I’m usually not one to read short stories or novellas, but the descriptions of the pieces in Scott Thomas’ Midwestern Gothic roped me in, and his writing kept me there, fascinated.

I love horror, and I specifically love Midwest horror, so really, this book was a perfect fit. The descriptions of the middle two novellas really drew my attention (can’t go wrong with a good Camp Crystal Lake look-alike!).

Just to get it out there, the four novellas in Midwestern Gothic take place in the same universe, and share that universe with one of Thomas’ previous works, Kill Creek. I had no previous knowledge of Kill Creek (although it may be added to my fall reading list!). Could having previous read it have added dimension to Midwestern Gothic? It’s possible. But despite the references to it, I didn’t find my reading of Midwestern Gothic to be negatively impacted for having not.

So let’s get into the actual content of Midwestern Gothic:

The Door in the Field. The first novella has the most references to Kill Creek, or maybe just had the most obvious ones. I feel bad for Ray, honestly. He and the poor kid from the third novella really had shit deals handed to them. Ray’s story is intense, violent, and gruesome. It’s creepy and bloody, and packs in all the fear of being at the mercy of a murderer.

Wear Your Secret like a Stone. I’m always a sucker for real-life history woven into my horror, and in that aspect, this novella delivered. I’d never heard of a hunger stone but you can bet I was on Wikipedia immediately after finishing this one. And, while I’m not going to track someone down for leaving a negative review about my favorite book (even if I might want to on a bad day), I completely understand Tara’s motivations to do so. Tara’s story wasn’t the pulse-pounding thriller of Ray’s but rather a slow-burn decent into the tarnished history of her hometown.

The Boy in the Woods. Felt like Friday the 13th from Jason’s point-of-view. 10/10. No notes.

One Half of a Child’s Face. I didn’t expect to like this one, I’ll be honest. Coming right off The Boy in the Woods, the description of this novella just didn’t capture me. But as soon as Sienna turned on the Riverside Apartment Entertainment Network, I was there with her, watching every mundane detail. This one lacked the gore and intense atmosphere of the other three novellas but made up for it with the suspense and mystery. And the ending? Chef’s kiss.

Oh my gosh, I loved this book. This is everything horror should be!

This book contains four novellas that all take place in Kansas. This is my first time reading work by Scott Thomas, but it absolutely won't be the last; these stories were uncanny, suspenseful, and creepy in all the best ways. I read well into the night and actually found myself spooked after the lights were off...a rare experience for someone who consumes so much horror media, I've become a bit desensitized to it.

Thomas' writing reminds me of Stephen King's, but with more of a modern twist. The stories themselves are so vivid, I felt connected to characters I'd only just met. I admire authors who can create an atmosphere, and this author never failed to do that, whether it be by creating an ancient, alternate world that appears through a mysterious doorway, or showing us a familiar, soul-crushing box store in a small town. I could see the action of this book play out in my mind like I was watching a film.

Something I really admire about this collection of novellas is how the author created such complex characters in so short a time. With novellas, character development often falls by the wayside, but Thomas manages to build subtle backstories for even tertiary characters. He creates protagonists who feel authentic, who have moral grey areas, and who we can root for. On top of that, he creates monsters, and stirs within his readers a real sense of fear and unease.

A resounding five stars from me, and you know I'll be buying the hardcover when it comes out!

Close your eyes. Picture open plains, wheat stalks swaying gently in the wind. Picture the quaint Main Street of a one-stoplight town. Picture endless summers on sunny, tranquil lakes.

With four provocative novellas, Kill Creek author and Kansas native Scott Thomas digs his hands into the soil of the American heartland and establishes himself as the master of Midwestern Gothic.


The door in the field ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In The Door in the Field, Thomas follows a quarrelsome construction worker named Rayland Allen whose bad day becomes a far worse night when drinks at an off-the-books establishment deep in the woods set Ray down an unforeseeably bloody path.

