My Book Reviews for January 2025
My Book Reviews for January 2025
My Book Reviews for January 2025 comprise titles – in horror, teen, crime and suspense genres – published this month that I had the privilege of reading in advance. I thank the authors, publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity.
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
Given the author’s previous titles, I was expecting a tongue-in-cheek slasher. However, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls turned out to be more like The Handmaid’s Tale than My Best Friend’s Exorcism.
The story is set in 1970 in a home for pregnant, unmarried girls. (And they are girls; no one seems older than eighteen; most are far younger.) We see them utterly rejected by their parents, their school friends and the males who impregnated them (variously irresponsible high-school students, married men, rapists, paedophiles). The girls are forced to follow the strict rules set by the proprietor of the home and her team of doctor, nurse and social worker. The girls have no say in what happens during their pregnancies and afterwards. In any event, they aren’t provided with information to make their own decisions – they are even denied books on pregnancy and childbirth.
Gradually, the girls learn to support each other, develop agency and claim back their bodies and their futures with dramatic and shocking consequences.
Despite vividly written scenes of horror, the book may evoke a different feeling in the reader, namely rage against the blatant misogyny, racism and bigotry described. It is about interference in women’s lives and reproductive rights and about inadequate gynaecological and obstetric care. This doesn’t only feel like 1970s social history.
The writing is quick-fire and fluent, with well-drawn characters. The author (whom I believe is male) has done considerable research to depict pregnancy and childbirth with respect and authenticity.
Ora lives in a society where all illnesses and disabilities have been eradicated. Scientists are employed in DNA sequencing, and all four-year-olds undergo a grading. Any children failing the ‘Prefect Test’ or babies born with obvious ‘defects’ go to live in the Hospital, which supposedly cares for them behind closed doors. Parents who don’t hand over their children risk having them stolen and eaten by the mythical Vulpine.
When I read this book, I thought of three things: the underground community in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang that protects children from the Child Catcher employed by the child-hating monarchy; the 2017 children’s novel A Place Called Perfect by Helena Duggan, in which villainous leaders manipulate the population into overvaluing perfection; and the utterly chilling documentary I once saw about the repugnant experiments Josef Mengele carried out on disabled children in Nazi concentration camps. Although The Vulpine touches on all of these (and allusions to real-life proponents of eugenics is particularly chilling), what makes it different is how Crosby makes the ‘Imperfect’ the central characters. They live in a community adapted to diverse needs, where they are able to develop their strengths and flourish. Each person is depicted as an individual. More than the sum of their disabilities or illnesses, they are variously brave, intelligent, bitter, foolish, suspicious, kind or cunning. They are the agents of their own lives and societal change.
The novel is marketed as YA – and that fits with the age of the protagonists (15 and 16), the hint of romance and the on-page violence and death – but the passages from the rhyming ‘Vulpine Storybook’ and the dressing up as monsters suggested a younger readership. Perhaps ten-year-olds who have enjoyed A Place Called Perfect will enjoy moving on to The Vulpine at eleven.
Death in the Artic by Tom Hindle
Fronted adverbials are the order of the day here and I guessed the culprit, victim and motive from the beginning, long before the crime was committed. However, full marks to the author for coming up with an unusual setting: a luxury airship over the Arctic. This was well described, as was the embarkation point, the real Norwegian town of Longyearbyen.
Ideal for fans of traditional mystery.
The House with Nine Locks by Philip Gray
Although different in tone and theme from Two Storm Wood, this is another accomplished historical novel from Philip Gray. This time we're in 1950s Belgium with a bright and intrepid 9-year-old girl, who is bemused to see the deterioration in the behaviour of her previously 'normal' parents. We follow this protagonist as she grows into a resourceful woman and gradually learns what the parents are up to. We also hear from two police detectives investigating a workplace death and a high-level fraud. Ideal for fans of sweeping and literary stories.
The Last Truths We Told by Holly Watt
Ideal for fans of reunion suspense stories with despicable characters, dark secrets, manipulation and misremembering. Lots of revelatory dialogue.
Julia Harte is a retired Irish detective called in to consult on a serial killer investigation that has all the hallmarks of a case from 1994. The story is told across the two timelines as we see her home in on a killer who is/was also homing in on her.
For fans of slow-burning crime fiction told in a straightforward style.
If You Didn’t Kill Her by Annie Taylor
A student is murdered by her flatmate, who serves 17 years in prison. The story is told across two timelines: from the viewpoint of the released culprit and also from her in the weeks and days before the murder. As the title suggests, the real murderer is still at large.
Ideal for fans of slow-burning, straightforward suspense.
The Woman in Room 13 by Leah Konen
Recovering alcoholic Kerry takes a job as a caretaker at a remote motel that is closed for the winter. She hopes the isolated location, away from distractions, will keep her off the booze and focused on completing the manuscript of her novel. However, things go wrong immediately. When she arrives and follows the written welcome instructions, she discovers her allocated room littered with a woman’s belongings and the debris from a seemingly wild party. And then, outside, she spots a hand with painted fingernails poking out of the snow. Let’s just say her writing takes a backseat to the small matter of getting out alive. And as for remaining sober, well… can you blame her? Ideal for fans of slow-burn, straightforward storytelling with plenty of twists.
Londoner Lara travels to Lagos with her parents and brother to attend the lavish wedding of her cousin, Dérin, a social media star. In a chatty teenage style, the author introduces the reader to the lavish customs of a Nigerian society wedding and a dizzying array of Lara’s extended family and Dérin’s friends. Sounds fun, right? Well, yes, even when bride-to-be Dérin falls victim to a series of threats and baffling accidents and aspiring criminology student Lara decides to investigate. What could possibly go wrong…?