Thrillers Archives - Matt gets LIT-erary

Hawk Mountain

Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib
Published by Random House on July 21, 2022
Genres: Coming of Age, Fiction, Gay, Psychological, Thrillers, Horror
Pages: 320

I am kicking off spooky book season with a review of the fantastic Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib. This was one of my favorite reads this year. Habib’s debut novel is an emotional and tense queer horror novel with an excellent plot twist and gruesome body horror.

Todd, a single parent, is at the beach with his son Anthony when he runs into a childhood classmate. Jack relentlessly bullied Todd in school, but now he is thrilled to reconnect with Todd. Todd is thrown off because they have not seen each other since they were at odds in their teens. Jack ends up sleeping on Todd’s couch and spending the night. Anthony and Jack quickly hit it off, and Jack continues to sleep over. Todd begins to question Jack’s motives and whether running into each other at the beach was a coincidence. I will share nothing more to avoid spoiling this twisty story.

I loved how dark and tense this story was. The twist about a third of the way into the book made me audibly gasp. This is not the book to de-stress; I was at the edge of my seat. Habib delivers the body horror. There is one horrifically explosive scene that I will never forget. This is a character driven story; you really get into the psyche of Todd. Flashback chapters from Todd and Jack’s childhood are interspersed in the first part of the novel. There are also some sections told from Anthony’s point of view. I was impressed at Habib’s ability to write in a child’s voice. Anthony’s sections are written in a childlike stream of consciousness. The novel concludes with a powerful, emotional ending. This is the first time a horror book brought tears to my eyes.

If you are looking for gay horror novels to read this fall you can’t go wrong with Hawk Mountain. Below are my thoughts on the gay themes in the book. Feel free to stop here to avoid some light spoilers.

Warning Light Spoilers:

Hawk Mountain focuses on toxic masculinity and the internal unrest of closeted gay men. The violence in this book is caused by society’s failure to accept gay men. For me, this book is about how being so deep in the closet can make one project and externalize their self-hatred onto others, with disastrous and extreme consequences. Reading this book, I was heartbroken for closeted people who are unable to openly be themselves, especially queer people from my parent’s generation who grew up in a time when coming out can be met with such oppression.

Rose Madder

Rose Madder by Stephen King
Published by Viking on 1995
Genres: Fiction, Horror, Thrillers
Pages: 420

A magical painting, a deranged abusive husband and a menacing bull can all be found in Stephen King’s, Rose Madder. Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It is a unique entry in King’s bibliography. Rose Madder reads as a thriller, with some magical elements, inspired by Greek mythology. Norman Daniels might be the most evil and terrifying villain King has written. This was a fun read that I’d place in the middle tier of my King rankings.

Rose Madder begins with a brutal prologue that details a violent moment of domestic abuse between Rosie and her husband, Norman. The novel picks up years later, on the day Rosie decides she’s had enough. While Norman, who is a cop, is away at work, Rosie steals his bank card and leaves, hoping to never return. Upon arriving at a new city, Rosie finds refuge at the Daughters and Sisters Shelter and eventually finds a job and apartment. Meanwhile, Norman is hell-bent on locating Rosie and getting his revenge. The magical elements of the story come into play when Rosie finds a painting that catches her eye at a consignment store. However, the painting ends up being more than it seems.

I really enjoyed the tension that King maintained throughout the book. I was scared for Rosie as Norman closed in on her location. There were passages that had me at the edge of my seat. My favorite character in the story was Gert, another woman at the shelter. Gert teaches the women self defense and is the key character in my favorite scene. Norman was a great villain you love to hate. The passages told from Norman’s perspective were so disturbing and twisted. I felt unsettled reading those. I also enjoyed all the Greek mythology King wove into the story.

The magical sections of the book felt jarringly placed. It didn’t feel like I was reading the same book at times. I wish King had more smoothly integrated the magical elements into the real-world sections.

I have two problems with Rose Madder that I’d like to see reworked if it’s ever adapted for the screen (spoilers to follow). Norman Daniels is a twisted, evil man. For some reason King decided to add gay elements to his violent tendencies. King also suggests that Norman’s behavior originates from his dad molesting him when he was young. The gay serial killer trope is overdone and harmful. One does not become gay because they were molested by someone of the same sex and gay people are not any more likely to be serial killers than anyone else. Norman Daniels would have been plenty terrifying and deplorable without the addition of these gay elements. My second gripe is with the role of the black woman in the painting. This woman is one of the few black characters in the novel She appears to be Wendy (a previous victim of Norman). In the painting she acts as a servant to the blonde women. The optics of this are not good.

