Sporror

Review: The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke

~ megs14malloy ~ Leave a comment

The Ghost WoodsThe Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Ghost Woods is a Historical Gothic Horror novel from one of my go-to authors, C.J. Cooke. I have been waiting to get to this one for years. I’m so happy I finally decided to pick it up this October. Honestly, it’s about time.

I believe this novel was released in the UK in 2022, and has now been released by Berkley in the U.S. earlier this year. I’ve had this for a while, but really wanted to wait for Spooky Season to pick it up.

I remembered absolutely nothing from the synopsis when I went into this, and frankly, I recommend that. If you’ve enjoyed C.J. Cooke in the past, or enjoy historically-set gothic stories, just take a chance and pick it up.

It’s one of those stories that just effortlessly unfolds. It’s told from the perspectives of two different women, Mabel and Pearl, and begins with a Then/Now set-up.

The action takes place at the crumbling Lichen Hall, a Mother-Baby Home set on the Scottish border. We learn of these women’s lives, their reasons for going to Lichen and their time there. Eventually, Then/Now merge, and an unexpected concluding section should leave you breathless.

As mentioned above, I didn’t know quite what to expect going into this, but I expected Cooke to deliver her signature levels of atmosphere and intrigue. Spoiler alert: she absolutely did.

Lichen Hall is gothic with a captial-G. I adored the descriptions of this stately-yet-aging manor home, secluded at the border of the Ghost Woods. The way it was described, you could feel nature just trying to retake the space. I loved that vibe; so good.

I also really enjoyed how well-developed and empathetic the main cast of characters were. The reality of Mother and Baby Homes in history, you could tell that Cooke took that representation very seriously, and I think she really excelled at portraying those circumstances on the page.

That is something I always appreciate about Cooke’s work. Even though they are works of fiction, they’re in a way an ode to our past. You can tell that she takes her research to heart, and tries to pay homage in anyway she can to those who came before.

I respect the hell out of that.

I highly recommend this one. I actually highly recommend all of Cooke’s work. I loved the Sporror/Eco-Horror elements she brought to the page here. That was so well done.

I don’t generally mesh well with pregnancy stories, or motherhood stories, they’re very hit or miss for me, but I did appreciate so much about this. Those elements here never made me roll my eyes, and that’s a big plus. This is actually more like what I wanted Witchcraft for Wayward Girls to be…

Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Now I need to start Cooke’s latest release, The Last Witch. I can’t wait!

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Review: Girl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner

~ megs14malloy

Girl in the CreekGirl in the Creek by Wendy N. Wagner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars**

Erin’s brother, Bryan, went missing 5-years ago. His last known location was the small town of Faraday, Oregon, alongside the Clackamas River.

Erin has the opportunity to travel to Faraday, along with her friend, Hari, to work on a piece for their True Crime podcast. She’s not in town long, before it becomes clear that Bryan isn’t the only person to have gone missing from Faraday.

Erin quickly gets pulled into another missing person case, a more recent one, that of a young local woman, Elena Lopaz. Something stinks in this town…

After Elena’s deteriorated corpse is found, she’s transported to the morgue, from where she goes missing again, but how!? What the heck is going on in Faraday?

Girl in the Creek is an interesting story. I would say it’s a middle of the road read for me. It definitely had some compelling elements, and then had a few that were a bit more lackluster, IMO.

For me, the middle of the book was were it was the strongest. I was gripped as Erin really started digging in around Faraday, trying to get to the bottom of the disappearances and what could be behind them.

She ends up paring up with the older lady, Olivia, who owns the B&B she has rented, for a good portion of the investigation. I really liked the two of them working together. Olivia is a native of the town, whose own son went missing years before.

Olivia brought a lot to the table with her survival knowledge, and also her insight into the town and its history, of which her own father played a pivotal role.

There was also some really fun body horror included, and definitely more than one moment that made me cringe, which I love. Who doesn’t love that?

Gosh, I am realizing as I write this, how difficult it is to talk about this without spoiling anything. So much of what I want to say would give away the truth of what’s happening in Faraday and I definitely don’t want to do that.

I will say that I was a little disappointed by the way certain things were wrapped up. It almost felt like there was so much build, that was increasingly intense, and gripping, and then we get to the end and it’s like the author didn’t know how to wrap it up, so just threw some stuff in there and called it a day.

This seems harsh, I know it does, but I don’t know how else to express that feeling. I know that’s not true. I’m sure the author worked very, very hard bringing this to the conclusion that they wanted, but to me, it just felt overly simplistic in comparison to the build-up.

With this being said, this is a good Sporror story. I would recommend it to fans of EcoHorror. I loved the setting of the PNW, and felt like the author did a great job with building that sense of place. That was definitely one of the stronger aspects of the story for me.

Thank you to the publisher, Tor Nightfire, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This book certainly gave me a lot to think about, and I would be interested in picking up more from this author.

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