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Booklist: Wedding Horror Stories

A lot of wedding proposals happen on Valentine’s Day. A typical online search for “wedding horror stories” turns up stories of terrible things that happened at actual weddings, so it’s not that outlandish to discover that a number of recent horror novels have revolved around weddings.

 

cover art for When The Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

 

When The Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen

Harper Perennial, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063035041

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, audio CD

( Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

 

Mira’s high school friend Celine invites Mira to her wedding, which will be held at the recently restored plantation where Mira’s ancestor Marceline was enslaved. The ghosts of the enslaved who were murdered during an unsuccessful rebellion return to haunt the wedding, with brutal, bloody results. McQueen does an amazing job recreating Mira’s memories of her childhood friendship with Celine, who is white, and Jesse, a Black boy arrested for murder who is released after Celine intervenes, and of describing the horrific things that were visited on the enslaved people on the plantation. The racism, brutality, and hopelessness are reminders that horror isn’t limited to the supernatural.

 

cover art for Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw 

Nothing but Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw

Tor Nightfire, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250759412

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

 

When you are ridiculously wealthy and well-connected, and your fianceé wants her wedding at a Heian-era haunted mansion, with the bones of a bride buried beneath, you make it happen. Wedding guest Cassie, our unreliable narrator, is disconnected and depressed, attending at the request of the groom, who is also her ex. Cassie is one of five people at the wedding: they all have the kind of entangled relationships that emerge from a small group dynamic formed in college, and attempting to summon a spirit in a haunted house the night before the wedding is not going to make it easier to get along. It’s been criticized for purple prose and lack of character development, but it is a wild, and vivid, ride.

 

cover art for The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

 

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

St. Martin’s Press, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250272584

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook Bookshop.orgAmazon.com )

 

Jane approaches Dr. Augustine Lawrence with a proposal of marriage. She wants security and is willing to work hard. They plan for it to be just a business deal: no questions, no love, and never a night spent in Lindridge Hall, his family manor. The best-laid plans can go awry, though: the two of them fall in love. Set in an alternate version of England that has elements of both the Victorian era and post-World War II, this starts out structured as a rather predictable gothic romance and ventured into the territory of occultism, as Jane, trapped in the house with the increasingly paranoid Augustine, is abruptly awakened into a world of magical ritual by occultist friends of Augustine’s. They then leave her to deal with Augustine and whatever is causing the disturbances in the house, untethered to reality. The narrative, which was relatively straightforward until then, became mazelike and hallucinatory.  There’s significant body horror as well as blood and gore, so be warned. Readers who enjoy the version of occultism in this book might also appreciate Polly Schattel’s The Occultists.

 

Book Review: The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

cover art for The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

(  Bookshop.org )

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Sourcebooks, 2020

ISBN-13 : 978-1728206028

Available: Hardcover, paperback

 

Stuart Turton probably wouldn’t describe his books as horror, but they are compelling, original, and dread-inducing. In a departure from the surreal Agatha Christie-like The 7 1/2 Lives of Evelyn Hardcastle, in The Devil and the Dark Sea, this story takes place in 1634, on a ship leaving from Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia), the center of the Dutch East Indian Trading Company, for Amsterdam, home of the company’s headquarters, a journey of about eight months during which many ships were lost as sea. Readers expecting accurate historical fiction will not find it here: in a note, Turton essentially says he did the research, but threw it out the window if he found it wouldn’t work with his story. By changing as much as he did, he’s basically written an alternate history, which would be fine except that he never identifies it as such, which is unfair to readers unfamiliar with the setting, who will think it’s solidly grounded in the historical period (I guess once someone calls your work genre-bending it’s hard to commit).

 

Passengers on the Saardam include Jan Haan, the ambitious governor general of Batavia; his wife, Sara Wessell; and their inventive daughter, Lia; his mistress, Creesjie Jens, and her sons; his chamberlain, Cornelius Vos; and guard captain Jacobi Drecht.  Also traveling on the ship is Sammy Pipps, a Sherlock-type detective and alchemist of unknown origin who has been accused of spying, and his bodyguard/case recorder, former Lieutenant Arent Hayes. Before the ship leaves, a leper warns the passengers not to leave, warning that the devil “Old Tom” will be their downfall, but the governor general is insistent on leaving for Amsterdam immediately. Complicating things by bringing religion into the mix on a ship where passengers and crew are already uneasy and superstitious, a predikant, or preacher, and his acolyte Isabel, stow away on the ship as well.

