay? At least that’s how it feels. It needed to be deeper, or to not be there at all for me. 

The other main issue I had, was that many, if not most, of the characters are just genuinely unlikable. It’s hard to be truly surprised, heartened, or heart broken with the twists when you don’t feel enough for those it’s happening too. So while there were things that kept me going, kept me listening on to the end, I just feel kind of somewhere in the middle on this one.

Cicada by Tanya Pell

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As always a huge thanks to Shortwave Media for this one. This is Killer VHS # 4, and as always the cover and design continues to be flawless. 

Cicada is the creature feature that I never knew I wanted or needed. While not horrifically graphic, the idea alone of a giant cicada is disgusting enough! 

The story is self referential and self indulgent in all the best ways. It perfectly encapsulates the cult classic horror vibe with its town full of merch and fandom coming together (for once off their message boards where they build and manipulate their own head-canon). And in those references and commentary it really reminded me of Scream 2. 

While I really appreciate the cicada-wing speed of the action once it gets off the ground, I do think the story could have benefited by either a shorter opening—because as it stands it’s about 50% set up, 50% nightmare—or it could have been longer in general which would have made the opening seem shorter. Ash spends so long fighting with her boyfriend and wondering why things are weird that it became a bit noticeable for me. 

The descriptions of the cicada, with its hairy legs and body, its eerily humanoid-esque head, as well as its machete length proboscis, were enough to raise the hairs on my arms. Bugs are absolutely disgusting, and especially with all the husks cicadas leave around, it was a brilliant choice to horror-fy. Can you imagine the sound a large one would be capable of? And the way the bug just kind of…drank people into their own kind of husks? Chilling. 

If you’ve been a fan of the others, in this series people keep calling modern day Goosebumps for adults, then you better buckle up, because this one sits right up there with the others. Like mixing The Blair Witch Project with 1994’s Mosquito. 

A Warrior Still by Shelly Campbell

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a short story that features cover art done by the author, which is such a cool piece of art that I had to grab it. I’ve been reading shorter pieces during dead time at work, so this fit perfectly. 

The short is a kind of alt historical fantasy that features centaurs as mercenaries. And I think it’s really unique in that it actually focuses on the women, the centaurines, as the fighting force of the main character’s group. Taller, faster, stronger than humans, they are employed as the fighting forces, and I found the references to historical places to be really cool. 

The main focus of the story is not war though. Our lead’s colt has died, and in the postpartum grief that follows, she’s now also battling with the loss. Lost and on uneven ground, she doesn’t quite know how to handle her situation, how to get back to her warrior spirit. So when she runs into a human orphan, one that has been sent to her tribe to work for them, she battles with every possible feeling, interior and exterior, as she tries to keep herself from latching to the boy in her grief. 

An interesting tale of motherhood, loss, and grief. And while I found this quite enjoyable, I do wish there was more clarity on the relationship between humans and centaurs, especially as they seem to think lowly of humans, but also rely entirely upon them. 

Wolves by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

adventurous challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

Grabbed up a whole bunch of these on a wild audible sale, and I’m finally getting back to it. R.C. Bray does yet another fantastic narration for the series. 

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but these have such a breakneck pace with so much action that they’re just so fun. I also realized during this one that I listen to my audiobooks fast, which means there’s hardly a breath between action beats. 

Xavier takes to the sea, finally in sight of the paradise they so desperately seek. But sea monsters, radiation, and crazy storms aren’t the only thing that he’ll have to overcome. Tin, and the new captain will take on a different mission, this time in Cuba. The stakes are higher than ever, but the payoff is information for the reader! 

Is finally finding a home in the sun worth entering an all-out war? Not to mention a war that they’re not even sure they can win…

And folks, we’ve finally got it! The full explanation as to why the world is the way it is! Remember this is an alt history scifi, where radiation is so high that the remnants of humanity have been forced to live in airships above the crazy weather patterns to survive. The need for repairs, supplies and answers, drives those willing to dive down to the surface for the sake of everyone else…the hell divers. For spoilers-sake, I won’t discuss the reason the world fell apart, but it brought to mind notes Horizon Zero Dawn and Terminator. 

