Editor's note: The following summary review appears in Alabama, N.C. and Miss. papers; magazines Cullman Magazine and Athens Senior Scene

By Tom Mayer

Between 500,000 and 1 million books are published each year (a number that spikes to as much as 4 million when self-published titles are factored in) — and, with no disrespect to Egon Spengler as played by the great Harold Ramis, the majority of those are of the paper variety: Print is far from dead.

Printed books continue to grow as the dominant publishing platform with a reported 789 million paper books sold in 2022 in the United States alone.

But, say that you — a “constant reader” as the king of horror has dubbed us all — just want a good read? With numbers such as that, who has the time to churn through even a fraction of that voluminous literary category?
Well, nobody actually, and that includes the droves of book reviewers who periodically chime in with erudite recommendations panning or promoting in a line or two a body of work that likely took a writer months, if not years, to produce.

But this is the system with have and, barring an AI infiltration of robots scanning, reading and recommending books on their own, what you have below is a curated list of 11 of the best books I’ve come across in the past three months — and a baker’s dozen more that I’m working on for late fall.

And, because we all know that children’s publishing is an exploding force of its own (a $3.3 billion marketing impact in the US in 2022), I’ve added a separate list of children’s titles worthy of trading screen time for book time across a range of ages.

As for the adult titles, a few of these will have breakout, more full reviews — Robert McCammon, Robert Dugoni, John Grisham and Rick DeStefanis among those — as we move deeper into fall, but for everything on this list now, my typical disclaimer: Each of these books was read as an advanced reading copy (ARC), digital or print, and vetted against a final, printed copy except in cases where the publication time of this review didn’t allow for a final copy production, and those are noted as below, “books to watch for.”

The best of the best … for now

“The Better Half” by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans (Mindy’s Book Studio, 326 pages, $28.99): With an introduction from Mindy Kaling, literary soulmates Frank and Youmans take a comedic look at the second half of Nina Morgan Clarke’s life. When the first-generation, Black female head of the storied Royal-Hawkins School joins forces with a best friend to celebrate her second act, ethical dilemmas and a slippery slope from the pinnacle of her life ensue.

“The Beast You Are” by Paul Tremblay (William Morrow, 356 pages, $30): Paul Tremblay’s stories never fail to infiltrate our dreams, and this volume gives us that times 15. Only the title story is original to the collection, but having these polished gems in one place makes the whole thing shine. Extensive notes on story origins are a bonus — and a peek into the master’s mind.

“The Weaver and the Witch Queen” by Genevieve Gornichec (Ace, 432 pages, $27): A heart-wrenching tale about two women who are irrevocably drawn together by the bonds of sword sisterhood and twists of fate, this fantastical novel is a sumptuous blend of Norse mythology and Viking history. Fans of Neil Gaiman’s “Norse Mythology” will rejoice at having a companion piece.

“The Hunt” by Kelly J. Ford (Thomas & Mercer, 353 pages, $16.99): Serial murders or simply unfortunate accidents? The town of Presley, Ark., is divided on the issue and has been for 17 years. Nell Holcomb, the sister of the man she considers “the Hunter’s” first kill, faces her past, and escalating danger, to find the true answer.
“The Truth About Sex Trafficking” by Melanie Patterson (Forged in Words Books, 200 pages, $14.99): An honest, unsentimental and horrific depiction of sex trafficking telling the true story of Angela, a victim who endured unimaginable abuse as a child as a teen. The story comes from a Cullman County native and former Alabama journalist with two decades of research and writing experience.

"Broadway Butterfly" by Sara Divello (Thomas & Mercer, 432 pages, $28.99): The city is Manhattan, the year is 1923. The story: one of the most notorious unsolved murders of the era. When flapper Dot King is found dead in her Midtown apartment, a phalanx of lovers, parasites and justice seekers descend on the city.