I enjoyed my time with Rose Madder. I find this to be one of King’s most unique novels. I had no clue where he was going with the painting and enjoyed the book’s suspense.

Trigger Warnings: Domestic Abuse, Miscarriage, Lots of Violence

The Other Black Girl

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc on 2021-06
Genres: Fiction, African American & Black, Suspense, Thrillers, Women
Pages: 357

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris is a workplace thriller that centers on challenges Black women face in the office. The story’s protagonist works in a major publishing house as an assistant editor, the same job Zakiya had before quitting to write this novel. Thus, the novel offers commentary on the publishing industry. I had the pleasure of seeing Zakiya speak about her bestselling novel at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT, one town over from where she grew up. While I enjoyed the majority of The Other Black Girl, I feel like Zakiya tried combining too many genres in one novel, resulting in a confusing ending.

Nella is the only Black assistant editor at Wagner Publishing. She is thrilled when a new Black female employee is hired. Nella hopes this new employee, Hazel, will be a much-needed friend that she can confide in at the predominantly white office. However, after Hazel takes some questionable actions, Nella becomes unsure whether Hazel is an ally or a rival. When Nella finds a sinister note telling her to leave her job at Wagner, she questions whether Hazel might be responsible. The story transitions into a thriller with multiple twists and secrets, originating back decades at Wagner. I wish that Zakiya had simplified the conspiracy elements, as they were confusing and not well explained. She either needed more pages or an additional book to explore these ideas. Though I will say I loved the mechanism of the major twist!

The novel does an excellent job of featuring examples of microaggressions that Black employees face in a white dominated office. Additionally, there is commentary on the publishing industry. The wealthy, white heads of publishing are gate keepers that determine what books and types of characters will be sold to consumers. This book helped me learn how much power editors have with altering author’s manuscripts and deciding which books will become mainstream. Not only are more writers of color needed, but we need editors of color too!

Zakiya’s event at Southern Connecticut State University was a fantastic event. In a cute moment her father, who is a journalism professor at the university, introduced her to the audience. Zakiya did a reading from the novel and then answered questions from the moderator and audience about the story and the writing process. In one interesting moment Zakiya mentioned how typically Black writers feel pressure or are encouraged to only write two types of Black characters. Either flawless characters that other Black readers will be proud of or Black characters that endure horrible hardships. Zakiya hopes that there will be more space in the future for loveable yet flawed Black characters. She cited Raven Leilani’s fantastic Luster as a recent novel with a complex, likeable Black female protagonist. One sweet moment was when Zakiya mentioned her first Black teacher who taught what has become one of her favorite books, Kindred by Octavia Butler (which has been sitting in my TBR for far too long).

The Other Black Girl, while not perfectly plotted, is an important read with great characters. This book will spark many important conversations about BIPOC experiences in the workplace and the flaws in the publishing system. I am looking forward to the Hulu adaptation being produced by Zakiya and Rashida Jones!

The Troop

The Troop by Nick Cutter
Published by Simon and Schuster on August 16, 2016
Genres: Fiction, Horror, Thrillers
Pages: 384

I really hope my review does this book justice, because The Troop by Nick Cutter is the best horror novel I’ve read this year, possibly ever! If your stomach is strong enough to handle the disgusting carnage contained in The Troop’spages, then this is a must-read. Boy Scouts and body horror are near and dear to my heart. I immediately purchased a copy as soon as I heard this book combined both. This was my first time reading a Nick Cutter book and I was impressed. This book includes some of the foulest descriptions I’ve ever read (many made me audibly gasp) along with well written characters.

