The Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist

My month of spooky books continues with The Harbor.  This book was written by a Swede so it's a bit cumbersome what with all the names and locations. Anders is from an island.  He is married to a girl who used to vacation on the island.  One day they skate across the frozen ocean with their 6 year old daughter Maja to see the lighthouse.  Maja disappears.  It's now a few years later and after an exile, a divorce and a lot of alchol, Anders has returned to the island where a bunch of weird stuff is happening.  The sea is a major charecter in this book and it's wordy and a bit slow in parts.  It was good though, but not a book for those who like constant action. 

In the Night Room by Peter Straub

I got this book by chance.  I went online and did a search for spooky books and found one by Peter Straub so then I just reserved a bunch of books by him.  This is kind of the sequel of lost girl lost boy.  In fact, the book lost girl lost boy is a charecter in this book.  Which is confusing and awesome.  About halfway through this book I was shocked and then wanted to stop and reread the first half.  It was thought provoking and scary and good.  It's one of those books that really makes you think and rethink and then think, 'but what about...OH!'. 
It's about a bunch of stuff that I can't really tell you without giving everything away but this is a great thinker's book.  :)

The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

There is a lot of weird $h!t that goes on in Sweden. This book is in the vein of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (also Sweden). I LOVED THIS BOOK. It is so good and scary and scary and weird.

A psychologist has been asked to hypnotize the surviving member of a family massacre. Then more bad stuff happens. I can't really tell you anymore than that because the plot twists and turns and does loop-de-loops. If you liked Dagon Tatoo, go get this book right now!

And Then there was One

Identical triplets go to the movies with their cousin. When the movies are over, only one comes out. Where are the other two?

Their parents are a major league baseball player and a psychologist who deals with the monsters of the world. Does one of them know the kidnapper?

The author then gives you a slew of evil, horrible monsters who may or may not have the girls. It is every boogeyman story you have ever heard...to the point that it is tedious and unbelievable. I did keep reading, just to find out what happens, but I was annoyed. Didn't like it.

The glister by John Burnside

A main character in this story is the town of Innertown. Innertown was once home to 'The Plant' which is now closed and become a wasteland. No one is sure what was manufactured there, maybe harmless agricultural chemicals, maybe chemical weapons. Nevertheless there are constant stories about mutant creatures who wander in the night as well as clusters of odd illness among the people of Innertown. Seemingly very few ever escape from the horrors of Innertown. The few that do include five young teen boys who vanish without a trace. The cast of characters include the somewhat slow police officer of the town, a gang of young teens who come straight out of Lord of the Flies and the mysterious Moth Man.

This book is certainly dark and spooky. It has some fairly graphic sex scenes between young teens. However, I was completely lost. Certain characters are never developed, questions are half asked then never answered. The ending was more a disappointment than a revelation. Maybe I just was not smart enough for this book.

The glister (228pgs) was written by John Burnside who has also written The Devil's Footprints and the memoir A Lie about My Father. In reading the review of A Lie about My Father, it seems that some of The glister comes directly from Burnside's own childhood. "(H)e lost himself in more adult versions of the wild - binge-drinking, sex, hallucinogenic drugs, week-long parties. He first took LSD, he says, with a sense of sacrament (as a Catholic, he knew the sensation of a wafer on the tongue) and because the adult world seemed to be a web of untruths".

This statement could easily apply to Leonard, one of the main charecters in The glister.

Final Review: Too smart for me, I am interested in checking out the memoir A Lie about My Father.