Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
My Review:The Three-Body Problem is the first book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy. The story begins during China’s Cultural Revolution, a tumultuous period in the mid-20th century marked by political upheaval and ideological fervor. The protagonist, Ye Wenjie, witnesses her father’s public execution during this time, which profoundly shapes her outlook on humanity. Subsequently, she became involved in a secretive government project called Red Coast, aimed at using advanced technology to make contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.
The narrative then shifts to present-day China, where a nanomaterials researcher named Wang Miao gets involved in a mysterious conspiracy. Scientists around the world are facing unexplained suicides, and bizarre occurrences are disrupting the fabric of reality. Wang discovers a virtual reality game called Three-Body Problem, where players are immersed in a world that mirrors the challenges faced by an alien civilization on the fictional planet Trisolaris.
As a lawyer, I know almost nothing about complex science theories, physics, astronomy, etc. Due to my ignorance, I have no idea whether the science explored in this novel is real, based upon actual theories, made up by the author to suit the story or some mixture of all three. Nevertheless, I found it to be utterly fascinating, and the message of the story (I won’t give away the ending) stayed with me — even now, I think about what would happen if this were to really happen in real life.
I have never read a book by a Chinese author before, so I really liked branching out and reading something from a culture I don’t know much about. The book had a slow-burn feel, with a big reveal at the end of the book. I just checked out the second book at the library and can’t wait to delve into it.
Stats/Recommendation: As of the writing of this review (November 27, 2023), this book has a 4.09-star rating on Goodreads. If you haven’t already read this book, I would highly recommend it. This book also won a TON of awards, so you don’t have to only take my word for it.
Night person! Even if I have to wake up early (for work etc.), I don’t function properly until I’ve had coffee, and I don’t really become a real person until at least after 9am.
I am participating in SoCS hosted by Linda G. Hill (click on the link for the ping back to the original blog post and to see the rules).
I had no idea what to write for this prompt, so I asked ChatGPT what confidence was. What really stuck out to me from the explanation was “Confidence is rooted in a positive self-perception.” This means that confidence is self-made. No one can give you confidence. And conversely, no one can take it away. You are the master of your own confidence. There is something comforting in that.
Welcome to Friday 56! Hosted by Freda’s Voice, you turn to page 56 or 56% in any book or reading device and pick a sentence that grabs you.
“‘Say something else!” she cried. “Say something else so I don’t think I just dreamed it!’ ‘He’s not supposed to–‘ Claire began, but Con interrupted her. Because now he could. ‘I love you, Mom,’ he said. ‘I love you, Dad.'”
Time Travel Thursday is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog. This is where I take a look back at what I was reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and compare it to what I am reading now.
A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.
Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she’d never return.
With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present.
Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.
The Alexandrian Society, caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity, are the foremost secret society of magical academicians in the world. Those who earn a place among the Alexandrians will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams, and each decade, only the six most uniquely talented magicians are selected to be considered for initiation.
Enter the latest round of six: Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona, unwilling halves of an unfathomable whole, who exert uncanny control over every element of physicality. Reina Mori, a naturalist, who can intuit the language of life itself. Parisa Kamali, a telepath who can traverse the depths of the subconscious, navigating worlds inside the human mind. Callum Nova, an empath easily mistaken for a manipulative illusionist, who can influence the intimate workings of a person’s inner self. Finally, there is Tristan Caine, who can see through illusions to a new structure of reality—an ability so rare that neither he nor his peers can fully grasp its implications.
When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they will have one year to qualify for initiation, during which time they will be permitted preliminary access to the Society’s archives and judged based on their contributions to various subjects of impossibility: time and space, luck and thought, life and death. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. The six potential initiates will fight to survive the next year of their lives, and if they can prove themselves to be the best among their rivals, most of them will.
Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 billion stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 billion galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14-billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. The sheer enormity of the numbers almost demands that we accept the truth of this hypothesis. Why, then, have we encountered no evidence, no messages, no artifacts of these extraterrestrials?
In this second, significantly revised and expanded edition of his widely popular book, Webb discusses in detail the (for now!) 75 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi’s famous paradox: If the numbers strongly point to the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, why have we found no evidence of them?
In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.
Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.
That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.
Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?
Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.