Five scouts, along with their scout master are camping on Falstaff Island, off the cost of Canada when a mysterious stranger arrives on a boat. The stranger is emaciated and clearly sick. The scout master decides to provide medical care to the man and soon discovers that he is infected with a deadly and highly contagious parasite. The story becomes a fight for survival as the scouts try to escape the island. Each of the five scouts represents a distinct archetype, such as the jock, the nerd, and the loner. Cutter does an excellent job of developing the characters beyond their archetypes through flashbacks. The scouts were all equally developed, which I appreciated. This way it was not obvious which boys would survive the longest. Throughout the island narrative Cutter incorporates excerpts from different forms of media (newspaper articles, interviews, trial notes) that slowly reveal the origin of the parasitic monster. Nick Cutter has credited Stephen King’s Carrie for the inspiration of the media clippings between the chapters.

Without spoiling the best bits, here are a few stomach-turning quotes from the novel:

“Christ he was so hungry. He’d eaten so much at that roadside diner that he’d ruptured his stomach lining—the contents of his guts right now were leaking through the split tissue, into the crevices of his organs”.

“The flesh over his skull had melted down his forehead. The electricity had somehow loosened his skin without actually splitting it. Gravity had carried the melted skin downward: it wadded up along the ridge of his brow like a crushed-velvet curtain, or the skin on top of unstirred gravy pushed to one side of the pot. His hair had come down with it. His hairline now began in the middle of his forehead”.

“…his gums had been eaten back from his teeth, and all but one—his left front incisor—had loosened and fallen from their gum beds; yet they remained connected by” his “braces, gray teeth linked like charms on a gruesome bracelet, clicking and clacking in the dark vault of his mouth, all hanging by that one tenacious tooth…which, as” he “watched, slid from” his “gums with a slick sucking sound, a bracelet of teeth bouncing over his lips, his chin, tumbling to the cellar steps”

If these repulsive excerpts are your jam I beg you to add this novel to your TBR immediately. Essentially, this book is Lord of the Flies with a lot more violence. I was left unsettled and jumpy, just like after I’ve viewed a great horror film.

Trigger Warnings: Gnarly Graphic Violence, Animal Violence

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
on October 13, 1993
Genres: Classics, Fiction, Psychological, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 176

I was on the hunt for a classic horror novel to add to my 2021 spooky reading lineup. I couldn’t think of a better choice than Oscar Wilde’s homoerotic “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. Oscar Wilde is a historical figure of interest for me. He was bold enough to live openly as a gay man in the 19^th century, resulting in imprisonment. After references to Dorian Gray in contemporary media, such as Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, I wanted to read the original work. I knew the general premise of the novel, a young attractive man never ages, while a supernatural painting of him does. I was not expecting the story to become a critique on the purpose of art.

When the story begins, readers are introduced to Dorian Gray, a young attractive man, and two older gentlemen Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton. Basil and Lord Henry are obsessed with Dorian because of his youth and beauty. Dorian is the muse for Basil’s paintings and is the subject of his best work. Upon seeing Basil’s painting of him Dorian becomes aware that he will one day age and lose his beauty. He makes a fateful wish, saying “If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that—I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!” (Wilde 19). This ends up being the classic scenario of be careful what you wish for. Dorian never ages, but the painting, which he hides away from others does. Under Lord Henry’s influence Dorian becomes obsessed with living a beautiful, happy life at any cost. With each immoral act he commits the portrait of Dorian grows hideous, while real Dorian remains unchanged.

A Picture of Dorian Gray is very gay (ha! A rhyme). Basil and Lord Henry’s competition for the attention of the young, attractive Dorian feels way more than friendship. Dorian originally wrote a more homoerotic version of the story that was “toned” down before publication. I’d love to read the bits deemed too gay that had to be deleted. Wilde makes his support for the movement of aestheticism clear in the preface. He believes art should have no morals. Art is meant to stand alone as an aesthetically pleasing work. This contrasts the Victorian style where stories were crafted to teach readers moral lessons (Charles Dickens was an example of this). I think both philosophies place too many limitations on what art is. However, I believe this novel ironically contradicts Wilde’s aesthetic philosophy because the story ends with a moral message. Dorian’s pursuit of an aesthetic life corrupts him and lead to tragedy at the novel’s conclusion. Wilde fails to write this story without including a moral.

A Picture of Dorian Gray was a challenging book to read. The language from Wilde’s time is difficult to understand, resulting in a slower reading pace. Also, there were sections in the book that referenced many people and events that were not familiar to me. Chapter XI is an entire section made up of these references. The chapter reads as a long list of aesthetic objects Dorian acquires to surround himself with beautiful things. Reading this chapter was a struggle for me and I found myself skimming most of it.

