Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Ten quietly effective suspense novels

Always in the mood for a good scare, B. R. Myers spent most of her teen years behind the covers of Lois Duncan, Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. She is the author of nine YA books. Her contemporary coming-of-age novel Girl on the Run was a CCBC Best Book for Teens pick in 2016. Her 2020 novel, Rogue Princess, was chosen by the School Library Journal as one of the Top Ten Best Audiobooks. When not putting her characters in precarious situations, Myers works as a registered nurse. A member of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia, she lives in Halifax with her family--and there is still a stack of books on her bedside table.

At CrimeReads Myers tagged ten suspense novels with a "delicate balance between genuine chills and playful delight" that influenced her own new novel, A Dreadful Splendour. One title on the list:
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

This book was all consuming and I found myself completely absorbed within the span of a few pages. It’s a classic horror tale in which the characters are somewhat unaware of the true evil at first but begin to sense their impending death. With the accrued knowledge from each subsequent victim in the novel, the dramatic irony allows the readers to know the impending danger for each character as the story progresses. The reader feels helpless, wishing they could reach into the pages and save them. As the energy and pace gain momentum the plot tightens, and the terror is unleashed with surprising speed. The reader has no choice but to witness to the eviscerating climax. Jones does an expert job at balancing the beautiful flow of sentences with the more callus and gruesome nature of revenge.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Only Good Indians is among Gus Moreno's top ten groundbreaking horror novels.

--Marshal Zeringue