 

Just as the ship sets off, the sail is unfurled to show a symbol that Creesje, the predikant, Arent, and one of the sailors individually recognize and associate with Old Tom. Is the devil really on the ship with the passengers and sailors, are they imagining things, or is someone playing with the characters’ fears in hopes of personal gain? The predikant, a former witch hunter, claims they’ll know for sure once three unholy miracles have occurred. As the ship gets further out onto the open ocean, the unholy miracles are identified, and the weather worsens, the onboard situation gets more violent and treacherous, and it becomes clear that, real or not, Old Tom has followers among the crew. As the histories of the characters and plot twists are unraveled, and the deaths stack up, the situation becomes even more unnerving. Is the ship haunted by Old Tom, or is something else going on?

 

Turton does a fantastic job of creating a sense of mystery and dread. There is no escape from the ship out on the ocean, just people, most of whom don’t like or trust each other, adrift after a storm. Turton admits he took liberties with history for the purpose of the story, so I don’t know if sailors truly lived continually in such brutal, violent environments, but he paints a vivid picture of the dynamics. Characters who could have been one-dimensional were fully developed: Arent turns out to be the governor general’s nephew, and while Haan might have been terrible to his wife and underlings,  he clearly cherishes his relationship with Arent. Haan’s wife Sara could have been set up in opposition to his mistress, but they turn out to be close friends. Sammy and Arent, for all their similarities to Holmes and Watson, are completely different in body type, personality, background, and overarching motivation. I found the very ending unneccessarily brutal, unrealistic and extremely disappointing, and felt it marred the story in a big way,  but I felt the atmosphere, character development, and descriptive language still made this worth reading.

 

The Devil in the Dark Water reveals some very dark aspects of overseas trade and the participants in it during the 1600s. No one comes away untainted. Despite the faulty ending, it’s a tale I won’t soon forget, and I would certainly give Turton another chance.

Contains: violence, gore, murder, implied rape, brutal killing of animals, body horror, mass murder

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

 

Book Review: Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

Deathless Divide (Dread Nation #2) by Justina Ireland

Balzer + Bray, 2020

ISBN-13: 9780062570635

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook, MP3 CD

 

Deathless Divide is the sequel to Dread Nation (reviewed here).  The story is told through both Jane and Katherine’s points of view.

After the fall of the Survivalists’ community of Summerland, Jane McKeene thought her journey would be easier—  better somehow– but nothing is ever easy for a Miss Preston’s girl. She prepares to leave the ruins of Summerland behind and head west to California. However, she doesn’t go alone. She is joined by her friend Jackson, his sister Lily, the Duchess and her girls, and Katherine Deveraux.

The first half of the book focuses on the journey to Nicodemus,  a community where Black and Native American peoples are not seen as less than. Before the group arrives in Nicodemus, Jane is faced with a loss that is more than she can bear, and one that will haunt her throughout her new path. Nicodemus also is not what it seems. It appears to have a well-protected wall, with some kind of railgun contraption that runs continuously, and was clearly created by someone scientifically minded. Upon their arrival, the team is met with survivors from Summerland who recognize Jane, and call for her to hang for the murder of a prominent figure in their former community. Jane is taken into custody by Daniel Redfern, now sheriff, and what follows helps Jane determine her next move, for good or ill.

Katherine and Jane have always had a contentious relationship, so when it comes to joining Jane and the others, she strives to do her best to be cordial and ladylike. However, Jane’s decision-making causes Katherine some worry, and their verbal sparring between them takes its toll. At one point, Jane’s mood becomes so unbearable to Katherine that she encourages the wagons to move on ahead while Kate and Jane trade fisticuffs to help Jane work out her emotions. It is clear that the women need each other now more than ever. Their relationship is tested, however, on more than one occasion.

I am loathe to discuss more of the content as it will give away a lot of the twists and turns this novel takes, and there are quite a few. Thankfully, they don’t feel forced or cheap. Ireland weaves a great tale and has a way of writing that keeps the reader’s attention from the first page. This book evoked so many emotions. Jane and Katherine were incredible characters in Dread Nation, but they seem to have so much more depth in this book. Seeing the story from both points of view provided an excellent way to establish them further as their own characters and see how they each handle difficult situations and process emotions and hardships. The development of their friendship throughout the book is beautiful and realistically portrayed. Of course, the scenes where they both put down the shamblers are fantastic.

I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed the first book. I would recommend both books for anyone who likes alternative historical fiction and a good zombie story. Anyone looking for #ownvoices stories should pick this one up. We also see LGBTQ+ themes as Jane is involved a loving relationship with another female character, and Katherine is a great depiction of an ace character. Deathless Divide is suitable for young adult audiences.

Contains: blood, gore, murder, racial slurs, slavery, torture, violence

Highly recommended

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker