I received this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The premise immediately caught my attention: a wellness empire in NYC with a too-good-to-be-true beauty product. I expected satire, but what I got was something darker, stranger, and far more entertaining.
📖 What It’s About (Spoiler-Free)
Sophia works at HEBE, a luxury skincare and wellness company in SoHo. She struggles with childhood trauma and chews her hands until they’re raw—hiding them beneath gloves. When HEBE gifts her their latest product, youthjuice, Sophia tests it on her damaged skin, and the results are nothing short of miraculous.
But perfection comes at a cost. As Sophia digs deeper into HEBE’s pristine facade, she uncovers disturbing truths behind the cream’s effectiveness—and what she finds is both horrifying and hilarious.
🖋️ Writing & Style
Sathue’s writing blends biting satire with grotesque body horror. The pacing keeps you hooked: mundane office culture one moment, a shocking reveal the next. The narration in the audiobook amplified the unsettling, glossy-yet-creepy tone perfectly.
👤 Characters / Key Ideas
Sophia: a flawed but sympathetic lead—her gloves and anxieties make her feel very real.
HEBE: less a company than a character itself, with its polished branding hiding depravity.
Themes: beauty standards, consumerism, and the horror of what we’ll endure for perfection.
💡 Highlights & Favorite Moments
The opening immediately sets a tone of dread mixed with humor.
The reveal about Sophia’s lace gloves was one of the most disturbing—and memorable—twists.
The slow unraveling of youthjuice’s secret kept me both horrified and amused.
🤔 What Could Be Better
The horror is deliciously grotesque, but some readers may find the body horror a little too intense or over the top. If you prefer your satire sharp but subtle, this one doesn’t hold back.
🎯 Final Verdict
Youthjuice is a disgustingly fun mix of satire and horror. It exposes the rot under glossy consumer culture, all while making you laugh, cringe, and squirm. If you like American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada—with a horror twist—this is a must-read (or listen).
📌 Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
💬 Let’s Discuss!
Have you readYouthjuiceyet? Did the mix of horror and humor work for you, or was it too grotesque? Let me know what you think in the comments!
Goodreads’ Synopsis: A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong
Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and – with nowhere else to turn – they have come to the country in search of shelter.
But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple – and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
Read Start Date: February 18, 2024
Read Finish Date: March 31, 2024
My Review: I first learned about this novel when I watched the film adaptation on Netflix. The movie was eerie and strange, and I knew I just had to read the book.
The novel begins with Amanda and Clay, a middle-class white couple from Brooklyn, who take their teenage children on a trip to a luxurious rental home in a remote area in the Hamptons (Long Island, New York). However, their vacation takes a dramatic turn when the house’s owners, an older Black couple named Ruth and G. H., unexpectedly return, claiming that there is a blackout in New York City and that it’s not safe to stay there.
In their isolation–no one else around–the families can almost pretend everything is fine. Then a loud, strange noise cracks the windows. The television and cell phone services don’t work, and they are cut off from everything and everyone. If that wasn’t enough, hundreds of deer are migrating. A loud noise rends the air, shattering glass. There is no news. No one knows what is happening. Sprinkled in with this tense situation, the author provides snippets of information about what is occurring in the larger world, known only to the reader, which adds to the suspense.
The book is well written. Some characters are more developed than others, and the adults (especially Amanda and Clay) are each flawed in their own way. Amanda is a bit of a racist, while Clay is a bit of a weakling. They all seem to stick their head in the sand (which can get annoying in a crisis situation). The story moves slowly. Nothing really happens. The tension is drawn out and never comes to a head. This novel has no ending, leaving the reader to guess the fate of the characters.
While I enjoyed it overall, I admit that I was waiting for the more dramatic moments of the movie to take place in the book. They never occurred. Not that it changed my thoughts on the book overall, but a forewarning if you’re like me and have seen the movie already and are thinking of reading the book.
All the above being said, I think that this book would be a perfect choice for readers who enjoy psychological thrillers that explore human behavior under pressure and leave room for interpretation. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, action-packed read, this is not it. But for those who appreciate a slow-burning mystery with a focus on character dynamics, I would definitely recommend it.
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Short Stories, Gothic, Anthologies
Read Start Date: February 2, 2024
Read Finish Date: March 19, 2024
Goodreads’ Synopsis: One of the most important horror collections of modern times, back in print at last!
