Something like 3.75 stars. I heard about Darcy Coates on r/horrorlit a year or so ago. Someone described her work as “cozy horror,” which intrigued me enough to want to give her books a try… and in the normal span of time between me hearing about a book and actually getting around to it, here we are!

Dead Lake has its awkwardnesses, but while it’s not perfect, I had great fun reading it. It’s a no-frills horror story that reads like the kind of horror movie you might watch just because it happened to be on TV. Remember when that was a thing that happened? Circa 2003? On a gloomy Saturday when you wish your mom would give you a ride to Hot Topic? Just me? Anyway.

All that to say, Coates writes like someone who genuinely loves horror and knows the kind of stories that she wants to write, and I found that refreshing. She doesn’t fake you out on the supernatural element, she doesn’t reinvent the wheel, she just tells you a spooky story with a happy ending. And as for me, sometimes I just want to be told a spooky story with a happy ending.

I’m going to give another of her books a go, because I suspect that I might have found a new author I can rely on for comfort reads. My favorite kind of comfort reads: the ones with ghosts and serial killers in them.