When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired By Shirley Jackson

TipToe by Laird Barron ★★★★★ 

That sent shivers all the way up my spine and down again for more.  I listened to the end three times.  

The Key of Ahknaton by Graeme Rodaughan ★★★★★

If Chloe is your favorite character this one’s for you.  Even if she isn’t, prologue aside, this is the best book Graeme has written.   The factions, the surprises, the violence, the body count - good times.  

Engineering Infinity

Laika’s Ghost by Karl Schroeder ★★★★½ 

When an American finds evidence of a Russian pyramid on Mars he is hunted down by Google and other geopolitical entities.  Declining American witness protection he flees to Russia.  This proves to be a great decision because a small group of online patriots have been creating a new hope for Russia, and possibly the world.

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi ★★★☆☆

When Aaron Decker loses his wife to a spree shooter he inherits her secrets, her obsession:  Allison had been hunting a serial killer.  

It felt like a dramatized version of Patton Oswalt’s life, but the epilogue indicates the author had more personal motives. 

I would like to say this was an exciting, or scary, story but it wasn’t.  Really, is there anything more boring, and depressing, than a serial killer targeting young women?

The epilogue gave him sympathy points otherwise it would have been an angry two stars.

Across the Void by S.K. Vaughn ★☆☆☆☆

Oh this was bad.

The way it was marketed I expected Interstellar, with a dash of 2010, and enough romance to bring me to tears. It was none of those things.

The Puppet Show (Washington Poe #1) by M.W. Craven ★★★★★

“This wasn’t about justice, Poe. It was never about justice.” 

ALL THE STARS!!!

You dark twisty bitch of a book! I love you! So many threads to neatly bring together, so much mystery and pain, to burn. 

Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz ★★★★☆

What I loved 

Fat gay bad guy!

Sixteen - the strong, intelligent, violent female spy.

The most vicious, effective, and soul-sucking potential Bond death. Any man, hell any person, would have gladly jumped in a shark tank.

Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp #3) by Vince Flynn ★★★★★

“Nothing else mattered, especially not the political operative who had brought this snake into the White House.” 

Better than Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down combined is the original, and politically damning, Vince Flynn version, Transfer of Power. These books are my new obsession. It’s 3:30 in the morning and I was suppose to wake up at 4:30 - I blame you for this Flynn! 

Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp #2) by Vince Flynn ★★★★★

Mitch Rapp is back! It’s just one more kill, a Libyan oil minister with a dark past, but now Rapp has gone from hunter to hunted. Who can he trust? Lone gunman are often just that - alone. Multiple international interests, action, violence, sex, betrayal - this felt like the best of old Clancy (maybe better). 

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

"She had wanted to find some trouble, and the Shorter Way Bridge had never steered her wrong." 

This is my first Joe Hill and I ate it up. Kate Mulgrew read this audiobook into a page turner, I haven't gone through a thousand pages this quickly ever! Even The Stand and Pillars of the Earth took over a week.