Author: The Haunted Book Shop

Kait Layton checking in with a review of The Only One Left : A Novel by Riley Sager, which released this past Tuesday.

“The Only One Left” is a fast-paced thriller with a gothic feel. There is an old house that is atop a cliff that will eventually fall into the sea and the two main characters have family pasts trying to catch up to them.

You get pieces of the past through Lenora’s typed correspondence with Kit, who is the new caregiver from Lenora. Lenora was accused of killing her entire family in the late 20’s when she was a teenager, and Kit was accused of negligence due to leaving medication out while caring for her mother. Her mother took all of the pills and committed suicide. Both of these women have been accused of killing their own families and are brought together towards the end of Lenora’s life. They quickly bond over each other’s pasts and try to uncover the hidden truths of Lenora’s past together.

The first quarter of the book, I burned through. The second quarter began to drop off when Kit and Lenora were building a relationship and beginning to trust each other. But I understand as a caregiver with a new client you need to build rapport, especially one who is unable to speak. Then, you find out what happened to the last caregiver before Kit and things start taking off after that! There was a part when the fourth quarter of the book began and I just thought to myself, “Twist on twist on twist, Sager!”

This is my favorite Sager book since “Home Before Dark”! Thank you to the publishers for the digital ARC!

Official Burb

Bestselling author Riley Sager returns with a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier.

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume 17-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where her family lived.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.

Author Bio:
Riley Sager is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels, most recently Survive the Night and The House Across the Lake. A native of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Interested in buying a copy? Visit our website and choose whether to have it ready for pickup, shipped, or delivered!

Kelly McLeod checking in with a review of The House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher, which released on Mar 28. You can find it in our Horror New Releases section.

Kingfisher writes another excellent, absolutely terrifying horror that will have you looking suspicious at some very ordinary objects. Sam comes to stay with her mother when her archaeological dig is put on hold (after she already arranged for a sublet, of course). She arrives to find that her mothers home, normally bright and cheery, has been returned to the sterility and decor that her grandmother preferred when she was alive. Sam’s mother is also exhibiting behavior that is quite unlike her.

Kingfisher managed another book where she transitions from a mundane horror, in this case the horror of an aging parent and the concern over changes in their mental state, and slides right into a more supernatural horror of the most hair-raising variety. I got a little more frustrated with Sam compared to Kingfisher’s previous horror protagonists, but the writing overall is excellent and, just. the HORROR. THE HORROR. Kingfisher just casually sneaks in these monsters that will haunt your dreams. Highly recommended!

About The House with Good Bones

A contemporary Southern Gothic from a master of modern horror that explores the deep, dark roots of family and in which grandma’s ghost haunting your house may be the least of your worries.
Sam Montgomery is worried about her mother. She seems anxious, jumpy, and she’s begun making mystifying changes to the family home on Lammergeier Lane. Sam figures it has something to do with her mother’s relationship to Sam’s late, unlamented grandmother.

She’s not wrong.

As vultures gather around the house and frightful family secrets are unearthed under the rosebushes, Sam struggles to unravel the truth about the house on Lammergeier Lane before it consumes her and everyone else who stands in its way . . .

Author Bio:
T. KINGFISHER writes fantasy, horror, and occasional oddities, most recently including Nettle & Bone and What Moves the Dead. Under a pen name, she also writes bestselling children’s books. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, dogs, and a garden with several rose bushes that she keeps a very careful eye on.

Interested in buying a copy? Visit our website and choose whether to have it ready for pickup, shipped, or delivered!

Kait Layton reporting in with a review of How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix which released this past Tuesday!

This is my fourth Hendrix novel and I am a huge fan. I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s note at the beginning that states the inspiration behind the story was to get far away from the pandemic and dive into something else. I actually read this book in three days while being in quarantine, so it was exactly the distraction I needed!

I thought it was going to be a ghost story just after reading the title. Then, the main character’s family is very religious and talks about demons and I had just finished “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” and thought, “Oh no, not this story again!” However, that is not how the story ends and I was extremely surprised. It’s one of those stories where you are like, “WTF!” but you keep reading to find out what happens to the family and the house.

My only complaint is that I wish it had more gore. There are tons of creepy moments, but there is only one big scene where the main character and her brother are getting attacked and it was grisly. I just wanted more.

Puppets are creepy, especially when they move around the house independently, leave notes for you, turn the tv on, and start talking. I haven’t read a horror novel that includes puppets before, so thank you, Hendrix, for writing such a creative story that kept me entertained and distracted!

Kait Layton reporting in with a review of All The Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham which released on January 10th!

This book ripped me apart over and over. Stacy Willingham has a way of twisting a plot that keeps you guessing until the very end!

Isabelle Drake’s toddler son goes missing from his bed in the middle of the night while she and her husband are sleeping. A whole year has gone by and Mason is still missing, Isabelle’s husband has left her, she has not slept a full night since Mason’s disappearance, there has not been a break in the case, and Isabelle’s ex has started a new relationship and seems to have moved on from her and Mason all together.

Isabelle doesn’t give up, though. Even when everyone suspects her, blames her, shames her, and pities her.

Everyone should read this to find out what happens to Isabelle and Mason, but also read this because Isabelle is a strong mama jama how deserves some respect!