I am impressed with The Picture of Dorian Gray. I enjoyed reading a novel from the 19^th century with so many gay references. While the language was challenging to read the experience made it well worth the effort. Wilde’s philosophy of aestheticism was interesting and led me to reflect on my own artistic philosophy. I recommend picking up Dorian Gray for a short, spooky read. And don’t feel guilty skimming through the sluggish parts!

I wanted to end with a fascinating quote from Oscar Wilde that I am still processing. “Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry what the world thinks of me; Dorian what I would like to be—in other ages, perhaps.”

20th Century Ghosts

20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill
Published by Harper Collins on February 3, 2009
Genres: Fiction, Ghost, Horror, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Supernatural, Thrillers
Pages: 316

20th Century Ghosts has been sitting unread on my bookshelf for over a year and I wish I had read it sooner! How could I neglect such a varied and well written short story collection? Joe Hill’s anthology is the perfect read for the spooky, Halloween season. The book contains 15 short stories, primarily in the horror and science fiction genres. In this collection you’ll find a haunted movie theatre, a deadbeat alcoholic with superpowers, a kid that transforms into a giant locust, and my favorite, an inflatable boy. There were plenty traditional scary stories, but also some that were just plain weird, which I loved.

One theme that is present across the collection is family, particularly father-son relationships. I find this especially interesting to track because Hill’s father is the master of horror, Stephen King. In Abraham’s Boys, two young brothers are intrigued by the mysterious past of their father, Abraham Van Helsing (yes from Dracula). Abraham’s office holds his secrets and is off limits to the boys. It is later revealed that their father is a vampire hunter. I see parallels between this fictional family and the Kings. I can picture Joe Hill and his brother Owen growing up with their dad, Stephen King, who would go to his office to create and battle monsters through his writing. I explore the meaning of the story’s twist ending and analyze other fathers present in Joe Hill’s writing in this week’s musing: “What is it Like Having Stephen King as a Father?”

In Pop Art (I love a title that doubles as a pun) the narrator is friends with an inflatable boy, named Arthur. This story is just as absurd as it sounds, but it features one of my favorite fictional friendships. The narrator constantly worries for the safety of his fragile friend, who is susceptible to popping or deflating while around sharp objects. The story also features the contrast between the narrator’s unstable home and Arthur’s caring and supportive parents.

Another favorite of mine is The Cape. As someone who is burnt out from the superhero genre, I was pleasantly surprised by this story. Eric, a young boy, discovers he can fly when he wears an old towel. But the towel is lost, and he doesn’t come across it until years later when he is an unemployed alcoholic living in his mom’s basement. What made this story compelling was the complex relationship between Eric and his brother.

There are too many great stories to dig into in this review, so here are brief snippets about other standouts in the collection:

Best New Horror: This story had one of my favorite literary tropes, a writer protagonist. This one gave me Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibes

You Will Hear the Locust Sing: A boy transforms into a locust one day while in his bedroom after eating too many bugs. Another awesomely weird and absurd story

Better than Home: Another father-son story, this one more heartwarming. This focuses on baseball, which is Stephen King’s favorite sport.

My Father’s Mask: This one was creepy and unsettling, can’t say I completely understood what was happening. Please let me know if you have any theories!

The Black Phone: There is a film adaptation in the works for The Black Phone, by Blumhouse Productions. I wonder why they chose to adapt this story, I found it to be one of the least interesting in the anthology.

20th Century Ghosts will be the first thing I recommend to anyone looking for a spooky book to read this Halloween. The collection has the perfect balance of scares and absurdity. I hope you enjoy!

Link to What is it Like Having Stephen King as a Father?

My Best Friend’s Exorcism

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Published by Quirk Books on May 17, 2016
Genres: Coming of Age, Fiction, Horror, Supernatural, Thrillers
Pages: 336

Full of ‘80s nostalgia and supernatural hijinks, Grady Hendrix’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism is an excellent, spooky read. The story focuses on the friendship of high school sophomores Abby and Gretchen. After Gretchen spends a night lost in the woods at a sleepover, her personality and behavior drastically change. Abby investigates, with the help of a bodybuilder exorcist, to determine whether her friend has become demonically possessed.

