It’s almost Halloween, which means all of the creepy fun things — including some spooktacular reading! Check out these scary picks from @alamayhem_reads!
Boy oh boy, where do I begin with this one? Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 100% delivered everything I wanted from it. Going into the novel I was ready for some Gothic horror, and after reading some reviews I knew not to expect a “conjuring” type of story.
What I got was a beautifully written, (quite traumatizing honestly), elaborate story of a troubled family haunted by a very gruesome and complicated history. I could not get over the prose in this novel. It helped add to the atmospheric setting and allowed me to completely envelope myself into the surroundings of the house, thus losing myself in the pages for hours.
Noemí has to be one of the most bad-ass female protagonists in a horror story I have ever had the pleasure of reading. She was confident, sassy, ambitious, and knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it.
I immediately grew attached to her and was smiling to myself as she made sly remarks at anyone that doubted her throughout the story.
The pacing of the story was magnificent as well. It allowed the story to build up and have a great base to it, and then it exploded at the end with a huge twist you may think you have figured out, only to be more mind-blown as new details are revealed. Any lover of horror needs to add this to their TBR immediately. This novel satisfied all my wants for a horrific story, combined with beautifully devastating prose, and elaborate characters that left my heart very full by the end of it.
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager was a book that I expected to be about a haunted house, but ended up cascading into an intricate story about love, family, and how far a parent will go to protect their child. I loved this book so much, and physically could not put it down.
This is the first book I have read that had a book inside of a book, and I found it added to the overall outcome of the story so much. It left me wanting to know what was going to happen in each storyline more and more and kept me rapidly turning each page. The twists present in this book absolutely shook me to my core, and there were moments I was genuinely terrified to keep reading. I am a huge horror fan, so almost nothing phases me at this point. However, while reading this book, I had actual goosebumps reading several passages.
I will think about this book instantly for satisfying all my horror needs, while also revealing a meaningful, carefully woven story underneath it. I can’t express how much I absolutely loved this book and it’s one of my favorite novels of the year. I truly believe everyone needs to read it! Whether you’re a fan of thrillers or not, this book will have you hooked from start to finish.
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Going into this The Shadows by Alex North, I was expecting to be scared because it has to do with lucid dreaming and I was worried about nightmares, but I did not expect to be quite as terrified as I actually was. This book had my skin crawling and there were moments I had actual goosebumps as I found myself inside of the pages.
Although I do admit it took me a second to get into the story, once I got past the introductions and we got into the juicy details, I could not put this book down. The whole plot was so interesting, and it really had me questioning supernatural presences and the abilities humans have with lucid dreaming. The descriptions of the murders and crime scenes inside of this novel left me feeling quite queasy and unsettled, which is super rare for me since I live and breathe horror books/movies.
I personally enjoyed the two different point of views and having the flashbacks to the past reveal how the initial murder came to be, and how it has shaped our main protagonist, Paul to this day. Having insight into the detective, Amanda’s mind and her process of solving the case was something I also loved. Amanda is a crossover character from North’s other novel, The Whisper Man and it made me add that book immediately to my TBR. There is also a huge twist I was not expecting at all. It surprised me so much that I had to stop reading and sat in silence to absorb it.
About the Author
Alamea Zamora is an avid reader who is studying literature. She shares her love of books with her bookstagram community on Instagram. Follow her: @alamayhem_reads
*This article originally appeared in StarShine Magazine’s Fall 2020 issue. Check it out here!
