Hey all, hope you're doing well.
I've recently returned to reading after a long hiatus. I'm looking for a mystery book with genuine supernatural elements to it – Lovecraftian, ghosts, demons, vampires, magic etc.
A few preferences:
- Any protagonist outside of law enforcement / private detective / 'gentleman' criminal
- A slow, sustained buildup of mystery – I felt that 14 by Peter Clines was really great in this regard, even if the last third of the book didn't match up to the rest. Contrast this with Pines by Blake Crouch – not a bad book, but I felt that the author cranked up the volume too much, too soon and maintained it at that level for too long.
- Male protagonist preferred. Female is fine too, so long as the book doesn't end up turning into teenage/YA Twilight-ish romance. Sincere apology to any fans of that series – don't mean to offend anybody, but it's not my cup of tea. Well-written romance between adults is fine, as long as it doesn't crowd out the other elements. Adult themes are OK, if it ends up being that.
- Nothing too dark – e.g. a lot of Stephen King's great works would fit, but many of them get rather bleak and grim ( Salem's Lot, Pet Semetary ).
- Easy to follow prose, if possible (14, Pines, Salem's Lot etc. were all fine in this regard) – it's been a long while, very elaborate purple prose will probably fry my poor mind, as it is today.
by ForeverIntoTheLight