Karl Edward Wagner (1945-1994) has earned a reputation as one of the finest horror writers of the modern era, but his work has been out of print and nearly unobtainable for many years. His seminal volume In a Lonely Place collects eight of his best tales, including “In the Pines,” a classic ghost story evocatively set in the Tennessee woods, “Beyond Any Measure,” an original take on the vampire story, “River of Night’s Dreaming,” a surreal and nightmarish masterpiece inspired by The King in Yellow, and the author’s most famous tale, “Sticks,” a disturbing story thought by many to have been the basis for The Blair Witch Project. This new edition includes all the stories from the original 1983 edition, plus an additional rare tale and the author’s afterword from the Scream/Press limited edition, and features a new introduction by Ramsey Campbell.
My Review:
The Pines: Reeling from the death of their only son, a married couple, Gerry and Janet, rent an old cabin nestled in the forest. They want to get away from life. To rest. To recover. Gerry, angry and depressed, drinks a little too much, and in his drunken haze, he begins to experience strange things. While I liked this story, I can’t say I loved it. It felt too short. The tension didn’t have time to build. The mystery was summarily explained rather than unfolded layer by layer.
Where the Summer Ends: Mercer is a collector of antiques and often shops at the dilapidated home of Mr. Gradie. He’s been buttering the old man up to part with a wood mantle at an affordable price that would go great in his apartment. This is what the story is about on the surface. Underlying this seemingly mundane transaction is the fast growth of the invasive kudzu plant and the mutilation of homeless men around town. The tension of this 28-page story grows as steadily as the kudzu. The twist at the end was unexpected and brought the story to an end in a dramatic fashion.
Sticks: In the spring of 1942, artist and illustrator Colin Leverett–he had just been drafted to fight in WWII–went fishing in Mann Brook, New York. Walking to the river, he came across a dilapidated house and several “lashed-together framework of sticks,” reminding him of a “bizarre crucifix.” He put pen to paper and began to draw several of the most intricately put-together stick formations. Several decades later, Leverett struggles to make a living, his artwork becoming too dark after his experiences in WWII for mainstream consumption. One day, he gets a call from a publisher interested in his dark style. Compelled to use the sticks as part of the illustrations, Leverett sets in motion a dangerous path that he cannot escape.
The Fourth Seal: The protagonist was hired as a medical doctor at a new institution. He is a cancer researcher and makes a breakthrough discovery. Just when he thinks he will have the opportunity to change the world, he is thrown a curveball that threatens not only his perspective but also his life. This story was interesting and had an unexpected twist at the end.
More Sinned Against: Candi Thorne was an aspiring actress in L.A. until she met actor hopeful Richards Justin. Introduced to drugs, Candi is forced into a downward spiral of acting in porn films, and when her looks fade due to drug use, prostitution to feed her habit — and to maintain the lazy and lecherous Richards. She does it all for love and on the promise that Richards will support her when he makes it big in Hollywood. She believes that investing in his future is also an investment in hers. It was no surprise to this reader that Richards was not faithful to his word. As I read this story, I felt bad for Candi, and sometimes I wanted to scream at her and tell her to WAKE UP to his obvious treachery. The ending, therefore, although unexpected, was highly welcome.
.220 Swift: Dr. Kendall is an archeologist in search of the mines of the ancients, built by the Spanish conquistadors in 1540. I was very interested in the story at the beginning. The mystery surrounding the hills captivated my attention. However, as the story moved along, it took an odd and unexpected turn. I wasn’t a fan of this twist, as it seemed too far removed from the original story. There were just certain elements that were introduced that I didn’t care for.
The River of Nights Dreaming: If I had to describe this story in one word, it would be confusion. The main character, Cassilda, was involved in a bus crash and swam to the opposite shore of the lake where the bus had sunk. Evidently, she was in prison for an unknown offense, and this was her chance to escape. They would think she had died in the crash and she could live a life of freedom. When she emerged from the water, a shadowy animal pursued her, and she sought refuge in the home of an elderly woman and her companion. Then the story really got strange–the women are not what they first appear to be. I did not understand the ending and found this one altogether weird and confusing, and it was not one of my favorites.
Beyond Any Measure: Lisette is an American girl attending school in London. She has been having realistic nightmares and, on the urging of her lover, Danielle, goes to see a hypnotherapist who theorizes that reincarnation is real. He believes that Lisette’s dreams are in fact memories of her past life. The twist at the end of this story has intrigued me and I’ve been thinking about it since I finished this story. Not a bad way to end an anthology!
