Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Patrick Horvath SERIES: Beneath the Trees Compilation #2 GENRE: Horror Graphic Novel PUBLICATION DATE: July 21, 2026 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A sequel to the acclaimed horror graphic comic series. Excellent plot and character development, though both might be difficult to gauge for readers who pick up this book without reading the earlier one. Even darker than the first, but thankfully, not more gory. A great continuation, but not for those looking for justifications or closure. Has potential for a sequel. Must be read in series order. Recommended! Plot Preview: Many years after the horrifying events that plagued the small town of Woodbrook, Samantha Strong, now popular as the local hero who saved the townsfolk from a serial killer, still runs her shop. In the nearby city, Monica Brewer has spent the same period looking for information about her missing brother who vanished eight years ago without a trace. When she receives an anonymous tip with his possible location, sh...

AUTHOR: Cynthia Pelayo GENRE: Historical Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: June 9, 2026 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical fantasy-horror combining ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘IT’. Lyrical writing and vivid imagery. Extremely slow-paced in the first half. Repetitive. Confusing shifts in timeline. More about atmosphere than about gore. The final quarter is the strongest. Recommended to those who don’t seek instant gratification. The official blurb is inaccurate. Plot Preview: 1914. Twelve years after the incident that changed her life and her family forever, Wendy Darling works as a school teacher and also volunteers with a local hospital, reading to soldiers who have returned broken from the Western Front. One patient in particular is her regular subject; he is unable to wake up from his sleep despite all the care. One day, when he utters the name ‘Peter Pan’ in his sleep, Wendy is taken aback, recollecting the dark days from the past when multiple children went missing from Kensington Park and...

AUTHOR: Annalisa Crawford GENRE: Story Collection, Dark Literary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: July 24, 2026 RATING: 4.25 stars In a Nutshell: An indie collection comprising one novella and three short stories. Excellent atmosphere and lyrical writing. Dark and haunting. Much recommended. I've been a fan of this author ever since I read her story collection titled "The Clock in My Mother's House and Other Stories."  Since then, I've read three more of her works and enjoyed all of them. Safe to say that I now pick up an Annalisa Crawford work without even reading the blurb. A risky strategy, but with the right author, the reward is almost always assured. This latest book justifies my faith in her writing. The collection comprises one novella and three short stories. The novella takes up about 65% of the book. The mood in all four entries is somewhat similar: melancholic and haunting. The stories circulate around the same core topics of personal loss, grief, mental hea...

AUTHOR: Maria Tureaud GENRE: Historical Horror PUBLICATION DATE: January 27, 2026 RATING: 2.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A historical Gothic paranormal mystery set during the Irish potato famine. A lead character who’s compelling as well as naïve. Slow-paced plot. More horrifying in its historical content than in its supernatural inclusions. Fantastical content based slightly in Irish mythology, which might get confusing to outsiders. Some details left vague till the end. Recommended but with caution. Plot Preview: 1848. Ireland. Twenty-two-year-old Maggie once had a large happy family, but she is now all alone in the world, having lost all her loved ones to the potato famine. So when an eccentric wealthy lady approaches her with a strange proposal - to pose as her daughter Wilhelmina and convince solicitors to release her inheritance in exchange for a house and land after the completion of the task, Maggie sees it as the best chance of defeating her destiny and honouring the memory of her...

AUTHOR: Silvia Moreno-Garcia GENRE: Horror-Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: July 15, 2025 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A multi-generational horror-suspense focussing on three women and their dark experiences with witchcraft. Good historical atmosphere and a couple of compelling characters. Needlessly intricate, guessable antagonists, dragged pacing. One incestual relationship (not sure if it’s culturally/historically accurate). The horror comes only in bits and spurts. I liked some parts of this novel but wasn’t too impressed. Not sure if this was because of the audio version. Plot Preview: 1998. Minerva is a graduate student who wants to write her dissertation on the life of Beatrice Tremblay, a talented but relatively obscure horror author with one famous novel and who had been a student at the same college in the 1930s. As Minerva tries to find more information on Beatrice, she finds herself grappling with the same dark forces that Beatrice once did and referred to in her novel, which...

AUTHOR: Aubrey Hartman GENRE: Middle-grade Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: February 25, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade fantasy with an undead fox guiding souls towards the next phase of their “lives”. Good anthropomorphic animal characters, interesting concept, atmospheric writing. Dark in themes and tone. Somewhat ableist in a few scenes. Has some life lessons, though these might be more relevant to adults. I am not sure about its appeal to kids. Plot Preview: Clare the fox is the only resident of Deadwood Forest. That is to say, the only *undead* resident. The forest, which is in a perpetual state of autumn, is where souls come to be guided to their final resting place in one of the four realms of the afterlife. Clare is their guide, making sure they reach the realm most suited to them. He has been doing this ever since his own death, and has almost always sent the souls to the right realm. But when a new badger soul named Gingersnipes comes to his door, Clare’s day...

