What I'm Reading: Instinct

Today I have a review of a great example of a SF-Horror hybrid that will appeal to a wide

audience from Booklist. As usual, this is my draft review with extra appeal and readalike info as well as my 3 words.

Instinct
By Jason Hough

Apr. 2021. 336p. Gallery/Skybound, $27.

(9781501181399); e-book, $12.99 (9781501181405). 

First published April 15, 2021 (Booklist).

Silvertown, WA, population 600-ish, is a conspiracy fueled community, deep in the Cascade Mountains, a place where weird stuff tends to happen, often. The town used to be a bit more bustling back when the Conaty family’s silver mine was still running. Mary Whittaker is the new police officer in town, one of only two, and serves as readers’ eyes into this unique place. Opening with the funeral of a local teen who died under strange circumstances, this is an uneasy read from the start, but then Mary, still new to town and with her own backstory as to why she left the Oakland Police department, is left alone so the Chief can visit his sick mom, and immediately, more instances of people going against their natural instincts and putting themselves in mortal harm begin multiplying. With a strong protagonist and a steadily increasing pace, that strains to contain its tension even as it bubbles through some well placed cracks, until it finally bursts, exploding in nonstop action for the final third of the book, this is a deeply unsettling, immersive, and fun read for fans of Science Fiction-Horror hybrids like Crouch’s Wayward Pines series or Johson’s The Loop with a healthy dose of paranoia like in Now You’re One of Us by Nonami.

Three Words That  Describe This Book: steadily increasing pace, deeply unsettling, strong protagonist

Further Appeal:  The place is a character here. It is a place where weird and menacing things do happen and our outsider, Mary, needs to learn with us that the speculative reason of the menace is the most probable.

Everything has an explanation albeit a stretch and conspiracy reason. The entire revenge horror frame is a bit out of left field when you think about it after reading, but you will not care while you are reading it because it is a lot of fun, well paced, and you stay glued to the page wanting to know what will happen.

I couldn't fit this in the review, but there are "Interludes" between chapters of conversations in the bar featuring one of the lead characters, the bartender, and these are excellent. They manage to both break the intense tension of the chapter before and yet also increase it at the same time just from a different  angle. That was very cool.

This is a midlist title that will have WIDE appeal. Order a copy and hand it out to your fans of well paced and menacing SF-Horror hybrids.

Readalikes: The first two listed are spot on in setting, tone, and as SF-Horror hybrids, but the addition of the Nonami is there because there is this disorientation, the thought that Mary could be being gaslit and yet clearly she is being manipulated. That feel is captured in the Nonami title.

Also for any fans of the bestselling horror-SF hybrids by Mira Grant of Christopher Golden's Ben Walker series and Twin Peaks the TV show.