 Karin Slaughter doesn’t do light reads, and Pretty Girls is no exception. This book is dark, disturbing, and extremely unsettling. The most frightening horror isn't ghost or vampires. It's what can happen in the real world.
The story follows two sisters, Claire and Lydia, who haven’t spoken in years. They’re brought back together after a tragedy, and soon find themselves unraveling a horrifying mystery that ties back to the disappearance of their older sister, Julia, two decades earlier. It’s got all the classic Slaughter trademarks, that tight pacing, layered characters, and brutal honesty about violence, grief, and survival. Slaughter doesn’t just write about crime. She drags you into the emotional wreckage it leaves behind. The scenes are graphic and the subject matter is rough, sexual violence, exploitation, manipulation, but none of it feels gratuitous. It’s all part of showing just how far evil can go and how strong people can be when faced with it. Claire’s transformation from sheltered wife to a woman who refuses to be a victim is satisfying. Lydia’s grit and sarcasm balance it out beautifully, giving the book a messy, real emotional core amid all the horror. It’s not for everyone. If you’re sensitive to violence or want something cozy, run the other way. But if you can stomach the darkness, Pretty Girls is one of those thrillers that stays with you long after you close the book. Get the book at the library, or download the eBook or audiobook with your SPL card. Aimee Clark, IT Librarian
0 Comments
 I’m a huge fan of S.A. Cosby’s work. His books always hit that perfect balance of grit, heartbreak, and grey morality, and King of Ashes might just be his most powerful one yet. This time, Cosby trades the getaway cars and backroads for something even darker, family legacy and the ways it can drag you down no matter how far you’ve run.
The story follows Roman Carruthers, a man who’s built a successful life in Atlanta after escaping his small Virginia hometown. When his father ends up in a coma after a car crash, Roman goes back home to Jefferson Run to help his siblings keep the family crematorium running. But the homecoming doesn’t go smoothly. His brother Dante is in deep with the local gang, and his sister Neveah is trying to keep the family business running. What starts as a reluctant return turns into a reckoning with everything Roman thought he’d escaped. Cosby writes about family like no one else, love and resentment tangled so tight you can’t tell one from the other. His writing is sharp as ever, filled with moments of shocking violence and deep tenderness. Roman isn’t a traditional hero. He’s flawed, conflicted, and at times infuriating. But he's not giving up on his family. Cosby leveled up again with this one. It’s a crime novel, sure, but also a tragedy about inheritance, shame, and the futility of trying to bury the past when the past already knows you are. Get the book at the library, or download the eBook or audiobook with your SPL card. Aimee Clark, IT Librarian  The September House by Carissa Orlando is a haunting in every sense of the word. Margaret buys a beautiful old home with her husband, only to discover it’s filled with screaming ghosts, blood that seeps from the walls each September, and something terrifying in the basement. But instead of running, she stays. She cleans up the blood. She pretends nothing is wrong. When her daughter comes back into the picture, the cracks in Margaret’s carefully managed world start to widen, and the story spirals into something both emotionally raw and deeply unsettling.
Orlando blends supernatural horror with real-world trauma, using ghosts as a metaphor for the things we live with, bury, and pretend not to see. It’s dark, eerie, sometimes funny, and emotionally sharp. If you like horror that lingers and means something, this one’s for you. Get the book at the library or download the eBook or audiobook with your SPL card. Aimee Clark, IT Librarian  In We Do Not Part, Han Kang, now crowned with the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, continues to unravel the raw sinews of the human spirit with her trademark elegance, restraint, and haunting brutality. If you’ve read The Vegetarian or Human Acts, you already know that she is not here to comfort you. She is here to disarm you, to offer silence as indictment of past sins, and pain as a kind of testimony.
This latest novel is perhaps her most distilled expression of sorrow and connection yet. It is a story soaked in grief, not just personal grief, but historical and national grief, a grief that simmers beneath the skin, unnamed and yet entirely felt. Her language is stripped down to the bone, almost surgical in its precision, leaving vast, aching white space between sentences like unspoken truths hanging in the air. At its core, We Do Not Part is about the relationship between two friends. But it’s also about war, memory, intimacy, and the ways violence echoes through generations like a haunting melody. The lines between presence and absence, love and loss, flesh and memory blur. Han Kang does not offer resolution. She never has. But what she does offer is something far more rare: an invitation to sit in discomfort, to witness the beauty in fracture, and to confront the quiet devastation of history without blinking. It is no surprise that the Nobel committee recognized her. Han writes not with ink but with absence, making you feel the ghosts between the words. We Do Not Part is not just a novel, it is a requiem for everything we cannot hold on to, and a prayer for what lingers anyway. A devastating, masterful work. Read it, but don’t expect to emerge unchanged. Her books are always a favorite of mine even though they leave me devastated, and this did not disappoint. Check it out at the library. Aimee Clark, IT Librarian  Wow. This book is a trip. If you’re looking for a straightforward horror story, this isn’t it. But if you love psychological horror that keeps you second-guessing everything, The Last House on Needless Street is an absolute must-read.
The story centers around Ted, a recluse who lives in a boarded-up house near the woods with his cat, Olivia (who has her own chapters... yes, really), and his daughter, Lauren, who sometimes just… disappears. Then there’s Dee, a woman determined to figure out what happened to her missing little sister, who vanished years ago. The way these threads come together is nothing short of mind-blowing. The writing is unsettling in the best way. It messes with your head, making you question every character and every detail. And when the truth starts to unfold? It’s equal parts shocking, heartbreaking, and completely brilliant. Ward does an incredible job exploring trauma and survival in a way that sticks with you long after you’ve finished reading. That said, this book isn’t for everyone. It’s slow at times, and the multiple perspectives (especially the cat’s) can feel disorienting. But if you stick with it, the payoff is so worth it. Final thoughts? This is one of those books that lingers in your brain, making you want to reread it just to catch all the clues you missed. Creepy, emotional, and totally unique, I highly recommend it. Get the book at the library or download the eBook or audiobook. Aimee Clark, IT Librarian |
The SPL StaffWe work here at the library, and we’re into all kinds of books! How Do I Get These Books?See our Quickstart Guides page for information on how to use the online catalog and how to get eBooks and audiobooks for your specific device. You can also contact us there if you need more help!
Are you looking for something specifically? Use the Search Box! Categories
All
Archives
December 2025
|
RSS Feed
