I have five reviews in the September 2026 issue of Booklist. Below you will find my draft views along with bonus appeal info.
All 5 of these books are a great option for public libraries. I will start with the Nonfiction title.
By Emma Cole
Oct. 2026. 264p. Beacon, paper, $22 (9780807024959); e-book (9780807025123). 791.4375. First published September 1, 2026 (Booklist).
Three Words That Describe This Book: Horroromance, conversational tone, media fan NF
Further Appeal: Cole is an editor of Romance books and even Clay McLeod Chapman's Horroromance Devil Inside and she is a die hard fan of horror movies. As she mentions in the introduction horror and romance are not as different as people think because they are both driven by the viewer/reader emotions.
Readlikes: There is a solid "Further Reading" Section to find more titles including
- Falling in Love at the Movies: Rom-Coms from the Screwball Era to Today by Esther Zuckerman
- The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror by David J. Skal
- Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film by Carol J. Clover
Oct. 2026. 352p. Run For It, paper, $19.99 (9780316581943); Run For It, e-book, $9.99 (9780316581950). First published September 1, 2026 (Booklist).
It’s one week to Tigglestide Eve on the quaint British island of Hasenhurst, where the isolated islanders are devoted to their unique traditions. A Californian family– Tech VP Greg, homemaker Jessica, and their 15-year-old, nonbinary, purple-haired, aspiring witch, Sandy– relocate so that Greg can help Hasenhurst move into the 21st Century. However, as readers know from Chapter 0, the house that they will be staying in has powers of its own, allowing a layer of unease to settle over the novel, even before the family gets to the island's foggy shores. Told through the perspectives of the troubled Jessica and a blossoming Sandy, Karella (Moonflow) builds the world of Hasenhurst with skill, deliberately unveiling the details of Hasenhurst’s “quaint tradition” of Tigglestide as the days tick down, details that allow the fear to steadily rise from unsettling to dread to all out terror. Thought-provoking, irreverent, fun, and utterly original, get this book in the hands of Chuck Tingle's fans and those who enjoy folk horror in the vein of Slewfoot by Brom.Three Words That Describe This Book: great world building, folk horror, tongue in cheek
Further Appeal: Other words: fun, witchy, queer norm, of course-- quaint and traditions-- these are words used throughout the story and they begin cozy and slowly and deliberately build to creepy and then terrifying. That was very well done.
This review above is an example of how I cannot possibly get everything I want to say about a book and why it is a great read into my limited word count. Thankfully, I will give this book the attention it deserves here.
This book is fun, original and smart. But the smart, sardonic parts are subversively hidden by the horror fun. Karella understands horror, like really understands the genre. They play with all of it in a way that horror fans will love. Everything is just tongue-in-cheek enough. It never goes too far. And readers could just enjoy the story without engaging in the satire but when you do, it is better.
Now on to the story itself. We have a third person omniscient narration style where the reader is able to be in Jessica's POV and Sandy's. Jessica is the mom, a bit of a ditz, a homemaker with really no identity or personality, married to Greg, a VP at a generic internet company that Jessica has no idea what it does. She supports her husband and looks pretty. Is she happy, no? But she really doesn't expect to be.
Sandy is the 15 year old nonbinary, purple haired kid in the family. First, I love that Sandy just is non binary. The parents do not care. They correct others as to Sandy's pronouns and everyone is just fine with it. This is always a treat, a story where someone is queer and just existing as queer and the fact that they are queer is not a key part of the story. But Sandy is also an aspiring witch. Their parents think this is a cute hobby, but Sandy is very serious about it. Something readers learn fairly quickly.
The family moves to the British island of Hasenhurst. The dad is sent there over the summer to help move the remote, quaint, and traditional island and its people into the 21st Century with his company's help.
Readers know through Chapter 0 though, even before the family makes the trip, that the house they will be staying in holds secrets and has powers. This allows unease to settle over the story even before readers start hearing about how "quaint" and dedicated to tradition this island is. There is the fog and the moors once they get there to help set the stage, but readers already know not to trust the friendly locals.
This works very well because it allows Karella to double down on the world building of Hasenhurst and push how far they can take it juxtaposing the silly with the horror. In the hands of a less talented author this would have been a mess. Really only Chuck Tingle can do this as well.
The story also has a great frame to increase the pacing, dread, and horror as from the start readers are told everything is unfolding leading up to "Tigglestide." We have these headings even before we arrive in Hasenhurst, way before we all start to learn (along with Jessica, Sandy, and Greg) what it is. The story begins with One Week Till Tigglestide Eve and goes to Tigglestide Day for the ending. This compressed time frame is a great pace increasing device. This is a 300+ page book and there is a lot of world building that has to happen, but the fake days/holidays marking the time before Tigglestide comes are perfect. As we march closer even the names of the days that lead up to Tigglestide get more unsettling.