“Rawlins: The Road to Yellowstone (The Rawlins Saga Book 4)” by Rick DeStefanis (247 pages, $24.95): I’ve said it before (well, actually three times before), but Rick DeStefanis is one our most least-sung Western writers. Though the stories are set in the 19th century, the themes echo today. “The Road to Yellowstone” is another example where Rawlins once more slings on his guns to fight for justice — now joined by his son-in-law — against a group of “businessmen” trafficking women for their saloons and bordellos.

“Malibu Burning (Sharpe & Walker Book 1)” by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer, 286 pages, $28.99): A master thief with a conscience? Only from the pen of Lee Goldberg, a virtuoso of crime fiction who knows how to keep the pages turning. This fiery tale of revenge against powerful Malibu homeowners is the background of what, if it’s successful, will be the biggest heist in U.S. history.

“The Girl from the Red Rose Motel” by Susan Zurenda (Mercer University Press, 291 pages, $27): An unprocessed take on “Romeo and Juliet,” this achingly beautifully written novel explores the complicated bonds between teenagers and adults. Strongly drawn, confident teenagers are a refreshing departure from the wooden cutouts so prevalent (and scarily popular) in contemporary fiction. This novel comes with high praise from the likes of Ron Rash (“Serena,” “The Caretaker”). Meet the author Nov. 9 in Tuscaloosa and Talladega, Ala. Visit susanzurenda.com/events for details on these and other dates.

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“The September House” by Carissa Orlando (Berkley, 352 pages, $27): A woman is determined to stay in her own house even after it becomes haunted. Sounds like you’ve heard it before? Erase those preconceptions and be prepared for dark, funny, fresh tale of secrets and haunted matrimony.

“The Taken Ones: A Novel (Steinbeck and Reed Book 1)" by Jess Lourey (Thomas & Mercer, 331 pages, $16.99): In 1980, despite warnings and urban legends, three girls enter a Minnesota forest. Only one comes out, and she’s alone with her memory erased. The local superstition of the Bendy Man who haunts the woods earns nationwide attention. The year 2022: cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck investigate the murder of a woman buried alive — clutching a heart charm necklace that belonged to one of the girls. The search for a killer is now a race against time.

Books to watch for

I’ll expand in future reviews on these titles publishing in October and November, but here’s a head’s up for what I’m reading now.

“One Last Kill: Tracy Crosswhite 10” (Thomas & Mercer) by Robert Dugoni.
“Let Us Descend” (Scribner) by Jesmyn Ward.
“Murder on the Christmas Express” (Poison Press) by Alexandra Benedict.
“Long Past Due” (Berkley) by James J. Butcher (with “Dead Man’s Hand,” first in series).
“The Exchange” (Doubleday) by John Grisham.
“The Spy Coast” (Thomas & Mercer) by Tess Gerritsen.
“The Life and Times of Hannah Craft” (Harper Collins) by Greg Hecimovich.
“American Girl” (Blackstone Publishing) by Wendy Walker.
“The Aeronaut’s Windlass” (Ace) by Jim Butcher.
“The Last Applicant” (Lake Union) by Rebecca Hanover.
“Resurrection Walk” (Little Brown) by Michael Connelly.
“The Olympian Affair” (Roc) by Jim Butcher.
“Good Girls Don’t Die” (Berkley) by Christina Henry.

Childrens’ titles … with strong recommendations

“Clara Poole and the Long Way Round” (Pixel Ink for ages 8-12) by Taylor Tying.
"Buddy and Bea Not Really Buddies" and “Tiny Tornadoes” (both Peachtree, for ages 5-8) by Jan Carr and Kris Mukai .
“The Curious League of Detectives and Thieves: S.O.S.” (Peachtree) by Tom Phillips.
“Forget me not blue” (Holiday House) by Sharelle Byars Moranville.
“In the Tunnel” (Holiday House, for ages 8-12) by Julie Lee.
“The Girl Who Lost a Leopard” (Peachtree, for ages 8-12) by Nizrana Farook.”
“Team Trash: A time Traveler’s Guide to Sustainability” (Holiday House, for ages10-14) by Kate Wheeler and Trent Huntington.
“Bizard, the bear wizard” (Margaret Ferguson Books, for ages 8-10) by Chrissie Krebs.
“The Sinister Secrets of Singe” (Pixel Ink, for ages 10 and older) by Sean Ferrell, illustrated by Graham Carter.

https://www.enewscourier.com/opinion/columns/a-good-read-new-titles-for-september-book-lovers-and-beyond/article_74e8f6cc-530f-11ee-a576-537d55627c75.html

I appreciate learning why the treadmill was invented, haha. My favorite stories in this were Haunted House Tour and The Last Conversation.