With new enemies and horrors, the suspense was at an all-time high, and I was just surprised to not have another run in with the sirens (at least for me, a favorite enemy). This one did feel kind of like the cliffhanger came out of nowhere I will say, kind of like we got half a climax, but I’m certainly on the edge of my seat for more. And finally we got the sea…and with it, SHARKS. 

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’ve had kind of a mixed bag of experiences with King so far, having only really read shorter stuff like The Mist, and Secret Window, Secret Garden and not really loving either. But then I saw the narrator was Michael C. Hall, and I had to grab it. It helps that the other members of Fear For All love his stuff too. 

First off, I thought this was fantastic. Reading something finally full length from King really allowed for the story to open up. Both growing in creepiness, and heightening those emotional touch points. Of course, it might just help that I decided to read one that is considered up there with his best, but still. 

The copy I got from Audible included an introduction from the author, he spoke about how he thought this was his darkest novel, perhaps even too dark that it shouldn’t have been published. He also spoke about the origin of the spelling of Pet Sematary, its inclusion in the novel, and eventual taking over as the title. That kind of inclusion and connection really heightened my enjoyment heading into the story. 

Louis accepts a new job, moving his family into the rural town of Ludlow, Maine. Their new house seems too good to be true, their neighbor Jud already showing them hospitality. But even from the earliest pages of the novel, theirs a dangerous undertone. Let alone when they get shown the cemetery behind their property where all the town’s beloved pets have been buried…I personally have pets, and although the thought of having them nearby is endearing, this is still just so creepy. 

But when the road finally claims another victim, this time Louis’ daughter’s beloved cat Church, Jud tells him to wait for his call and that they’d handle it. And when Church shows back up, after being buried no less, Louis does his best to rationalize the appearance, but underneath it all, he knows better. The general creepiness of this, as well as the behavioral problems that follow with Church, should have been a clear indication of how far this novel would go, but I wasn’t ready. 

The loss of a child, is often something that writers avoid like the plague, especially in horror I feel. So for King to go so far into this, so deep, especially given the year when this released originally, is a testament to him. And yeah…this really is super super dark. For me, the imagining of if it didn’t happen, and where his life could have gone, was even sadder to read than the death itself. 

It does kind of feel like I’ve managed to live under a rock, as I’ve not had any of this really ruined for me, and I’ve never seen any screen adaptation so far. With the mixed bag that has come from his wide filmography, I think maybe I had started to link that directly to him, even though they are adaptations of his works? This was so eerie and riveting. It brought to mind that building dread that I loved in Nat Cassidy’s Nestlings, that ability to show that building in different ways between husband, wife, and daughter. 

Michael C. Hall did such a fantastic job. I would like him to take over narrating my life now. The voices were great, the novel had life, and this once again brought to mind just how much we are missing that he has not narrated the Dexter series. 

Eight Cases of Jane by R.J. Powell

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Grabbed another one by the author after finishing Dollface the other day!

Jane has been has been arrested for killing eight men during eight different snow storms, earning her the name The Snowfall Slasher. This is her psychiatric interview. From denial to gleeful pride, Jane takes the reading through various stages of discontent and discomfort. From claiming it’s not satanic worship to screaming names from the Bible, it’s quite obvious early on that nothing Jane says can be taken at face value. 

The office, as well as the decision by the author to make the entire perspective an interview, brought to mind scenes from the Hannibal show, scenes from Evil when Kristen visits her therapist, little tidbits of Long Legs with the creepy antagonist, as well as plenty of its own personal flair. I can definitely see the author’s penchant from the extreme coming out in this novel as we see some seriously heinous acts described. Like The Exorcist but as a cannibal revenge story. 

Well written and concise, I really enjoyed this one as it had more of a styled writing than just the extreme. All I really want to know is, how did her family not taste it all?!

Under Her Care by Lucinda Berry

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Here’s another I read for my book club, the Hudson Valley Housewives, and it’s another I probably would not have read without it being someone’s pick. 

This is a kind of crime mystery, but instead of a cop or detective, the main POV is a recruited children’s psychologist, Casey Walker, that specializes in autism. The mayor’s wife has been killed, and an autistic teen, Mason, son to a kind of celebrity content creator, was found at the scene covered in blood and uncontrollable. 

