Book Review
Tropes : Bookish, Serial, Asylum, Psychological, Paranormal, Demons
Triggers : Murder, Fear, Self-Harm
My Recommendation: Skip reading the synopsis.. GO IN BLIND!!
Synopsis:
“T. Kingfisher meets Cassandra Khaw in a chilling horror novel that illustrates the fine line between humanity and monstrosity.
Blackwood mansion looms, surrounded by nightmare pines, atop the hill over the small town of New Haven. Ben Bookman, bestselling novelist and heir to the Blackwood estate, spent a weekend at the ancestral home to finish writing his latest horror novel, The Scarecrow. Now, on the eve of the book’s release, the terrible story within begins to unfold in real life.
Detective Mills arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder: a family butchered and bundled inside cocoons stitched from corn husks, and hung from the rafters of a barn, eerily mirroring the opening of Bookman’s latest novel. When another family is killed in a similar manner, Mills, along with his daughter, rookie detective Samantha Blue, is determined to find the link to the book—and the killer—before the story reaches its chilling climax.
As the series of “Scarecrow crimes” continues to mirror the book, Ben quickly becomes the prime suspect. He can’t remember much from the night he finished writing the novel, but he knows he wrote it in The Atrium, his grandfather’s forbidden room full of numbered books. Thousands of books. Books without words.
As Ben digs deep into Blackwood’s history he learns he may have triggered a release of something trapped long ago—and it won’t stop with the horrors buried within the pages of his book.”
Quick Review:
One of my favorite horror books to date! And it’s a debut?!?!
Perfect for those Summerween Vibes, this book will take your breath away.
From the start, I was completely gripped into all the spookiness with the connection between a small town murder scene, a horror novelist, and his gaps in memory.
And it gets better!
And not once was I able to guess what was next..
The story gives tiny slivers of info that just keep you engaged and guessing from page to page. The various paranormal elements he uses are just immaculate and completely satisfied my spooky cravings for the season. It’s not just a focus on one horror aspect, which you would think would be overwhelming, but somehow, it just works!!
I absolutely recommend this debut novel, and I’ll be preordering his next book releasing January 2024. If his next one is even close to how fantastic this one was, he’s going to be a top contender for favorite author of all time! It was that good!!!
Would I Recommend?: Absolutely!
How I Read It: Library eBook
Pros
- Top Horror Novel
- Iconic
- Lots of Twists and Turns
- Satisfied Ending
- SO GOOD!!
Cons
- I WANT MORE!!
Final Rating:
More Book Information:
Published: January 10, 2023
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genre: Adult Horror
Pages: 326
Bones n Coffee Books 