|
|
|
The grip of it
by Jac Jemc
"A chilling literary horror novel about a young couple haunted by their newly purchased home Jac Jemc's The Grip of It tells the eerie story of a young couple haunted by their new home. Julie and James settle into a house in a small town outside the citywhere they met. The move--prompted by James's penchant for gambling, his inability to keep his impulses in check--is quick and seamless; both Julie and James are happy to leave behind their usual haunts and start afresh. But this house, which sits between lake and forest, has plans for the unsuspecting couple. As Julie and James try to settle into their home and their relationship, the house and its surrounding terrain become the locus of increasingly strange happenings. The architecture--claustrophobic,riddled with hidden rooms within room--becomes unrecognizable, decaying before their eyes. Stains are animated on the wall--contracting, expanding--and map themselves onto Julie's body in the form of bruises; mold spores taint the water that James pours from the sink. Together the couple embark on a panicked search for the source of their mutual torment, a journey that mires them in the history of their peculiar neighbors and the mysterious residents who lived in the house before Julie and James. Writtenin creepy, potent prose, The Grip of It is an enthralling, psychologically intense novel that deals in questions of home: how we make it and how it in turn makes us, inhabiting the bodies and the relationships we cherish."
|
|
| The White Road by Sarah LotzSoon after Simon Newman, the co-creator of a website that features creepy videos, has a nearly fatal experience spelunking in Wales, he embarks on another quest: to film dead bodies on Mt. Everest. But Simon finds that Mt. Everest's danger doesn't just come from the natural forces of cold, altitude, and risky climbs -- there's a malevolent entity up there. Or is his head injury from the Welsh disaster causing hallucinations? Fans of Dan Simmons' The Abominable will be enthralled. |
|
| Black Mad Wheel by Josh MalermanIn this second novel by Josh Malerman, author of the highly acclaimed Bird Box, the U.S. government recruits a Detroit rock band in 1957 to search for the origin of a strange and destructive sound in the Namib Desert. After the trip to Africa, band leader and pianist Philip Tonka emerges from a coma in an Iowa clinic, and he struggles to recall what happened in the desert. Malerman's "uncluttered prose evokes awe and terror" (Library Journal, starred review), while his knowledge of music enriches his storytelling. |
|
| The Only Child by Andrew PyperCan a nameless man accused of a heinous crime in modern New York really be two centuries old and the model for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, and Frankenstein? Psychiatrist Lily Dominick is driven to investigate this claim...especially because the monstrous man also says he's her father. After he escapes from the psychiatric hospital, she pursues him to Eastern Europe -- but she, too, is being followed! "Gothic fans, rejoice!" says Toronto's Globe and Mail about Canadian author Andrew Pyper's expert homage to 19th-century literature. |
|
| The Loney by Andrew Michael HurleyReferring to a Bible verse (Matthew 9:32–34) that suggests that healing can come from the Devil rather than God, The Loney explores a series of events from the first-person narrator's childhood. As an adult, the narrator, nicknamed "Tonto," sees a news report that reminds him of the annual Easter pilgrimages his family made to a remote English coastal area. Realizing that secrets he had thought long buried might be revealed, he decides to write down his own version of the disturbing occurrences before anybody else does. This leisurely paced, lyrical, and haunting tale won the 2015 Costa Book Award for First Novel. |
|
| We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley JacksonIn author Shirley Jackson's classic We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Mary Catherine "Merricat" Blackwood explains her family's story. Merricat is obsessive-compulsive and fascinated by witchcraft, her sister Constance is a recluse, and their uncle Julian is an invalid. Merricat is content with their isolation until Cousin Charles arrives and begins harassing her, until she deals with him in shocking fashion. Throughout, Jackson portrays the Blackwood house as one of the story's characters, intensifying the brooding quality of this intricate gothic novel. |
|
| The Quick by Lauren OwenFans of Victorian-set gothic horror, vampire tales with large casts of characters, London's creepy, dark streets, and leisurely, elegant writing will appreciate this immersive read. In her debut, novelist Lauren Owen recounts the tale of a young poet from Yorkshire who goes to London -- and disappears. When his sister goes looking for him, she discovers a group of amateur vampire hunters trying to stop the murderous plots of a socially elite occult society. If you enjoyed Bram Stoker's original Dracula or Charles Palliser's Rustication, you won't want to miss this. |
|
| Fiercombe Manor by Kate RiordanIn the summer of 1933, Alice Everleigh, unwed and pregnant, takes refuge in a country manor, where her mother's childhood friend serves as housekeeper to the Stanton family. Free to wander about the place, Alice inevitably discovers secrets from the past. As she becomes absorbed in a 30-year-old diary left by Lady Elizabeth Stanton, Alice is plagued by menacing supernatural phenomena. Fans of Daphne du Maurier and Diane Setterfield will find this "bewitching blend" of gothic elements "atmospheric and entertaining" (Publishers Weekly). |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
Keene Public Library
60 Winter St.
Keene, New Hampshire 03431
603-352-0157
http://www.keenepubliclibrary.org/
|
|
|
|