Каарон Уоррен - The Best Horror of the Year Volume Ten

Carey’s characterizations make this book pop. It’s fascinating to watch the relationships evolve, and characters who initially only appear in the background begin to emerge into the light. Because the reader really cares about most of them, the book is edge-of-your-seat suspenseful—and agonizing. Despite what you think is going to happen, there are plenty of surprises. Highly recommended.

Under a Watchful Eye by Adam Nevill (Macmillan) is about what happens when an old, unwelcome acquaintance inserts himself back into the life of a horror writer, imposing his disgusting, debased presence into the writer’s comfortable existence. With him, he brings mysterious and threatening creatures, acolytes in thrall to a cult leader dead almost thirty years. It’s a real challenge to keep readers engrossed in a novel with a horrible, disgusting character playing a dominant role in the first third of the book, but Nevill manages to do so.

The Changeling by Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau) takes the reader for an emotionally wrenching rollercoaster ride when a horrific act destroys the seemingly idyllic life of a New York couple and their infant. Apollo Kagwa’s father disappears, leaving him with strange dreams and a box of books. Apollo becomes a rare book dealer and a father himself. When his wife, Emma, starts behaving oddly, he’s alarmed, but before he can do anything she does something horrible and unforgivable—and disappears. The story becomes a dark fairy tale about Apollo’s odyssey into a world just beyond our ken, with magic that can empower or destroy.

Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith (HarperCollins) is a charming dark fantasy about a preteen whose parents split, leaving her perplexed, angry, and feeling betrayed—especially when she’s sent to her grandfather’s home in Santa Cruz, California. The Devil discovers that his sacrifice machine, used to convert evil deeds into energy, is not working properly. There are certainly horrific aspects—the Devil plays a major role, as does a consciousless criminal and his gang. But there are also many fun and funny bits, including the regular appearance of a stupid, but well-meaning “accident” imp who usually looks like a giant mushroom.

Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley (Tartarus Press) follows the author’s celebrated, award-winning debut novel The Loney , and again uses his ability to create a sense of place that overpowers the reader in an atmosphere of dread. This dread emanates from the secrets of the Lancashire moors, where the Devil might (or might not) come calling and the inhabitants find it necessary to propitiate him. John Pentercost and his pregnant wife return home for his grandfather’s funeral. John wants to stay. His wife does not. Engrossing but not as satisfying as The Loney , and the end is somewhat confusing. Worse than that, though, is the character of John, who appears to be a jerk caring little about his wife’s wishes or needs, only his own. Has he always been a selfish jerk, or is it the influence his childhood home exerts on him the longer they remain there?

The Wardrobe Mistress by Patrick McGrath (Hutchinson) is the deservedly celebrated writer’s ninth novel. He’s written a marvelous story haunted by a ghost and by the persistence of evil. It takes place in the theatrical world of post-WWII London, which is still reeling from the devastating bombings and privation. A celebrated actor in his prime dies unexpectedly, leaving his widow grief-stricken and in shock. When she accidently discovers an ugly secret about her late husband her state of mind—and the plot—takes a darker turn.

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld (HarperCollins) is by the author of the acclaimed first novel The Enchanted , published in 2014. Is The Child Finder horror? Probably not, although it is a crime novel about child abduction and abuse. A young woman, herself a former child abductee who remembers little of her experience yet is haunted by it, has taken it upon herself to find other lost and abducted children. The book is brilliant, suspenseful, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking. One of the best novels of the year.

Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman (Ecco) is the author’s second novel and is very different from his first, the acclaimed Bird Box . Post WWII, a washed-up band from Detroit is asked by the US Army to go on a secret mission to a desert in Africa from where a mysterious sound emanates. Their job is to find discover the source of that sound—a sound that neutralizes atomic weapons and negatively affects those who hear it. A second thread of the novel is about one band member who is recuperating from awful, life-threatening wounds he suffered in that desert, while the Army questions him. Suspenseful and chilling.

