James Nicoll Reviews

The Woods Are Waiting by Katherine Greene (July 2023)

In the tradition of Lisa Jewell and Ruth Ware, Katherine Greene’s debut thriller is a dark descent into the sinister traditions and customs of a small town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Yet no superstition will prepare childhood friends Cheyenne and Natalie for the macabre truth that awaits them. 

Cheyenne Ashby knows the dark and disturbing history of her hometown of Blue Cliff, Virginia, all too well. It’s why she left. Growing up deep within the woods with her eccentric mother, Constance, she was raised on the unusual customs and generational superstitions linked to the local legend of an evil entity that haunts the forest. 

Five years ago, the bodies of three children were found in the woods. It was a man — not a mythical beast — named Jasper Clinton who was convicted of these heinous crimes. For five years the town breathed just a bit easier with a real-life monster behind bars. 

But when another child goes missing, Cheyenne and Natalie are determined to discover the truth and uncover the town’s dangerous secrets rooted in its terrifying past. 

The two women must confront the reality of the superstitions they always believed in and their town’s complicated connection with who — or what — lives in the woods. 

Moths by Jane Hennigan (March 2023)

A thrilling dystopia, in turns heart-breaking and heart-pounding

Where were you at the beginning?
Or at the end?
And where are we all now?

Forty years ago, the world changed. Toxic threads left behind by mutated moths infected men and boys around the globe. Some were killed quietly in their sleep, others became crazed killers, wildly dangerous and beyond help. All seemed hopeless. 

But humanity adapted, healed and moved on. Now matriarchs rule, and men are kept in specially treated dust-free facilities for their safety and the good of society, never able to return to the outside. 

Mary has settled into this new world and takes care of the male residents at her facility. But she still remembers how things used to be and is constantly haunted by her memories. Of her family, of her joy, of… him. 

Now the world is quiet again, but only because secrets are kept safe in whispers. And the biggest secret of all? No one wants to live inside a cage… 

Exploring male violence against women, homo-normativity, and gynocracy, Moths is a powerful assessment of life through the lens of a main character in her 70s. A remastered and revitalised version of the previously self-published, smash-hit dystopian thriller by the same name, Moths shows us a new, post-pandemic world. 

Burrowed by Mary Baader Kaley (January 2023)

If you had to endure a debilitating condition of body or mind, which would you choose? In this world, everyone suffers.
—

In the distant future, a genetic plague has separated humanity in two – Subterraneans who live in underground burrows to protect their health, and strong surface-dwelling Omniterraneans. 

Zuzan Cayan, a brilliant Subter girl with ​“light blindness,” is about to leave the safety of her burrow and earn a living. With her low life expectancy, however, her options are slim. That is until she’s offered the chance of a lifetime to study the population’s broken genetic code, fix the divide and reunite the world once again. 

But when a new virus turns fatal for the Omnits, Zuzan must find a cure or humanity won’t simply remain separate, it will become extinct. 

With enemies on all sides, Zuzan must hold on to the light at the end of the tunnel – or risk the world falling into darkness.

Critical Mass by Daniel Suarez (January 2023)

In New York Times bestselling author Daniel Suarez’s latest space-tech thriller, a group of pioneering astropreneurs must overcome never-before-attempted engineering challenges to rescue colleagues stranded at a distant asteroid — kicking off a new space race in which Earth’s climate crisis could well hang in the balance.

When unforeseen circumstances during an innovative — and unsanctioned — commercial asteroid-mining mission leave two crew members stranded, those who make it back must engineer a rescue, all while navigating a shifting web of global political alliances and renewed Cold War tensions. With Earth governments consumed by the ravages of climate change and unable to take the risks necessary to make rapid progress in space, the crew must build their own nextgen spacecraft capable of mounting a rescue in time for the asteroid’s next swing by Earth.

In the process they’ll need to establish the first spin-gravity station in deep space, the first orbiting solar power satellite and refinery, and historic infrastructure on the moon’s surface — all of which could alleviate a deepening ecological, political, and economic crisis back on Earth, and prove that space-based industry is not only profitable , but possibly humanity’s best hope for a livable, peaceful future.

The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan (February 2023)

Action, intrigue, and magic collide in the second book in an epic fantasy trilogy, where Sir Konrad Vonvalt’s role as an Emperor’s Justice requires him to be a detective, judge, and executioner all in one — but these are dangerous times to be a Justice …

A Justice’s work is never done. The Battle of Galen’s Vale is over, but the war for the Empire’s future has just begun. Concerned by rumors that the Magistratum’s authority is waning, Sir Konrad Vonvalt returns to Sova to find the capital city gripped by intrigue and whispers of rebellion. In the Senate, patricians speak openly against the Emperor, while fanatics preach holy vengeance on the streets.

Yet facing down these threats to the throne will have to wait, for the Emperor’s grandson has been kidnapped — and Vonvalt is charged with rescuing the missing prince. His quest will lead him – and his allies Helena, Bressinger and Sir Radomir – to the southern frontier, where they will once again face the puritanical fury of Bartholomew Claver and his templar knights – and a dark power far more terrifying than they could have imagined.