From the outset, Hynek and Vallee make their position UFOs represent an unknown but real phenomenon. The far-reaching implications take us to the very edge of what we consider known and real in our physical environment. Perhaps, say the authors, UFOs signal the existence of a domain of nature as yet totally unexplored. In this mind-stretching book, the authors sample UFO reports, including those allegedly involving humanoids, and describe the perceived patterns in the behavior of the phenomenon. They also establish a framework for further study. Where might such study lead? What can be studied, and how? What is the real nature of the UFO phenomenon? Does it originate with the actions of other intelligences in the universe? If so, where and what might they be? Does the UFO phenomenon have a purely physical explanation, or is there a vast, hidden realm that holds the solution? In this invaluable work, we gain insight into the thinking of Hynek and Vallee’s research and investigations into UFOs, including Project Blue Book, the Pascagoula case, and the Betty and Barney Hill experience
A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.
In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.
Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.
This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.
In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.
Shelf Control is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Instead of always looking ahead to upcoming new releases, I thought I’d start a weekly feature focusing on already released books that I want to read. Consider this a variation of a Wishing & Waiting post… but looking at books already available, and in most cases, books that are either on my shelves or on my Kindle!
Title: The Circle
Author: Dave Eggers
Published: 2013
Length: 493 pages
Brief Synopsis from Goodreads: When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency.
As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO.
Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public.
What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.
How I got it: On vacation in South Carolina at a library book sale.
When I got it: 2023
Why I want to read it: I’ve been wanting to read this book for a really long time, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday! Hosted by Socrates Book Reviews this is where you share the first paragraph of one of the books that you are currently reading.
“In one way, at least, our lives really are like movies.”
Goodreads Monday is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog. “Goodreads Monday allows you to post about what books are on your “to read” lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenge, and any other Goodreads news!”
“White Fuzz is a weird sort of love story between two deeply disturbed individuals, each a product of their isolated environment. It’s not an easy read. It’s shocking, gross, and horrifying. Manages to check off every trigger! You’ve been warned.”
Franklin feels alone in life. One fateful night, he gets a curious text from a stranger, Lynda, another resident of his apartment building. She convinces him to come over, against his better judgment, and surprisingly, the night seems to be going great, despite a little awkwardness.
However, it’s clear that Lynda is living with demons that are in desperate need of exercising, as everything inside her apartment seems to trigger some dark memory buried deep within her psyche. In hopes of helping her escape the prison that is her home, he invites her over to his place, but the problems only get worse, to the point he fears she won’t make it through the night.
Just when he feels the night has reached peak insanity, he discovers her madness is rubbing off on him…
A shipwrecked man comes upon an apartment building located in the middle of the ocean. Inside, he finds the skulls of twelve residents, each one eager to tell their story.
A young Native girl’s hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe’s reservation lead her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut.
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step–an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that’s intent on devouring her whole.
With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe’s past.
When Anna’s own little sister also disappears, she’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation–both ancient and new–are strong, and sometimes, it’s the stories that never get told that are the most important.
Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.
Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
Are You Looking for a Deeper Understanding of Emps and an Easy-to-follow Guide So That You Can Safeguard Yourself, Your Family, and Even Your Neighbors From an Electromagnetic Pulse Attack? If That Is You, You’re in the Right Place!In the Aftermath of an Emp Attack, Much of the Population Could Perish From Famine, Dehydration, Illness, Murder, and Suicide. The Power Grid Could Be Down for Years. Almost All Modern Equipment Would Quit Operating Instantly. What Does This Mean for You and Your Family? The Topics That We Will Cover Today – What to Do Right After the Power Goes Out- The Components You Need to Create a Self-sustaining Power System- Solar the Best Kinds to Use- Solar Panels Inverters- Why You Need a Ham Radio- Making Your Phone Untraceable- Building Faraday Cages- Getting Ready for Natural Disasters Even Though the Average American Citizen Is Not Prepared Whatsoever for an Emp Attack, That Doesn’t Mean That You Have to Be. This Book Is Going to Cover Survival Lessons (Plus a Few Bonus Lessons) on How to Prepare for an Emp Attack Before It Strikes and How to Survive Once It Does. It Doesn’t Matter Whether You Are Just the Average Person Looking to Become a Little More Prepared for an Emp Attack or Are Already a Seasoned Survivalist Looking for More Ways to Become Prepared, as There Is Valuable Information That You Will Learn From This Book.