This is a folk horror that leans into its folk horror. And I don’t want to say much more than that. You want to enjoy a solid read that doesn't take itself too seriously even though it is consciously constructed with intention and then also makes sure to hide the effort so that readers can enjoy it (but I see you Karella), this is a solid choice.
Also I haven't even mentioned the quotes at the top of the chapters that are from fiction books.Theses add a lot of context to the world and help to ratchet up the unease throughout the story.
Readalikes: A perfect read for fans of Chuck Tingle-- the same vibes-- smart, irreverent, fun, all told with a deep understanding of the genre of horror. But if readers want folk horror that is similar try Slewfoot by Brom or Stay Buried by Jennifer McMahon.
The marketing says Wicker Man meets The Twisted Ones (Kingfisher) which works but the comps I have are more precise as to the type of reader who will enjoy this one. The publisher comps are more trying to ride coattails than actually think about the reader.
by T.H. Huddleston
Oct. 2026. 368p. Titan, paper, $18.99 (9781835413036); e-book (9781835413043).
First published September 1, 2026 (Booklist).
What happens when a British manor house wants to uphold the class inequity that keeps it going at any cost? The answer, this violent, socially conscious, punk rock take on the haunted house trope. Sandra, recently widowed, is struggling with grief and bills. At the funeral, Gerry, a former boyfriend, offers to let Sandra grieve and get back on her feet, at no cost, by bringing her to Hauntmond Hall, the stately home recently inherited by his wife. Sandra reluctantly takes Gerry up on his offer, but soon after arriving, she can feel the pull of the house fogging her brain. And that is before violent accidents start happening all around her! Huddleston builds the dread and disorientation deliberately and relentlessly with a slow burn, omniscient narration, and great world building around the history of the home and its powers, taking readers on an all out terrifying fight for everyone’s lives. A great read for fans of sinister, sentient haunted house tales like House of Leaves by Danielewski, White is for Witching by Oyoyemi, and We Live Here Now by Pinborough.
Three Words That Describe This Book: class issues, sentient and sinister haunted house, cinematic
Further Appeal: This is a very British haunted house story. That is not a bad thing, but I do need to be clear that it explores class issues very thoroughly, specifically the British landed gentry class vs everyone else and how these old manors in the country used to be the entire town.
This is a slow burn story as well. a steady slow burn like all the best disorienting, sinister haunted house stories are. We enter with Sandra, the outsider. Her husband died (fairly young) of an illness. They were barely middle class, big punk fans, but his illness led to her not being able to work as a chef and then all she did was take care of him, but neither made money and healthcare in England (despite what we think in America is not free at all. He died and they were in debt and she lost the house they loved and were so proud to own.
Gerry, her old college boyfriend and her husband's best friend comes to the funeral and offers to let Sandra grieve and recover and get back on her feet at no cost to her by coming to live in the manor house-- Hauntmond Hall. His wife inherited it and they could use the company.
Gerry was always the rich friend and it was awkward. But she accepts.
There is research into the house's history that is shared by the older hippie who is hired to renovate the house and then paid to stop as accidents happen when he and his crew try to renovate. This added to the overall fear. It makes it clear that the house is evil, has real power, and has been doing horrible things for years. Very solid world building there.
But this is a violent story, not a gothic. I need to be clear. The house causes serious accidents, even death to those who try to leave or help those trying to leave. It gets into everyone's brains and makes them slaves to the house, to keep people there, to never want to leave. This a the landed gentry literally trying to hold on to its power through the land.
There is real danger here and not everyone makes it, but the ending is a great horror ending. The history and world building make it even better.
Told with a creepy omniscient narration that works perfectly for this story. Mostly we are in Sandra's head but there are chapters to Gerry, his wife, and even their 6 year old kid. It allows the deeply insidious and sinister power at the core of the house to be portrayed with the terror it deserves.
The punk rock frame to fight the horror and nite Sandra with the townsfolk who are helping her free herself (and others) from the house was fun, but in my opinion it did not make the sporty itself better.
But the punk rock adds to the cinematic nature of this book. It would be a great movie. So many scenes I could visualize. The epilogue-- I totally could see that visually. Creepy.
