Pet Sematary by Stephen King →
In the introduction to Pet Sematary, Stephen King tells his readers that when people ask him what he considers the most frightening book he has ever written, his answer is always Pet Sematary. He said when he had finished it, he put it away in the drawer, thinking he had finally gone too far.
King intertidally spelled Sematary wrong for two good reasons. First, it is realistic that the kids who put the sign up might have spelled it wrong, and second, it was King’s intentional use of realism, writing accurately to represent real life.
The story begins when Louis Creed, a medical doctor from Chicago, is appointed director of the University of Maine's campus health services. He and his wife Rachel, their two young children, Ellie and Gage, and also Ellie's cat named Church, move to the small town of Ludlow near the University.
Their new neighbor, an older man, named Jud Crandall, warns Louis and Rachel about the highway that runs past their house, which is frequented by speeding trucks explaining that it has taken the lives of many neighborhood pets over the years.
Jud and Louis quickly become close friends, and a few weeks after the Creeds move in, Jud takes the family on a walk in the woods behind their new home. He points out a path up a small hill and tells them it leads to a pet cemetery where the local children bury their pets.
Louis’s wife, Rachael is distraught just by the existence of the pet cemetery (the sign on the entrance says “Sematary”) so close, and it comes out that she is also very traumatized by even discussing death. She eventually explains that as a young girl, the early death of her sister Zelda had been a harrowing experience for her. Louis understands and blames her parents for leaving her alone with her sister at a young age.
It isn’t long before Church the cat wanders into the road and is killed. Ellie and her mother are not home, and Louis is beside himself at how his daughter will handle it. Jud, trying to help, talks Louis into taking the dead cat up the hill to the Pet Cemetery. The crude sign at the entrance says Pet Sematary, and according to a comment in the book, this is because the character would have been painted by kids taking their pets to be buried there.
Jud leads Louis beyond the Sematary to a higher place up the hill farther, and they bury the pet there and place rocks over the small grave. They return home, and Louis goes to bed. The following day when he awakes, the cat is in the house. He smells terrible and is tracking mud everywhere. The cat seems to have been resurrected, but he also seems different in many ways. Louis doesn’t tell his wife or daughter anything, and even though they notice many differences in how the cat acts, nothing is said except that the past love for the cat seems to go away.
The plot continues, and as you might expect, others die. As I read this book, I was about 3/4th the way through it, and I was not quite sure why Stephen King considered this his scariest book. At the same time, I could see what was coming and asked myself if I wanted to go through it. That isn’t an unusual feeling for many of King’s books. Forgive me for not giving a lot of details but be assured that if you like King’s genre, horror, dark fantasy, and supernatural fiction, you will not be disappointed.
Ok, I will give away this small detail. Cemetery vs. ’s Sematary is explained in the book as the result of kids having painted the sign. You will have to decide if you believe that or if you can think of some deeper meaning?
Fair Warning, by Michael Connelly
Michael Connelly was a former police reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and in Fair Warning, the main character is Jack McEvoy. The latter is part of a five-person team that investigates and writes stories posted on their website and sold to some major newspapers, one of them the Los Angeles Times.
McEvoy had gone after killers before and cracked the cases ahead of the police. Still, when a woman he had a one-night stand with is murdered brutally, he realizes he might face a criminal mind unlike any he's ever encountered.
First, he has to clear himself from being considered a suspect, but then Jack's findings point to a serial killer who uses personal DNA data shared by the victims to target the victims.
Connelly weaves a fascinating plot several steps ahead of the police and holds our attention to the end.
Michael Connelly is the executive producer of the successful TV series Bosch, which takes its inspiration from the Connelly novels and is almost if not equally as good as the books.
See more about Michael Connelly in the Favorite Author Section.
“Bosch” is an American police television series.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens →
“Marsh is not a swamp. Marsh is a light space where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky. Slow moving creeks wander, carrying the sun’s orb to the sea, and long-legged birds lift with unexpected grace- as though not built to fly- against the roar of a thousand snow geese.”
Delia Owens continues telling us, “On the morning of October 30, 1969, the body of Chase Andrews lay in the swamp” We eventually learn what happened, and we learn about Kya Clark, the Marsh Girl.
Kya has been the subject of rumors for years in the small town of Barkley Cove on the North Carolina coast. She has survived for years alone in the marsh that is her home. Her friends are the birds, and she knows the swamp better than anyone.
Two young men from town are intrigued by her, touch her life, and she opens herself up to being touched by love. Kya’s life feels us, and the story brings a melody and feeling that helps us fold into the account ourselves.
Both a murder mystery and a coming-of-age story show us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were. A book that we won’t forget.
Quotes
“Autumn leaves don't fall; they fly. They take their time and wander on this their only chance to soar.”
“His dad had told him many times that the definition of a real man cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what’s necessary to defend a woman.”
“Why should the injured, the still bleeding, bear the onus of forgiveness?”
“Sometimes she heard night sounds she didn’t know or jumped from lightning too close, but whenever she stumbled, it was the land who caught her. At last, the heart pain seeped away like water into the sand at some unclaimed moment. Still there, but deep. Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.”
“Unworthy boys make a lot of noise.”
“a lot of times, love doesn’t work out. Yet even when it fails, it connects you to others and, in the end, that is all you have, the connections.”
The Stranger, by Harlan Coben
