Friday the 13th Playlist: Mid-Day Mumbai

Leave the World Behind

“I can’t help but laugh as I recollect this novel. Darkly funny and richly suspenseful, it follows a white family and a Black couple in a remote New York house as a series of unfathomable events occur around them. Alam comments on our modern obsession with information, as we compulsively scroll our feeds and pat our pockets in panic to ensure our phones’ presence. Without information, are humans really capable of anything? This book is a study of privileged people, what they do when they must prove their capabilities, what they do when they are frightened. Leave the World Behind is superb—its unanswered questions perfect for book discussions.”

Mary, Raven Book Store

Winner of the RUSA Award for Best Horror

When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother’s home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods in this chilling novel that reads like The Blair Witch Project meets The Andy Griffith Show.

When Mouse’s dad asks her to clean out her dead... Read more »

If you enjoyed The Castle of Otranto, then you’ll love Mexican Gothic.

“If what you loved about "Northanger Abbey" was its sly twist on the gothic romance, you're going to love this new setting for an old gem. Set in 1950's Mexico, it follows a capable but callous young woman who agrees to check on a cousin in exchange for tuition for a master's degree, then begins to discover what inspired the cousin's apparent descent into madness. A wealthy and controlling old man, a manipulative new husband? Yes... and also something very unpleasant to do with mushrooms. Think "The Girl With All the Gifts" meets "Stranger Things", with a clever surprise of a romance--not a Sleeping Beauty story--it's Beauty and the Beast, and the Beast is not whom you'd expect!”

Nialle, The Haunted Bookshop

Plain Bad Heroines

“I have never read a book that was this much fun. This was a roller coaster of a read, hitting all the notes from beginning to end. Gothic elements intermingled with the current time period will keep the reader so engrossed that they won’t realize they’ve stayed up all night reading this book, one that’s the kind of book you don’t want to read in the dark but you just can’t put down. The ride through history that meets the present will keep you entertained, on your toes, and peeking between your fingers as you cover your eyes.”

Sandra Cararo, The Book Dragon

A young woman living in a rigid, puritanical society discovers dark powers within herself in this stunning, feminist fantasy debut.
 
In the lands of Bethel, where the Prophet's word is law, Immanuelle Moore's very existence is blasphemy. Her mother’s union with an outsider of a different race cast her once-proud family into disgrace, so... Read more »