This damning portrayal of U.S. health care doubles as a potent, unforgettable creepfest.
An Atlanta maintenance worker suffers from a mysterious infection and an insatiable hunger in Cox’s debut horror novel.
Xavier Coates lives and handles maintenance at Leigh Pierce Estates, a low-rise apartment building. While the rent is affordable, its tenants are saddled with a neglectful property manager who’s waiting to tear the place down—he certainly doesn’t care that some tenants have been disappearing lately. Xavier, however, has compassion for others, including an ailing girl he spots in the basement. He calls her an ambulance, but not before her blood apparently infects Xavier, who gets progressively sicker in the coming days. Meanwhile, Ari and his parents, Leena and Cyril, have been moving around the basement units. They’re searching for ways to satisfy their hunger pangs, though what they’re really feeding is some kind of parasite. It’s the very thing that’s affecting Xavier (he’s seen signs of what’s inside him) and just what Ari’s family can help him with, but Xavier may not like how they get their food—or what it is. Cox’s endlessly unnerving story takes repeated shots at health care in America: Xavier gets a massive hospital bill despite being on his mother’s insurance, and a medical professional looking into the parasites isn’t especially concerned about Leigh Pierce or the low-income area it’s in. Along with classism, the novel tackles themes of sexism and racism (several tenants, including Xavier, are Black). All the while, the author confidently delivers the genre goods, blending Cronenbergian body horror with a pervasive sense of doom. A touch of ambiguity (what exactly are those parasites?) heightens the suspense. The prose is richly textured—the narrative has striking passages throughout, such as a description of “metal hitting the fallen log with a hollow ring. A sound like a skull splintering open. The bleeding ooze of wood pulp.”
This damning portrayal of U.S. health care doubles as a potent, unforgettable creepfest.Pub Date: March 20, 2026
ISBN: 9798994032701
Page Count: 350
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
For readers who like their fun laced with skin-crawling weirdness.
A comic-strip artist loses first her cat and then, possibly, her mind.
Working with artists Horner and Staehle, as he did for Hidden Pictures (2022), Rekulak uses illustrations to support a paranormal thriller plot. Penny Padgett, a 27-year-old cartoonist living in Philadelphia, has published three beloved graphic novels about her life with her cat, Popcorn, and is working on a fourth when Popcorn darts out the window during a snowstorm and disappears. When all efforts to locate him fail, Penny spirals into unproductive despair. Her live-in boyfriend, Dean Everhardt, who works in finance, insists she accompany him to a cocktail party at the Brandywine Valley estate of his most important client, Evelyn Bruehl. At the party, Penny hears mewing that at first she’s sure must be Popcorn, but which turns out to be a very different cat named Godfrey. Godfrey immediately attaches himself to Penny, and when Evelyn—who’s about to take an extended trip to Europe—asks her to cat-sit, Dean pressures her to agree. Though at first Godfrey’s presence helps Penny break through her writer’s block, she’s completely disgusted by his custom-made food, which is delivered by his equally repugnant private veterinarian. And then something very strange starts happening to her artwork, which is suddenly filled with macabre and demonic imagery she can’t remember producing. Also, she’s losing weight and something terrible is happening to her skin. At this point the plot pivots into full-on horror, with a disgusting infestation of giant beetles and revolting odors taking over Penny’s house and a horrific murder next door. Penny finds some clues about what’s happening in a biography of Evelyn Bruehl’s grandfather, illustrator Barnabas Godfrey—the cat’s namesake. The 80-plus pages of illustrations include both Penny’s comic panels and Barnabas’ 19th-century images, the latter also filled with hints of what will emerge in the dramatic, screamworthy climax.
For readers who like their fun laced with skin-crawling weirdness.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781250895875
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
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