As we sit here on the tipping point of another year, I join in many of my other colleagues in recounting what i’ve read this year. Or more accurately what I’ve digested this year, as most titles I read were through an audiobook format. My list includes novellas, novels, anthologies, collections, and many, many short stories. I’ll also note my favorite reads at the end.

By the numbers, a total of 31 books read, and three did not finishes, as well as several books still reading through and I hope to finish soon (including in the middle of reading books from from Hailey Piper, Jack Ketchum, Laurel Hightower, and Clive Barker). I also read many parts of anthologies, but not the whole book (so I didn’t count them). There’s a good mix of old stories and classics, as well as some very new stories — even two ARCs.

Without further delay, I wish you a Happy New Year and an enjoyment of my 2022 Reading Wrap-up (in no particular order):

• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix – I liked it!
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – a classic that I wanted to read again and loved again
• An Open Spook by E.J. Cooperman – it was well-written, but didn’t work for me
• Yard Work by David Koepp – loved it, and ripped right through it. Reminded me of Nick Cutter’s “The Troop”
• The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates – my first novel from Ms. Coates, and it was well-written and I liked it, but not what I had hoped for. I’ll check out another from her soon.
• The Best of the Year, Vol 8 edited by Ellen Datlow – a great collection
• The Wehrwolf by Alma Katsu – awesome, really enjoyed this one and I didn’t figure out how the resolution was going to come until the Nazis did… which was TOO LATE! Enjoyed this, nicely done!
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle – great start and had a very interesting hook, also reminiscent of Bioshock 3, but it got a little too funky at the end and attenuated. It was a good read, and I’d recommend it.
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman – enjoyed it, but also got a little far out at the end
• Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak – enjoyed this one a lot, and the great way the character and story arcs were crafted — strong recommendation!
• The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay – my least favorite Tremblay book, maybe but the formatting which is unique, but I liked the concepts here which were inventive and created many guessing games (I have none right). Check it out!
• A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay – a back-to-back Paul T session, and this one was really good — as advertised. Highly recommend.
• Hide by Kiersten White – what a great idea for a story and I really enjoyed how it started out, reminiscent of Hungry Games and almost a little like Squid Games/Saw, but it got really wonky at the end there, and I thought it would have gone many different ways. Either way, it’s a good read and I would recommend it.
• Slewfoot by Brom – absolutely fantastic, an engaging read from page one, with an ending as exciting as ever. One of my top favorite horror stories ever.
• Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes – I hate all things cosmic, but went with this recommendation based on reviews, and I loved it — it was fantastic. Seriously, this was so good and very inventive, I highly recommend this novel — I blitzed through it.
• Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones – it was good, had some great ideas, but it missed for me. SGJ’s writing style, however, is very easy to digest and enjoy — the most simplistic yet complex composition out there, if that makes sense. I still find “Only the Good Indians” as my favorite thing ever written by him, and one of my favorite horror novels.
• A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson – started fantastic, with a great premise and imagery, but the ending was just so-so as it progressed. Nonetheless, it was still great.
• The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig – highly skilled writing style, and a great idea and premise, but just didn’t do it for me.
• Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica – unapologetically graphic, with a great premise and an ending that you think you see coming, and when it starts to fold you think you got it right — but I assure you, that you don’t. Loved it, but not for everyone.
• Nothing but Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw – strong imagery and vocabulary, which sometimes draws away from the story. It’s well-written and a great premise, but missed a little for me.
• Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney – couldn’t get into it, despite the strong reviews. Well-written though, and a great concept. Just didn’t work for me.
• Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay – excellent story that is fast-paced and a page turner. I binged this in 2-4 days (which is fast for me as a father and with multiple jobs). My favorite or a close second favorite from Paul T.
• We Have Always Lived in a Castle by Shirley Jackson – great story, as you can expect, from SJ.
• Wonderland by Zoje Stage – started a little slow for me and the ending got wonky, but I liked a lot of the middle and the premise here. I found some parts creepy too. A recommended read for sure.
• The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum – it’s horrifying because it’s not to farfetched, although it is traumatizing, graphic, and outright devastating for the uninitiated reader. I highly recommend it, but it’s not for everyone.
• Off Season by Jack Ketchum – I guess a had a little bit of a dark here with his two books and “Tender is the Flesh,” but this story — which is definitely not for everyone, and is pure splatter punk at times — was fantastic. The dread that was created in THAT scene, where you knew what was happening before it did to Carla, still sticks with me.
• My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones – he’s a great writer, and I loved “Only the Good Indians” which is one of my all-time favorite horror novels, but I couldn’t get into this story or see the hype. Some lovers of this book didn’t like “Indians,” so many it is a matter of tastes, but I couldn’t get into it. That’s not to say that it was well-written by a master of the craft, but it did not work for me.
• Hell’s Gulf by Nick Carlson – the dialogue here is as natural and as authentic as it could come. I thought it was well-written and I enjoyed most of it, but the ending was either a little too much of a trope or a little predictable. That does not, however, depreciate from the expert use of language. Seriously — Carlson runs a clinic here how to write dialogue that you can tell the characters from their words without any labels by the first few chapters. A sleeper pick to go check out!
• Baby is a Best Thing Whispered by Keely O’Shaughnessy – here’s a collection that is more dark than horror, but it was a great debut. You’ll rip through it in a sitting or two, and there are some stories in there which would be great seeds to longer stories. One story that still sticks with me… well, really THAT imagery, is the baby teeth hammered in the tree… yeah, check this one out if you want to learn more!
• Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones – I liked it, but not as much as the reviews would indicate.
• The Bird Eater by Ania Ahlborn – didn’t enjoy this at all, although it had some good imagery moments. But just not for me or commensurate with the other strong reviews.
• Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones – I didn’t like the story, the plot just didn’t work, but the concepts and ideas here are the most unique and fantastic twists on werewolves, and I absolutely loved those concepts.

I may have missed some books, and I apologize to those authors, but I tried to gather them all the best I can from memory and from my apps/notes that recorded my history.

As for my top favorite reads for this year, here they are:

• Slewfoot 
• Dead Silence
• Survivor Song
• The Girl Next Door
• Yard Work
• Off Season
• Tender is the Flesh

I would say most horror fans would enjoy Slewfoot, Dead Silence, Survivor Song, and Yard Work very much. The Girl Next Door would be for those who are more adventurous, and Off Season and Tender is the Flesh for those who can handle splatter punk and graphic horror.

Happy New Year all! I look forward to 2023, and I hope to post some more specific reviews for these next year — as well as finish drafting my first novella!

Be well and best fortunes.

–Nick

also known as: N. A. Battaglia

future penname: [upon my first novella or novel publication!]