Mary Paperback – July 19, 2022

If you're looking g for a truly horrifying book , this is for you. It was definitely an "awakening of terror". Don't say you weren't warned! I loved it but it is intense and gory. Perfect visual imagery! Not for everyone but perfect for me.

One of the reasons I enjoy book clubs so much is because I get exposed to books I likely wouldn’t have come across otherwise. Quite some time ago, I realized that I was in a book rut, and to get myself out of that rut, I perused Instagram and ran across the Good Morning America Book Club. It’s not that I didn’t have previous knowledge of this book club, I do watch GMA every morning (usually as background noise and to keep and eye on the Deals and Steals), I just hadn’t paid close enough attention. I decided to add GMA’s book club to my reading list…and things took off from there. I now follow five celebrity book clubs, I’m a member of three online book clubs, and I have one in-person book club. They all bring me joy. Sometimes, that joy is in the form of a book I was previously unaware of, like this one. It’s hard to describe this book without giving away major plot lines that would spoil the story…and I hate spoilers, so forgive me for writing what could end up being the vaguest review I’ve ever written. Mary is a woman with a dark past, and after finishing this book, I felt strongly that Mary should have stuck it out in New York and never gone back to her birthplace, sick aunt be damned. Alas, she didn’t stay in New York, she took her creepy dolls and flew west, back to a small, desert town populated with residents who had some questionable, um, hobbies…? This book includes some great examples of foreshadowing, though they’re relatively obvious. I recall, back when I was teaching English to middle schoolers, how much I wished I could use horror novels in my classroom, because they tend to include easy to point out examples of literary elements I was required to teach. This one has many, and it’s also funny, which would make it a great read for middle school kids (it’s a challenge to get a 13-year-old to WANT to read a book. There just isn’t enough high interest grade-level material). This book made me realize how much I continue, 13-years after I left the classroom, to analyze a book as though I’m planning on using it in my lesson plans. I took notes while reading then to add to my lesson plan, and I still take notes now to use when I write a review. I suppose, in a way, I’m still trying to teach literature. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It has all the elements of a horror that I want with the added bonus of humor. Funny horror, done well, makes for a great book. I appreciated many of the themes Cassidy threw into this story, and I loved both the foreword and afterward and what they brought to the story itself. For those horror fans: read this one.

This is an interesting book about a woman who returns to her childhood hometown, though she has few memories of said childhood. But things seem strange there, and she begins hallucinating, writing things she has no memory of writing—things she doesn’t even understand—and then people start dying. And it all seems connected to a serial killer who’d been captured and killed decades before.It’s rather difficult to review this book because so many of my thoughts can only be understood in the context of knowing certain elements of the plot that aren’t revealed until relatively late. However, I’m determined to provide a spoiler free review, so I’ll try to be vague about a few of these ideas.I suppose a good way to start would be simply to say that within the first few pages, I thought I had a pretty good idea of where the book was headed. Even after navigating a few twists and turns that seemed designed to throw the reader off the right path, I still had a lot of it figured out early on. But then, even after revealing I’d been correct, it took another massive turn and revealed that though I wasn’t wrong, there were a lot more moving parts than I’d originally anticipated. So in that regard it does a good job of keeping the reader guessing throughout.The characters are, for the most part, well-crafted and realistic. The lead character is largely relatable, if not entirely likable, and since the story is told from her perspective, trying to figure her our is a big part of what makes the book interesting. She’s not actually my favorite character in the story, though. That honor belongs to one of the supporting cast for reasons I can’t explain without spoiling the ending.With regard to the ending itself…that’s where I think the book went off track a bit. I was seriously enjoying the read right up until the climax, but I felt like that climax—and particularly the denouement—while not entirely unbelievable, sacrificed the quality of the story in favor of portraying the author’s message perhaps a bit too directly.Nevertheless, I still recommend it despite my complaints about the ending. And let’s be completely honest: ending horror stories is difficult, so if I couldn’t look past that, the genre would be a pretty barren field indeed.

There’s a corpse in the bathtub.. Of course there is, it’s textbook! This book was such a wild ride. Well written, creepy, gory, ghosty, confusion, I think even a little funny! That epilogue though!! Definitely going to check out more of his books!

What a ride! This was amazing. A woman turning 50 is fired from her long-term job and asked by her aunt to come take care of her as she's dying. Coming home to her small town is not what she expected. There is a bloody ghost haunting the bathtub shower. She sees ghosts all over town and the people are all odd and creepy.This was an exciting read. It starts creepy and just gets better and better. I didn't find it gross or scary but I loved the unusual plot. The twist was a surprise for me and the bloody showdown was great. I was a little disappointed with the end. I expected more but that didn't stop me from totally loving this book.

Mary Mary Mary…what a rollercoaster ride of a book! The horror coupled with beautiful writing was perfection. Very realistic depictions of loneliness and middle age made this novel one of the most original stories I’ve ever read. And the twists just kept on coming…

Incrivel

There just isn't enough supernatural horror about peri-menopausal women making terrifying discoveries about their pasts (plural) when they revisit their cult-driven desert hometowns, but 'Mary'is a great start.

Recommend but not for the faint of heart