mh_books's Reviews (1.12k)

There is no doubt that  Kathe Koja is a talented writer, however, they have written a horror novel that failed to intrigue me with both its central premise/mystery and its characters.   I have read far less talented writers' efforts on similar themes (dare I say Stephen King) and have enjoyed their writing far more.  This one failed me both on the horror and literary novel fronts.  Oh well, plenty more novels on my shelf! 

Wow!  What an underrated book! I am so glad that my sister gave it to me for Christmas a couple of years ago and that I eventually got to it!  

It was a delight to spend several hours in the head of VIV/viv as she tramped around Dublin and met each day's quota of words when speaking to strangers. Thanks, VIV, I am going to think hard about what the correct questions are to ask strangers in the future.  

This is a book about the importance and difficulties of being different.  It's about meeting strangers, friends, and family with a modicum of understanding and kindness.


I would recommend this book to someone who likes character-driven novels, has a quirky sense of humor, and who is visiting Dublin, as viv's walks describe the city to a tee.  

Ooh and this book relies on an understanding of the history chageling myth so if you do get to Dublin visit the Leprechaun museum, which despite the silly name, does explain the real impact that believing in these myths had on people's lives.  

I had forgotten how much fun it was to read a Jodi Taylor!

How can I describe this?  A cozy horror/sci fi/fantasy?  A Stephen King meets Scoobi Doo with lots of cups of tea?  

There are parts of the plot that I am wondering about but overall a very fun read.

The Silence of the Lambs is a thriller - this is a horror novel.  

It is quite simply the most violent novel I have ever read.  It is an extraordinary experience of being in the head of more than one psychotic serial killer who finds art, pleasure, and beauty in rape, torture, and murder.   

The book obviously gets its title from the art form (vhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exquisite_corpse) and brings its protagonists all together into one violent but grossly beautiful scene at the end.  

Not for the faint-hearted!

No one dies in this one.  But how on earth is Hamish going to solve the mystery of the missing cat, the cross old biddy, the stolen fairy lights, and worse still bring a sense of Christmas to the overly religious in Lough Dubh.  

I have loved Catherine Ryan Howard's books from the first one.  They are a complete joy for me and a  palate cleanser from my normal fare of literary fiction and horror (LF being much darker than the horror!).  So she has quickly become an auto-buy author for me.  Which explains why  I went into this knowing very little about it.  So what a surprise to find it is set on a horror movie set and very happily embraces all the normal horror movie tropes :)  

I loved the story within a story within yet another story concept here.  There are all the expected tropes and reveals but enough twists and turns to make this a happy adventure to read while recovering from particularly bad post covid tiredness.  

As always I hope Catherine continues to turn more coffee into books.  

There is an untapped wealth in Irish folklore when it comes to horror stories and I am delighted that AM Shine has decided to correct that problem.  

I am also rather disappointed that I didn't read this book until after the week that I spent mostly alone in Connemara (I had Covid) as it would have been fun :)