AUTHOR: Erin Forget GENRE: Urban Fantasy PUBLICATION DATE: May 2, 2026 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: An urban fantasy about souls stuck in limbo in a funeral home. Excellent character study with flawed characters at the helm. Unlike what the title and cover indicate, the story is somewhat tense and even tragic, but this is balanced by many moments of humour and bonding. The writing style didn’t work for me but the plot mostly did, though I could have done without the blasphemous elements. Recommended, as long as you aren’t fussy about writing. Some triggering content mainly related to cults. Plot Preview: Ontario, Canada. Official rules require that the dead, even if unclaimed, always be given a proper burial. But in the implementation of this lies a grey area, because of which a few souls find themselves stuck in limbo at the Marigold Horizons funeral parlour. We have an artist desperate for fame even after death, a wrestler no longer in her prime, a sex worker who also was a ser...

AUTHOR: Jennifer Killick GENRE: Middle-grade Horror PUBLICATION DATE: June 4, 2026 RATING: 2.75 stars. In a Nutshell: An illustrated middle-grade horror novel about two boys facing a nightmarish reality. Interesting story and illustrations, but needs work on the execution. I adore the cover art, and like the inside illustrations. The concept had great potential, but certain writing choices didn’t work well for me. It might go decently for the target age group. Plot Preview: Caiden’s dad runs a house-clearing business, and during the vacations, Caiden and his best friend Sam often help him out. Their latest assignment seems like a challenge for all the wrong reasons. The house is filled with bizarre wall displays, deadly weapons, and a strange vibe. It is clear that something went drastically wrong for its owner, though there is no visible evidence of any struggle. When the boys are alone in the family business warehouse that night planning to sort through some of the things from the cr...

  AUTHOR:  M.K. Hill GENRE: Gothic Paranormal Thriller. PUBLICATION DATE: April 21, 2026 RATING:  4 stars.  In a Nutshell: A Gothic psych thriller. Fabulous use of the Gothic house and the woodsy location. Aggravating MMC (as usual), agoraphobic FMC (not so usual). Fast-paced writing. Loads of creepy vibes and twisty turns. A bit too much telling at times and slightly convenient towards the end. But overall, a great entertainer. Definitely recommended. As always, suspend disbelief while reading this genre to enjoy it better. Go in blind. Plot Preview:  England. Since eighteen months, Eleanor Teague has been staying in the remote but beautiful Haddon Hall, confined to the house because of her severe agoraphobia. Her peace of mind is further affected by almost-daily nightmares about the death of her daughter and her role in the same. Haunted by this guilt, she is ever restless, and entirely dependent on her loving but controlling husband Ezra, and on the hous...

AUTHOR: Kelly Barnhill GENRE: Fantasy-horror. PUBLICATION DATE: February 28, 2023 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A horror-fantasy with elements of surrealism. Retelling of the Japanese folktale ‘The Crane Wife’. Set in an imagined dystopian near-future. Understated yet mindblowing. Love how it handles the characters, the folktale, and even the dark theme. Suspension of disbelief required. Much recommended, but not to those who steer clear of weird stories. Check the triggers listed below if needed. Plot Preview: A fifteen-year-old girl is forced to be the support of her family after the death of her father, taking care of the household as well as of her six-year-old brother Michael, while her mom, a talented but somewhat oblivious artist, weaves stunning tapestries to pay the bills. The mother randomly brought “guests” home, but none stayed for long. Until now. Her latest guest is a tall crane who seems to have captivated her heart even though the daughter finds him manipulative and...

AUTHOR: Joe Hill GENRE: Fantasy-Horror. PUBLICATION DATE: October 21, 2025 RATING: 2 stars. In a Nutshell: A fantasy-horror about a bargain that goes wrong and the consequences of the same. Epic plotline covering many decades, multiple flawed characters. Decent horror. Political content. Overload of themes. Many vulgarities in the writing; I hate such a writing style. This is an outlier review. (Like… a really, really, outlier review! 😬) Plot Preview: 1980, Maine. Arthur Oakes is a young student at Rackham College, working as a senior student librarian at its exceptional library. His life goes awry when a local drug dealer and her partner force him to steal rare books from the library. When his close friends discover the trap Arthur is caught in, they all step in to help, concocting a wild scheme that involves using the disquieting Crane journal (bound in the skin of its author) to summon a dragon to do their bidding. Unfortunately for them, they end up calling not just any dragon, bu...