It's the off-season in the seaside resort town of Blackpool, where Tommy never imagined he would return. His relationship has broken down, so he returns home to keep an eye on his widower father. While counting down the hours before attending the funeral of a well-loved friend, a mysterious group turns up on the seafront. One by one, the locals are entranced by their presence until Tommy and his father can no longer resist the allure. Tommy soon discovers a secret desire his father has been harbouring for his entire life.

Very good slow unraveling of a subtle horror. I loved the distant, dreamy tone. No quoteation marks, everything blending into the other. It really lends itself to the ambiguity of the situation. Not ageism either, in assuming older people need to die because they're all used up. I liked the locale and the theme of tides. It's very chronological. Even the title, the off season, is perfect. It's refreshing to see horror about the end of life stage. Usually is younger people running around, scooby dooing mysteries of cursed artifacts, or trying to escape supernatural monsters.

Interesting in its own way. Not mediocre but acceptable like a decent summer movie. DiLouie can write a fun, coherent novel. But that doesn't mean it's automatically amazing.

That the story is being relayed in super quick cuts to different characters is a little tiring. I get that it's a documentary, but I wish there was more an epistolary element to it. Include reddit reviews, fan forums, tweets, album reviews, anything. Hell, have some fake newspaper stories of the fucked up shit happening as a result of concerts.

Maybe it's bc it's only 200 pages into a 300 page book but the horror is still a bit too subtle. I rather liked Todd Keisling's Yellow King inspired band horror better. Maybe the conclusion of this book would change my mind, idk., FAKE EDIT: No, but I recognize both authors are doing something entirely different and it's not fair to compare them. Still, if you want occult horror about bands, check out Keisling's novella, 'The Final Reconciliation'. [small disclaimer: it is terrible about romani people and repeatedly using the word g*psy.]

Also the horror stops being subtle. But not in a good way.

Maybe I happens later in this novel but I wish there was more of the relationship between Emily and drake. So far there's nothing to indicate turmoil? FAKE EDIT: Ok no. Not really. The most toxic a relationship gets is with Eric and Valeria. I was expecting and hoping for something more dramatic. More upsetting. All we get is a handful of fights about how he's acting just like her dad about controlling her. You know who had a amazing horrible toxic relationship between the Holy Bride and Evil God characters? The Once Yellow House by Gemma Armor. That woman also did not want to be the Holy Bride person that the cult made her into. That relationship was stunningly awful, very heartbreaking. This book does not even have a inch of that.

Honestly, I don't see much of a relationship between them. Granted it's not the first time a man decided his obsession with a woman was love and not objectification of a human being. I just don't see the romance. So what, they took some shrooms together and did a couple jam sessions. That could be platonic love just as much as romantic love. There's nothing particular that set them apart as doomed lovers. Hey, that Lisa Frankenstein movie had some pretty good Doomed Romance plot. This book? Notsomuch.

While it wasn't about the musician, much less concerts or their fans, Matthew Coffin from Rosson's Fever House duology made for a better antichrist. And I don't think he was specifically the antichrist as much as he was one devil of many who wanted hell on earth. Not armageddon, just hell on earth.

This Drake character, I don't know. I don't care about any of these characters and don't even care to know more of them. But he just feels underdeveloped. And when he does appear developed it's.... Hm. Presses lips together. It's stupid. Not cool stupid like an action movie with cheesy lines and obviously bad stunts. Like the old robocop movie. This was like fanfic to josh whedon. So like at the first climax to the book, Drake has finally leveled up and evolved into the antichrist. There's a showdown at a church with gun toting church people--nuns, priests, clergy-peoples, etc. They open fire and he just makes them explode like those fruit gushers commercials. Bear in mind the last time we saw him he was making a handful of people go whacko at pub / bar shows. Someone fed this bitch 50 rare candies, that's for sure. We're told he doesn't know he's the antichrist for reals no lies, but that he has to grow into it. Ok sure. But we don't see that, so it's really jarring to get this scene out of nowhere.

[I know this is america but where the fuck did they get automatics? Maybe it's different in other us states, but even modding your gun to make it automatic is basically a black bag, straight to federal high max prison teleportation spell.]

Actually that kinda irritated me as well. The fake out climaxes. Which sure maybe it worked to the books advantage, it offered growing tension in the fight between good and evil. It avoided a stale plot line. But I didn't enjoy the book so it left me feeling like I was offered an end to this tedium and was denied.

And now that I think about it, I'd rather see this from Ramona's point of view. She had a decent character arc, and had more struggle than Lillian. Or even the pov of someone affected by the Drake magic shit. We do get one, but that's it. And it was, like the rest of the book, underwhelming. I feel the author leans more towards tell and not show, fairly often. Not often enough it becomes unreadable, though.

Man, I know I have a lot of gripes. But if you like the concept, this isn't a terrible book. It's decently plotted out and executed. It's fun action horror, but not comedy horror. Basically the opposite of Pesshl's Night Film.

