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Book Review: Normal for the Spider by Hank Schwaeble

Normal For The Spider by Hank Schwaeble.

Blackstone, 2026

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8228365018

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook (pre-order before September 15)

Buy:  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

Readers know that when they pick up a book with the header “Weird Tales Presents” that it’s going to be a wild ride: something that is anything but normal. Hank Schwaeble, a Bram Stoker winner for Damnable, a stellar supernatural horror-thriller, has produced strong book after book, hitting on all spooky gears without a misstep.

 

Normal for the Spider is his strangest book yet, bringing something different to the world of killers and shadowy groups in an engaging, well-told tale that horror fans (and thriller freaks) will likely love.

 

Sienna Snow is a renegade, a killer who has her own set of rules, but unlike many others, she simply kills for her own agenda. Her reasons are her own and she’s not one to give speeches before the fatal blow. One day, she’s evading someone and dips into a store where the owner helps her hide, yet soon she realizes she’s been captured, like a fly for the titular spider. Something is trapped in the basement with her, something not quite right.

 

When she’s let in on the secret, that a group that calls itself the Book Club (how can that be a bad thing? Plenty of readers here would love to sign up for that) prey on the biggest predators in society. Those who feel they’re the apex in the food chain find themselves in horrific situations by the group are the decision makers in the world and are often terrible people.

 

Sienna jumps aboard, and the Book Club brings her to their island to discover what they’re truly about–  which is when the novel really takes off. What happens on the island? The worst nightmares for those caught in the spider’s web, with fates twisted in evil, but enticing ways. Yet there’s something else present on the island, something even darker than the members, and tougher than Sienna.

 

Schwaeble’s writing, which is always top notch, pulls the reader along the macabre journey with a cast of characters that aren’t exactly easy to fall for, but he succeeds. Sienna is a great character who bucks the system but intrigues enough to keep the pages turning. The writing is crisp and the pace is intense enough for a thriller, but the horror is strong.

 

For novels released in 2026, Normal for the Spider is going to be a strong contender for the year’s best list. Highly recommended reading.

 

 

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on August 25, 2026 by , Reply

Book Review: Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliott

Cover art for Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot

Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot

Montlake, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1662525773

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

Thirteen years after the unsolved murder of a member of the California state legislature, the case is reopened byf the FBI, and Detective Noelle Marshall finds herself in the middle of it. However, this job is going to be challenging for Noelle, because she is the wife of the victim and was attacked and left for dead during the crime.

 

This thriller shifts back and forth between the past, the recent past, and the present right from the start. There is a large cast of characters, including those who worked on the original case, family members, and friends of Noelle’s and her husband’s. The characters are developed enough to make them distinctive, but they are not complex enough to excite much speculation about their possible role in the murder.

 

Because Noelle was at the scene on the fateful day and cannot remember what happened, there had been speculation as to whether she might have faked her own attack and killed her husband. However, because so much of the emphasis is put on Noelle’s perspective as part of law enforcement, that intriguing idea seems to go out the window quite quickly.

 

Kendra Elliot carefully builds the plot and effectively creates a world that suggests these are real people living real lives after a terrible event. Ironically, for that reason, there is less urgency, drama, and excitement than this reader looks for in a thriller. It is disappointing that even the more intriguing parts of the book, like those focusing on Noelle’s relationship with her husband before their marriage, disappear, as the plot loses momentum midway through.

 

Elliot plans to develop a series based on this book and has found successful readership to this point in earlier books. It will be interesting to see how she grows the story after this  first installment.

 

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on November 23, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: 108: An Eco-Thriller by Dheepa R. Maturi

 

108: An Eco-Thriller by Deepa Maturi

108: An Eco-Thriller by Dheepa R. Maturi

GFB Seattle, 2025

ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-964721-76-7 ISBN (paperback): 978-1-964721-77-4 ISBN (eBook): 978-1-964721-78-1

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

 

 

108: An Eco-Thriller by Deepa Maturi is set in the near future. Climate change and pollution have made respirator masks and supplemental oxygen necessary. Poor stewardship of natural resources has shrunk farmland to the bare minimum needed to feed Earth’s population. A powerful international corporation plans to release chemicals simultaneously into the remaining farmland to increase yields several-fold. However, in five years, the chemicals will kill the network of fungal mycelia and tree roots that makes the soil fertile and lead to worldwide famine.

 

Bayla is a young ecologist, who emigrated from southwestern India to the U.S. as a young orphan. She has forgotten her ties to an ancient, hidden society, 108, that protects the unseen network that binds the land, water, sky and living things together. She is called back to India in a last-ditch effort to prevent the world-wide catastrophe using her mystical connection to the web of life and the other members of 108.

 

The world-building is vivid and specific. Bayla and the members of 108 have a strong connection to the world and each other. Hindu ritual and mythology overlap with yoga, meditation, and other spiritual practices that contribute to that sense of interconnectedness and seeking. However, to awaken and accept her ability to bring people together to make change she has to work through the trauma of abandonment and grief she felt when she was sent away from her family and community.

 

The author’s writing is easy to read and engaging. She includes information about ecology, e.g. mycelial-tree root interdependency. There is plenty of action: the novel’s titleEco-Thriller is appropriate. There are enough loose ends to suggest there will be a sequel to look forward to. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee

Posted on September 3, 2025 by , Reply
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