I love Scott's writing style; the graphic, BRUTAL  imagery; the depth of these characters!! Gosh this was SOO GOOD! I couldn't put it down!! I *hoped* so hard for a different ending, but kinda knew that's not the way this was gonna go. Ray deserves so much better than the hand he was dealt. Such a fantastic read! It felt so much longer than it's quick hundred something pages, I was just entirely immersed in every word the whole way through!!

Wear your secret like a stone ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In Wear Your Secret Like a Stone, a big-box clerk discovers that her book pick for a Halloween display echoes a dark secret hidden beneath the idyllic facade of her hometown.

Just as fantastic as the first story! Scott's writing paints the picture so perfectly I can see every detail in my mind as I read each chapter! I REALLY loved the spooky ending that wrapped everything up into one  perfect, terrifying package!

The boy in the woods ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In The Boy in the Woods, Thomas follows young Eddie Reicher, who lingers a day too long at summer camp as unholy terror creeps in. Something evil has infected the counselors. And Eddie will have to do everything he can―even kill―if he hopes to survive the night.

This was another stellar example of phenomenal writing that instantly turns words into images and plants them directly in your brain!! I watched every terrible, brutal act and every swing of the axe as it happended! Graphic, bloody, horrible and OUTSTANDING!! I was definitely rooting for Eddie and June. A fun twist on a classic sleep away camp slasher story. Absolutely LOVED IT!!

One Half of a Child's Face ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In One Half of a Child’s Face, Thomas follows the recently divorced Sienna Franklin. Spying on her son and ex-husband, she notices an odd painting hanging on the wall of an adjacent apartment. Over the course of the next few days, Sienna will watch with growing horror as the children in the apartment building begin to gather before the painting as if called to it.

The seemingly unending feeling of dread lingered through this story. As Sienna continued watching and the mysteries kept ramping up. The grand finale was an intense battle of mind and heart that kept me locked tight in it's grip late into the night. I read until I could no longer keep my eyes open! Nerve wracking, nail biting, intense and a little heartbreaking are all things I can say about One Half of a Child's Face. A well written story to keep you on the edge of your seat! Don't miss this one!!

This book was absolutely fantastic! Each and every one of the short stories pulled me into this other universe and held me there, page after page!!

No spoilers. First impressions.
Brutal, atmospheric, and drenched with past and present blood. Unrelenting tension. I could barely look away. The strong sense of place yanked me back to my early years. The power of the land never goes away, and that created a strong connection that went beyond the people and the action.

The distinctive, masculine, and intimate voice in the first novella compelled my attention.There's something immensely satisfying about tight, rugged writing that remains true to its purpose without wavering. This collection is a wonderful tonic after books heavy on meandering interior monologue and less-than-surefooted structure.

Midwestern Horror takes a chokehold from the beginning and doesn't let go.

One of my favorite things: The combination of forces beyond human comprehension with intense violence hit a sweet spot for me. Scott displays extraordinary talent and control. I particularly value the empathy and care taken in making the characters matter. Horror where people exist to die horribly with little to distinguish them as human beings generally fails to engage me.

This is a book that will remain lodged in my memory.
I'll be watching for more books from Scott.

Thank you @NetGalley and @Inkshares for the E-Arc for consideration. I'll update this with links.

Scott Thomas has a certain talent for giving me the creeps, and I'm all about it! I've been looking forward to reading this book for months now, and it's no secret as to why. I mean, I'm a midwesterner born and raised, and I LOVE a good gothic (and Kill Creek is one of my all time favorites). And the book delivered.

I'm a bit split on the stories. I felt that The Door In The Field & A Boy In The Woods were just okay. Both of them were well written and had their share of creepy imagery that I've come to expect from ST, however the concepts didn't exactly wow me, and I don't think either of these stories will stick with me in the long run.

