Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Hallowe'en!


And in the spirit of sharing that makes the season so special, let me offer you a book recommendation: Alexandra Sokoloff's THE HARROWING. I've been running a bit behind, reading-wise, but I really wish I'd gotten to this one sooner. I picked it up while hanging out with Alex at the Cape Fear Crime Festival this past weekend. (Full disclosure time: Alex is a friend, and we do a lot of events together. It's still a great book. Trust me.) Lynn got to it first, and stayed up til 1:00 reading it...and she NEVER stays up that late reading. I started it on the drive back, and couldn't put it down either. Damn, this book is good.

The plot's a classic one for Horror...several college students are stranded by circumstance in a creepy old house. The house in this case is an old mansion converted into a dorm, and the kids, for their own reasons, are staying there over the Thanksgiving break. Of course there's a storm, of course the lights go out, and scariness ensues. Not gore or splatter-type scariness. I mean REAL creepy-crawly, gathering-dread, check-over-your-shoulder-and-go-to-bed-with-the- lights-on scariness.

For purposes of mystery fiction, you can call it a "What Dunnit."Is there really a supernatural baddie out there or is someone in the group screwing with the others? The climax of the book, when the students face the answer, is breathtaking.

THE HARROWING rules. Check it out.

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