June 1, 2023
Having fled her hometown of Brandywine, VA, as a pregnant teenager, palm reader Madi returns years later so that her teenage daughter can connect with her birth father. When Madi encounters her high school boyfriend Henry, a fisherman who's been searching for his kidnapped son and mourning his dead wife, she reads his palm and experiences disturbing images of the water and the boy, visions that have physical manifestations. Chapman immediately introduces suspense, hooking readers with Madi's engaging but increasingly unstable narration, confidently and deliberately steering the tone from uneasy to weird to terrifying with a twist that readers won't see coming. A disorienting, immersive, and thought-provoking contemplation of hope, grief, and guilt that traps its audience in a net of visceral and palpable horror. VERDICT Chapman (Ghost Eaters) is becoming a not-to-miss horror novelist. Suggest this one to a varied audience of fans who enjoy intense psychological tales like Paul Tremblay's The Pallbearers Club, body horror like Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad, and parental horror like Zoje Stage's Baby Teeth; don't forget fans of the pulp classic "Clickers" series, originated by J.F. Gonzalez.
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August 1, 2023
Madi Price is back in her hometown with her daughter, scraping by telling fortunes out of her hotel room. When she runs into Henry McCabe, there's enough of a spark that she wonders if they might rekindle their teenage romance; it's a setup perfect for a Hallmark movie. Then Henry asks her to use her abilities to help him find his son, Skyler, who disappeared six years earlier. Madi is resistant--not least because she doesn't believe she's actually psychic--but then starts having visions related to Skyler and Henry's late wife, Grace. The Chesapeake Bay setting is fully realized, and the book is perfectly paced, tricking readers into believing it's one kind of story before slowly morphing into one that's much weirder and scarier. At its heart, this is a book about parenthood and the horrors inherent in losing oneself in the all-consuming love for one's children, and the sometimes-terrifying lengths parents will go to protect their kids. Recommend to readers who enjoyed Victor LaValle's The Changeling (2017), Zoje Stage's Baby Teeth (2018), or Laurel Hightower's Crossroads (2020).
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