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,” eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?” She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!”), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.
Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.
Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 billion stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 billion galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14-billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. The sheer enormity of the numbers almost demands that we accept the truth of this hypothesis. Why, then, have we encountered no evidence, no messages, no artifacts of these extraterrestrials? In this second, significantly revised and expanded edition of his widely popular book, Webb discusses in detail the (for now!) 75 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi’s famous paradox: If the numbers strongly point to the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, why have we found no evidence of them?
Progress: page 121 of 434 (August 21st page 22, September 4th page 26, September 11th page 56, October 2nd page 85, October 9th page 99)
In her twenties, Emma Blair marries her high school sweetheart, Jesse. They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.
On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.
Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.
That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.
Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?
Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.
Progress: page 85 of 331 (October 2nd page 1, October 9th page 70)
From the outset, Hynek and Vallee make their position UFOs represent an unknown but real phenomenon. The far-reaching implications take us to the very edge of what we consider known and real in our physical environment. Perhaps, say the authors, UFOs signal the existence of a domain of nature as yet totally unexplored. In this mind-stretching book, the authors sample UFO reports, including those allegedly involving humanoids, and describe the perceived patterns in the behavior of the phenomenon. They also establish a framework for further study. Where might such study lead? What can be studied, and how? What is the real nature of the UFO phenomenon? Does it originate with the actions of other intelligences in the universe? If so, where and what might they be? Does the UFO phenomenon have a purely physical explanation, or is there a vast, hidden realm that holds the solution? In this invaluable work, we gain insight into the thinking of Hynek and Vallee’s research and investigations into UFOs, including Project Blue Book, the Pascagoula case, and the Betty and Barney Hill experience
A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.
In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.
Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.
This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance.
In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.
Progress: Audiobook 27%
Next Up:
Title: The Prepper’s Long Term Survival Bible
Author: Jim Grylls
Book Length: 341 pages
Goodreads Summary: PREPARE FOR THE WORST — If you constantly fear what lies ahead, then let this 11-in-1 Long-Term Survival Bible for Modern Preppers help you!
Should disaster strike, are you and your family ready for it?
Your worries are valid.
From a global pandemic to ego-fueled wars, the constant barrage of bad news has made you wonder (more times than you care to admit) what lies ahead should natural or man-made catastrophes ensue.
That’s why you need to prepare yourself for the worst to ensure safety for you and your loved ones! But where do you even start?
“ THE PREPPER’S LONG TERM SURVIVAL BIBLE 11 Books in 1: A Guide to Thriving Self-Sufficiently During Disaster Scenarios. Home-Defence, Pantry, Stockpiling, Off-Grid Bunker, Survival Mindset and More ” by Jim Grylls is your one-stop shop to surviving the next earthquake, plague, or even World War!
Throughout his career as a renowned survivalist, Grylls has seen, done, and overcome it all! Using the insights, tips, and tools that he’s learned from his line of business, he strategically lays out everything you need to know on how to play the long game and survive any calamity!
Here are the survival masterpieces you’ll get from THE PREPPER’S LONG TERM SURVIVAL BIBLE 11 Books in 1: ● The Prepper’s Long Term Survival Guide : When and Why Prepping. 14+1 Catastrophes that Can Happen Tomorrow as a Déjà Vu, and How to Prepare Yourself for the Worse Scenarios ● The Prepper’s Long Term Pantry in 72 Hours : How to Acquiring Foods on a Budget, Canning, Preserving and Stockpiling for Long Term Survival ● The Prepper’s Doomsday Cookbook : How to Plan and Cook Nutritional Emergency Meal on a Budget + 15 Long-Term Foods You Always Need ● The Prepper’s Disaster-Ready Home : How to Convert Your Home into a Fortress and Build Your Own Off-Grid Bunker + Home-defense tips and tricks ● The Prepper’s Long Term Natural Medicine : Life-Saving Remedies, Herbs, Essential Oil, and Hygiene Tricks for When There is NO Doctor ● The Prepper’s Thriving Mindset : How to Think and Act after the Society Collapse + 3 Tips to Entertain Your Family ● The Prepper’s Military Protocol : Hidden Secrets Used by Forced Army to Survive during the Most Horrific Scenarios and how to Easily Apply Them Now ● The Prepper’s Wilderness Survival Tips and Tricks Handbook : 15 Items You Need, and You Can Afford (for NOW), Mistakes to Avoid while Prepping, the Family Escape Plan from City, and much More ● The Prepper’s Long Term Knowledge : Prepper Basic and Advanced Knots, Start Fires, Edible Wild Plants and Procure Guide ● BONUS 1: Off Grid Solar Panel & 12 Volt Power for Preppers : A Technical Guide to Design, Install and Maintain Self-Sufficient Solar Panels ● BONUS 2: U.S. Army Survival Guide Handbook : The Prepper’s Survival Army Guide to Wilderness Thriving ● You will also find another gift inside. This is a surprise! » And…. personalized, professional formatting that will follow you throughout this survival journey
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: A young Native girl’s hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe’s reservation lead her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut.