Interesting, much more experimental than some of Tremblay’s previous work! Some of these short stories are very intriguing and evocative of his normal style and then the collection culminates with a very unique novella that kept me compelled the whole way. Weird in a good way!

This was a well written book, with great analogies and detailed horror. There were some stories that were a bit harder to follow, but over all a great book.

This was a collection of short stories that I was looking forward to reading as I’m a fan of the authors other books. That being said-this collection fell flat for me…most of the stories felt almost forced like a filler….there were only a couple of really inspired stories in the mix.

Paul Tremblay's latest collection is a portal to all things beastly, and then some. It sucks you in and refuses to let go, propelling you forward, through, kicking and screaming and laughing and crying and marveling, picking up speed each step of the way, until you emerge shiny and new and full of the wonder of story.

The Beast You Are is one of those rare story collections you can't put down once picked up. Or, for me it is, yeah, which makes it that much more special. I'm all for devouring books. I love devouring books, and have done so many, many, many times over, but with story collections, I find, more often than not, that I take slightly more time in the reading, whether intentional or not. I like to read a story and then sit with it for a spell, let it steep and stew in my brain. But this one? The Beast You Are? This one, I hit the ground and didn't so much run, run, run through as fly.

In every heart lies a beast. As such, on every shelf this book should sit. Get your hands on a copy today, readers. Unleash the beast.

A series of short stories by Paul Tremblay is a great way to explore spooky season. But let me say this first - there are Easter eggs or spoilers inside of the stories to Tremblays other works that will make more sense if you read those first

The Beast You Are was not my favorite collection of short stories. A few were great, my favorite being "The Last Conversation" which individually was a 5 star. Most of the stories I found to be average, and some not enjoyable at all. A lot of the time, I felt unsatisfied in the end and it almost felt like he forgot to end some of the stories. They seemed to stop abruptly with no resolution or conclusion. I will continue to read from Paul Tremblay, but this collection did not work for me.

Paul Tremblay is not afraid. If you've read his previous collection, Growing Things, Tremblay is no stranger to playing with form, narrative, etc. to craft a story that reads differently than what you're getting from the average modern horror writers. The Beast You Are makes that look like a warm-up act. In a way, this is a collection for Tremblay fans, containing a fair few works that connect to other books, stories, or even just pieces that were composed closer to the beginning of his writing journey. Like any collection, that are ups and downs, and those will shift depending on the reader, but a few favorites:
- "Haunted House Tour..." may be my favorite in the collection, reveling in its creepy atmosphere and leaving the reader on uneven footing throughout.
- "House of Windows" plays with unexpected and unpredictable architecture. Despite my dislike of the book House of Leaves, this is a brand of horror I love, and Tremblay plays the ominous mystery key like a seasoned pianist.
- "The Beast You Are" has a little Hobbit to it, a bit of Fantastic Mr. Fox, or as Tremblay himself puts it, Watership Down and Secret of Nimh. It's different enough to the usual fare, and therefore promises to be divisive, but reads like an author saying, "this is what I want to write". The bold stance shines through in the prose, in the ambition, and in the execution. Like it or hate it, you're not reading anything else like it.
Fans of Tremblay will find elements to love in this collection, more casual fans might be better suited to work their up the Tremblay tree to this one.
Paul Tremblay is not afraid, but you just might be.

Some stories resonated more with me than others in this anthology - particularly The Last Conversation and Mostly Size. All were well-written and I liked the variety of form! That's something I enjoy about short stories as a medium vs novels: the ability to play with form. From a series of blog posts to an editorial call and response column in a magazine to a free verse epic reminiscent of Watership Down, there was a lot to love in this one.