I’ve never read this author, was unfamiliar with them, so throughout the continuously deep information dumps on autism and therapy, all I found myself thinking was, “god I hope this was well researched.” And after finishing and seeing the author’s bio, I do feel more at ease on the knowledge part, but I found villainizing a special needs teen was super risky. 

I would say that the information in the above paragraph, as well as the way it was weaved into the possibility of a murder happening, was definitely one of the few things that kept me engaged and roped in. There are several attempts at unseen twists, however they are so straight forward that there’s little to no surprise with almost all of them, IE. Casey thinks the mother is doing something and the twist is…simply that she’s right??

The ending has a winding lead up to a scene right in front of a swamp, the author kind of remarks on the possibility of animals within the water, and then it literally leads to nothing at all. The final twist involves something that I do not believe was well threaded into the story, to the point where it comes out of left field. It felt wasted, or like being cheated. 

The cover had me thinking that they could have been going for like a southern belle/beauty pageant thing with the crown. The watery swirls could have been some hint to the swamp at the end or something, but I think honestly, the most likely thing is that this was a real cheap stock cover that got zero thought. And while the title’s color certainly pops, I’d much rather have a cover that matches the story somehow. 

Overall, I will say that I was at least never bored while reading this. A story of a mother’s love, or lack thereof, and her willingness to do anything for attention.

The Deading by Nicholas Belardes

medium-paced

2.0

Thanks to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the audio ARC. This novel features three different narrators: Luis Moreno, Robb Moreira, and June Angela. 

The Deading, which the kids totally started first and then the adults started copying, is a phenomenon where people just drop wherever they are and play dead. Men, women, animals, it can happen to anyone. 

What sounds like a somewhat interesting idea, unfortunately ends up being an incredible mess. It’s almost as if someone took the creepy idea behind Bird Box or Your Shadow Half Remains, those unseen but unstoppable changes in people, and instead just made it about people planking? At the start they kind of just play dead like hysteria fueled pranksters…and later it just evolves into shaking and spitting on the ground? 

The deading is also started by sea snails, that are also alien, that are also a hive mind absorbing all in their path? It was far too confusing to me, eradicating anything scary or creepy that could have been. It also starts in a bay where they are harvesting oysters, a huge focus of the opening chapters, which I thought would be a big thing, but it’s not at all. 

The novel features more than one character that is a bird watcher, and at one point early on in the novel there is literally several chapters in a row where they are just naming bird species? It just felt so strange, like nothing else at all. Perhaps the author is a big bird watcher? The audio narrators all take a separate piece of the pie. The woman doing the section that features an older woman, one of the bird watchers. The younger male voice gives the arc of the kids that don’t dead. They meet at night in a kind of Midnight Club YA-feeling resistance that does not pan out. The older male voice does everything else, and none of the three mesh together at all. I thought perhaps they would converge in the end, but they didn’t. 

I would perhaps have not shared my thoughts if I DNF’d, however with it being an arc I wanted to push on through. This felt disjointed, confused, and lacking a strong developmental edit. It’s really hard to write a book, and after all that work, I’d never want to hear that it was bad, but this really lacked direction. 

Dollface by Ryan J. Powell

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Grabbed this on kindle and gave it a go. My new job has little bits of time where I can read, but not quite long enough to pick up a book, so this short read was perfect. 

This is an extreme horror story, which is not usually my cup of tea. And honestly, that just scratches the surface. It’s extremely horrific, that’s what it is! 

An abused doll comes to life, seeking revenge on papa for everything she has seen and endured. His latest victim is still tied up in the basement, and Dollface is just in time to recruit her help—rescuing her, and possibly traumatizing her herself. 

Extremely sickening, and over the top, Dollface makes papa feel each and every regret possible. This story made me have to stop reading more than once, setting it aside to focus on something else. The descriptions hit me right in the stomach, unsettling and viscous. I will never be able to view anything cherry the same. 

Regardless of how horrific it can feel, remember that papa deserves what’s coming to him…so good for her.