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Book Review: Their Monstrous Hearts: A Gothic Horror Novel with a Dual Timeline and a Suspenseful Mystery by Yigit Turan

Cover art for Their Monstrous Hearts

Their Monstrous Hearts: A Gothic Horror Novel with a Dual Timeline and a Suspenseful Mystery by Yigit Turan

MIRA, 2025

ISBN-13: 978-0778368274<

Available: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:   Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

A feeling of impending doom hangs over the characters of Their Monstrous Hearts emanating from, of all things, beauty. The narrator tells us: “Beauty had a threshold, and beyond it, it became a captivating terror.” This terrible beauty finds its expression in the overwhelming presence of living and preserved butterflies and the cloying smell of tuberoses connected with the elegant, sinister Perihan, grandmother of Ricardo, who wields a secret power over the elite of Milan.

 

When Riccardo, a struggling writer, leaves Paris to attend his Turkish grandmother’s funeral, he has mixed feelings about returning to Milan. When he finally reaches Perihan’s home, he discovers her once beautiful garden has been left untended, and there is a cloud of butterflies hovering over her house. He also finds that Perihan’s employees, familiar to him from childhood, are still there, but they are acting very oddly.

 

As he prepares for the funeral, Ricardo discovers a manuscript written by his grandmother, with his name on it, and immediately begins reading what seems to be a very strange horror myth. He finds himself wondering whether she has left him a phantasmagoric novel or a shocking memoir. The answer to that question will determine how much danger Ricardo is in and whether he will be able to face the terrors Perihan has prepared for him.

 

Their Monstrous Hearts is notable for its originality of plot, its complicated juxtaposition of magical goodness and mythic horror in the characters’ motivations, and its European locations infused with a Turkish sensibility. At times, Riccardo’s constant reading of the manuscript is an unwelcome distraction, until the final scenes in the book. But there is also a luxurious languor, ironically, in the mesmerizing prose that leads to the best part of the tale. That is when Turhan answers his own question: what would happen if you extracted something from a fairytale and placed it outside its original context, dragging it back into the center of reality?

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on July 27, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich

cover art for The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich

The Madness

Dawn Kurtagich

Graydon House, 2024

ASIN: B0CKFHZTLR

Available: Hardcover; paperback; Kindle edition

Buy:  Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com

 

Mina is often called to the psychiatric facility where she cares for women suffering from extreme trauma. She has contempt for how male doctors treat female patients and persistently tries to understand the roots of the problems she confronts in her practice. She is also troubled by something that has happened in her past, something bad enough to cause OCD, a move from Wales to London, a break-up with a man she loves, and estrangement from her best friend and even her mother. But it isn’t until she is faced with the mysterious illness of her childhood friend Lucy that she begins to face her own demons and slowly reveals the horrific event that has shaped her.

 

Unfortunately, from Mina’s perspective, helping Lucy will require going back to her home town and seeing her mother, whose belief in the dark and bloody myths of Wales suddenly begins to seem like useful information instead of annoying old stories. As the search for the cause of Lucy’s quickly worsening symptoms continue, some characters’ names (linking this book to a classic that readers will quickly recognize) shed light on the  direction of the plot, as do other elements such as a creepy black car, a black business card, and an exclusively secret gentlemen’s club. Lucy is not the only one in trouble.

 

The author of The Madness, Dawn Kurtagich, delivers non-stop suspense as the action takes us from a small Welsh town and its most luxurious mansion, out to an ancient castle on the coast where there are evil monsters preying upon women. However, these violent killers soon become the target of the group of women who have figured out how to get rid of all of them.

 

The way this book begins with a very brief, cryptic scene and a nameless character immediately draws the reader into the action, which continues at a quick pace as the author seamlessly shifts between times, places, perspectives, and emotions. There are subtle plot twists sparked by the unexpected decisions some characters make along the way. The Madness stands at the supernatural intersection of horrible crimes known– but left unsolved– and Mina’s revelations about the mythic evil that exists in never taking the past for granted.

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on June 10, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Sacrilege by Barbara Avon

Sacrilege by Barbara Avon

Self published, 2020

ISBN: 9798690309411

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:    Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

Sacrilege is a depressing psychological drama that takes you down, down, and further down.  There are no monsters or boogeymen in this one, just the mental demons that inhabit the characters.  It’s a pretty good read for those who prefer human interest/interaction stories.

 

Almost the entire story focuses on the two leads: wayward priest Cris Corelli, and Jules, the lady who owns the boarding house he stumbles into.  The author sets the tone right out of the gate: mentally, these two are trainwrecks, for various reasons.  As the story progresses, the death of someone close to both of them pushes Cris and Jules further down into depression.  They start drinking and drugging to numb the pain, only finding minimal comfort in each other.  However, it’s the best either of them can hope for, unless they somehow are able to use each other to pull out of their respective tailspins.

 

The stark manner in which the dialogue between Corelli and Jules is written is an unusual choice.  Often, books like this rely on fairly long and in-depth conversations, as a way to explain how the characters became, and where they are heading.  The author goes against the grain here, as most talks are fairly quick and clipped, not really revealing a lot about the characters.  Then again, maybe they don’t need to, the characters’ actions may speak louder than any lengthy dialogue in this case.  It’s an interesting choice for this type of book, and works reasonably well for the narrative, giving it a unique flavor.

 

I felt the “big reveal” at the end of the story was anticlimactic. You could tell it was supposed to be fairly important, due to Corelli’s actions after he discovered it, but it just didn’t seem like anything that should alter the story’s trajectory, or what the characters do for the rest of the book.

 

The bottom line is…this will appeal to a certain segment of readers.  If you enjoy depressing psychological dramas, this might work for you.  If your idea of horror is fast-paced, with monsters and supernatural craziness, then this probably isn’t your cup of black ichor.

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on February 3, 2025 by , Reply
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