Paranormal | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

JILLIAN CADE by Jen Klein

October 4, 2015

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(Fake) Paranormal Investigator

Jillian doesn’t believe all the paranormal mumbo jumbo her father peddles but she does know that an all but orphaned teen has to earn money somehow. Umbra Investigations is Jillian’s somehow – a PI agency focused on cases of an unusual sort. In other words, taking advantage of the same folks her father does.

But then Jillian gets a case that definitely sounds more serious: a missing person, and she’s been hired to find him. Of course the person hiring her believes the missing guy has been cursed and the new boy in school who has suddenly latched himself onto Jillian also believes this to be the case. (He blackmailed his way into partner status.) Nevertheless, Jillian needs the paycheck more desperately than ever and is determined to solve the case even when the clues start to point in some pretty unbelievable directions.

A writer on Grey’s Anatomy with a slew of other show credits to her name, Jen Klein definitely has the chops for a clever and catchy novel and she absolutely delivers in her debut! Jillian Cade: (Fake) Paranormal Investigator is a fun blend of Veronica Mars sass and Buffy the Vampire Slayer supernatural and is perfect for fans of both.

But Jillian Cade is no Veronica or Buffy – she’s all Jillian. She puts up a bad-ass front all the while dealing with some heavy stuff, most prominently the recent weird death of her mother and her father’s abandonment. And things only get harder for the teen. Confronted by the fact that not one but two people are threatening to out her as a fraud, she knows she has to solve this case.

I expected the whole story to be “(Fake) Paranormal” and was quite surprised to find that wasn’t at all the case. There are some pretty big revelations both for our skeptical heroine and for the reader as well. Considering all of that, I assume that Jillian Cade is the first in a series and will most definitely be looking forward to more.

10/15 Becky LeJeune

JILLIAN CADE by Jen Klein. Soho Teen (September 1, 2015). ISBN 978-1616954345. 288p.

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THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR, ed. by Ellen Datlow

September 5, 2015

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Volume 7

Once again Ellen Datlow has culled through the past year’s mass of horror shorts and novellas to put together a collection of some of the best highlights for genre fans.

Datlow not only has great taste, but with these “best of” anthologies she’s essentially offering readers a snapshot of the year’s releases. The chosen tales are narrowed down from multi-author anthologies, single author collections, magazines, online publications, and any other place that might have featured horror shorts for the previous year. What’s more, Datlow also takes the time to list additional readings of note including shorts that didn’t quite make the cut (because there are such a plethora to have to choose from), genre novels, award winners, etc from the calendar year.

This year’s twenty-two tale selection runs the gamut of horror with tales inspired by Lovecraft (Brian Evenson’s “Past Reno” and Livia Llewellyn’s “Allochton” were both originally part of the Letters to Lovecraft anthology edited by Jesse Bullington), a sin eater (Genevieve Valentine’s “A Dweller in Amenty”), vengeance from beyond the grave (Laird Barron’s “The Worms Crawl In”), and of course a couple of tales of the apocalypse as well, just to mention a few.

Some of my own favorites this time around include Garth Nix’s “Shay Corsham Worsted” and Keris McDonald’s “The Coat Off His Back,” both of which center around some quite historic criminals, the abovementioned “Past Reno,” and Angela Slatter’s revenge tale “Winter Children.”

Here’s the full table of contents:

The Atlas of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud

Winter Children by Angela Slatter

A Dweller in Amenty by Genevieve Valentine

Outside Heavenly by Rio Youers

Shay Corsham Worsted by Garth Nix

Allochton by Livia Llewllyn

Chapter Six by Stephen Graham Jones

This is Not for You by Gemma Files

Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No. 8) by Caitlin R. Kiernan

The Culvert by Dale Bailey

Past Reno by Brian Evenson

The Coat off His Back by Keris McDonald

The Worms Crawl In by Laird Barron

The Dog’s Home by Alison Littlewood

Tread Upon the Brittle Shell by Rhoads Brazos

Persistence of Vision by Orrin Grey

It Flows From the Mouth by Robert Shearman

Wingless Beasts by Lucy Taylor

Departures by Carole Johnstone

Ymir by John Langan

Plink by Kurt Dinan

Nigredo by Cody Goodfellow

9/15 Becky LeJeune

THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR 7, ed. by Ellen Datlow. Night Shade Books (August 18, 2015). ISBN 978-1597808293. 368p.

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THE UNINVITED by Cat Winters

August 29, 2015

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Ivy has only just recovered from the flu, but when she hears that her father and brother have murdered a local German shop owner she knows she can’t stay in their house one moment longer. Ivy has always seen spirits – they’re harbingers of bad things to come – and the last thing she can take is seeing the ghost of the man her father murdered.

When she arrives in town, though, she finds that Buchanan has been hit hard by the war and Spanish flu. The hospital is bursting at the seams and turning away patients with the wrong background or address. Fear is a predominant feeling amongst the locals – fear of being called out for being unpatriotic, fear of getting sick, fear of losing one more loved one… Ivy knows that fear makes men like the one her father murdered prime targets but she still feels a responsibility to the dead man’s brother and is desperate to make amends. At the same time, Ivy is certain something awful is about to come to pass. Why else would she be seeing her dead brother at every turn?

Cat Winters makes her adult debut with The Uninvited. It’s historical fiction set in an imagined town that’s pretty wonderfully representative of the era: the undertone of sadness and dread and the overwhelming anxiety of the town certainly feels true to the time.

Imagine watching your brothers, classmates, and sometimes even fathers going off to fight a war against an enemy overseas. Imagine being told that your neighbors could be collaborating with that enemy. And now imagine that a truly deadly and virulent sickness is making its way through your town as well. This is Ivy’s reality and her only relief comes from music and a love that’s pretty much forbidden.

There’s more than a hint of the supernatural to this tale – Ivy does see ghosts, after all – but The Uninvited is somewhat less of a ghost story than I’d initially expected. It’s more a story about human nature and the terrible effects of war. The combination makes for an eerie and emotional read.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

THE UNINVITED by Cat Winters. William Morrow Paperbacks (August 11, 2015). ISBN 978-0062347336. 368p.

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X by Sue Grafton

August 25, 2015

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Hallie Bettancourt’s biological son has just been released from jail. Hallie put the boy up for adoption over two decades back and has since become quite wealthy, so even if her son doesn’t want to meet her, she wants to offer some sort of help. And that’s where Kinsey comes in. Hallie has hired the PI to find out where the parolee lives and provide contact info so Hallie can reach out to him. Nothing could be simpler from Kinsey’s perspective.

But that simple job becomes less so when the feds show up investigating a marked bill that passed through Kinsey’s hands. A bill Hallie paid Kinsey with. Kinsey soon discovers that Hallie Bettancourt doesn’t exist. But why would anyone go to so much trouble to pull one over on Kinsey?

Meanwhile, Pete Wolinsky’s widow has grown concerned over some calls she’s received on Pete’s behalf from the IRS. Since Kinsey was the last one to go through Pete’s files – files Ruthie recently trashed – she’s hoping Kinsey might have come across something that can help. Kinsey never saw any financials but she did hang onto one old Byrd-Shine box that has a few curious items she decides are worth a closer look.

Kinsey is back in this twenty-fourth installment of the series. That’s right. Twenty-four. That means, sadly, that there are just two more to go.

Of all the long-term series that I read, this is by far my favorite. Kinsey – still trapped in the 80s, still enjoying her pb & pickle sandwiches, and still renting Henry’s guest house – is a character you want to be with for a while. And in spite of how it sounds, this isn’t a series that’s stagnant or stiff at all. Kinsey is constantly growing – this far along she’s a bit more cynical and a bit more snarky, which is why she’s so certain that the files she finds are another shady scheme of Pete’s. And while Ruthie is a staunch supporter of her husband, Kinsey really wants to stick to her guns based on what she thought she knew about him.

Henry, Rosie, William, and the regulars are back, but there are a few cameo appearances by past favorites too (Dietz.). But that doesn’t actually mean that you have to have read all of the books in order to be able to get into X. In fact, it could serve as a good starting point if you’ve yet to dive into the series.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

X by Sue Grafton. Marian Wood Books/Putnam (August 25, 2015). ISBN 978-0399163845. 416p.

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THE RECKONING by Carsten Stroud

August 20, 2015

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Book Three of the Niceville Trilogy

Hearing voices in your head takes on a deadly new meaning in this disturbing conclusion to the macabre Niceville trilogy. The evil “Nothing” in this Florida town has moved inside, so to speak, and the towns people are on a murderous rampage.

