RIP is finally here! Even though I am late with my post, don't fear, Gentle Readers. I have already been busy and read a book for this challenge on Sunday, the first day the challenge began!
As always, I thank Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings for hosting this challenge. This is one of my two most favourite challenges, the other one being Once Upon a Time in the spring, which he also hosts. Fantasy and horror, my two favourite genres along with mystery.
The list is:
Hell House - Richard Matheson ***just read on Sunday, will review next post. Mini first impression: Really enjoyed it. Could not read alone at night. Too scary for that!
I Remember You - Yrsa Sigurdardottir - not one of her Thora Gudmunsdottir mystery series. This is a stand-alone ghost story. It looks very creepy, and she is good with eerie atmosphere. I am curious how good a ghost story this will be. I bought it last week along with
Children of the Night - Dan Simmons, which I suddenly discovered I had NOT read, and it features vampires, and I love Dan Simmons (despite not having read Drood yet, which is more because the copy I have is hardcover and is so darn big I can't carry it anywhere. I almost bought the paperback just so I can read it this time around. The Terror by him is one of my all-time favourite horror novels, (linked to my review in 2008) and I just discovered that this fall is a bonanza time for me because there is a new book coming out by Dan Simmons also!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This would be Book 3 of the Books I Really Want This Fall:
The Abominable. While it features snow and ice, this time it's climbing mountains, not lost in the Arctic. It's out Oct 23, so I might be able to talk myself into getting it before RIP is over. As this is just before my two boys' birthdays, it's sometimes difficult to buy something for me in the midst of their special days. Christmas, then. For sure!!!
Anyway, back to Children of the Night: vampires. Romania after it opened in the 1990s - remember the stories of the abandoned children in all those orphanages? Dreadful times in history, and I didn't realize this novel is based in that time. A baby in an orphanage is dying, and responds to a blood transfusion.......
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield: because my friend Pat over at Here, There and Everywhere Blog LOVES this book. Now there's another book by the same author out, Bellman and Black, and I should read the one I do own, first. I can't link to the review Pat has of The Thirteenth Tale, though it does crop up often in her posts (she loves it that much).
Dead Scared - S.J. Bolton. This is the second book in the Lacey Flint series. In the first book, Now You See Me, reviewed here, Lacey has to deal with a serial killer who is playing on Jack the Ripper story. In Dead Scared, she goes to Cambridge University to catch someone who is drugging people, who then commit suicide. *shiver*
Talking to the Dead - Harry Bingham - I've seen this reviewed over at Crime Fiction Lover, and somewhere else that I can no longer remember. DC Fiona Griffiths is recovering from a breakdown, and may or may not pick up things that no one else can.....
Every Dead Thing - John Connolly - first in the Charlie Parker series. I managed in July to get past the horrific scene of his dead wife and child. Now, to start again and this time try to get through this lovely mystery with a very evil killer (which gives me chills).
Angel Cafe - Jill Morrow - a psychic, fortune telling, a spirit guide who isn't nice.....
I am Legend - Richard Matheson - I enjoyed the first movie based on this book, the Charlton Heston movie Omega Ma. Then the Will Smith version came out, and it was even better. It's time I went to the original source and read the book. I still get the heebie-jeebies at the idea of being all alone in the city, and then something moves.
Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch. 2nd in the Peter Grant 'he can see dead people' mystery series. What's not to love in this series? Serious magic, a wizard for a chief detective, and Peter himself, an novice in the field of seeing the dead, and kind to boot. Set in London, a bonus.
Deadline - Mira Grant. 2nd in the Georgia and Shawn Mason zombie series. I read the first one, Feed, and really enjoyed it. It took me this long to recover from the ending of the first book enough that I now have to know what happens next.
The Shining - Stephen King - so I am refreshed and ready for Doctor Sleep. The Shining is one of my ultimate horror books. I'm so anxious for Doctor Sleep. I'm a little afraid it won't be as good as The Shining, but I have high hopes.
The Summoning - Bentley Little. Anyone who wins Horror Novel of the year is a good horror writer,so I am curious to try him. This looks interesting, a series of unexplained events in a small Arizona town...
The Small Hand - Susan Hill. A ghost story by the author of The Woman in Black! I don't need to say anymore, do I? Except that I loved The Woman in Black, so I'm hoping to get some eerie chills again.
The Greatcoat - Helen Dunmore. Another ghost story, a rave review by Eva over at A Striped Armchair, and Bride of the Book God, and I had to get this.
A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness. It sounds terrifying, a little boy whose mother is dying of cancer, and he has to fight another kind of monster all on his own. Also heartbreaking. I'm almost scared to read this, since I am sure I will cry while reading this.
Red Bones - Ann Cleeves - 3rd in the Shetland Island series featuring Jimmy Perez. I really liked the first two books in this series. There is something island-like and claustrophobic that is appealing (the solitude, nature, the sea) and not so appealing (everyone knows you, hard to be a recluse or hide away without being some kind of outcast), and downright nasty murders. I was thrilled to see Book 5 has just come out, so it's no longer the Shetland Quartet.
The Last Policeman - Ben Winters. Thea James from The Book Smugglers posted a lovely review at Kirkus last month, and pushed this book up onto this pile for me. An end of the world mystery novel. What would you do if the world was coming to an end? Would you stay in your job? Would it matter if crimes were solved? That's the theme of this book, with the policeman, Detective Hank Palace, staying in his job because for him, it does matter. That feeling of icy dread in your stomach? That's the end of the world coming.....definitely a book for RIP VIII.
I am also going for Peril the Screen. Definitely! Legend of Hell House, which I have already seen, and now that I've finally read the novel, want to re-watch. Possibly The Haunting of Hill House, and The Shining (to go along with reading the novel). Finish Ripper Street. A whole bunch of possibilities.....
and I am, as ever, going for Peril The Short Story. I think I might make a post up of some of the collections I have, just so you can ooh and awe over how many collections there are (and I don't have them all! definitely not) and pique your interest. There are so many good horror collections, anthologies, short stories, to choose from.
Happy scary reading, everyone!