On the other hand, I absolutely loved Wear Your Secret Like A Stone & One Half of A Child's face. I felt like these both had such fun premises and I was really drawn into the stories. I can easily see myself coming back to this book and reading these two stories in the future.

I really enjoyed how each story tied into one of the authors from Kill Creek, and how the stories themselves reflected the type of story that those authors might write. Because of this, I'm willing to excuse the fact that I didn't connect as much with two of the stories, because they stemmed from the authors I least connected with when reading KC. I also felt that the overarching theme of haunted land was very refreshing for the gothic genre, and I'd love to read more from Scott Thomas on this theme.

amo i racconti gotici e questa raccolta è stata molto bella da leggere, la rileggerei? sicuramente.
Ve lo consiglio se cercate vibes diverse dalle solite e volete una lettura che vi trascini negli orrori del Midwest

This year I finally read and greatly enjoyed Kill Creek, Scott Thomas's popular 2017 novel. I was excited to hear he had a new book coming soon, and even more so when I heard it tied into that previous work. It isn't a direct sequel or even prequel, and the links are more along the lines of subtlety—this may disappoint fans, but conversely also makes this book easily understandable for new readers, too.

For those who haven't read Kill Creek or need their memory jogged, the basic synopsis is four very different horror authors—both in writing style and personality—are lured to a haunted house under somewhat less than truthful circumstances. Midwestern Gothic, a collection of four novellas, ties into that world by these authors. In each story here, a character is either a big fan of one of the authors, is editing a book including one of their works, or the book has important meaning to them. There's nothing here that would make these stories difficult to follow if you hadn't read KC; there's plenty of context clues in them, but it does add a little something to those who wanted to know a little more about those characters.

Much like the fictional authors, each story is different from the others. From cosmic horror to the supernatural, from slashers to folk horror, many subgenres are utilised, helping each story feel fresh and unique—even if, like me, you blast through the book in a few days. At over 450 pages and with each novella fairly similar in length, these stories don't feel rushed or incomplete, with Thomas taking the time to implement some good character development and interesting world-building.

Like any collection, the quality varies from story to story. I thought all four were at least good, and I didn't find myself wishing one would end, but personally, I liked the final two reads more than the first two. The previously released The Boy In The Woods is a really enjoyable slasher that goes into some different directions than I expected and has my favourite ending of the collection. The real gem for me though is the closing story, One Half Of A Child's Face—partly a supernatural Read Window, partly a descent into madness that'll make you wonder what is real and what is imagined; it approaches parenthood from an angle I don't remember seeing before. How do you deal with splitting custody of your child with your ex, and how do you fight the fear that maybe one of you never wanted that child at all? 

I'm looking forward to seeing the responses to this one and seeing which stories people end up pinpointing as their favorites. Each of them features Thomas's readable, strong prose, and although I found a couple of the stories to get a little dry in places, one of them in particular really did creep me out—and I wouldn't be surprised to see others found my less favourite reads to be the ones that got under their skin.

Thank you to Inkshares, NetGalley, and Scott Thomas for graciously providing me with an ARC to read and review.

This was my first time reading anything by Scott Thomas and I can't wait to read more!
This was such an enjoyable collection. All four stories were difficult to put down. Each story is well-paced and you get to know the characters well. The stories are suspenseful and not heavily gory (thank you!). There is thoughtfulness and care put into the characters and their motivations. The stories all tie back to the land, exploring the idea of the land having a darkness that predates humans: an essence and sentience of its own. The theme also touches briefly and broadly on the effects of the Midwest's brutal colonization. It is not a history lesson though. This was a great concept to explore. I would love to see a deeper exploration of this theme, perhaps by other writers.

The Door in The Field- 4 stars
I loved the in-depth exploration of the main character's psychological struggle with his identity. This was a solid folk horror read for me. It reminded me of the work of Adam Nevill, a favorite of mine.

