A Book A Week

Over the last several years, horror movies have seen a resurgence in the public eye. Series like The Conjuring films have proven to be both critical and commercial smashes at the box office. Other horror films, like Get Out and Us from Jordan Peele, have added a newfound sense of prestige to the genre. If you're a studio looking to make a movie that isn't a superhero film, horror is a pretty safe bet. It should come as no surprise then that many filmmakers are turning to Stephen King as a tried and true source for terrifying stories that the public loves. King has sold millions of copies of his novels and adaptations of his works have proven reliable box office draws for over 30 years. When I heard that a remake of Pet Sematary was releasing, I was excited to relive King's story once again.

Like the novel it is based upon, this latest film iteration follows the story of the Creed family. Dr. Louis Creed(Jason Clarke) and his wife Rachel(Amy Seimetz have brought their two kids from the fast-paced life in Boston to the more relaxed town of Ludlow, Maine. Louis is excited to take on the role of the campus Doctor for the local university. He hopes that more stable hours will give him more time to spend with his family on their new rural home. Directors Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer interrupt the idyllic setting with the jolt of a large tanker truck blasting along the road next to the Creed home. As the family eagerly brushes off the interruption of the truck in favor of exploring their new home, the audience is filled with the dread of the inevitable events to come.

Things immediately don't go as planned when Louis is unable to save a student from a gruesome accident. He's haunted by this death, seeing the deceased student in his dreams. Through a flashback that is one of the more terrifying moments in the film, we see how Rachel's childhood family trauma has scarred her and left her unwilling to discuss the topic of death. When the Creed's cat is killed by one of those fast-moving tankers, Louis is determined to keep the death a secret from his daughter. He turns to his elderly neighbor Jud, played here by an excellent John Lithgow, to dispose of the corpse. Jud leads Louis beyond the borders of the old Pet Sematary that lies on their property to the far off remains of an ancient burial ground. Little do they know that this simple task dooms their fate to be full of unimaginable horrors.

While much of this new Pet Sematary is quite faithful to both King's novel and the original film adaptation, it struggles to breathe new life into the story. As I sat watching, I found myself feeling as if the narrative was dragging while simultaneously skipping past important plot points. It was as if the filmmakers were so eager to get to the "spooky" parts that they didn't give enough time for their characters to reflect on all the crazy stuff that had just happened. Tethered by a script that doesn't give them room to soar, the actors weren't able to elevate their characters into believable and empathetic people. When some of them inevitably came back as undead versions of themselves, it was hard to differentiate between the two. In the end, Pet Sematary is one of those remakes that simply doesn't have a good reason to exist. While I didn't hate it, I can't say that I really enjoyed it either. It was an exercise in redundancy. Before filmmakers rush to readapt any other King stories, maybe they should remember that "sometimes dead is better."

"The world's an evil place, my darlings. . ."

Author Minka Kent has been on my radar for several years now. Many of my bookish buddies seem to enjoy her penchant for twisty, fast-paced thrillers, so I've been eager to read her works. Enter The Stillwater Girls, Kent's latest novel. The summary promised, "a chilling novel of psychological suspense," the exact kind of book that sends me into a fervor of reading through the night until I finish. And so when I got the opportunity to read an advance copy from the publisher, I settled into a comfy spot and started reading.

Wren and Sage are starting to get worried. The teenage sisters have lived a life of careful seclusion in their cabin in the woods along with their mother and youngest sister Evie. For their entire lives, their mother has warned them of the dangers of the outside world. "You're safe here. With me. I'll never let anything happen to you," their mother says. But then Evie gets gravely ill, and their mother has no choice but to take Evie from the security of their cabin. It has been several months since the pair left, leaving Wren and Sage to fend for themselves. Food is getting scarce and the chill of winter threatens to take over any day now. One night there is a knock on their cabin door, and everything changes.

Nicolette's dream life is starting to crumble. She's married to the man of her dreams and has a family fortune that ensures she'll never have to worry financially, but her life is far from perfect. Her infertility has left her desperate to have a child and put a strain on her marriage. Nicolette thinks becoming a foster parent might be the cure to her marital woes, but her husband Brant seems uninterested. When she finds the picture hidden amongst his personal belongings, she's almost certain he has given up on their relationship. What else could possibly go wrong?

For 80% of The Stillwater Girls by Minka Kent, I was completely enthralled with the characters and mystery, breathlessly flipping through the pages to read what would happen next. Kent alternates the separate plots, ending each chapter with a small cliffhanger that keeps the reader wanting more. I kept telling myself, "just one more page!" Then the twist happened. Every review I've read of the book says the same thing, but it warrants a retread here. Up until the big reveal toward the end of the novel, The Stillwater Girls is nearly flawless. It's not that I wasn't expecting some grand unveiling of information that would somehow make sense of the two seemingly disparate narratives. It's just that the reveal wasn't believable. Worse, the twist seemed to sully all the great buildup that preceded it. All the careful plotting and character development were eschewed for a quick revelation that simply didn't work. And just like that, The Stillwater Girls went from being a superb novel of psychological suspense to an average thriller with an absurd ending.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2019, 13)

It seems like I was just writing about some of the trends in mainstream thrillers that I'm starting to grow tired of. I recently read Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 and was feeling a bit bored with the similarities most of these books share. A friend from work recommended I read The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, so I quickly picked up a copy. As I started reading, I was seeing many of these conventions and fearing the worst. I trusted my friend's taste, so I persevered and kept reading.

The book starts with the all too familiar setup. There was the female protagonist who drinks too much, struggles to keep a job, and has a history of mental illness. A traumatic event, in this case, a divorce, pushes that main character to the brink of a breakdown. Then some event leads that person to follow a lingering obsession that forces them to overcome their personal troubles for some kind of singular goal. It is a simple premise that has led to numerous bestsellers in the genre, so I wasn't surprised to see The Wife Between Us follow a similar plot. It is what happened next, however, that completely threw me for a loop.

The titular wife in this novel is Vanessa. As you probably guessed, she's been down on her luck since her divorce with Richard. Richard is the polished business type who provided Vanessa with a life of comfort and luxury. They seemed like the couple who had it all until they didn't. Now Vanessa lives with her elderly aunt, works a low-paying retail job, and drinks to cover up her misery. Richard has wasted no time moving on. He is now engaged to the beautiful young Nellie. Vanessa is determined to break the new couple up. Is she the spurned wife driven by jealousy, or perhaps an unlikely hero driven to protect Nellie from something much more malicious?

The Wife Between Us went from what I thought would be another run of the mill thriller to one of the smartest, twistiest novels I've read this year. Co-authors Hendricks and Pekkanen smartly lure the reader into their story by using the common conventions of the genre. They seem to say, "you've seen this before, so there's nothing to fear." Just when I thought I had this one all figured out, they threw in a curveball that completely turned the conventions upside down. Woven into this smart thriller are character moments that stuck with me beyond the mystery. The Wife Between Us completely lives up to its hype and has me eagerly anticipating Hendricks and Pekkanen's next novel.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2019, 12)

"Death is a mystery, and burial is a secret."

With the upcoming release of a new film version of Pet Sematary, I decided to revisit Stephen King's classic novel. I first read the book years ago and remember it being a different kind of horror. Unlike some of King's more graphic stories, Pet Sematary was a slow-burning family drama that chilled me to my core. This time, I opted to listen to the audiobook narrated by Michael C. Hall.

The unease begins to mount from the very beginning. Louis Creed has moved his family from the city to rural Maine. They seem to be the perfect family. Doctor Creed, his wife, daughter, and son exude normalcy. But from their first moments in their new home, they know something isn't right. Louis quickly befriends his elderly neighbor Jud who warns the Creeds to be wary of the busy road that separates their two properties. Jud has seen that road claim countless pets over the years and recommends the Creeds have their cat fixed before it becomes the next victim.

Jud's warning becomes prophecy when Louis discovers the battered remains of the family cat lying on the road. His family isn't home, but he knows his daughter will be devastated. Jud suggests Louis burry the feline in the 'Pet Sematary' on the edge of Creed's property. The pair take a moonlit stroll into the former Native American burial ground to put the family cat to rest. Little does Louis know that he's about to find out why "sometimes dead is better."

Originally released over 35 years ago, Pet Sematary remains as terrifying and relevant as ever. I've always argued that the strength of King's writing lies not in his ability to conjure spooky scenarios, but in the way he crafts relatable characters who transcend genre and time. Louis Creed is recognizable as a young father trying to give his family the best life possible while facing the same kind of obstacles that any parent encounters. How do we teach our youth about life, death, and the unfairness that tragedy brings? King's fable smartly ponders these questions while weaving a tale of suspense that culminates in an ending that will leave you reeling for days and weeks to come. As King seems to say in all of his work, sometimes the scariest things in life lie not in the nightmares of our imagination but in the everyday moments of life itself.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2019, 11)

"There's a reason why we keep thoughts inside our heads for the most part---they're not safe to be let out in public."

Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 found quick success after its publication in 2016. On the heels of other female-driven thrillers like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, it seemed like Ware's novel was the next "must-read". Never one to miss out on a book that everyone seems to be reading, I quickly snatched up a copy. As has happened with far too many books on my shelf, The Woman in Cabin 10 sat there, unread, for the next couple of years. I'm on a mission this year to put a dent into my ever-growing "to be read" list, so I decided to finally dust off my copy of Ware's novel and see what all the fuss is about.

Like many of the "girl" books that have come before it, The Woman in Cabin 10 wastes no time in introducing the titular "woman" and the traumatic event that is supposed to shape our sympathy for her. Lo Blacklock's night of drinking ends as she stumbles into her modest apartment. She awakens in the night to find an intruder clad in black and burglarizing her home. After what feels like hours of torture and uncertainty, Lo escapes and is left with unrelenting paranoia and fear.

If the trauma of that night weren't enough, Lo has just had a fight with her longtime boyfriend and is expected to take a cruise for her job as a travel reporter in just a few days. Eager to escape the drama of her personal life and to further her budding journalism career, Lo boards the exclusive ship for its maiden voyage. Little does she know that her escape is about to become the biggest nightmare of her life.

I'll admit that up to this point, I couldn't see what all the hype was about. To this reader, it seemed like Lo's troubles were mostly self-inflicted, and I couldn't really get behind her as a character. Fortunately, Ware took the story in another direction. Lo boards the ship and meets the woman in the cabin next to her. That first night, she is awakened by the noise coming from that same cabin. Lo looks out of her window just in time to see a body being thrust overboard. When Lo runs to cabin 10 to notify her shipmate, she is shocked to find the room empty. In fact, there were no guests booked to stay in the cabin and all passengers and crew are safe and accounted for.

As soon as The Woman in Cabin 10 revealed itself to be a locked room mystery, I was hooked. The impossibility of what Lo witnessed combined with her overt paranoia shrouds the entire novel in suspense that doesn't break until the twist is revealed. Even though I never truly connected with Lo as a character, I found the mystery too intriguing to pass up. Ware takes the conventions established by other similar books and shifts them enough to make The Woman in Cabin 10 stand as its own unique story. I'm certainly happy that I pulled it off my shelf and finally gave it a read.

For more information, visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2019, 10)

On February 14th, 2018 gunfire broke out at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. By the end of that day, 17 students and staff had lost their lives, and the Parkland shooting surpassed Columbine as the deadliest high school shooting in history. Dave Cullen is considered an expert on mass shootings. His landmark book Columbine is considered one of the definitive accounts of that tragedy. Since then, he has become a go-to resource to comment on the countless similar tragedies that have plagued the United States. Cullen thought he was done writing books about mass shootings. In fact, he's been developing a book on another subject for years. When he saw glimmers of the kids taking action after the Parkland shooting, Cullen's journalism instincts kicked in and he began to follow the birth of their movement.

In sharp contrast to Columbine, Cullen devotes little of this book to discuss the specific details of the shootings or the motivations of the killer. This is not a retrospective of the event, but rather a focus upon the political and social movement that it inspired. Cullen writes of the difference in reactions from the survivors of Columbine and Parkland.  While the students and staff of Columbine were struck with mostly shock and uncertainty, the Parkland students had grown up in a world where mass shootings were part of the norm. Instead of feeling shocked, a large number of students were simply angry. How could these shootings still be happening? Nearly 20 years after Columbine shocked the world, the kids in Parkland were fed up.

Rumblings of the movement to come started that same day. Student David Hogg recorded interviews with his fellow classmates on his phone. The shocking recordings from inside the school during the shooting were just the beginning. In interviews with news outlets, Hogg proclaimed his disgust at the adults who failed to enact legislation to prevent these massacres from occurring. Three days later, Emma Gonzalez made waves with her impassioned speech at a gun control rally. Within a week, a group of students organized together in a call for increased gun control and stricter legislation. They vowed that their generation would put a stop to senseless gun violence.

In Parkland, Dave Cullen chronicles the rise of the youth organization March For Our Lives. This is not a book about mass murders, the causes of gun violence, or politics. Cullen never attempts to do anything more than depict the way a group of teenagers turned their horrific experience into a movement of hope. Out of the initial calls for action rose a nationwide campaign for change that seeks to get the people in power to take preventative actions against gun violence. I was struck by the way this group seeks to avoid political affiliation of any kind. In these divided times, it is refreshing to see people focused on solving a problem and not fighting about political ideology. It seems like we see news of mass shootings nearly every week. With the increased in youth involvement on big societal issues like the one highlighted in Parkland, I'm hopeful that tragedies like this will only be part of our history books and not our everyday life.

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2019, 9)