Slashtag by Jon Cohn

Title: Slashtag

Author: Jon Cohn

Year Published: 2023

Link to Buy: Amazon

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Haunted House, Supernatural, Ghosts, Twist Ending, Ensemble, LGBTQ+

Summary:

Welcome to Slashtag, the most immersive horror reality competition series in history! Tag along as seven of America's favorite celebrities step into the infamous Propitius Hotel, home to one of the most prolific serial killers in history - Arthur Wilson.

Arthur built and operated the Propitius Hotel from 1905 until 1928 when dozens of bodies were found in his hotel, along with countless hidden torture rooms throughout the hotel. Arthur disappeared, seemingly never to be caught. He then returned - nearly 40 years later - under the guise of a priest leading a congregation of 100 people back to his hotel, where he once again committed mass murder.

Enter Tawny Howlett-- a top-tier lifestyle influencer who is in the midst of the crappiest week of her life. Her brand new health drink turned out to be tainted, and now thousands of her followers want nothing more than to see her social media empire crumble. In order to rehabilitate her image, she's agreed to take part in "Slashtag: The Ultimate Horror Experience".

At first it's all fun and games, until the team of seven celebs discover that the ghost is very real, and out for blood. In order to survive the three-day live-streamed event, Tawny and her fellow contestants must band together to try and send the spirit of Arthur Wilson straight to hell.

"I suddenly wish that I were just crazy. A hallucination would mean my brain is broken, which is something I’ve spent my entire adult life attempting to accept. If we’re both seeing this, it means the world is broken in a way my brain is not prepared to confront."

While Tawny has her hands full trying to survive a weekend at the Propitius Hotel, it's up to her younger sister April to work from the outside to try and find a way to save her sister, and uncover the dark truth behind the TV network that continues to air the deaths of some of America's top talent.

Together these seven doomed souls must solve the puzzles hidden within the hotel in order to vanquish the spirit of Arthur Wilson.

Ten(ish)-Sentence Review:

When I start reading a book without knowing much about the story, it takes me a while to relax into the narrative and start enjoying myself—Slashtag was no different, although when the action started moving rapidly, so did my reading speed! 

I love the unique and dynamic characters in this book. Todd is a realistic caricature of someone raised so desensitized to violence and the supernatural that he’s grown apathetic toward both, which is something we don’t often see in members of a high-powered and evil ruling class. April is a total badass defined by her wit, cleverness, and fortitude rather than her disability, and she is definitely the Jiminy Cricket I’d want on my shoulder if I got dropped into a real-life horror movie. D-Wreck/Derek’s character growth is out of this world, going from perpetual class clown to almost-Final-Boy in the most genuine, lovable way possible, and winning Tawny’s respect in the process. I found Tawny a little generic, even after all her trauma-dumping and strength-finding, but that could have been an intentional writing move since many Final Girls tend to be a little more mainstream than the rest of the ensemble. 

And then, of course, we must discuss Shawn, the sweet, sensitive, strong, smart, gay, black man who stole the third act and my heart. His friendship with Tawny and gentle nature are apparent from the beginning and his tragic backstory clues us into his personality’s many layers, but I am so happy this book kills the “black guy always dies first” trope AND the “bury your gays” trope with one single, heavy, and perfectly lobbed stone (although “bury your gays” is more mainstream and not specific to horror). In a book that stresses the importance of following every horror movie rule, these are a couple that I’m overjoyed the author chose to ignore. 

It would be a crime not to mention the amazing craftsmanship that went into this plot; the About the Author section tells us Jon Cohn is also a game designer, and as soon as I read that everything about the in-book game made sense. From the twisty-turny obstacles the characters face, to the meta horror movie references that feel like a warm blanket of nostalgia a la the Scream franchise, this book is begging to be adapted into a video or board game. 

Speaking of horror movie references, I think the best and most poignant one was Tawny’s explanation of Cannibal Holocaust, The War of the Worlds, and other mass hysteria pop culture events that turned out to be fictional. Introducing the idea of hyper-realistic horror content that scares the public but ends up being fake, then the majority of the book taking place inside one of those events that the public is ambivalent or excited about but that ends up being real, is a genius writing move. This pairs perfectly with the realistically modern cast of characters and predictably evil board of directors to create the perfect storm of no one being able to say for sure what’s real and what’s not. 

Without giving away too much of the ending, I want to mention two important parts of it. First, wandering through the tunnels looking for board members was reminiscent of the equally meta end of Cabin in the Woods, in keeping with the nods to other horror content. Second, the jaw dropping exposure of “His” multi-layered identity was artful, cathartic justice. I had started getting a little annoyed at how little Tawny and April reveal about their encounter with Him that seemed to define their entire lives, but after they told the full story I understood and wouldn’t have rewritten a single word of that scene. 

Since the violence and gore are satisfying but not overwhelming, I would recommend this book for anyone down to teens, and even some tweens if they’ve tried adult horror before. I absolutely loved this immersive journey through an intentionally haunted hotel. 

5/5

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Title: The Deep

Author: Rivers Solomon with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes

Year Published: 2019

Link to Buy: Amazon

Genre: Fiction, Supernatural, Fantasy, LGBTQ+ Novella

Summary:

Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu. Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago. Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.