Wear Your Secret Like a Stone- 5 stars
This was my favorite of the collection, it has a fairytale vibe to it. I love how layered the story is; tying in folklore, urban legend, and personal trauma. The ending is perfect. To avoid a spoiler, all I can say is that sacrifice does not need to require blood and flesh; there are worse things than death.

The Boy in The Woods- 4 stars
This was a take on the 80's style summer camp massacre. But who's the real killer here?! I enjoyed this take overall. The ending was rough for me though, it was just so sad.

One Half of a Child's Face- 3.5 stars
I liked watching the world through the main character's eyes in this one. Her voyeurism was secondhand fun, with the real-time realization as she did, that what she's doing is quite morally wrong. This story was the weakest in tying it back to the theme. There were details that I felt were missing. Answering some origin info about certain things would help tie the story back to the theme and make it feel whole.

Wow wow wow

Those book managed to combine two things I love, horror and short stories.

4 very distinct stories that sit comfortably in the same universe. I wanted more.

Midwestern gothic was one of the best books I’ve read in a long while. I won’t come close to spoiling this book. Even the weakest story in this collection still is amazing.

Midwestern Gothic is a collection of four novellas set in the world of Thomas’s horror debut, Kill Creek . Without sharing any spoilers, I will tell you each of the novellas connect in some way to one of the four horror authors featured in Kill Creek.

I absolutely adored this book. When I scrolled through my kindle, looking for notes for my book review, I kept finding annotations like: “OMG”s and “This is brilliant!” These weren’t particularly helpful when it came time to write my review, but they emphasized just how fantastic this book is.
Midwestern Gothic is rife with description and atmosphere, which does make the book a slower read, but if you’re picking up a “gothic” book, you shouldn’t be expecting it to have a rocket-fast pace.

Each of the four novellas carry the same imagery and themes of gothic horror, but take the genre into fresh and compelling directions. The novellas are chock full with references to gothic media. (I actually squealed with excitement at the mention of Suspiria , one of my favourite horror movies.) One of the novellas is a twist of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, and I freaking loved the execution. Another one felt like Cabin Fever meets Friday the Thirteenth, and I devoured that story in one sitting.

Thomas frequently inserts references to writing and books throughout. The first novella even has an introduction and afterword. All of this made Midwestern Gothic feel quite intelligent, well crafted, and meta.

All this, and there are chilling twists in each of the stories! I adored this book, and it will stick with me for quite some time.

I enjoyed Scott Thomas's first novel, Kill Creek, despite some misgivings, and when I heard he was publishing a collection of novellas focused on gothic themes but set in the American Midwest, I was sold.

First of all, if you were a fan of Thomas's first book, you'll probably like this one, too. It's set in the same "universe," and each novella is connected to a work written by one of the ill-fated authors who featured in Kill Creek. It's a fun conceit that connects all four stories beyond their location. You might also like Midwestern Gothic because the collection takes you on a tour of various genres (aside from just the gothic). The first story, The Door in the Field is a serial killer-survival thriller. The next story, Wear Your Secret Like a Stone, has notes of mystery and cosmic horror. The Boy in the Woods is like Christopher Pike on steroids, a summer camp romp that mashes up slashers with infection horror. The last novella, One Half of a Child's Face, is a Rear-Window-style paranoid thriller with supernatural elements.

The first one, The Door in the Field, was the weakest for me, even though I liked the ending a good bit. My favorite was probably Wear Your Secret Like a Stone because of its surreal imagery. I'm also a sucker for stories that require the main characters to do research. The protagonist uses microfiche to uncover the town's dark history! Inject it into my veins. Despite not loving the first story, I think the collection is strong enough as a whole to warrant a five-star rating.

I really like the way that all four stories examined the importance of land to the American psyche--not just because of its natural beauty and fertility but also because of the cruelty and suffering caused by conquest of said land. The focus on land is why the collection is called "gothic," but you could easily make a case for calling this folk horror, if that's something you're into. The idea that America is still ruled by the Old Gods, even if we've forgotten their names and stories, is compelling, given how bloody and tumultuous our nation's history is. Just because our image of the Midwest is cornfields and big box stores doesn't mean that there isn't something ancient and terrifying just beneath the soil.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a digital ARC for review.

As someone who lives in the Midwest I really felt at home in this book, as weird as that is to say. I felt like I knew a lot of the people in these stories. These are people I’ve seen my whole life having always lived in a small town.

Small town life in the Midwest is weird and there are some real characters living in these towns that you wouldn’t believe are real unless you’ve seen them in person for real. Scott Thomas has nailed Midwest life. His descriptions of the towns and the people in them are spot on.

I really enjoyed the weirdness of these stories. They were fascinating and outrageous but yet believable. If I were to walk out into a field around here and see a lone door, I almost wouldn’t be surprised 😂

Thomas has written three lovely and terrifying novellas about midwestern life. Be careful out there. You never know who might be waiting around the corner.

Overall, I'm rating this collection 4 stars! I enjoyed reading it and loved the little tidbits that connected all of the novellas together if you were paying attention.

The Door in the Field, 3⭐: This one started out really slow but eventually picked up. Not a bad story but found it meh, though it did have some interesting commentary on greed. My least favorite of the four novellas.

Wear Your Secret Like a Stone, 5⭐: I absolutely loved everything about this one and did not see the ending coming! Girl trapped in a small town, dying to get out, who loves horror books and all things spooky? Very relatable.

The Boy in the Woods, 4⭐: I would say this one is for classic horror lovers because it felt like a classic camp horror story. That was probably one of my favorite things about it is it made me think of classic slasher films. Also, I may be reading into it too much, but it gave an interesting look at how we interpret the labels others give us.

One Half of a Child's Face, 4⭐: The beginning felt a little whiney to me, but I quickly got sucked in by the main character's people watching! Then, of course, that people watching goes wrong. I think that to me, this one was the most similar to a psychological thriller, while still having those strong horror elements.

Thanks to NetGalley and Inkshares for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

I loved Scott Thomas’s previous books – Violet and Kill Creek were both phenomenal and I bought The Boy In the Woods for myself as a Christmas present years ago. Needless to say, I’ve been waiting for his next work. Midwestern Gothic is a collection of short stories – one of which has been previously published as an e-novella (The Boy In the Woods).
All four stories link back to Kill Creek, featuring the works of the fictional authors. Just as Kill Creek explored how intimately a story can affect an author, each of these tales explore how that story affects the reader. Each story echoes the works of the corresponding Kill Creek author’s style. I particularly loved the second, “Wear Your Secret Like a Stone” which involves a book by T.C. Moore. It ends with the same ominous, insidious hope as Kill Creek that sort of clings to you. Not a happy ending by any means, but not outright disaster either.The other stories follow suit. “The Boy in the Woods” was again thrilling and action-packed. “One Half of a Child’s Face” genuinely creeped me out, so much so that I had to turn on the lights while I read it. “The Door in the Field” gave me Stephen King vibes, which for me is the highest praise (and something I rarely say). All-in-all another fantastic work from Thomas. And, as always, I’m ready for whatever he publishes next.

Four gothic horror novellas by the author of KILL CREEK. Each of the four contains a connection to one of the authors featured in that book; it’s a fun little Easter egg, but it’s not necessary that you have read KILL CREEK before diving into these.

In the first, “The Door in the Field,” a night out with the boss turns into a nightmare. “The Boy in the Woods” is set at a summer camp that is getting ready to shut down for the season. In “Wear Your Secret Like a Stone,” my favorite of the four, a girl and her elderly colleague from a big box store investigate their small Kansas town. Finally, the main character in “One Half of a Child’s Face” is editing an essay collection and shares custody of her daughter with her ex…and she can see into his apartment building.