Readalikes: See above plus, Slade House by Mitchell, The Haunting of Hill House but this is more violent. Jackson is the one who started the entire subgenre though, which is why I need 21st century part at the end. Also Accumulation by Pokwatka. All of these (with the ones above) have a mystery angle of someone who begins to understand that the house itself has a sinister, even violent agenda and they try to figure it out and beat it.
In These Gilded, Ghostly Hearts
By Gwendolyn Kiste
Sept. 2026. 176p. Creature, paper, $18 (9781951971489); e-book, $9.99 (9781951971496). First published September 1, 2026 (Booklist).
Kiste, known for her immersive horror that gives voice to voiceless women, turns her gaze toward discarded daughters. It is 1955 and Mel (35) has lived in the shadow of everything her mother, Daisy Buchanan (from The Great Gatsby), lost when Jay Gatsby was murdered. As this short novel opens, Daisy, (now 60) is found dead at the crumbling mansion in West Egg, a spiritualist the only one there when she died. Seeking closure, Mel returns to West Egg with the spiritualist, experiencing the terrifying power of the home as it conjures ghosts, grotesque replicas from the extravagant parties of its past, with Gatsby himself overseeing it all. Night after night, Mel returns, risking her own safety to uncover the truth, help her mother find peace, and finally begin to live for herself. Queer, visceral, and driven by obsession, this is more than a retelling, it is an original, vivid, character driven story that lays the terror of its source material bare, and sends chilling echoes out into the present. For fans of Helen Oyoyemi and the decadent, glamorous horror of Donyae Coles.
Three Words That Describe This Book: book about a book, immersive and visceral, reclaiming forgotten women (specially discarded daughters)
Further Appeal: This one is a solid 4.5 stars.
More than a retelling, this is a horror novel that explores and probes its inspiration-- The Great Gatsby and creates something new. But it keeps the sensual, decadence and glamor of the original as well. It uses the source material to tell a new story. Similar to Reluctant Immortals but not as wide in scope-- both in the breadth of the story and length-- this is a novella that can be read in 2 sittings-- and you will want to do that.
Also I stand behind the word Visceral here but this book is not "gross" in a standard use of that word. The house-- Gatsby's West Egg mansion is a sentient haunted house, it can create corporeal ghosts out of its memories-- conjure them-- but it needs to feed off the living to gain strength. The more living breathing humans who visit from 3-4 am, the more it can feed and then do. So this book is sticking with the ectoplasm that oozes down the walls and sticks to the people. The ghosts it creates are in various states of building-- some are grotesquely missing major parts, some are rotting, some are just slightly, but very creepily off.
Let's back up a bit though. This book hinges on the appearance, very small, of Daisy's daughter Pamela in the source text (The Great Gatsby). Like Kiste does with all of her work-- she gives voice to the voiceless women in the world (whether they are of her creation or from other works of literature). In this case, she dedicated the book to "discarded daughters" and that is the focus here. Pamela, who prefers to go by Mel, is our protagonist and POV here. Kiste empowers her with her own story and her own happy ending.
Kiste also makes reference to the film version which readers may notice and if not, she tells you in the acknowledgements.
It is 1955 and Daisy has just died-- found dead at the West Egg Mansion of Gatsby, obviously long dead as readers of the course material know. Mel gives readers the view of Daisy after the novel. Washed up at 25 but living in the past to almost 60. Mel's life has not been easy and she grew up very poor knowing her family had once been rich. Once nice touch in Kiste's hands here is that over the course of the novel, Mel comes to learn more truth about her mother, Gatsby and more.
Mel is 35 but her whole life she has toiled and tried to earn her mother's love. Her mother seemed to only live in the past. Mel has a good job at a dry cleaner working with a woman who is her best friend but who she also has feelings for.
When she finds out her mom was with a famous spiritualist at West Egg when she died, this starts the horror action. Mel is drawn to participate in connecting with the ghosts who appear every night at West Egg to live an echo of the great parties from the heights of the novel. At the center of it all is Gatsby himself. But Mel goes with the spiritualist in an attempt to find the ghost of her mother. What she finds is a lot more than she bargained for, but it might be just what she needs to start living her life for herself for the first time ever.
Readers see immediately that the house holds a grotesque power of its own from the start. Mel feels it. The visceral things I mention above are key. The details are immersive. You are there both in 1955 with Mel (whether it is in NYC at her job and walking the streets or visiting the lesbian bar) AND at West Egg in the Gatsby pre cars 1920s and the abandoned decrypted house of 1955.
Fun thing here, Kiste makes Gatsby, his parties, and his death part of the world's history-- so Mel can go to the NYPL and look up news stories about it.
