Usually
in the Fall my reading turns in a more focused way to thrillers and horror. I
actually read them all year around. I also wear skulls and raven jewelry all
year around, too, but it just becomes more concentrated in September with a
slight fading by January.
Anyway,
this year I learned of something called Readers Imbibing Peril from my good
reading buddy Sarah Says Read and figured I’d sign up. I love signing up for things that I already planned to do!
I've read six books so far that I'm going to count, with two in the works. Here’re a couple of good ones I’ve read so far, not
counting A Study in Scarlet Women,
which I talked about in my last summary post and really enjoyed.
The Night Parade by Ronald Malfi: This book is kind of
like The Road meets Fire Starter. Kinda. It opens with a man, David, and his 8
year old daughter in a stolen car on a stretch of highway. Through the story we
learn about an illness of unknown source taking over the world. The illness,
called Wander’s Folly, quickly results in the infected going mad and becoming
violent against others and themselves. David is on the run, though we don’t
really know why. Ellie, David’s daughter, doesn’t know the whole truth and we
are along for the ride as David and Ellie discover each other’s secrets. One of the things that reminds me of The Road
is the use of the child character as an anchor to humanity. Read and see if I’m
making that up.
The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon: I mentioned this book,
read for a book group, in my last post. We had the discussion last week and the
general sentiment was that this was a pretty good thriller, though the story
was a little weird. There are three stories running: one about Sarah, a woman in
1908 who is grieving the loss of her daughter; there’s the story of Ruthie, a
teen whose mother is missing; and the story of a woman whose husband dies in a
place farther from home than he should have been. The three stories merge on a
frozen hill at the base of Devil’s Hand, a rock formation that protects a long-
searched- for secret. There were several potential potholes that can make or
break the ability to suspend your disbelief, but it was, overall, rated well by
the group. I gave it a 3.5.
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N.
Roquelaure
(Anne Rice’s smut- writing nom de plume): This book
is just so bad. This book might not really count for the RIPXIII challenge if I
think about it too much but I should get extra credit for this. It opens with
the prince waking Beauty by kissing her after he’s already having sex with her.
It’s downhill from there. Storytelling: bad. Descriptions: bad. Sex scenes: mostly
bad. Also, just to add my voice to the collective reminder that BDSM
relationships rest on safety and consent. Be safe out there, y’all!
Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman: A professor who has
faced professional disgrace and suffers from traumatic dreams from his time in
WWI, moves to a failing small town with his new wife just in time for the small town
folks to discover why there's a local tradition to sacrifice pigs to the woods every month. Buehlman
is a masterful story teller. I’m reading this in audio and the reader does a great
job maximizing the tension. I haven't gotten to the end but I expect there will be blood.
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