The Spire in the Woods by Tony Lunedi

 

The Spire in the Woods by Tony Lunedi, 201 pages, ⭐⭐⭐⭐

After discovering the suicide of a schoolmate may be connected to a local legend, a young man embarks on a quest to discover the truth. Why had Robert Edward Kennan killed himself? Was it because of a failed relationship or something more insidious?

Based on actual events, the Spire in the Woods is equal parts coming of age and ghost story. A candid account of one man's struggles with his mental health, his obsession with the supernatural, and the single biggest regret of his life.

This story was mostly scrubbed digitally and physically due to it being in production development for a film by Stephen Spielberg. I was able to listen to an audio reading of the story and really enjoyed it! 

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

 

Pet Sematary by Stephen King, 395 pages, ⭐⭐⭐⭐

When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son—and now an idyllic home. As a family, they’ve got it all... right down to the friendly car.

But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth—more terrifying than death itself—and hideously more powerful.

The Creeds are going to learn that sometimes dead is better.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

 

The Reformatory Tananarive Due, 576 pages, ⭐⭐⭐1/2 

Gracetown, Florida

June 1950

    Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

    Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.