Ten-Sentence Review:

Everything about this book, from the ebb and flow of the narrative to the non-chronological delivery of the plot, gives the reader a real feeling of floating through the deep ocean. The creatures--called Zoti Aleyu meaning Strange Fish, also collectively referred to as the Wajinru--are tactile beings with sensitive skin and minds, and I felt each cold wave and grain of salt along with them. The poetic prose dropped me into a universe where everything feels as off-beat and uncertain as floating in the open ocean.

The lesbian love story in this book is so subtle, and I hadn’t previously seen this title on any queer book lists, so I wasn’t expecting Yetu and Oori to end up together; it snuck up on me in the most satisfying way! You could even argue that since the Wajinru don’t particularly have genders they’re not lesbians so much as a generally-queer-kind-of-fem-probably-neurodivergent-inter-species-but-not-weird-because-one-is-a-merperson couple. I loved the gender fluidity throughout the whole book among Wajinru and humans alike, especially when Yetu explains that they are born with similar bodies but “there were men, women, both, and neither. Such things were self-determined…” (chapter 7).

In the last few years, I’ve noticed a trend of books with especially sad or violent storylines still ending happily for the characters who deserve it. I usually love a messy, chaotic ending where nothing is resolved because it’s true to the way most things in real life end up, but I couldn’t think of a better ending than the tidy bow The Deep is tied into during the final pages. Yetu and Oori find true belonging in one another, Oori finds a deeper heritage which is still connected to her lost community, and the Wajinru are learning to share their memories so they can all find peace. Instead of furthering generational trauma, the Wajinru experience a healing rebirth that they truly deserve.

5/5 and then some!

Here is the song "The Deep" by Clipping. Prepare for goosebumps.

I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House by Ben Farthing

Title: I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House

Author: Ben Farthing

Year Published: 2023

Link to Buy: Amazon

Genre: Fiction, Novella, Horror, Supernatural

Summary:
Dave and hie four-year-old, Jacob, find a circus tent in the woods behind their house. A strange voice invites them through the dark doorway. 

When they refuse, the tent swallows them.

What follows is a nightmare fleeing through a maze of circus tents. Strange performers lurk inside. They want Dave and his little boy to put on a show. The audience: a shifting figure on a platform high above the trapeze wires.

With Jacob perched in the crook of his arm, Dave determines to outsmart the boss of this dark circus, and escape this horrifying tent.

Ten Sentence Review:

This short novel presents a believable surreality that is absolutely dripping with creativity. Yes, there are clowns and circus performers, but not like you've seen before. The theme of minimizing your child's trauma is prevalent throughout, and Jacob is a very realistic four-year-old. Father and son stop to take breaks from running, eat snacks, lament forgetting to bring water, and play games to distract from their terrifying situation. This humanity was made even more delightful after reading the "Why I Wrote This Book" author's note at the end. 

One thing in this otherwise excellent story was very frustrating: in over an hour of complaining about arm pain and realizing he can't do various tasks while holding Jacob in one arm, Dave never once puts Jacob on his back piggyback-style to free up his hands. He even straps him on with a yoyo string at one point (the thinnest, flimsiest string I've ever encountered), but never considers shifting the kid to his back and telling him to hang on tight. This was surprising considering their clever use of circus props to get away from the performers.

The pacing of this book is spot on and really builds the suspense. Several instances of foreshadowing that worse things are still to come made me want to keep turning pages and find out--as the author says--"what the hell is happening." 

I would have loved more information on who the performers are, their backstories, and how the tent came to exist. Even without that info, this is an original and very scary story with several satisfying twists. 4/5.

Head Like a Hole by Andrew Van Wey

Title: Head Like a Hole

Author: Andrew Van Wey

Year Published: 2023

Link to Buy: Amazon

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Supernatural, 90's

Summary:
It's the mid-nineties. Grunge and flannel are fading as the Spice Girls and Hot Topic conquer the malls. Cherry gloss glistens on the lips of the youth. Modems hiss as America comes online. And in a fog-drenched cove at the edge of New England, something terrible awakens when a fisherman reels in a gruesome catch: the remains of a young woman.

Remains still pulsing with furious life.

For Megan Monroe and her friends, this is hoe their nightmare begins: a wet whisper over the shoulder, a dark hand reaching out from the edge of their sight, a name clawing at the back of their minds. 

A young woman scratched from their memory.

To stop this devouring terror, Megan will need to mend broken friendships and reassemble her fractured past, for what stalks them hungers to remake itself in their image... piece by bloody piece.

Dig into the haunted past with Head Like a Hole, a novel of malignant secrets, shattered friendships, and twisted bodily horror.

Ten Sentence Review:
I finished this book in less than 24 hours. The pacing made it feel like I was passing time at the same rate as the characters. It felt more like watching a horror movie than reading a book, but blissfully longer lasting. After a slow-ish first ten chapters, I was floored by how engaging the story was. 

The detailed (and disgusting) descriptions of body horror were mixed surprisingly with elements of marine biology and fantasy. When the cause of Oksana's condition was finally revealed I didn't know whether to laugh, sigh with relief, or scream, so I kind of did all three. I fell in love with the character of Chun-hee and she became the main character for me whenever she was present.

The big final confrontation in the story-within-the-story, and then the FINAL final reveal, were insane in the best way. My jaw still hurts from staring with my mouth wide open for about an hour. 

I'm so excited to read more by this author. 5/5!