Novellas are tricky and hard to do well. Stephen King is an expert (of course) but often times they seem like short stories that needed a good editor. However, Thomas is a gifted writer and does well with the form, even though I couldn’t help thinking that he is an excellent author in search of better material here, other than with “Secret.” The other stories were good, just not great. But I very much enjoy Thomas; Kansas seems to be his Maine and I look forward to reading what he does next.

5 stars

What a fantastic collection. All 4 of the novellas included in this collection delivered. The way the author wove the stories in and out of each other was so fun, and add in the call backs to the author's prior book, Kill Creek, so good. Fans of Kill Creek are going to love this.

The Door In the Field was incredible. We follow main character Ray who suffered a huge personality change after an accident left him with extreme anger issues. After a violent incident at work on a construction site, Ray's boss takes him to a remote bar for a drink. This story was very violent and very graphic and very, very good.

The Boy in the Woods was an awesome take on the teen summer camp slasher. We follow a ten year old boy with a face disfigured from a dog attack during his early childhood. Again, the author pulls no punches when it comes to the violence but there is so much heart and I really loved this main character.

Wear Your Secret Like a Stone involves a young woman working in a big-box store to save money to escape her small town. Her boss decides to copy a book store's display and has the employees select a book to recommend for Halloween. The main character's selection causes a bit of a stir when a local mom takes offense. This one went in a direction I wasn't expecting and turned into more of a folk horror type of story and I loved it.

In the final story, One Half of a Child's Face, a divorced mother struggles with sharing custody of her daughter with the ex-husband and his new girlfriend, who have moved into an apartment building which is so close to the main character's home, she can watch them through their open windows. This story was the least violent and graphic of the bunch, but still had some intense scenes that made me squirm and had one of the most satisfying endings as well..

Overall, I loved everything about this collection. Fans of Kill Creek will definitely love this latest work by the author.

4 Stars!

I love novellas and short stories. I am not as fond of reviewing them, at least in collection or anthology form, as I am of reading them, but I think that shorter fiction can provide more of a punch than a long novel if done right. Scott Thomas knows how to tell a dark tale, so I was happy when I came across Midwestern Gothic, a collection of four novellas, and was eager to see what new horrors he had in store for us.

The collection opens with The Door in the Field which is a wicked way to start off the book. Rayland Allen is a construction worker with an explosive temper and a tendency toward violence. When a coworker pushes his buttons one too many times, it sets off a sequence of events that leads to a violence much greater than even Allen could have imagined. The devil may live in Kansas, and he needs a new emissary to spread his own brand of hell on Earth. Will Allen be that new servant of the devil, or will he just become another victim. This story took an unexpected turn after a fairly rote beginning and then raced toward an explosive ending. It is a good but not great novella with a heavy dose of violence worth a 3-star rating.

The Boy in the Woods is a strange story that takes a lot of twists and turns as it grows, then turns into the ultimate summer camp slasher. There were rumors of strange happenings at the camp, but no one knew if they were true. Eddie Reicher is about to find out. When he is stuck at the camp for a day after it was supposed to end, something begins to possess the counselors. Something evil. Eddie finds himself in a race to save his life as the people around him become more violent by the minute. This is a somewhat odd story with a mega-dose of violence that was enjoyable but just did not rise to what it could be. This novella was another solid, 3-star read.

One Half of a Child's Face is another bizarre story and the best of the book. Sienna Franklin not only recently got divorced, but she is forced to share custody with her ex-husband who moved into a new apartment building just down the street from her. Sienna had taken to spying on the people that live in the building as well as her husband. One day, she notices an odd painting hanging on the wall of an apartment that seemed to be drawing children to it. This was no ordinary painting, though, but an ancient evil that feeds upon the vitality of youth. This story is light on violence and heavy on atmosphere as Thomas builds a palpable sense of dread throughout. This is a very good horror story and also the most "gothic" of the group. A 5-star read that is sure to be one of the best stories I read this year.

