Recommend A Book (And It Can’t Be Yours, Damnit)

It is that time again.

Recommend to me — us, because a whole lot of folks are reading this blog — a book.

It can be a book that’s been out.

Or a book that’s coming out soon.

Any genre. Any variant of publishing.

Tell us what it is, who it’s by, and why you recommend it.

Just. One. Book.

Not yours.

Not ten books.

A book.

Now, before I dart off, I’ll make a recommendation to you.

THE THREE, by Sarah Lotz.

“Lotz is a ferociously imaginative storyteller whose twisty plots will kick the stairs out from under you. She’s a talent to watch.”—Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls

“The Three is really wonderful, a mix of Michael Crichton and Shirley Jackson. Hard to put down and vastly entertaining.”—Stephen King

Four plane crashes happen simultaneously around the world. Appearing to have different causes entirely. And yet, in three of those accidents — and maybe, just maybe in the fourth, too — one child survived the devastation. I really don’t want to give away too much more than that, but from there unfolds one of the finest, freakiest horror novels put to paper. It’s told as artifacts — documents compiled and found — and offers a world real enough (and fragile enough) to feel like our own. That’s in fact what makes this book so terrifying, to me: the fact that you can read it and despite hints of the supernatural, it feels like oh, shit, if this happened, this is how it would unfold. All of life, a big-ass Jenga tower waiting to come down.

See, for me, the best horror isn’t just about the scares. It isn’t really about the horror.

It’s about the dread that follows in its wake. And this has that ten times over.

It also has one of the more harrowing descriptions of a plane crash.

Which I read while sitting on a plane, soooooo. Oops.

(And come to think of it, I hop on a plane tonight, too. MAYBE I’LL RE-READ IT.)

My only small issue with the book — and it’s a non-issue, mostly, in that it remains effective, if jarring — is the shift for the last part of the book away from the artifacts and into straight prose. The prose there is excellent and does the job it needs to do, but after over 3/4 of the book being told in one fashion, the hard shift is keenly felt.

Either way.

Go.

Get it.

This will be a huge bestseller, I predict.

Amazon | B&N | Indiebound