Detective Nick Kavanaugh, and his wife, attorney Kate, figure out what is going on; all they have to do is figure out how to stop it. Rainey Teague, the orphan they’ve taken in, has always had issues but things are really spiraling out of control.

The Kavanaughs enlist the help of local historian Lemon Featherlight, and ex-cop Charlie Danziger is also on the hunt for answers. There are lots of characters that each have their own story, but Stroud manages to pull it together and make sense of it all, as much as possible in the mystical world he has created.

While this is the last book of the trilogy, each book does stand on its own. Niceville is a real town on the west coast of Florida, and this thrilling supernatural trilogy has surely put it on the map.

8/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE RECKONING by Carsten Stroud. Vintage (August 18, 2015). ISBN 978-1101873021. 432p.

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LITTLE GIRLS by Ronald Malfi

August 16, 2015

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Laurie’s father has died and so, with her husband, Ted, and daughter, Susan, in tow, she has returned to the childhood home she left behind so many years ago to settle the estate and hopefully put the house on the market. Laurie has reservations about staying in the house, it’s never been a happy place for her and now there’s the added fact that her father didn’t just die there but actually committed suicide by jumping out of the belvedere window.

Ted and Susan are instantly smitten with the old place, though, and convince her otherwise. It’s only for a little while, after all, and it’ll mean time for Ted to work on his latest play. Susan has even found a friend in the girl next door. But the house holds bad memories for Laurie and the girl next door reminds her just a little too much of a girl who lived there when she was a child. A horrid girl who died on Laurie’s father’s property decades ago.

Even if Laurie and her family were a unified unit, which we soon learn they may not be, the house is enough to begin tearing away at them. Laurie is plagued by memories of her childhood, the girl next door is creepy as all get out, and there are clues around the house that maybe her father was suffering from more than just dementia. It all starts to make Laurie – and even Ted – wonder about her sanity.

Ronald Malfi’s latest is a pretty classic take on the haunted house tale: a creepy old house, inexplicable noises, a mysterious locked room… And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, Little Girls is a solid and scary tale with more than a few twists – some a little more expected than others. It’s utterly satisfying and maybe a little nightmare inducing as well.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

LITTLE GIRLS by Ronald Malfi. Kensington (June 30, 2015). ISBN 978-1617736063. 384p.

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LOVE IS RED by Sophie Jaff

August 14, 2015

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The Nightsong Trilogy (Book 1)

It’s summertime in New York and the city is plagued by more than just hot weather. The Sickle Man stalks the streets, killing women in their own homes. Though this does mean a certain extra level of caution, it doesn’t mean that Katherine Emerson has given up on the dating scene and finding Mr. Right. In fact, she’s recently met two men who could fit the bill.

What Katherine doesn’t know is that the Sickle Man already has her in his sights. In fact, he’s been looking for her for quite some time and now that he’s found her, her death is his ultimate goal.

Love is Red is a book that almost defies every attempt to sum it up in a nutshell. First, there’s the fear of giving too much away. Second, it’s truly standout and somewhat unconventional. It’s a cross-genre thriller, one that includes supernatural elements, romance elements, and mystery elements. As such, unless you really shy away from dark reads (because it is quite dark) there is something for just about every kind of reader here.

The story alternates between Katherine and The Sickle Man himself. Jaff plays with the style of the narrative quite a bit with The Sickle Man’s chapters told from a second person perspective and by adding in therapy Q&As, internal monologues, and other different aspects in Katherine’s narrative as well. This ratchets up the suspense quite a bit while also giving the reader a more unique experience.

Honestly, this is one of my absolute favorite reads of the year. It’s also the first in a trilogy and there is a pretty massive cliffhanger of an ending. Of course that means that I’m waiting, along with everyone else who’s so far enjoyed the book, with baited breath to see what will happen next.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

LOVE IS RED by Sophie Jaff. Harper (May 12, 2015). ISBN 978-0062346261. 384p.

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THE PERFECT WITNESS by Iris Johansen

October 16, 2014

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Sixteen-year-old Teresa has a gift, she can read people’s memories when she is near them, and it makes her feel like a freak, especially when her father, a New Jersey crime family boss, uses her.

