Today 1 have am giving away of one of MY FAVORITE Horror novels of the year on the Horror Blog. This is for all of your readers who miss old school Stephen King, but set in the forests of Georgia. I gave it a star review in the current issue of Booklist already. More details below, but first a reminder on how to enter:
- You need to be affiliated with an American public library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
- If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
- Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
- If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.
STAR REVIEWFirst published August 2022 (Booklist).
With his third novel, Davidson plants his roots in Horror’s soil as one its most talented voices. Summer, 1989. Nellie leaves her abusive husband, 11 year-old son Max in tow, and heads to Empire Georgia to claim an inheritance from the grandfather barely knew– Redfern Hill, 1,333 acres, and its abandoned turpentine mill. With only a few belongings, they move into the property’s long neglected but stately home with plans to start over. But, very quickly it becomes clear that they are not alone. Told mostly through two perfectly balanced timelines, over ten days in 1989 through Nellie and Max and another from 1917 to 1932 focusing on August Redfern, this is a character driven story of a place, the evil that has always lived there, and its ever tightening grip on the family. The steadily increasing dread bursts open at the one-third mark, as terror takes over, past and present merge, and the Redfern family comes together, across generations in an epic battle. With similarities to The Book of Accidents by Wendig, shades of T. Kingfisher, and a dash of The Ruins by Smith, this is a southern gothic epic that masterfully weaves elements of body, folk, and cosmic horror knitting it all together into something wholly new, immersive, terrifying, and utterly breathtaking.
YA Statement: With its 1980’s setting, combined with a storytelling style that is reminiscent of Stephen King from that era and Stranger Things, and a middle school protagonist, there are a plethora of reasons why Teens will love digging into this Southern Family Horror Epic.
Further Appeal: This Book!!! I already love Davidson-- In the Valley of the Sun is one of my ALL TIME favorite Horror books-- but this is also STUNNING.
I am not sure I can take a walk in the woods again. Seriously. That’s a compliment.
This is THE Horror epic of the year. Just buy multiple copies and hand it out freely. See my extended readalikes below to see just how wide an appeal this book will have.
Also one of my favorite lines from the book, near the end [and I am cutting it short because it would give too much away to have the whole quote] “... humans always taste best.”
Three Words That Describe This Book: perfectly paced, strong sense of place, immersive terror.
More readalikes: I had so many readalikes I wanted to give. The three in the review above where what I settled on to give you the best overall snapshot of the appeal of the book.
Stephen King yes. Mexican Gothic because of the family curse and the growing evil in the basement– but I did not put it in the review because I wouldn’t be able to explain why and I think it matters here since Mexican Gothic is sometimes used as a comp title for other reasons.
The Toll by Priest, Jennifer McMahon– The Winter People and The Invited. Definitely Wonderland by Stage. Also, his character development is fantastic– reminds me of Brian Keene who I hold up as a master of character development in Horror. Both good and bad people– we get the full story without sacrificing the pacing.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy, and now it could be yours! Good luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment