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I Am Behind You
by John Ajvide Lindqvist
The grass is greener: Awakening at their campsite to find the world they knew gone, replaced with a sunless blue sky and an endlessly green landscape devoid of landmarks, four families confront the menacing physical forms of their buried traumas and desires.
Series alert: I Am Behind You is the first in a planned trilogy.
Reviewers say: "It will keep entranced and shocked readers guessing until the very end" (Library Journal).
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The Outsider
by Stephen King
An eleven-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad. As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King's propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face?
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| Inspection by Josh MalermanThe experiment: What if separating the sexes made kids smarter? The pseudonymous M.O.M. and D.A.D. aim to accomplish just that in the sex-segregated schools they rule with rigidity and violence.
Is it for you? Though Inspection doesn't mine larger questions regarding gender and sexuality, it's a thought-provoking horror-thriller where every character is an unreliable narrator, whether by necessity or ignorance.
For fans of: Lord of the Flies and other works of psychological fiction. |
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Graveyard Mind
by Chadwick Ginther
When the dead are the last things to stay buried . . . In Winnipeg's underworld, every mortician is on the take and every revenant of myth waits to claw their way out of their tombs. The dead stay in the ground because of Winter Murray, a necromancer of the Compact. A victim of abduction and a criminal herself, Winter stalks Winnipeg's Graveside, preventing larger, more heinous crimes from spilling over into the lives of the Sunsiders, no matter what laws of gods and men she must break to do so.
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| What Should Be Wild by Julia FineMeet: Maisie Cothay, whose touch can kill the living and resurrect the dead. Raised by her anthropologist father, Maisie grows up in almost total isolation -- as well as total ignorance of her unusual family history.
Is it for you? Although the premise is reminiscent of TV's Pushing Daisies, the tone of this Gothic-tinged modern fairy tale is much darker.
Want a taste? "Still, I killed my father three times before the age of eight, and caused the demise of over a dozen small animals."
Nominee, Superior Achievement in a First Novel |
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Husk
by Dave Zeltserman
Charlie is a Husker on the prowl in the New Hampshire wilderness when he falls in love with one of them: a girl named Jill. Loving Jill means leaving the Husk clan, with its gruesome cannibalistic rituals, and that will be far more difficult--and dangerous--than Charlie could haveforeseen.
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| Baby Teeth by Zoje StageStarring: seven-year-old daddy's girl Hanna and her mother Suzette, who Hanna considers competition for her father's affections.
Who it's for: Readers who love sinister "bad seed" stories will enjoy Hanna's escalating psychopathic antics and her disturbing knack for antagonizing her long-suffering mother.
Reviewers say: "deviously fun" (Publishers Weekly); "deliciously creepy" (New York Post).
Nominee, Superior Achievement in a First Novel |
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| The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten WhiteWhat it is: a twisty YA retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
What sets it apart: Narrated by Elizabeth Lavenza (a passive minor character in the original novel), this Gothic tale offers a new perspective on a classic story by exploring themes of feminism, power, and captivity.
Try this next: For another female-centric spin on a classic horror novel, try Megan Shepherd's The Madman's Daughter, inspired by H.G Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Winner, Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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