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Book Review: 'What Moves the Dead' by T. Kingfisher

T. Kingfisher’s ‘What Moves the Dead’ is my latest 2025 read. This book has been on my radar for a while, often cropping up in online horror circles. Given its short runtime, I decided to give it a go on the train to and from Vienna. It’d breeze by and cleanse my palate after the heavy Margaret Atwood I’d finished a day prior. The story follows Alex Easton, a retired soldier who receives word…

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Book Review: 'Alias Grace' by Margaret Atwood

I started a new job this year, and with it came a company book club. How cool is that? This month’s pick is Margaret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’. The novel follows Grace Marks, a young Irish girl born into poverty. We journey with her across the ocean to Canada, where she finds work as a servant in wealthier homes. And that’s where the trouble begins. Two people end up dead. The law hangs a man and…

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Book Review: 'Burnt Offerings' by Robert Marasco

A chilling classic from the ’70s, Robert Marasco’s ‘Burnt Offerings’ is my latest read of 2025. I picked up a secondhand copy from one of my favourite local bookstores. Having seen it featured in Grady Hendrix’s ‘Paperbacks from Hell’, I’d wanted to read it for a while. The novel follows the Rolfe family, desperate to escape another summer in the Bronx. It seems like a dream when they discover…

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Book Review: 'A Moonlit Path of Madness' by Catherine McCarthy

Catherine McCarthy’s ‘A Moonlit Path of Madness’ is my latest read of 2025. It took me a while to finish, but that’s not the book’s fault; life’s been chaotic. My wife gave it to me as a Christmas gift, along with a year’s worth of other books. And boy, does she know my taste in literature. The story – set at the turn of the 20th century – follows Grace, whose mentally ill mother has passed…

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Book Review: 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' by Shelby Van Pelt

Shelby Van Pelt’s ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ marks book two of the year. I’ve started a new job at a company that has a book club, and I was very much looking forward to joining. We’re discussing this book for our first meeting of the year, and I can’t wait to chat with everyone about it. ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ follows the paths of Tova and Cameron. Tova is recently widowed and lost…

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Book Review: 'Ghost Story' by Peter Straub

Peter Straub’s Ghost Story is my first read of 2025! I started this book around Halloween last year, but finishing it took me a while. I picked it up after reading Stephen King’s high praise. And I’ve also enjoyed the books the two co-wrote (‘The Talisman’, ‘Black House’). I adore King’s slow-burn, small-town epics, so I went into this one expecting the same. Unfortunately, it didn’t work for…

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Book Review: 'Caliban Cove (Resident Evil, #2)' by S.D. Perry

For the final book of my 2024 reading challenge, I picked up S.D. Perry’s ‘Caliban Cove (Resident Evil, #2)’. Having enjoyed Perry’s first ‘Resident Evil’ novelization, I wanted something lighthearted and easy. With its evil corporations, secret labs, and hordes of zombies, this book was a no-brainer. Pun intended. Unlike most of Perry’s Resident Evil books, ‘Caliban Cove’ is not tied to a…

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Book Review: 'The Umbrella Conspiracy (Resident Evil, #1)' by S.D. Perry

I picked up ‘The Umbrella Conspiracy (Resident Evil, #1)’ by S.D. Perry, for my next read of the year. I’ve loved the ‘Resident Evil’ games since my older brother got ‘Resident Evil 3: Nemesis’ in the early 2000s. I’ve since devoured every game. With ‘Resident Evil 3’ day at the end of last month, I wanted to delve back into Raccoon City. But I didn’t have the time to replay the games. So I…

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Book Review: 'Es wächst und wächst und wächst…' by R. L. Stine

R. L. Stine’s ‘Es wächst und wächst und wächst…’ is my penultimate read for my 2024 reading challenge. I decided to pick up another after reading a few Goosebumps books in German to help me learn the language. I needed something easier after struggling with ‘Der kleine Prinz’ earlier in the year. The book follows Evan, a boy whose parents left him with his old aunt as they leave town searching…

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Book Review: 'The Stand' by Stephen King

For my latest read of 2024, I dove back into Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’. As with most of King’s work, ‘The Stand’ is something I read as a teen and wanted to revisit. A monster of a book, I began this while on holiday in Finland over the summer. It took me from mid-July to last week to finish. When I was a kid and had no commitments, I could burn through a tome like this in a week. But those…

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Book Review: 'Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice' by J. F. Martel

For my next read of 2024, I finally got around to reading J. F. Martel’s ‘Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice’. Of course, you will gasp when you learn this book was a gift from my friend Leander. Since I like to create stories, music, and digital art, we’ve often discussed creativity and art. These conversation topics prompted Leander to gift ‘Reclaiming Art…’. Martel is a writer and…

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Book Review: 'Der kleine Prinz' by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s ‘Der kleine Prinz’, which I started last November, was my next book of 2024. The book, which – surprise, surprise! – my good friend Leander gifted to me, has taken me a while to complete. Leander knows that I’m reading kids’ books in German to learn the language, hence the present. He said to me upon giving the book, ‘If you can get through this, all other children’s…

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Book Review: 'Goodbye, Eri' by Tatsuki Fujimoto

With a gentle prod from my friend, Leander, I read Tatsuki Fujimoto’s ‘Goodbye, Eri’ as my next book of 2024. Fujimoto is also the creator of other well-known mangas, such as ‘Fire Punch’ and ‘Chainsaw Man’. I have not read either of these. But that may change, depending on what Leander gives me to read, with encouragement, in the future. He gave me ‘Goodbye, Eri’ a while back, and it has waited…

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Book Review: 'The Walking Dead, Vol 2: Miles Behind Us' by Robert Kirkman

For my next read in 2024, I read Robert Kirkman’s ‘The Walking Dead, Vol 2: Miles Behind Us’. I purchased ‘Compendium One’ at the start of the year and breezed through the first volume. As you could have predicted, I adored it because I love all things zombie. My obsession with the undead will never die (pun intended). But, with the usual relentlessness of life, I didn’t get around to…

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Book Review: 'Pet Sematary' by Stephen King

For the next book of 2024, I decided to reread Stephen King’s ‘Pet Sematary’. I first read ‘Pet Sematary’ between thirteen and fifteen. Around the same time, I read ”Salem’s Lot’, and the two books moved me unlike anything else. ‘The Shining’ was my first King book, but these two novels marked the point where I fell in love with his writing. They showed me that horror books for adults can be…

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Book Review: 'The Near Witch' by V. E. Schwab

For my next book of 2024, I read V. E. Schwab’s ‘The Near Witch’. My wife gifted me this book (along with many others) for Christmas, and I’d wanted to read it for a while. It has a beautiful cover, and anything with ‘witch’ in the title always piques my interest. The book follows Lexi, a young woman living in the town of Near with her mother and younger sister. In the neighbouring house…

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Book Review: 'The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2)' by Stephen King

I read Stephen King’s ‘The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2)’ as my next book for 2024. I’m continuing along with my revisit to the world of the Dark Tower. Book two, in my previous opinion, was where the series started in earnest. The first book was necessary to kickstart the story, but it always felt like the black sheep of the family to me. It wasn’t until I got to book two that I…