Goodreads’ Synopsis: Della Comb is the queen of her hive. She’s only in her early twenties, but she’s already managed to build an empire selling drugs to junkies who are looking for the ultimate escape. The key to her success is that she manufactures her drugs with a secret ingredient: a very specific blend of pesticides.
Her only problem is the two bumbling exterminators she’s come to rely on for product. They spend more time playing video games and making armchair philosophies than actually working. Thankfully, they realize they too are short on supplies—pizza and breakfast burritos—so they give her a call, asking to meet up at the Chase High Rise, a building known for its unique brand of squalor.
Immediately, she feels sick to her stomach. Not only is the place absolutely disgusting, but it’s also home to Bill Krang, a man who claims to hear insects speaking. The things they say don’t make sense, even to him, but the words are causing him to physically deteriorate at a rapid pace.
Della’s ultimate fear is meeting this man and contracting his disease. However, business is business, and Krang’s apartment is abundant of product. Before long, she finds herself thrown straight into her worst nightmare, and the experience…changes her.
HEARERS OF THE CONSTANT HUM challenges its readers to work against instinct by exposing the dangers of our own curiosity. It’s more than just a story, it’s a warning of a much needed social change. We either take its advice, or risk rewriting what it means to be human in a world ran by insects.
Read Start Date: February 11, 2024
Read Finish Date: February 18, 2024
My Review: I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Bill Krang, our protagonist, is a captivating mess. He’s plagued by the constant hum, a nonsensical insect chant that both drives him mad and fuels his bizarre investigation into the deeper meaning of the chant. As he gains knowledge about his situation and the world at large, his body begins to decay — to collapse. He lives alone in a dingy apartment filled with cockroaches when he meets Della and her exterminators.
This book is dark and weird, and I enjoyed the particularly unconventional and unsettling atmosphere. My skin crawled with Pauley’s description of the cockroaches. As always, Pauley’s prose is descriptive and draws the reader into the story. The characters are another highlight of this book. The exterminators are characters from another of Pauley’s books, The Brothers Crunk, which I have not read yet. I know what I’ll be reading next!
Connor Brannigan is, as always, a fantastic narrator.
I would highly recommend this book to people who like weird and/or bizarre horror fiction. If you are already a fan of Pauley’s books, this one won’t disappoint.
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.
Goodreads’ Synopsis: Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.
Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.
My Review: The plot revolves around the disappearance of Bonnie Dahl, a teenage girl. Holly, despite being on leave and grappling with personal grief, agrees to take the case. As Holly investigates, she uncovers a series of unsettling disappearances in the seemingly peaceful town. The narrative switches between the past and present and between the POVs of Holly and the Harris’s. On Goodreads, this book is marked as the third book in the “Holly Gibney” series. I read and reviewed the first book, The Outsider, in 2019, and you can find the review here. I read the second book If it Bleeds, in 2020 and was on a reviewing hiatus then, so I did not review it. I have not read the Bill Hodges series yet.
This book is more or less a standalone book, although there were several references to the previous books, which I did not fully understand. Having read the other books 3-4 years ago respectively, I did not fully remember them. That being said, it wasn’t important to the main plot, so reading this book without first reading the others would not matter all that much.
I wouldn’t call this a mystery because you already know the “who-done-it” as the reader. The “why” of it all comes near the end of the book and was something that I wasn’t expecting. I thought the book was well-paced and had enough horror and suspense to keep me interested. Essentially, the book delivers a satisfying mystery with gradual reveals, unexpected twists, and a chilling atmosphere.
Holly is a complex and nuanced character. Despite being a germaphobe during a pandemic, having lost her mother (due to COVID-19), and having her business partner in the hospital (also with COVID-19), Holly is courageous and determined to stop these serial killers at all costs. I also enjoyed reading about the secondary characters and the subplots were interesting and carefully and masterfully interwoven into the main narrative.
The one criticism I have about the book is that I was not thrilled with the level that COVID-19 played in the story.
In 2020, I was living in Austria, so my experience with the pandemic was much different than that of Americans. In the book, every time people met, there was some discussion of COVID-19. Some characters shook hands, others bumped elbows. There was always some commentary about it, and it was obvious where each character stood on the issue. After the first few times, it honestly felt redundant and tedious. Was it really like that in America? Was everyone obsessed with COVID-19? Was it the first topic of conversation with every human interaction? Even in 2021, when the present-day portion of the book took place? While the inclusion of COVID-19 might have been true to the times, I do not feel it added anything to the story and could have been left out entirely. I get that sometimes art is true to life, but can we not just forget about COVID-19 for once?