The Beast You Are is a short story collection by Paul Tremblay and quite possibly one of the harder things I have had to rate this year.

While there were several stories I did enjoy, there were also several that didn’t land for me or were too short for me to enjoy or too long. I feel like there were too many stories in this collection and it felt like a tedious read. I’ve proved that the short story collections by singular authors they I enjoy are usually 10 or 11 stories long. And this collection had a lot more than that. Perhaps Thai would have been better enjoyed over a longer time period than I read it in. But authors have a style, not matter how hard they try to be different. And reading several stories by one person feels exactly like reading several stories by one person.

I would recommend this collection to someone who will take their time going through it. Maybe reading a story a day. Reading this in one or two sittings like I usually do just didn’t work for this collection because it made it feel monotonous.

"A Head Full of Ghosts" from Paul Tremblay blew me away, so I was more than eager to read this collection of short stories and flash fiction.

As with any collection, there were both good and less good stories. The title story, almost a novella, was *chef's kiss* perfection. The return of Merry was excellent and the introduction of new characters (to me) made me hit purchase on "The Cabin At the End of the World."

This is a good intro to Tremblay, but I would recommend his other works first as there is crossover. Perfect start to the fall reading season.

The Beast You Are is a collection of stories from masterful author Paul Tremblay. These stories seem to detail snippets of life that invoke feelings of being haunted, despair, and that's just the first couple! All I can say is that if you haven't read anything by Paul Tremblay you are 100% missing out on a spectacular (and sometimes mystifying) experience.

What follows are some of my real time thoughts about each story as I finished them!

Haunted House Tour: 1 Per Person
- What an absolutely haunting story to open this collection with! I think this story and what it made me feel encapsulates why I fell in love with Paul Tremblay as an author. The setting is a classic horror story and I wasn't sure exactly how this was going to end, but I raced to find out!
Mean Time
- Fans of The Chalk Man by CJ Tudor will love this short but fun story!
I Know You're There
- I wasn't sure exactly what I was getting into with this story, but I felt it was both creepy and sweet. It's so dark, but also grief ridden. I liked it!
The Postal Zone: The Possession Edition
- Oh my god. A foray back into the world of A Head Full of Ghosts. It was everything that I could have ever wanted. It still doesn't necessarily give us any concrete answers (but the perhaps some breaking of a certain wall (hint hint). Although the answers are there, the dread and suspense was there just like the day I read that book. I loved this!!!
Red Eyes
- This is absolutely probably going to be one of my favorite stories in this collection. I'm calling it now. This has some similar haunting connections like the story before it and in my eyes (pun intended) it reveals some more inner workings of the mind that otherwise remained lost to us!
The Blog at the End of the World
- Okay this one has me puzzled a little bit. BUT - much like any story told in such a unique way I really liked it. These blog posts aren't going to give you any sort of final answer to things - but in that classic Tremblay way - maybe, just maybe, you'll decide for yourself what you want to believe.
Then: A Pitch
- This was such a fun exercise in actually envisioning and seeing something fun from Tremblay!
House of Windows
- Milton is SUCH a name for a tiny lap dog.
- This story reads almost like a reverse House of Leaves. Maybe that's a little literal, but it felt true to my experience reading this story. Following an ever expanding house that seems to be overtaking a city, investigative journalism has never felt more harrowing!
The Last Conversation
- Remember when I mentioned that I always feel haunted by Paul Tremblay's writing, well let me reiterate. How does this human have such an ability to make me feel all of emotions. I felt like I couldn't breathe at times during this story. It's deliciously heartbreaking and this one will stick with me for quite some time.
- What a magical story that pulled me in so deeply all with a shift to the second person.
- Perfect story for fans of claustrophobic horror adventures.
- Perfect for fans or Caitlin Starling and The Darkness Between Us
Mostly Size
- Well - I guess I'm not meant to understand all of the stories, but I have two different opinions of what this story could symbolize or be.
The Large Man
- This was a fun and futuristic/dystopian adventure. This story felt ageless, but in a Clockwork Orange kind of way I guess! And I enjoyed the nice twist ending!
The Dead Thing
- Oh this was a twisty fun story and I can't tell you anything else about this because it deserves to be read without any impressions. 5 star story!
Howard Sturgis [...]
- Okay this was definitely something different (in my opinion) than what I would expect from Tremblay. This was almost humorous how confused I was for the majority of this story and then the ending still gave me the devious energy I wanted!
The Party
- What's a party among coworkers at the end of the world. Or is it? That seems to be exactly what I'm going to be wondering for the next year when I think about this story!
The Beast You Are
- Paul Tremblay is a massive creative genius when it comes to unique story-telling. Did I expect to discover the last story in this collection is told in verse like Beowulf or the Canterbury Tales - no, I didn't expect it, but I loved this creative choice
- This story also has Easter eggs that hint back to another famous story that Tremblay writes!


