Midwestern Gothic is truly something everyone needs to read. It is 4 novellas in one and none of them disappointed me. The creativity to this one knocked me off my rocker and throughly creeped me out. There were quite a few surprises that I really loved that got sprinkled in there.

This author's short horror stories have been the most impressive I've encountered all year, securing their position as a favorite. Their writing is masterful, evocative, and downright chilling, rendering it impossible to sleep without a nightlight.

This was an interesting Segway from his previous novel. It takes place in the same town and there are some stories that had my heart pounding! His writing improved as well.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

The Gothic often evokes mental images of remote homes succumbing to an unknown decay, the origins of their sickness shrouded in mystery. But what about the rest of the world? Those sprawling fields of crops, the land with blood spilled upon its soil long ago, what of those ghosts? Scott Thomas directly confronts this notion with Midwestern Gothic, a collection of four novellas that explore the darker side of the Midwest. Now if you’re familiar with Thomas’s previous novel, Kill Creek, you’ll recognize some familiar names floating within these stories, ones that have inextricably become a part of the intricate fabric of lore Thomas sews.

Midwestern Gothic is a unique read for multiple reasons but most glaringly for its formatting. Each of the four novellas comes with its own cover and title, a venture into different facets of the uncanny nature of the American Midwest. These small details work a long way in creating seemingly succinct, yet united stories. Thomas spins his own intricate web of macabre, grotesque, and undeniably dark lore within the realm of each novella, exploring ideas of an earth that keeps the score, a vengeful spirit, the origin story of an urban legend, and a Rear Window-esqe haunting.

Thomas showcases vivid imagery to paint a clear picture of his version of Kansas which is his personal horror playground. In many ways, the style of his writing in which he pays such close attention to the finer details of the setting (a main character in and of itself) brings to mind the kind of prose we often see from Stephen King. Aside from style, Thomas writes with a large degree of expertly executed suspense, namely in the first novella, “The Door in the Field.” There is no better way to describe this story than anxious, a tale that builds upon degrees of tension to conclude with a resounding bang that’s felt across generations. Some of these sentiments can be said about “Wear Your Secret Like a Stone,” as Thomas explores the haunting of people as much as places. “One Half a Child’s Face” relies on, well, unreliability and the sense of upheaval to deliver one whopping dose of unsettling horror.

Deserving a paragraph all on its own, “The Boy in the Woods” feels inherently like Thomas’s strongest entry in this collection. A slasher-eque story with a devastating twist-ending, I can’t help but feel like “The Boy in the Woods” and Stephen Graham Jones’s I Was A Teenage Slasher share some dominant, gory, heart-breaking DNA. This is a story that is compelling for its action, a compounding sense of urgency that takes flight as the pages fly by. Yet equally captivating is the emotional component to Eddie’s story, a child who yearns to fit in at summer camp on a normal day, a child who wishes to survive on this horrendous night.

From blood-thirsty plains to haunted apartment complexes, Scott Thomas delivers a tour de force with his examination of the Gothic in his collection, Midwestern Gothic. Each of the four novellas contained within this collection shines for different reasons, but their thread of commonality exists thanks to Thomas’s unique, grounded setting of the uncanny Midwest. Kansas feels like Scott Thomas’s Castle Rock, hopefully a place eager to spawn more of the weird, more of the dark, more of the haunting.

⭐ - 4/5 - ⭐

✦ Anthology
✦ Horror
✦ Paranormal

⚠️ - Yes - lots
👥 - 2/5
🌎 - 3/5
🗡️ - 3/5
💀 - 4/5

This was one of the most twisted set of novellas that I've read in a long time. The first one left me a little 'meh' which was why I removed a star, but overall, a perfectly horrifying book to read at the beginning spooky season. If you're looking for some chills and thrills, this is the book for you!

Thank you #netgalley and #inkshares for the ARC of this book and giving me the chance to read and review it with my own thoughts and opinions

A great collection of four very different and highly original novellas. I particularly liked Wear Your Secret Like a Stone as it highlights the importance of individual choice. Each story was long enough to develop at a steady pace, yet short enough to hold my attention. As with any collection, there are going to be some stories favoured over others but due to the diversity, there should be something for everyone here.

Scott really seems to be able to capture the specific atmosphere of each story and create a growing sense of unease. This collection fits the title extremely well and his descriptions really make you feel like you’ve stepped into Blantonville.

I ❤️ short stories & anthologies
I ❤️ books and about books
I ❤️ multiple horror sub genres in one place
I ❤️ stories that are both plot & character driven
I ❤️ bookish Easter eggs
I ❤️ MIDWESTERN GOTHIC by Scott Thomas

Thx to #netgalley and @inkshares for this amazing ARC opportunity.

If you enjoyed Thomas’ Kill Creek, this is a MUST read.

As a fan of Kill Creek, I was very excited to get my hands on this. I loved how each of the writers in Kill Creek had an appearance in the individual stories and that those stories reflected the type of writer they were. My favorite thing about this collection was the fact that in each one part of the horror was tied to a disrespect of the land. I enjoyed some of the stories more than others and I don't think you need to read Kill Creek to appreciate these stories. I do hope that other horror authors add to this genre of the Midwestern Gothic.

