Well…Countdown to Halloween 2024 is a wrap at SFFWorld. We had a lot of reviews go up this year and as ever, our friend Randy M (noted Horror expert) contributed quite a few. Take a look at what we (Randy, my long-standing SFFWorld colleague Mark Yon, and I) did this year at Countdown to Halloween 2024. For my part, I’ll provide just a little bit more with the links below.
I started off October / Countdown to Halloween 2024 with reviews of Jonathan Janz’s two Children of the Dark novels: Children of the Dark and Children of the Dark 2: The Night Flyers. I’d have to say, my favorite “new to me” horror writer I started reading the past five years is Janz and these two books just might be his best. They play on the great trope of Kids on Bikes/Kids vs. Monsters to a very satisfying degree.
Next was Murder Road by Simone St. James. I’ve read a few novels from her prior to this one and they’ve all been a very enjoyable mix of mystery and supernatural. This one continues that trend.
The following week, I posted a book that is going to be a favorite read of 2024 for me, Todd Keisling’s Devil’s Creek. A story of a cult/dark church that has some Lovecraftian overtones. A truly dark and harrowing novel.
It is always great to read new voices in the horror genre, especially when those voices bring something you haven’t seen before or a perspective that is different than your own experiences. That’s Del Sandeen’s This Cursed House, which was an extremely impressive debut novel.
Next up is another new-to-me writer, but a writer who has received (arguably) the highest honor a horror writer can receive, the Bram Stoker award for Life Achievement. I refer to Nuzo Onoh’s fable-like horror novel, Where the Dead Brides Gather.
Closing it out is a book by a writer with an interesting personal connection. Nicole M. Wolverton and I both own dogs…these dogs happen to be sisters. We adopted our dogs (Dusty for my, Myrtle for her) from the wonderful Angel’s Retreat dog rescue. Little did I know that one of the side benefits to bringing the perfection that is Dusty into our lives is that I’d “discover” such an engaging horror writer with A Misfortune of Lake Monsters.
There you have it, a half-dozen +1 batch of horror novels for your reading pleasure.