Nevertheless, my feelings about this book are mainly positive and I would recommend this book to other fans of Stephen King, especially those who enjoy strong female protagonists and suspenseful mysteries.
Goodreads’ Synopsis: This is a cycle. Unalleviated, its components are connected by electricity and fed through the rage of lightning. Insect and road monsters scour the desert. Bodies morph into new constructions, only partially human and searching for conclusion. Tongues entwine in an embrace of benthos, while mermaids and jellyfish glow in tandem. The moon is waiting. Dream.
Read Start Date: February 8, 2024
Read Finish Date: February 11, 2024
My Review: I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Usually, I love Pauley’s books, and I have read nearly everything he has written. While I usually give Pauley’s books 5 stars, this one didn’t land as nicely as the others. Honestly, I think I was too triggered by this book. For example, there was one particularly graphic scene of rape with a truly “bizarro fiction” twist. It was too much. The writing was so vivid, and it was so disgusting that it literally turned my stomach.
The above being said, I am still giving this book 4 stars. Pauley is a master at description. It is what I love about his writing. Connor Brannigan returns as the narrator; his performance was as great as usual. Bricker Cablejuice (great character name) is immortal, and he is forced to live the lives of 5 other people through “automated daydreaming.” It was a little confusing how the lives intertwined as Cablejuice “switched between channels.” Each of the lives was very interesting and unique.
If you’re looking for a light and fluffy read, this is not the book for you. But if you’re interested in a dark, weird, vivid, and imaginative story, then Automated Daydreaming is definitely worth checking out. Just be prepared for some disturbing content.
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.
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: In a Lonely Place
Author: Karl Edward Wagner
Published: 1974
Length: 270 pages
Goodreads Synopsis: Karl Edward Wagner (1945-1994) has earned a reputation as one of the finest horror writers of the modern era, but his work has been out of print and nearly unobtainable for many years. His seminal volume In a Lonely Place collects eight of his best tales, including “In the Pines,” a classic ghost story evocatively set in the Tennessee woods, “Beyond Any Measure,” an original take on the vampire story, “River of Night’s Dreaming,” a surreal and nightmarish masterpiece inspired by The King in Yellow, and the author’s most famous tale, “Sticks,” a disturbing story thought by many to have been the basis for The Blair Witch Project. This new edition includes all the stories from the original 1983 edition, plus an additional rare tale and the author’s afterword from the Scream/Press limited edition, and features a new introduction by Ramsey Campbell.
How I got it: The library
When I got it: 2023
Why I want to read it: I was browsing the shelves and came across this one. It is a new edition of an older published work, and the description seemed really interesting.
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.
My Review: The story centers on Jamie Morton, a young boy whose childhood is profoundly impacted by the arrival of charismatic preacher Charles Jacobs. Jacobs is young and has an equally young family. He is interested in electricity, and when he is not preaching, he tinkers with his inventions. When a devastating tragedy leads Jacobs to question his faith, he is fired from his job at the church and moves away from town.
Decades later, Jamie Morton is an adult and addicted to heroin when he sees Jacobs again, this time at a county fair. Jacobs has progressed in his inventions and claims to be able to heal Jamie of his addiction. Using electric shock therapy, Jamie is healed. But his sobriety comes with a terrifying price.
I found Jamie Mortion to be a relatable protagonist, and the complex relationship he shares with Jacobs serves as the emotional core of the novel. King takes the time to meticulously develop their connection as their lives intertwine again and again. The narrative unfolds gradually, allowing the tension to build organically. This book is a very slow burn, but the ending was worth the wait. In fact, the ending had me simply terrified, and I haven’t been able to shake it since.
Although this book was published in 2014 (I am not usually a fan of King’s new books), Revival reminded me a lot of his older works.
Stats: As of the writing of this review (December 11, 2023), this book has only a 3.8 rating on Goodreads. While I would highly recommend this book, it is obvious that it has received mixed reviews. Some of the “negatives” that readers have mentioned are the slow pace and the ambiguous ending. To say a few words on these subjects, as I mentioned above, the book was definitely a slow burn, but I didn’t mind. King’s writing is great, and his storytelling is masterful. The ending was gut-wrenching. I didn’t find it that ambiguous.
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 