This is a story that probes the source material to move it into a future and tell Mel's story, but it also closes some loops in the original. It is also an immersive and imaginative sentient haunted house story. It is also a novel that gives the power and happy ending to discarded daughters and forgotten women everywhere.
I found the resolution a little too fairy tale-esaue and neat for horror, but I have read a lot of Kiste's work and love all of it. I know she doesn't usually do this so I know she had a reason.
Like all of her books and stories, this is impeccably written. The imagery is vivid, the characters come alive, the writing is beautiful (even when about gross things like a ghastly built body) and accessible. It is a joy to read and will linger with you long after.
Readalikes: I for one will never be able to look at The Great Gatsby the same way again. And that is a HUGE win. This is from a smaller press but totally worth a read by anyone who like Gwendolyn Kiste (raises my own hand).
For any readers who love to read original retellings of classics by today's horror authors but especially the way Helen Oyoyemi does it.
Also if you like this decadent and glamorous but still visceral horror of forgotten women getting their due, try Donyae Coles-- Midnight Rooms yes because a type of haunted house Gothic, but especially the 2026 title The Sunken, the Adored.
By Adam Cesare
Oct. 2026. 352p. Del Rey, paper, $19 (9798217301690).
REVIEW. First published September 1, 2026 (Booklist).
After the success of the Clown in a Cornfield series for teens, Cesare’s indie, horror novels for adults are being re-released. This one, from 2015 not only stands the test of time, but it also features a trend from today— mature protagonists. In the prologue, a distressed woman bounds out of the Pennsylvania woods and is almost hit by a police car. They pick her up and head for Mercy House, a nursing home currently on fire, even though the woman is screaming at them to drive away. Readers are taken back to the day before, sent on a fast-paced, 24-hour, visceral thrill ride watching the residents go from weak to virile, their bodies stretching and strengthening. The point of view bounces around between multiple residents, employees, and visitors as the old hunt the young, moving the story from its uneasy start to all out bloody terror in just over 300 pages.This cinematic, darkly humorous, and thought-provoking story will make fans of Brian Keene and survival horror like The Troop by Cutter squirm and cheer.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Survivor Horror, mature protagonists, visceral bordering on gross (in a good way)
After his huge success with the Clown in a Cornfield series for teens, Cesare's older titles for adults are being reissued. Readers will be so excited to have these titles more easily accessible. Mercy House is particularly interesting because it came out in 2015 but it hits on a trend from 10+ years after its release-- mature characters.
This is a classic survivor horror as you would have read in the Leisure Books era-- Brian Keene feels here especially. Starts with a scene that makes it clear that things have gone very bad and there is only 1 survivor. That's the prologue. Then the action is all 1 day before.
We are at a nursing home in the PA Woods-- off the beaten path for sure. It looks very nice on the outside but it is probably midlevel in terms of care and amenities. Not a dump but not as fancy as they want it to seem to families.
This story is told from multiple points of view from a few of the residents, workers, and the wife of the man who's mom is being brought to check in that day-- Harriet-- she also has some POV.
Again, readers know things are going to go VERY badly but how is the fun of reading this book. From the start, as we meet residents and get into their POVs we know that the old people can smell this rotten sweet smell and younger people cannot. We also know from the very beginning that they are starting to heal-- one of the main characters is a resident who is a Korean War Vet and for the first time in months he can stand and walk to the bathroom unassisted. But again, this may seem like a "happy" event, but coupled with the smell and the prologue, readers are on edge from the start.
This book has sex and violence, the details of deaths are great-- cinematic and lots of body fluids. It is a very detailed look at how things go from bad to worse. I am purposely NOT giving details other than the residents are transformed into monsters-- but each in their own unique way. The non-olds have to try to escape.
The characters are well developed for how fast the story is and how short the timeline is. Reminds me of Brian Keene there too. He is one of the best at this. Readers who like him go out and read this ASAP.
There is also a tongue in cheek tone here-- not too much though, just the right amount. The dark humor is there to make readers think about how we treat people as they age and their bodies start to break down. The horror and the humor come directly from this place and make the story thought-provoking even while it is a fast-paced, cinematic, and visceral survivor horror story.
How we treat the elderly is key here. We are in their thoughts as they grapple with it. That part is well done.
Readalikes: Think The Troop by Cutter but instead of kids we've got old people. The Complex by Brian Keene but there it is an Apartment Complex. Any of the old Leisure books titles. Survival horror like The Ruins by Smith or This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer except in an isolated nursing home. For more nursing home horror, try the slasher Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi, but there the olds are the heroes. Here they are the monsters. That is a slasher and this is survival horror.
