Tag: horror

When Jen Monroe hears her father’s remains have been found, she returns home to disprove his death, only to find the forests of rural Washington are hiding something ancient and dangerous…

Seven years ago, Jen Monroe left behind her hometown of Barrow, Washington after her father, a forest ranger passionate about protecting old trees from the aggressive logging business that runs their small town, vanished seemingly into thin air. She vowed never to return…until she gets a text from her estranged mother. Her father’s remains have been found.

It seems impossibleto Jen who has always believed her father is still alive, and she returns home, determined to find out what really happened. When her ex-boyfriend proposes a camping trip into the woods in her father’s memory, it feels like the opportunity Jen had been hoping for: to find her father. To find the truth.

But what she finds lurking in the forest may be deeper, darker and deadlier than she could have ever imagined. And it has no intention of letting her leave.

Unsettling, tense, and atmospheric, this is a feminist suspense novel for those who have always known there’s something hungry waiting in the woods.

My thoughts: If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise…sadly not a teddy bears’ picnic but the forest fighting back. Those ancient trees of the Pacific Northwest of America, thousands of years older, possibly growing before any humans set foot on the land.

The town of Barrow is a logging town, her ex-boyfriend’s family own the company that cuts down the trees and employs many of the residents. Her dad was an employee of the forest service and loved the ancient trees the most, fighting to protect and preserve them.

Jen’s return and the decision to head into the forest to find out what really happened to her dad, accompanied by her old friends and a few new faces ends in something dark and terrifying (if you’re not nice to the trees, why should they be nice to you?).

There are some pretty old trees near me, here in the UK, might go pat them gently and ask them not to sacrifice me to the hulderfolk please. I’m quite fond of woods and trees so hopefully they’ll be nice and not eat me. Genuinely creepy book, this. Don’t read it on a camping trip or you won’t sleep.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

Horror author Tyson Parks thinks his best days are behind him. He misses the heydays of the 1980s and 90s, when he was ruling the horror fiction charts, and now finds himself scrambling to remain a relevant author. He hasn’t had a hit in years, his agent won’t take his calls, and he’s never felt older.

Then, on his 59th birthday, his girlfriend gives him the gift of a lifetime: a monstrous antique desk. Rejuvenated by the desk’s mysterious energy, he begins writing with an all-consuming passion-and a savage darkness–he hasn’t felt in decades, and is eager to get his career back on track. Unfortunately, the desk, and the evil spirit that harbors within, has other plans. It won’t stop until it gets what it wants–even if it must destroy Tyson, and everyone he holds dear, in the process.

In this terrifying novel of art, obsession, and the horror of creation, Fracassi shows why he’s become a fan favorite among contemporary horror authors. Now in a brand-new edition, which includes a never-before-seen excerpt, Gothic is a dread-fueled dive into what a writer is willing to do to serve the muse, and his own desires.

My thoughts: I think every writer has felt the dreaded writer’s block at some point, but I don’t think any of them have wound up solving it by becoming a conduit to evil via a haunted desk.

Tyson Parks’ partner Sarah has bought him this incredible, intricately carved one for his birthday, to finally replace the battered desk he’s had since college. Unfortunately it’s actually a portal to some sort of hell dimension. And the things trapped it, well, they want him to tell their stories, and they also want blood.

As things inside the house go from bad to worse for the inhabitants, a strange woman who has been searching for the desk for years arrives in search of it, and she will not let anything stop her quest.

One of the characters describes it as “Christine, but with a desk” which made me laugh. For a horror novel, it’s actually pretty funny at times. I really enjoyed it, I can’t stand horror films, but books I can get into, especially as Fracassi is a great writer, the premise might sound a bit silly, but the story is clever and entertaining. Is Tyson particularly susceptible to the manipulation of the evil within, or would it work on anyone? You decide.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.