Wear Your Secret Like a Stone has a young woman go on a search into the darkest secret of the town. When the department store clerk Tara picks her favorite horror novel to go on a Halloween display, she has no idea that it would change her life forever. When a woman complains about the novel, Tara begins to look into the person who got so offended by the book only to find that no such person exists. Tara soon finds that every town, even small towns in Kansas, has secrets and she has just wandered into the darkest secret of her hometown. Unfortunately, this is a secret that will not stay dead and may cost Tara her life. This was probably my least favorite story in the collection but was still a 3-star read.

This collection of novellas was everything I was hoping for. All of the stories were well-written even though their effectiveness varies. One Half of a Child's Face is a haunting story that hooked me from the beginning and carried through without losing any of the dread I felt, so the book is worth picking up for this story alone. I guess if I did the math straight up, the book would have to get a 3-star rating, but I will go with 4-stars since that novella was so good. Do not hesitate to pick this one up.

I would like to thank NetGalley for this review copy. Midwestern Gothic is scheduled to be released on September 17, 2024.

This collection features 4 novellas exploring the midwestern gothic theme once through a rather typical cult in the corn, once through a haunting of the land brought over through early settlers, once through a tragic experience at a summer camp and once through a haunted painting. While the first two stories are a lot more "typical" midwestern gothic (with their focus on the nature of the place and a focus on Cosmic/Folk horror), I also adored the last story, which is a bit more removed from these typical tropes.
I haven't read any of Scott Thomas' other work and did not struggle with finding my place in these stories. I do think there might be some fun easter eggs to discover if you have read them, but it is not at all necessary to understand what's going on (but it did make me want to check out Kill Creek, as I enjoy the way the author builds tension). In general I can say that if you like modern Gothic horror (such as the works by T. Kingfisher and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, check this anthology out, I can assure you you'll have a great time!

The Door in the Field: This novella starts with a fight at a construction side and an formerly amnesiac man struggling with his very short temper, who is then kidnapped by his project manager for nefarous purposes - interesting and fun, I liked the writing style and the dread it built, it does take a while to get going, but once it's going, it's really good! 4 stars
Wear your Secret like a Stone: A bookstore worker investigates why a concerned mother harassed her bookstore into removing the horror book she selected for her display of favorite books, at the same time, she has to face her dark past and deal with her wish to get out of this small town - very interesting and charming with a great protagonist, I also loved all the horror book shout outs (especially the T. Kingfisher one :)), it felt incredibly immersive and was a lot of fun even if I knew the mythology behind the story here and so was able to guess the "twist" sooner than probably intended, but even with that the main character and her own struggles were more than enough to really draw me into the story and kept me enjoying it immensely, 5 stars
The Boy in the Woods: a twist on what starts as a rather typical summer camp slasher when the protagonist has to stay another day as his parents can't pick him up due to a delayed flight - I did like the protagonist (a young boy who is disfigured after a dogbite during early infancy) and how it explored ableist tropes in horror and particularly the slasher genre, but I feel like the story could have dug a bit deeper into that, it was okay but nothing groundbreaking and so it is my least favorite of these stories as I felt the others did a lot more interesting things with the tropes they were using, 3 stars
One Half of a Child's Face: A mother, who can't stop watching her ex-husband's house during her daughter's weekend visit with him, soon discovers that something really weird is going on - haunting and really good and I love the female characters in here a lot, 5 stars

Being a fan of Southern gothic, I requested this ARC, curious to find out more about Midwestern Gothic. I confess this is my first foray into Scott Thomas' work. Boy, was this an unexpected treat!

The four novellas were creepy and atmospheric. Everyday characters and scenarios taking a turn for the gory reminds me of early Stephen King.

If you are not too squeamish, definitely pick this one up!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for furnishing a digital ARC of thos boom in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I was so excited to read this, and unfortunately, it was just a slog for me. A very well-written slog, but a slog nonetheless. I'd be willing to give it another go someday, but I'd need to be very well hydrated to get through all this dry prose.