The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge (Penguin Press) is a clever novel about a woman whose husband has disappeared while researching a mysterious period in H. P. Lovecraft’s life and the writer’s relationship with a young fan named Robert Barlow. Not horror, but it’s fun and might be of interest to those interested in Lovecraft as a character and in imaginings about the science fiction’s Futurians. Come to Dust by Bracken MacLeod (Trepidatio Publishers) is about what happens when—for no apparent reason—dead children come back to life. The Grip of It by Jac Jempc (FSG Originals) is about an urban couple who move into a haunted house in rural Wisconsin. Bad Magick by Steven L. Shrewsbury and Nate Southard (Weird West Books) is about Aleister Crowley, an ex-Confederate guerilla, and a group of Jesuits fighting evil in 1901 El Paso, Texas. Universal Harvester by John Darnielle (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) takes place in late 1990s Midwest, in which several residents discover that parts of the video tapes they rent contain alarming bits of stray footage of possible criminal behavior. This is a strange novel, more weird than horror. Every time it threatens to edge into horror, it never quite makes it. Shadows on the Bayou by Patrick Malloy (Bedlam Press) is about a man who ignorantly sells his soul in what he thinks is a tourist attraction in New Orleans and finds himself unable to leave the city. The Vampire Years by Eric Del Carlo (Elder Signs Press) has vampires winning a war against humankind, sending survivors to reservations in an uneasy truce. Borne by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) is a marvelously inventive novel told from the point of view of a scavenger living with her partner in a no-man’s land of feral children and monstrous bear-like killing machines. It’s not quite horror, not quite science fiction, but might be the quintessential work of the weird. The scavenger discovers a small… object— plant, animal, machine-mysterious something that she dubs Borne. As Borne grows and their relationship deepens it becomes a threat to the status quo of the couple’s survival. The Time Eater by Aaron French (JournalStone) is about a man unexpectedly forced to confront his past when a dying college friend asks him to visit. Last Man Screaming by Steve L. Shrewsbury (Weird West Books) is a Lovecraftian Western set in 1899 El Paso, Texas. A Summer with the Dead by Sherry Decker (Elder Signs Press) is about a woman taking refuge from her abusive husband on her aunt’s farm, only to be plagued by terrible dreams about the farm’s history. The Devil Crept In by Ania Ahlborn (Gallery Books) is about the disappearance of a young boy from a town where history seems to be repeating itself. See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt (Atlantic Monthly Press) revisits the case of Lizzie Borden, who infamously murdered her parents by whacking them with an ax. Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough (Flatiron Books) is about a single mom becoming involved with a married man who turns out to be her new boss. Her relationship with him and his wife take a dark turn in this thriller. Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King (Scribner) is a novel about what happens when most of the women in the world fall asleep, leaving only men awake. The Adventures of the Incognita Princess by Cynthia Ward (Aqueduct Press/Conversation Pieces) is about Lucy Harker, daughter of Dracula and Mina Harker, who, as a spy for the British government, is assigned to guard a military officer on the way across the Atlantic—on the Titanic. Ubo by Steve Rasnic Tem (Solaris) is about a group of humans trapped in a mysterious place called Ubo by roach-like creatures/scientists who force them into scenarios where they play violent men from human history. Hounds of the Underworld by Dan Rabarts and Lee Murray (Raw Dog Screaming Press) is a supernatural noir set in New Zealand about a room full of blood but no body, and the consulting detective (accompanied by her troublesome brother) assigned to the case. In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson (Skyhorse Publishing) is a Supernatural Western noir, with a brutal killer on the loose. Corpselight by Angela Slatter (Jo Fletcher Books) is the second in a dark fantasy series about an investigator of the weird who acts as guardian for her city, Brisbane, Australia. Little Heaven by Nick Cutter (Gallery Books) is about three mercenaries hired to check on someone who might have been taken against their will to a cult enclave in New Mexico. The Lovecraft Squad: Waiting edited by Stephen Jones (Pegasus Books) is a multi-authored novel based on the idea that H. P. Lovecraft’s novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth was real, and that a group of stalwart men and women joined together to investigate and defeat other-worldly invaders. Volk: A Novel of Radiant Abomination by David Nickle (ChiZine Publications) takes place about twenty years after the author’s previous novel, Eutopia , and once again features eugenicists and parasitic monsters doing their best to destroy humanity as we know it. Moriah by Daniel Mills (ChiZine Publications) is about a former army chaplain of the American Civil War who, nine years later, is sent to an isolated village in Vermont to investigate possible supernatural occurrences. The Greenwood Faun by Nina Antonia (Egaeus Press) is a beautifully produced hardcover weird fiction debut, with a foreword by Mark Valentine.