Normally I don’t comment on a book’s cover in my reviews, but this book looks awesome. My edition is designed to look like a VHS box, with a classic ‘80s horror movie poster on the front. The ‘80s references are non-stop in this book. Every chapter is titled with the name of a classic ‘80s song. I found Spotify playlists that compile all the songs mentioned in the book, which made for a fun reading soundtrack. My favorite horror element in the novel was the well written body horror. My favorite scene, involving the character of Margaret plus oodles of worms, was outstandingly disgusting. There is a group of bodybuilding brothers that speak and perform at high schools to spread Christianity (one of the quirkier additions to the story). One of the brothers also happens to be an amateur exorcist that helps Gretchen later in the novel. The heart of the story is the friendship of Gretchen and Abby. Their love for each other is a powerful force in the book and comes into play at the novel’s conclusion. Like many of these high school, supernatural stories, I wish the parents were less absent and clueless. I also wish that Hendrix had broken more of the typical demonic possession tropes in this book, but what he has created is well done.

There are many instances of characters saying problematic, homophobic, or racist things in this book. Memorably, for spirit week the high school has a slave day where “slave” students must serve their “masters” for the school day (WTF). I went to google and was horrified to learn that this was a legitimate thing that used to happen in some US schools. I believe that Hendrix included these problematic moments intentionally, to critique the past. While the book celebrates the ‘80s, Hendrix does not shy from showing some of the era’s flaws.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a Halloween read that isn’t too intense. Fans of Stranger Things, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or ‘80s movies and music will find a lot to enjoy. I’m looking forward to reading more of Hendrix’s horror novels in the future.

Billy Summers

Billy Summers by Stephen King
Published by Simon and Schuster on August 3, 2021
Genres: Action & Adventure, Crime, Fiction, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 528

Only Stephen King can get me to read a novel about an Iraqi war veteran turned hitman on a quest for revenge. King’s latest release, Billy Summers, is a thriller without supernatural elements. Billy Summers’ only rule, as a hitman, is he only accepts targets that are “bad guys”. He hopes his latest high-paying assignment will be his last. Billy poses as a writer in an office building across from a courthouse, waiting for an opportunity to take out a murderer as he is escorted up the courthouse steps to stand trial. He uses the downtime waiting for the day of the assassination to write a memoir, ironically becoming the writer he is disguised as.

The first half of this book was excellent. I love when authors make their protagonists writers, it is one of my favorite literary tropes. Billy suspects the individuals managing the hit are spying on his laptop, so he purposely writes his memoir in a dumbed-down voice, to hide his intelligence. Convincingly writing in different versions of one character’s voice is impressive and displays why King is a master storyteller. There are many parallels between Billy Summers and King’s outstanding Misery. Both novels feature male protagonists writing stories that are featured within the novels. Additionally, both Billy and Paul Sheldon are isolated indoors for the majority of their stories. I suspect Billy’s periods of isolation were inspired by King quarantining during the COVID-19 pandemic. King does drop in references to another work in the Stephen King Universe, fans of The Shining will be pleased.

About halfway through Billy Summers there is a major plot shift that drives the action for the remainder of the book. I found the plot in the second half to be less compelling and began looking forward to finishing the novel so I could move on to my next one, which is never a good sign. There is a horrendous instance of brown face in the book, that made me wince. Billy uses many disguises in the novel, one of them is a Mexican gardener (Billy is not Mexican) and involves layers of spray tan. After his first coat of tan Billy is described as “a white man with a desert tan”. After a second coat Billy is still not convinced and says: “This might have been a bad idea” (p. 395). Yes, Stephen King this was a horrible idea to include in the story. The disguise is wholly inappropriate! How did your editors approve this? Please do better! The frequent digs at Trump that I have come to appreciate in King’s latest works are present, but do not make up for this unnecessary, and highly problematic plot point.

I would only recommend this book to Constant Readers (King’s name for his die-hard fans). If you are a Stephen King completionist like myself, I’m sure you will be picking this up no matter what reviews say. For everyone else, there are plenty of better options in King’s massive bibliography to choose from.

Trigger Warnings: Rape, Pedophilia, War Violence