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step–an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that’s intent on devouring her whole.
With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe’s past.
When Anna’s own little sister also disappears, she’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation–both ancient and new–are strong, and sometimes, it’s the stories that never get told that are the most important.
Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.
My Review: Anna Horn works hard at a local casino to help support her family, and she is also passionate about learning about her tribe’s history and culture.
However, Anna’s life is overshadowed by a series of disappearances. Several girls from her tribe have gone missing without a trace, and the authorities are no closer to finding them. In fact, they aren’t trying very hard to locate them, as they are believed to be runaways. Anna believes otherwise. She is haunted by a recurring nightmare, in which she sees a mythological decapitated head, that she believes has eaten these young missing women. This head is part of an old tale told to her by her uncle when she was small.
When Anna’s sister, Grace, goes missing, Anna starts to investigate her disappearance. As Anna gets closer to the truth, she puts herself in grave danger. She must confront not only the supernatural but also the very real threat of violence from those who want to keep the secrets of the reservation buried.
The power of Medina’s writing had me hooked from the beginning. I absolutely love the way that Medina masterfully weaves Native American mythology into the story. It adds an entirely new level of chill and suspense that I could not find in other books. Until the very end, I was unsure as to whether the decapitated head was real (and following Anna around — shudder), or whether there was only a human element involved. I won’t spoil it for you!
Medina’s book is even more terrifying because, while fiction, highlights a very real problem. Stories of missing Native American women are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. Medina’s writing brings one factoid to life: not all disappearances can be explained away by supernatural conspiracy theories and lore– some very human villains exist in our world today, too.
Stats: As of the time of writing this review (November 25, 2023), this book only has a 3.87 rating on Goodreads. I am honestly surprised, as I expected it to have a higher overall rating, especially since it is a Nominee for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in Horror. Some of the lower ratings discussed that while invested in the characters, the alternating timeline (before Grace went missing vs. after) was distracting and took away from the emotional resonance of the book. A second common complaint was that the designation of horror did the book a disservice because readers were not able to properly manage expectations. This book is less of a horror book and more of a thriller/mystery.
I can understand the above points, but I myself was not bothered by the alternating timelines, nor did I realize that the book was a horror book when I checked it out from the library. Even given the mixed reviews, I would still recommend this book.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: A shipwrecked man comes upon an apartment building located in the middle of the ocean. Inside, he finds the skulls of twelve residents, each one eager to tell their story. This is the final book of The Bedlam Bible.
My Review: I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for letting me read this! I listened to this audiobook while on vacation in South Carolina. It was a pleasant mid-70’s to 80 degrees (F), and this book fueled my long walks on the Hilton Head beach. As always, Pauley’s work is macabre, inventive, bizarre, and just all-out fun. I can’t believe that this is the last book in the series. I only recently found this series (and this author), and having to say goodbye feels like a bad breakup. Don’t do this to us, Pauley! We need more! For a brief synopsis of each book, please see the below.
The First Life of Anikoy Marlon: A man wakes up on a life raft in the middle of the ocean with a corpse. The corpse’s skin is etched with a journal of sorts (I think it’s the Bedlam Bible), which the man reads. The man has no recollection as to how he arrived on the rowboat. When he finds a platform in the middle of the ocean, he leaps without thinking and gets knocked out. When he comes to, he is in the 8th block tower. The following stories are from residents of the 8th block tower seen in Anikon’s mind’s eye when he sticks his finger inside the eye socket of their skulls.