These stories are everything and more that readers expect from Paul Tremblay. They give all the haunting feelings, the questionable and discussable endings, and they can be ambiguous. But for Tremblay fans this isn't new and we love it! (Yes, I've found myself being a massive fan of Tremblay (especially after The Pallbearers Club - literally so good))
But there is more than just the expected. There is the return to familiar characters from Tremblay other popular works. There is a sense of connectedness where I didn't expect to see. There is so much to experience with this series and I know that readers are going to love and connect with these stories.

Go read this book!

Paul Tremblay never ceases to upend my expectations and surprise me. So I definitely got excited when I saw he had this collection of short stories. In typical Tremblay fashion, these stories are so unique and full of twists on things you think you may already know. He has a way of examining a situation or trope and making it totally his own. He experiments with styles, formats, and themes, and he never shies away from layering on the eerie, creepy factors. His stories make you pause and think, "Okay... but... did... that just... happen?" And you slowly look around and as the story lingers you become more and more affected by it. Masterful storytelling and always makes me think!

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. This is the first time I've been approved for a book having already read and reviewed it, so below is my previously posted review.

Let’s cut to the chase, the story about anthropomorphic animals written in loose free verse will not be for everyone. HOWEVER, I ATE it up. I could’ve read a 600 page book written in that format with those characters. I was sucked into the writing immediately and when the story ended my jaw dropped. And that’s after the surplus of fantastic short stories that preceded it. One of the most memorable horror short story collections I’ve read. These stories will live with me. I’m also a Paul Tremblay stan so who knows if you can even trust my un-objective words.

This is a good collection of horror short stories. Paul Tremblay does a good job of telling a story with increasing dread, and does it again here. The novella at the end, "The Beast You Are" is a great story, but I didn't enjoy reading it in the free verse style. Overall, good collection.

I've been a huge fan of Paul Tremblay since reading first A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS, then the even more exceptional DISAPPEARANCE AT DEVIL'S ROCK. [CABIN AT THE END OF THE WORLD I found too unsettling to be entertaining.] A similar process occurred for me with THE BEAST YOU ARE. I adored some of the stories: for example, ICE COLD LEMONADE 25 cents HAUNTED HOUSE TOUR 1 PER PERSON [even the title is neat-o) was superbly scary! So was THE POSTAL ZONE: POSSESSION EDITION 🥶 But others, such as THE LAST CONVERSATION, unfortunately just left me cold. It seemed a prevailing inconstency: some super-good, others just weren't. Disappointing as I entered in with high expectations. 😕

I am so thankful to William Morrow and Paul Tremblay for sending me and advanced reader copy of The Beast You Are before this baby hits shelves on July 11, 2023. I am always game for a collection of short stories and novellas, especially when they are within the horror genre. Paul Tremblay was definitely able to captivate my ick-factor with these stories that dabble in the paranormal, being terminally ill, and even cast out by your parental unit and left to parent your broken brother. Yep that's a mouth-full.

As with all short story collections, some stories are really good and some are okay. One or two I didn't care for at all.

Horror is a fairly new genre for me. I have always loved Stephen King, then came Grady Hendrix, Riley Sager, and now the wonderful Paul Tremblay. This book gave me chills throughout.