Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Jack Finney, 1955)

List: Jones & Newman

After watching multiple versions of this adapted into film, I thought it was time to get back to the source. And I gotta say, this is a firecracker of a book. Finney’s prose is fast-paced and suspenseful but still occasionally funny and clever. I thought it was interesting also that the book delves more into the actual details of how exactly the pod people manifest which is something I always wondered about watching the movies. It also ends differently than any of the movies. This is definitely one I would recommend.

The Devil In America (Kai Ashante Wilson, 2014) / Please, Momma (Chesya Burke, 2015)

List: NPR

I thought I’d check out a couple of shorter stories of horror filtered through the black epxerience. “The Devil in America” is an interesting variation on the Faustian bargain intertwined with with Reconstruction-era persecution of the black community and steeped in ancient folklore and dark magic. It’s a grim story but at times quite powerful with a lyrical and flowing quality. The only thing that I’m not sure works are the notes from the author’s father randomly interjected into the narrative.

With “Please, Momma”, I liked this compact little story quite a bit as it mutates through several different styles of story from psychological horror to bodily curse a la Graham Masterson’s The Manitou and ultimately something much sadder. I recommend checking it out.

As an additional note, both of these stories can be found for free online:
The Devil in America
Please, Momma

Meddling Kids (Edgar Cantero, 2017)

List: Reedsy Discovery

This the story of the Blyton Summer Detective Club (4 teens and a dog) who, after seemingly solving the mystery of the Sleepy Lake Monster, drift apart and move away from their hometown of Blyton Hills, where they’ve solved many a caper. Jump forward thirteen years. One of them had become a famous actor but died from a drug overdose. The nerd of the group is now a hard-partying alcoholic waitress who has given up on her dreams of becoming a biologist. The spunky tomboy is an ex-military drifter who’s been in and out of prison. The youngest of the group currently resides at the Arkham Asylum in Massachusetts where he sees visions of his dead friend. The dog is long-dead but his grandson is just as inquisitive and curious as ever. The drifter can’t quite shake the memory of what really happened that night so many years ago, so she gets the gang back together to go solve it once and for all. Man, I enjoyed the hell out of this one, a fast-paced, pop culture stew of Scooby Doo, IT and Lovecraftian Horror. I could see how the writing style may annoy some with it’s made up denominalization of words (using nouns as verbs or adjectives) and it’s seemingly random use of stage direction and dialogue as if out of a screenplay, but honestly I think all of that just adds to its kooky charm. Highly recommended if you’re looking for something fun to read.

Wylding Hall (Elizabeth Hand, 2015)

List: NPR

This “Folk Horror by way of VH1 Behind the Music” novel isn’t as straight up scary as much as it is unsettling. Elizabeth Hand does a remarkable job of building the character and tone of the band at the heart of this story (she does a wonderful job of describing the music performed to the point that I could almost hear it) of a folk group who retreats to a remote mansion to write a follow-up album after the death of their former singer. The story is told through a series of intercut interviews with the band members and others around the band. It builds a creeping kind of disquieting mystery centered on the guitarist Julian, his fascination with the occult and a strange girl that sudden appears that sparks the dissolution of the band. I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit and found that this one actually worked quite well as an audiobook (each of the different people interviewed were cast by a different person in the version I listened to). I could see some being dissatisfied with it as it definitely leaves many questions unanswered but I feel like the atmosphere of the book worked really well and over-explaining would’ve only been a detriment to it.

From Hell (Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell, 1989)

List: Reedsy Discovery

Alan Moore’s large, serialized fictionalized depiction of the Whitechapel Murders of Jack the Ripper posits a far-reaching conspiracy involving Prince Albert, in an effort to keep secret an illegitimate heir, who commissions the royal doctor to undergo the murders with the complicity of the Freemasons but who realizes too late that perhaps the doctor already has a few more screws loose than they anticipated. It’s a dense, detail-oriented read with some very heady ideas of the Ripper’s role in forging the new world of the 20th century, and the actual murders depicted are quite chilling, due in large part to Eddie Campbell’s stark illustrations. Like much of what Moore writes, this is at times both frustratingly obtuse and masterful in equal measure.