Her mother is a trophy wife extraordinaire; when her husband is killed, she immediately ingratiates herself with the new crime boss, despite the fact he’s trying to kill her daughter.

Teresa takes off and is rescued by Andre Mandak, who kills the three men who are chasing her. She is very distrustful, but Mandak convinces her that he can help her learn to control her gift. In the process, he changes her name to Allie, places her with an older couple and she lives a relatively normal life of a college student.

Then her cover is blown and she’s on the run again, and Mandak helps her flee in return for her help; it turns out he has need of her gift and she is determined to help.

Their mutual attraction adds another layer to this fast moving story, and this standalone thriller combines suspense, paranormal and romance into one whirlwind read.

10/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE PERFECT WITNESS by Iris Johansen. St. Martin’s Press (September 30, 2014). ISBN 978-1250020055. 352p.

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SPARROW HILL ROAD by Seanan McGuire

September 23, 2014

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It was 1952 when Rose Marshall was killed on Sparrow Hill Road on her way to the prom. She was only sixteen. The circumstances of her death left her a hitcher, a ghost forced to roam the roads in search for rides.

The Phantom Prom Date who murders those who offer her a ride. The Ghost of Sparrow Hill Road whose date died alongside her. The Girl From the Diner who is an omen of bad things to come… for generations her story has been passed on, becoming twisted into a legend that barely resembles the once real story. But Rose herself isn’t a harbinger of doom. Instead, she can tell when an accident is on the horizon and can sometimes save someone who would otherwise die. In other cases, she helps those who have passed on get to their final destination.

In 2010 Seanan McGuire released a dozen Rose Marshall stories through the ezine The Edge of Propinquity. While the mag does still have a few stories in its archives, including McGuire’s “Good Girls Go To Heaven,” the rest have been collected here in the author’s latest release.

This is a story most readers probably know in one form or another, but McGuire expands it and gives it a depth that the word-of-mouth urban legend never could. What’s more, she’s placed the story smack dab in the middle of an urban fantasy world populated with some of the most unusual characters I’ve ever seen: routewitches, trainspotters, crossroads and dead highways, strigoi who don’t suck blood, and a bevy of ghosts ranging from the hitchhikers to maggy dhu (ghost dogs who collect souls).

Sparrow Hill Road is a ghost story, a love story, a horror story, and a story of the road.

09/14 Becky LeJeune

SPARROW HILL ROAD by Seanan McGuire. DAW Trade (May 6, 2014). ISBN 978-0756409616. 320p.

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DEAD OF NIGHT by Jonathan Maberry

September 7, 2014

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Dead of Night Series (Book 1)

Stebbins County, Pennsylvania is in for a rough night. With a dangerous storm in their midst, many of the people in the area are unaware of another more pressing danger.

Notorious serial killer Homer Gibbons has recently been executed and has been secretly transported to Stebbins County where his only living relative has insisted on burying him. Locals are unaware of the connection – everyone had thought Gibbons had no living relatives at all – and it’s this change of plan that sets Stebbins County and its citizens on an awful and catastrophic path. See Gibbons isn’t dead, at least not in the traditional sense. Gibbons has been the focus of a very secret and deadly experiment, an infection that will soon be unleashed on an unsuspecting community.

Maberry is a longtime favorite for horror fans. His Pine Deep trilogy is hailed as a phenomenal debut series and his Joe Ledger books are the perfect blend of science fiction, horror, and action. Dead of Night delivers on all fronts – it’s a zombie apocalypse tale that begins with a science experiment gone wrong. Of course everything works together to become a perfect storm for the spread of the zombie plague and before long the fictional Stebbins County is all but done for. But only just – there is a sequel, after all.

While the reader gets a glimpse at many of the area’s inhabitants, the main focuses of the story are Dez Foz, a local cop with a military background and serious abandonment issues, and her ex Billy Trout, a regional newsman. Trout uncovers the truth behind the outbreak just as Dez is facing it down. And as their home gets literally torn apart, they both have to come to terms with the impossible and try and figure out a way of surviving it. Basic zombie apocalypse fare but with a style and flair that’s all Maberry.

9/14 Becky Lejeune

DEAD OF NIGHT by Jonathan Maberry. St. Martin’s Griffin; Original edition (October 25, 2011). ISBN 978-0312552190. 368p.

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