A huge thanks to Inkshares and NetGalley for the ARC. As a midwestern girlie myself I thoroughly enjoyed this book. On the surface, each novella was entertaining and had characters I was excited to learn about. They were well developed, and I found myself emotionally attached to the outcome of their stories. Digging through the deeper layers I really connected with the discussion about the origins of “gothic” in the Midwest. The land is so important to us, and yet holds immense trauma. I also loved the small ways all the stories were tied together. It made you feel like you were sharing a secret with the author and helped the whole collection feel immersive. Definitely worth adding to your reading list this fall!

Before I even finished this I bought another Scott Thomas book. I even went back and reread another book from the author with a new eye. Basically, the stories are all in the same universe and connected at the seams. Everyone here in the 4 stories is having their worst day ever.

The first story, "The Door in the Field", sets up the feeling of the collection. It goes from mundane to violent to completely crazy. I loved the way the fictional worlds are woven together.

In "Wear Your Secret Like a Stone" a young woman who wants nothing more than to leave her small Kansas town but a small interaction with her boss and a customer complaint lead her to find out more about it than she ever thought was possible. And changes her life forever.

Then we have "The Boy in the Woods". This combines the theme of the land itself being the supernatural force with a good, old-fashioned summer camp slasher novella. This is an origin story. But not the one you are expecting.

Among those three it is hard to find a favorite. But it wasn't the last one. "One Half of a Child’s Face", was the only one I didn't fully enjoy. There is a lot at the beginning about a mother who cannot handle her child being a few yards from her for a short period of time. Unfortunately, it lacked the tension of the other three stories. It was kind of a let down way to finish the book.

That last one is probably a matter of taste and possibly of my own head space at the time. You may love it.

Kill Creek was one of my favourite reads of 2017 so I was keen to revisit Blantonville, Kansas. These four novellas were the perfect excuse.

The Door in the Field

Written by Ted Hollister, AKA Sebastian Cole, The Door in the Field describes an apparently indescribable creature on the other side of a … (you gusssed it) door in a field.

This story is told by 26 year old April Staudt. It’s about her father, Ray, whose anger gets him in more trouble than he anticipated.

“My father was once two people. This is the story of how he became a third.”

Wear Your Secret Like a Stone

Tara chose a T.C. Moore book as her contribution to her workplace’s Halloween display.

"I like my horror as dark as my coffee, and it doesn't get much darker than T.C. Moore's Puncture. It will disturb you in all the right ways!"

Her search for the woman who complained about this book choice leads Tara down a rabbit hole.

The Boy in the Woods

Summer camp may be officially over but it’s not for ten year old Eddie. He’s got one more night there and, boy, is he going to wish his parents had picked him up on time.

“He knew from campfire stories and fairy tales that the darkness welcomed things like him.
It was a place of monsters.”

One Half of a Child’s Face

Things have been weird in that apartment building since the painting arrived. Sienna should know. Her ex lives there and she people watches its residents from her home a couple of blocks away. What? That’s not creepy…

“Remember what you lost. But never forget what you still have.”

When I first heard about this book, the novella I was most looking forward to reading was The Boy in the Woods. My favourite read was Wear Your Secret Like a Stone.

While the authors who visited Finch House are all mentioned in these novellas, you don’t have to have read Kill Creek first. It’s such a fun read, though, so I’d definitely recommend it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Inkshares for the opportunity to read these novellas.

This is a collection of four stories set in the heartland of the Midwest. It is also my first Scott Thomas book. I can tell you I definitely enjoyed the writing style and the thought and imagination that went into these stories. Personally, I think I would have enjoyed all of the stories more if they were shorter. I found them all a bit draw out with extra content I didn’t think was needed. My own personal opinion!
—-
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱-
With a cosmic horror feel to it, this one follows a man named Rayland who suffers from a short temper post head injury. A coworker sees something in him tho, and takes him to a door in a field, and what he sees on the other side will forever change the course of his life.

𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲-
Tara works in a big box store and for Halloween, they have staff pick out their favorite books for a display. Tara picks a book more on the extreme side called Puncture, and after a complaint to the store, the manager askes Tara to pick a new book. This upsets Tara knowing there are far worse books out there and she expresses her concern to fellow employee Virgil. This takes Tara to dive deep down a rabbit hole of exploring the history of the local river stone and its deep dark history. This one started off great for me, but then it became really weird and I got a bit lost with some of the information and unanswered questions.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀-
A coming of age tale about a young man named Eddie that undergoes a tragic accident, leaving him with a lifelong facial deformity. Other kids call him a freak. After being sent to Camp Cottonwood for 2 weeks, he gets stuck there for an extra night after his parent’s flight was delayed, and comes face to face with a virus attacking the last of the terrified campers

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱’𝘀 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲-
Sienna happens to live in an apartment building that looks down on her ex husbands apartment where he now lives with his girlfriend. She starts to notice strange things happening at this building, but no one seems to believe her, or tries to get her to forget about it. When children start to go missing inside the building including her own daughter, she fights to save her before it’s too late.
—-
Although I didn’t love this collection as a whole, i still liked it! And I loved a lot of things about each story and I was really impressed with the imagery. I definitely want to check out more of Scott’s work 🙌.

Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this author before and I was excited to get a collection of short stories, horror related at this time of year that many critics were harping over. With that being said, I was kind of disappointed with these stories as they are just not to my liking, being drawn out and too wordy, seemingly half of each story could have been edited out with no loss. I generally read before bed and if the storyline doesn't hold me awake, or I find myself skimming, we have a problem, which we did here. If you like stories more about human monsters than "monster" monsters, certainly give this book a read.

3 Stars

Many thanks to Inkshares Press, Scott Thomas and Netgalley for early access to this title in exchange for and honest review. The title and the cover hooked me on this. I was delighted to see this was a book of spooky, short stories. As a Hoosier (lol), I can acknowledge that aspects of our culture are horrifying: So frankly, this was this is top tier horror with some intensive creativity sprinkled in. I did really enjoy this; however, gore isn’t really my thing. Future readers be advised that this is pretty graphic.

These stories give serious Stephen King vibes. I did enjoy it and would recommend it, but it was a bit hard for me to read personally due to the gore. I also found some of the paragraphs to be a bit long-winded and my ADHD brain struggled to get through those bits.

This collection of stories checks all of the boxes on my horror checklist! Gothic, cosmic, slasher, there is something for everyone here. And to tie all of the stories back to authors found in his Kill Creek novel was a stroke of genius. This was a fun read and had me constantly wanting to keep reading late into the night. With the lights on of course!

I wish I would’ve read kill creek before this, I imagine the references were fun to catch. I liked the little ties connecting the stories.
Midwestern gothic is well done, but drawn out. Scott Thomas is a talented gore writer for sure and I was definitely squeamish at times. I just wish the stories had been edited down a bit. 3.5 stars.

A grimdark collection. As a Missourian I was drawn in by the title and cover, but I was lost in the references to the author's other works which I have not read.

Thanks to Inkshares and NetGalley for the eARC!

I really enjoyed this collection of horror/supernatural novellas! Each story is subtly linked, forming a fascinating web of haunts that doesn't indeed reveal itself until the final page. I gave each novella its own rating, averaging 4.25 ⭐️s.

The Door in the Field - 3/5 ⭐️s
(Unfortunately, the first novella was my least favorite. However, it is perhaps the most important part of the book's overarching message, so don't skip it.)
Wear Your Secret Like a Stone - 5/5 ⭐️s
The Boy in the Woods - 5/5 ⭐️s
One Half of a Child's Face - 4/5 ⭐️s

This was my second Scott Thomas book. While I enjoyed Kill Creek, I found it a bit overwritten and drawn out. His writing in Midwestern Gothic was vastly different (in the best way!). Thomas packed so much into these 100-page tales, and I know the characters and their eerie stories will stick with me for a long, long time.

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Reader Note: There are references to Thomas' novel Kill Creek in the novellas. I wouldn't say reading Kill Creek before Midwestern Gothic is necessary, but you may encounter a few minor spoilers.

4.5/5 stars

Midwestern Gothic was gucci. Chef's kiss.

The first story was titled: The Door in the Field. Five stars. This one played out like a movie in my head. Quite honestly, all of the stories in this collection did, but this one especially. I want a spinoff novel exclusively about the serial killer in this book stat!

Novella number 2 was Wear Your Secret Like a Stone. I loved the character relations in this one. Thomas really sold the dialogue and the humor for me. The best part about this was the meaningful conversations about censorship that I know this story will spark. 4.5 stars.

Story number 3 was my favorite in the collection and that was The Boy in the Woods. This felt like an origin story for Jason Voorhees, only cooler and creepier. I LOVED the setting and the urban legend style ending. A banger! Five stars!

The final story in this collection was One Half of a Child's Face. This was my least favorite in the collection, but I still really enjoyed it. It really makes you realize how little you really know what's going on in others lives even when you think you've got the full picture. 4 stars.

This is a terrific novella collection by the author of Kill Creek, one of my favorite horror novels ever! "Midwestern Gothic" includes references to the novel, which is a good thing if you've read the book (many easter eggs to enjoy!), but totally harmless if you have not. The tales range over cosmic horror and folk horror, contain some gore, but they're mostly examples of incredibly good writing (on several levels), four imaginative stories set over the Midwest (Kansas), many times starring the land itself, the element that provides the unifying factor throughout the stories. There's no need to pick favorites, all four novellas are spectacular and none of them disappoints. One of them, however, deserves special mention: "One Half of a Child's Face", deserves to be a novel; it's chock-full of deep insights on the Gothic, on the book itself, and on what makes horror so attractive in general; it should be allowed space to breathe and it should be given the chance to stand on its own, especially as an extended meditation on the theme of obsession. In sum, the collection is a must-read for all horror fans and I cannot praise it enough!