cabinet_13_review's reviews
286 reviews

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Bloodstains by Gaslight is devastating and even that feels like an understatement. It's a dive into the hellscapes of domestic violence and neglect in the form of a modern vampire story.

I'm having trouble putting my emotions into sentences for this one. It's just so bleak and gut-wrenching to read. Red makes sure you do not go into this blind and yet I was still surprised at how hard it hit. I found my heart breaking for Reese and Michael, both products of their environment, kids who are left to raise themselves in the worst of circumstances.

There is a part in the story where Reese is trying to escape and the way she cycles through the emotions of pain, hate, grief, and acceptance only to be brought back to the beginning over and over is so hard to read.

Also, the cover art and the title are amazing, and I can't wait to have a physical copy. Red Lagoe is continuing to prove herself and is cementing herself as an auto-buy author for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC copy.

Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Although it's described as being The Great Gatsby meets Hellraiser, Below the Grand Hotel has me neither thrilled nor disappointed.

The comparisons are pretty accurate though which I'm pleased with. The Great Gatsby is one of my all-time favorite classic books and I felt like Cat Scully captured the essence of that story and flipped it into the horror that Hellraiser embodies.

Now, that being said why didn't I rate this higher? Although it starts off pretty straightforward with a goal for our FMC Mabel and her cohorts, it does seem to go off the rails a little. It suffers from too many locations. The Grand Hotel is supposed to be this labyrinth of unnatural proportions, but I felt that at times there was so much time spent on describing these elaborate rooms that you lose the point of the story.

I get the reason for having so many rooms to explore in the "below" portion. Using different "levels" to signify the decent into hellish bowels of the hotel is understandable, but by the time you get to this part its all sort of overdone.

As far as characters go, I had a hard time connecting with any of them unfortunately.

There are plot twists I saw coming and some that I didn't which was quite refreshing.

Overall, it's a fine story. I'm glad I read it and I'm super happy that it did live up to the comparisons.

Interview with the Devil by Michael Harbron

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I'm pretty sure I picked this up during one of the stuff your kindle days, but I also won a Goodreads giveaway for the Kindle version, and I finally go to reading it.

I was excited for this but really started to lose interest at about the 30% mark. I honestly can't remember much about it other than a boy who has religious trauma sees some weird stuff in his basement and then grows up to write a book that sort of denounces the church but also calls people to action to not just swallow every piece of information fed to you, but actually take a step back and ask some questions.

The Interview with the Devil didn't even start until about the 80% mark and truly considered DNF-ing just out of annoyance, but curiosity got the better of me and I finished it anyway.

I'm actually a bit disappointed. Some of it is a bit pretentious and too wordy for my tiny brain and I think I was just hoping it would be a bit...more. It is a part of a series I guess, but I think I will pass on that.

Masks by Jim Horlock

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I am so pumped after reading this. I could not put it down. I absolutely loved it.

It's high octane, gory, imaginative, descriptive and just a thrill. The little twists just kept coming and I was on the edge of my seat.

Not to mention I love a book that makes me root for the "bad guy" and that's what Masks does.

Surely to win over fans of shows like The Blacklist and comics like The Suicide Squad this book will have you craving more and more. I cannot wait for more from this universe.

Well done sir! Well done!!

Content Warnings

The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I can tell that I read a lot of horror, because I was totally suspicious of every single character and was waiting for something truly nefarious to happen.

Spoiler alert, it doesn't. What does happen is a lovely journey of discovery, self-worth, individuality, and the importance of celebrating your differences.

I love the cover of this book. In fact it played a big part in why I wanted to read it.

This takes place in a blended fictional time frame but is set in Chicago. Some of the language and fashion descriptions are reminiscent of the early 1900s but everything else has very modern sensibilities.

If you are looking for a witchy mystery with an expressive enchanted house. Read this one.

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

What even is this?

I picked this one up after seeing a mutual on Tiktok post about reading it and boy am I glad. This is translated into English and I do feel like whenever that happens we do lose out on the cultural importance of the original.

I recommend that you read this in one go if you are able. It is a short-ish book, but honestly, if you put it down for too long, you risk losing track of what is going on.

It reads as a dialogue between to characters and it is disorienting, which is the point.

There were many points I could pull out of this, but the only one that truly stuck was the fear and anxiety of being a parent. This overwhelming and sometimes obsessive anxiety in keeping your child safe and what sacrifices you would make to do that.

The tension and unease begin small and expected, but it builds to the point of a Fever Dream . Until, as the reader, even you aren't sure what is real anymore. What I love is that instead of relying on your usual instincts of solving a mystery, you just have to go with it and flow with the writing and the story, because eventually, it isn't even about what happened or what will happen. It's just about the moments, and knowing you can't do anything to change it, you just have to let it go.

The Wonderland Murders by Lanie Olson

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

This is described as a retelling. I'm not seeing it. A retelling would be taking a story and changing it into something different with clear lines of inspiration from the original.

Murders in Wonderland is still Through the Looking Glass but with a weird smut scene with the Bandersnatch. You can't just take a fairy tale and add some blood and violence and call it a retelling, in my opinion. There wasn't enough in here ro make it feel like a new version of a classic. I needed some more originality.

The dark and twisted Alice in Wonderland I feel like this was trying to be, has been done before...in a video game called Alice: Madness Returns where the whimsical land of Wonder is stripped and twisted into a macabre and horror filled land of terror that Alice must escape.

It has clear callbacks to the original story, but it's just not it for me.

There is just too much that doesn't go right for me in this to even call it decent. I'm sorely disappointed.

In the Valley of the Headless Men by L.P. Hernandez

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced