‘Night Theater’ (2020) mixes body horror, spiritual questions
Book club book report: Vikram Paralkar digs into the human body and dark ideas in an incongruously readable short novel.
Horror Novels
‘Night Theater’ (2020) mixes body horror, spiritual questions
‘John Dies at the End’ (2009) a passion project, despite myriad influences
Book club book report: David Wong’s comedic horror novel is written in such an entertaining manner that it almost doesn’t matter that the story is familiar.
‘The Ruins’ (2006, 2008) a creepy exercise in fatalism
Frightening Friday (Book and movie reviews): It’s a shame Smith hasn’t written a novel since, but “The Ruins” holds up as elite horror.
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (1973) didn’t start as a slasher
Frightening Friday (Book review): Fifty years ago, Lois Duncan wrote a gripping mystery novel for teens about guilt, responsibility and moving on.
‘Endless Night’ (1967) shows the ‘happily ever after’ … not so happily
Sleuthing Sunday (Book review): Rightly labeled as one of Christie’s “horror” novels, “Endless Night” is light on killings, but drenched in foreboding.
Even Hank Searls can’t save ‘Jaws: The Revenge’ (1987)
Toothy Tuesday (Book review): Sure, the novelization is better than the movie, but a tale of a voodoo shark remains inherently ridiculous.
‘Jaws 2’ novelization (1978) reveals film’s early draft
Toothy Tuesday (Book review): “Jaws 2” eventually got simplified, but an early draft – as captured in the novelization – riffs on the original novel.
Peter Benchley’s ‘Jaws’ (1974) goes beyond the shark stuff
Toothy Tuesday (Book review): The film only drew upon the shark drama. As such, the novel provides plenty of bonus surprises for new readers.
King poetically chronicles dying small town in ‘’Salem’s Lot’ (1975)
Stephen King flashback (Book review): King’s definitive vampire novel is about more than vampires as it chronicles a crumbling Maine township in the 1970s.
King’s career starts with bloody bang in ‘Carrie’ (1974)
Stephen King flashback (Book review): King’s novel-writing career starts with a timeless classic of the teen-outsider genre.