5 Books I’m Excited for in 2019
Okay so this post is a little bit late. A month late to be exact, but hey, January sucks, long live February. Ever since the I started my bookstagram back in September of 2018, I've been discovering a lot of new books that appeal to my sensibilities. I read everything from hard science fiction to intense psychological thrillers and 2019 has some incredible new books I'm raring to read. To kick of this new era of The Nocturnal Report, I’d thought I’d start off by breaking down five new novels I'm excited for this year.
When the Sky Fell on Splendor
by Emily Henry
To say I love Stranger Things would be very much understating how much I actually loved Stranger Things. Everything from the aesthetic to the characters drew my 80s loving self in and so, naturally, anything that is marketed as being “in the same vein as Stranger Things” immediately flashes red on my radar. Such is the case with When the Sky Fell on Splendor, a young adult science fiction novel with just a dash of horror and a killer premise.
Set in the small town of Splendor, the novel follows a group of kids who call themselves The Ordinary who spend their free time exploring local ghost stories and legends. They film YouTube videos and have fun with their fleeting investigations all to help them collectively heal after a local steel mill explosion leaves the townsfolk in ruins.
Then, something incredible happens. Everything is fun until, as the synopsis reads, “one evening,when the strange and dangerous thing they film isn’t fiction–it’s a bright light, something massive hurtling toward them from the sky. And when it crashes and the teens go to investigate…everything changes.”
Billed as The Serpent King meets Stranger Things, Henry’s novel is one of my most anticipated books of the year. Its premise seems to blend together the best of classic “kids on a mission” films and books from the 80’s alongside a dash of modern YouTube culture to make something that is sure to capture the imagination.
When the Sky Fell on Splendor is set to be released on March 12th.
The Devouring Grey
By Christine Lynn Herman
Keeping on the Stranger Things train, April sees the release of Christine Lynn Herman’s The Devouring Grey. Set to be the first in a trilogy of young adult science fiction-horror novels, the novel focuses on Violet Saunders, the new girl at school in the rural New York town of Four Paths.
Once again, in the age of 80’s nostalgia, Herman’s novel is compared to Stranger Things only now it meets something different. Its a contemporary fantasy novel complete with established houses, sordid family trees and a thoroughly captivating central hook.
Four Path’s isn’t a normal town. It is surrounded by The Grey, a strange supernatural force that is home to an insidious monster. When Violet unwittingly unleashes the creature, it is up to her and the other children of the towns founders to uncover the truth behind their families. Its a premise that promises to combine the heartfelt supernatural action of the 80’s with the modern small town politics of Riverdale and I, for one, am very much here for it.
The Devouring Grey is set for release on April 2nd.
Lock Every Door
By Riley Sager
What happens if you take a mysterious apartment building inhabited by the rich an affluent, and mix in a ghost story and a set of strangely restrictive rules? You get Riley Sager’s Lock Every Door.
The book follows Jules Larsen, an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of New York’s most high-profile and strange buildings. Things start off normally for Jules, a “recently heartbroken and just plain broke,” woman, as she gets to know the other residents and building staff but things take a dark turn when she meets fellow apartment sitter Ingrid.
After inviting Jules into the dark and sordid history of the Bartholomew, Ingrid vanishes. It’s a novel that promises to blend a thrilling murder mystery with a sense of creeping dread.
From the synopsis, it looks as though the novel will draw from the strange urban clostrophobia that haunts the titular character in both the novel and film versions of Rosemary’s Baby. A sense of growing paranoia that those around you may know more than you do and that even the walls within which you inhabit may be out to get you.
Lock Every Door is set to be released on July 2nd.
The Institute
By Stephen King
Of course this list wouldn’t be complete without the master himself. The main reason why I read books is because I found the kids of Stephen King’s earlier novels so utterly captivating. From Danny Torrance and Bill Denbrough, King knows how to explore the dangers of youth and his new novel, The Institute, seems to be returning to similar themes.
Its set in a hidden facility called, you guessed it, The Institute, in the dark woods of Maine where abducted kids from all over the States are held. They are then, in true King fashion, tested for unique and strange supernatural abilities. The story follows 12-year-old Luke Ellis who joins forces with a group of The Institutes other inmates in order to combine their powers in the hopes of escape.
Its a novel that promises to harken back to the days of IT, Firestarter and The Shining complete with a strange supernatural world, a group of misfit kids and a battle against sinister adult overlords. If Stranger Things was a cover album, this is the return of the master.
The Institute is due out in September 2019.
Growing Things and Other Stories
by Paul Tremblay
I first discovered Paul Tremblay because of his appearance on the Shock Waves podcast. It was a fascinating chat where I learned, amongst other things, that Tremblay was a Maths teacher whilst also holding down a career as a novelist. Then I discovered his latest novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, and I was an immediate fan.
2019 sees Tremblay returning with a collection of short stories entitled Growing Things and Other Stories that include a series of novellas that connect back to his previous books. The act of an author referring back to their own books to suggest a wider universe was something I discovered, like most, with Stephen King. His interconnected universe of characters, tied together by The Dark Tower series, fuelled my obsessive need to read his entire bibliography.
Having loved Tremblay’s last book, I can’t wait to see how he expands upon the characters and worlds of his previous books to create, what I am now dubbing, the “Trembleverse”. With stories ranging from the meta “Notes from the Dog Walkers”, which might include a character from Tremblay’s second novel A Head Full of Ghosts, to the title story “Growing Things,” the anthology promises to further cement Tremblay as a horror author to watch.
Growing Things and other Stories is set to be released on July 2nd.