Heirs of the Abyss: Rita had always had weird, terrifying dreams of 8th block. Rita’s mom (who had an unexplored connection to 8th block) always said that “dreams won’t eat you except in 8th block, where they eat you alive.” Rita is not an 8th block resident at the beginning of the story but lives in a neighborhood nearby. She starts to date someone living in the 8th block. When she enters in the building for the first time, she is relieved to discover that it doesn’t live up to her nightmares. Until she moves in with Tony.
Trapdoor: A serial killer stalks the residents of 8th block. He’s taken 9 so far, including Kimmy, a friend of the story’s protagonist. Everyone knows the face of the man in the 8th block, but he has yet to be captured. In an effort to find her friend, the protagonist finds the killer on a dating app and decides to go on a date with him. Despite her preparation ahead of time, she falls under the killer’s supernatural spell and finds herself trapped, just like the others.
Killing Teddy: I have read and reviewed this story before as part of another one of Pauley’s anthologies. You can see the review by clicking here.
Bad Blood: The protagonist is a nurse at a hospital. She volunteers for the Chance Program, which is a program providing healthcare aid to lower-income patients. One such patient is a woman named Ellie, who is a resident of the 8th block tower. Ellie is under the delusion that she has “bad blood,” and that if she transfuses it with someone else’s blood, she will get better. It freaks out the nurse, and she is relieved to get out alive. Against her better judgment, she goes back to care for Ellie with dire consequences. This story is probably my favorite so far. It had the right creepiness factor. I wanted more of this story. While there was enough details about the nurse to start to get invested, it left me wanting more…more details about the relationships the nurse had with her family and her girlfriend, and I wanted to have more creepy interactions with Ellie.
The Plant People: The protagonist’s brother is missing, and their mother is taking it hard. The mother is one of those senior citizens who have been complaining that they are going to die soon (for the past few decades). The mother lives on the top floor of the 8th block tower, and the protagonist notices that plants are starting to grow through the floor of the apartment. Put a pin in that, we will come back to it in a second. Although the protagonist hasn’t seen her brother in a while, since they are estranged due to his drinking, she agrees, at the mother’s urging to check on the brother. Oddly, the brother is not at his apartment, and what is more odd, is that he hasn’t been living there for years. Where is the brother, and what are these pervasive flowers that keep pushing their way up into the mother’s apartment? Another favorite of mine in this anthology. It was creepy as hell and with an unexpected twisted ending.
The Burden of Lunar Ticking: Grandpa Grimace is not well, which is why his daughter lets him live with her and her kids. The protagonist is one of the children. When Grandpa first tells the protagonist that he can astro project, the protagonist just thinks it’s his crazy Grandpa telling tall tales again (like how the moon ticks because it’s fake). But soon certain events make it hold not to believe.
Cyber Solaris: There’s a room in the 8th block tower that holds cages full of starving people. It’s a prison. And there’s one prisoner, prisoner 11 (a.k.a. Rover), for which a strange sound plays. Cyber Solaris is an app on a phone that allows you to time travel. One of the other prisoners has this device on his person, and he offers it to Rover for a pack of cigarettes. Rover accepts it with strange consequences. I didn’t see the twist at the end coming and it was awesome.
Black Friday: The parents of the protagonist are addicted to clearance sales, and bought depression on sale for Black Friday, and gave it to the protagonist’s Aunt Nora. They gave the protagonist anorexia. This is a weird, short story that was really fun.
The Sinking Sanctuary: I was a little confused about what was happening in this story. It had to do with Old Joe Booth, the Bedlam Bible, and weird hallucinations. The astronaut from The Astronaut’s Dream Book also made an appearance.
A Mist of Light: Mr. Crum is on the 2nd day of his new job’s orientation. Even though he’s 50 years old, he has no idea what he wants to do with his life, except collect rocks, but that doesn’t pay the bills.
The Eden Room: A decade ago, tumors sprouted from Waylon Peterhearst’s forehead, and everyone calls them horns (like devil’s horns). One night Tom Stripper, a “dispatcher,” knocks on Waylon’s door, claiming that Waylon is dead. Tom is there to “dispatch” him into the next life. It is yet to be seen whether to Heaven or Hell. The path to the next life is filled with traps created by the bad deeds Waylon did during his lifetime. This was a fun story and an interesting premise.
Life is Beautiful in Spite of Everything: The protagonist, a resident of the 8th block tower, finds a camera. He is bitter and resentful about the other residents.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
The Legal Alien 