Welcome to Litsy!

A vampire western. A slow burn. Not quite what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it.

Takes a slow start until building momentum in this Texas blood burn. Isolated but crowded, the vampiric trope is just a small part, a compulsive killer now killing as compelled. A woman and son who are trapped in his mind as prey or pardoned. A Texas Ranger and an older evil. Davidson is a talent, and this book is a masterpiece of the southern gothic tradition.

If Cormac McCarthy met Anne Rice at a West Texas honky-tonk, danced a slow two-step while polishing off a bottle of tequila, they might dream up this novel. I felt like I was reading No Country for Old Men but with the tortured vampire souls born of Rice‘s imagination. While the plot might be seen as slow at times, I was fully invested in exploring the backstories and growth of each of the characters. I just love a morally grey villain! 4/5⭐️

How many books about a vampire can one read before one has enough? Who knows, because I really enjoyed Davidson‘s 1980‘s Texas tale of a mother and her young son, a serial killer, and a vampire all getting together to figure out the emptiness of their hearts. Which makes it sound flowery, but it wasn‘t. It was brutal, dark, and gritty.... and red with blood! It was just what I needed right before Halloween!!!

I think it was Anton Chekhov who said that if you introduce 2 fluffy bunnies in the first act of a vampire book, they must be eaten in the last act. Lol, I KNEW, I knew, once the main boy had pet rabbits we weren‘t gonna be reading “the bunnies frolicked happily ever after,” sentences. Ughhhh poor bunnies. Page 125, here‘s the new chapter title. Here we go.

I have to agree that every page does indeed have teeth on this one! Holy horror some of the scenes in here were a punch in the gut. Very dark and very suspenseful. I loved the West Texas setting and the author did an excellent job creating an absolutely genuine ominous atmosphere that did not feel cheesy or overdone. If you like reading about vampires and can handle gore, I definitely recommend this one!

This one has been hard to put down! I haven't read a horror book this horrifying in awhile. Getting in some early, before work reading this morning with my 'tudie tortie.
#catsoflitsy #tortitude

Started this one for #readyoursign last night. Behold this somewhat awkward photo of the blanket fort that I created to read in for #summerfunchallenge !!
@Meaw_catlady @clwojick
@4thhouseontheleft @StayCurious

finished my first book for my upcoming book club meeting ☀️ I was a bit hesitant on this based on the premise but it's a solid horror read. Davidson excels at developing an unsettling atmosphere in the isolated areas of Texas and his take on vampires is delightfully creepy and monstrous. I did feel the attempts at procedural crime fiction are interesting but could be in a different, separate book.

#horror #vampires #western #librarybooks

Next up. Excited for what sounds like some good old fashioned horror! 💀😈☠

Don‘t typically post stuff about my own book here, but the new paperback is hitting shelves March 5, and it‘s got this amazing cover I just wanted to share.

Squidapus finds the best kind of horror to be the looming dread of horrific events building and building without you knowing when things will finally break. This book works so well at making you uncomfortable by keeping it's scope almost claustrophobic as the majority of it's time follows three or four people at one location. What's impressive is how drawn in you can feel by the story of a serial killer fighting to not become...well, a monster

Making my way through the 2017 #bramstokerawards This one is nominated for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. For a 1st novel, it‘s good. I would like to see what else the author comes up with. It‘s one of those stories where there‘s no definitive ending really, it just sort of ends. A lot of great ideas but I felt it wasn‘t as satisfying as it could‘ve been.

*Earlier today* Sometimes I wish for the dentist to be behind schedule so I have more time to read. Why aren‘t there dental emojis?

Southern gothic horror meets Cormac McCarthy with one of the most sympathetic villains I've ever read. This book was the best kind of slow burn with plenty of creepy action sprinkled in. Read this book now!!

Verymuch digging this one. Will be blurbing. I have zero time to read it, a stack of stuff I NEED to be getting to, but, man, this one reeled me all the way in. It knows Texas. It knows my Texas. Feels like home. And so many of the lines, and the phrasings, and the scenes, and the characters, and the developments, they're just plain old killer. I'm a better writer for reading this book. Hell or High Water meets Near Dark. With teeth on every page.