A biotech company is poised to release its highly anticipated new product, a revolutionary swimming pool cleaning system that depends on an unlikely mix of exotic microorganisms. But when the president of the company's son dies unexpectedly in his own private pool, the company's product launch is thrust into uncertainty.Determined to salvage his company and make a fortune in the process, CEO Dr. Harry Stone races around the world to collect hard-to-find microbes literally from the ends of the Earth in an attempt to meet the launch deadline with a secretly modified product. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, those closest to Harry search for their own way to survive under extreme conditions.

It's a novella at 182 pages but feels like a full novel. I do congratulate the author on getting the tech bro silicon valley capitalist ceo mind set perfectly correct. Yes, he would cover up a wrongful death to save his paycheck. There is nothing noble or human about ceos or tech bros. You need to be not human or lacking morals to be a tech bro ceo. He's a decently subtle unlikeable character. You're not supposed to root for him, but man it is fun to watch this dickhead scramble his way through his very real problems.

I also loved the not quite antagonist, the grieving mother. She's a lot more complex than you'd expect, and she's a good moral balance to the tech bro's immorality. Hell, combined with her sister in law, she's one thirds the Furies for the protagonist.

Despite the summary the plot is much more complex than it appears. The drilling platform, for example, has technical discussion which lends credence to the desperation of their desires. It really lends credence and depth to the plot.

The submarine rape attempt felt clumsy. In the context of his other novels: military propaganda, christian leaning plots, and general sexist characters, yeah that makes sense. I get the vibe he knows enough about writing not to fall into ancient misogynistic or sexist tropes, but everything else still has that flavor.

I don't rec his other books, despite not reading them. The summaries look... like they were meant for a different audience. An audience of middle aged white dudes who consider Top Gun their religion.

Not horror aside from one paranormal thing. It's a 99 percent murder mystery. It's basically suspense / murder mystery, then mildly slasher genre, a split second of paranormal horror, and then back to suspense / murder mystery. Largely disappointing, the summary led me to believe there was some supernatural shenanigans going on at the original film site.

That said, the murder mystery was alright. You could kinda see the outlines on where it would go based on the few hints at the start: something bad happened and there's a pact to never speak of that night again. Clearly someone died, everyone could be implicated a la Clue movie, and thus I Know What You Did Last Summer Time Y'all Made A Film. The horror genre element gave it a touching plot twist but not even to elevate it from a standard murder mystery.

I sound really down on it. It's a good film. It touches on the serial sexual abuse / general abuse of the hollywood film industry, the trauma resulting from it, rape culture, and how standing up for survivors is important for everyone. Not in a cheesy after school special kind of way, nor is it a traumaporn rape fest. [See Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe if you want that]. It's a well written book with good prose and characterization. I have no complaints beyond being slightly misled on the amount of horror genre this mystery novel contains.

An ingenious novel of suspense about sisterhood, innocence, murderous games, and how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love.
In a tight-knit town in the 1980s, a child-killer is on the loose. And Topaz’s parents are on edge. At ten years old, Topaz is so vulnerable. But she has nothing to worry about. Her eldest sister, Ruby, has made sure of that. Swearing Topaz to secrecy, Ruby reveals she has trapped the monster in their root cellar.
Bound and bloodied in the cold space is kindly Brother Johnson from the Church. Pleading with Topaz to cut him loose, he says her reckless sister is a liar. Brother Johnson is right about that: Ruby does lie. She also likes to scare people. Still, even Ruby wouldn’t lie about this. Would she? The game—and the secret—is in her hands. But Topaz just wants to do the right thing.
Let Brother Johnson die in the cold space? Or try to set him free—and then see what happens next?

Sometimes a novel is marketed as horror when it's simply not. It's a mystery, it has implied supernatural elements with the plot twist of 'nope! the man behind the curtains did it!'. This is and isn't that sort of novel. And the ambiguity both works for it and further compels the dread.

Who is the liar? Well. Everyone. No one. Nobody lied and everyone lied and nobody told the truth as much as everybody told the truth. This novel questions morality and social ties as amazingly as any court room thriller or crime suspense novel.

You may imagine by the summary that there is some sort of abuse going on, particularly with the religious figures in the community. That's true. What is or isn't true, is

Yes the main protagonist(s) are children, teens and tweens, but they're not the pseudo immature caricatures. They feel genuinely like children, which adds another nacreous layer of dread. Many people forget what it's like to be a child. It's helplessness tied to your age and abilities. You can't physically fight back. You can't verbally fight back. Your safety is paramount of everyone around you choosing not to hurt you. And not everyone chooses that.

This is not trauma porn or torture porn. But it is a heartrending examination of rape culture and to a degree, purity culture. If Ruby didn't act out so much, would she have been seen as more innocent, more needing protection? But then again, that didn't save Topaz.

While there is no explicit csa [aside from one scene] on screen, this does contain the topic of grooming and csa. I do highly recommend this, but it's reasonable to choose a different book to read if the content is not to one's taste.

And if one does want something else in this vein, try A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian.