A compelling plot and mounting sense of dread infuse this atmospheric thriller with plenty of chills.
A woman must uncover the truth behind the horrifying bargain that strips her of her senses, one by one, in Every’s horror novel.
Deena Bartlett cares for her dying, elderly Aunt Agatha at Wilshire Rehab Center. She has long had a tumultuous relationship with her cantankerous aunt, but Deena—partly fueled by the facts that her own parents were both dead by the time she was 25 and that Agatha is the only living relative she has left— attempts to do her part. When Wilshire’s mysterious old cleaning woman, Jadwiga, warns her to “take care…She is coming for you,” Deena soon finds herself facing a nightmarish set of attacks seemingly designed to take out her five senses, one by one: “The hum rose higher in pitch, piercing the stale, hot air. Deena threw her hands over her ears hoping to block it out—which was when she discovered it wasn’t coming from the room. It was coming from inside her head, growing louder and higher, throbbing against her temples, pressing against her eyes until it felt as if they would burst from their sockets.” Deena seeks help from Jadwiga, who reveals that Agatha made a deal with the Sensu, an ancient creature who feeds off Deena’s senses in exchange for curing Agatha. After each attack, Deena is left with a mark somewhere on her body for five days before the Sensu moves on to the next sense. When Deena is branded with the last Tactu (touch) mark, her life will end. To stop the relentless attacks, Deena must discover the truth behind her aunt’s bargain before it’s too late.
Every has crafted a genuinely spooky tale that relies less on body horror and more on the slow and patient buildup of moody suspense—an approach that fans of Grady Hendrix and Stephen King will surely welcome. The gore is never gratuitous as the tension slowly mounts and Deena uncovers the family secrets that have made her a marked woman. That’s not to say the book doesn’t have some absolutely stomach-churning moments, especially when it comes to the twisted old Agatha: “With a satisfying sense of release she pulls off her fingers, one by one, and drops them into the lake, watching the blood turn the water black. As each finger sinks it expands, becoming a formless, irregular mass floating just below the surface. She gazes at them as a mother would her children, her need for a legacy finally satisfied.” The dialogue mostly feels natural, with only a few missteps—such as the repeated appearances throughout the novel of a disembodied voice intoning “I’ve got you now,” a catchphrase that tends to come across as more “campy Wicked Witch” than legitimately creepy. The author manages to infuse her solid horror story with larger themes—including motherhood, grief, youth, and death—that lend Deena an added layer of depth while raising the stakes of her emotional and physical journey. The novel’s eerie, open-ended conclusion is reminiscent of classic horror novels and movies that manage to satisfy even as they unsettle.
A compelling plot and mounting sense of dread infuse this atmospheric thriller with plenty of chills.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781960456137
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Woodhall Press
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.
A medical student is assigned an overnight shift to observe a Long Island hospital’s psychiatric ward and help with emergencies. You’d never guess what happens next.
Amy Brenner isn’t even interested in psychiatry, the one medical specialty she’s never considered for her own career. Nor is she interested any more in Cameron Berger, the classmate who ended their relationship so that he could spend more time studying, and she’s not pleased to learn that he’s switched his rotation with another student so he can spend some of the next 13 hours persuading Amy to rekindle their romance. Predictably, Cam will be the least of Amy’s troubles. Apart from Dr. Richard Beck and nurse Ramona Dutton, everyone else on Ward D is much more dangerous, from elderly Mary Cummings, whose knitting needles aren’t plastic but sharpened steel, to William Schoenfeld, who’s stopped taking the medications that were supposed to silence the voices telling him to kill people, to Damon Sawyer, who’s confined in Seclusion One and can’t possibly escape, unless a power outage neutralizes the locks. Most threatening of all is Jade Carpenter, whose close friendship with Amy ended eight years ago when Amy turned her in for what ended up being only one of a whole series of thrill crimes. McFadden measures out the complications, revelations, and betrayals with such an expert hand that readers anxiously trying to figure out whom Amy can trust as her goal shifts from ticking off a toilsome requirement to surviving the night may well end up wondering whom they can trust themselves. And isn’t provoking that kind of paranoia what medical thrillers are all about?
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227271
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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