{I've Been Reading} The Remaking

 

  The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman 

No one can forget the Witch Girl of Pilot Creek. Years ago, Jessica was burned to death with her mother, then buried in the local cemetery under a thick layer of concrete, her grave  surrounded by an iron fence made of interlocking crosses. No one wanted that little girl getting out. and no one will stop telling her story. There was that awful movie from the seventies and the remake two decades later that went terribly wrong, then the podcaster who decided to revisit the site with the actress who starred in both movies...

I absolutely loved the first three-quarters of this book, but the ending fell flat and left me disappointed. The author has a wonderful way of vividly describing things and bringing them to life and he perfectly captures that love for old horror movies and the independent video stores that came long before Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. 

 

The Prized Girl by Amy K. Green

This book has the feel of those young adult "problem novels" from the 1970s, this time written for adults and with a much bleaker outcome. A young pageant queen's murdered body is found in the woods and her estranged half-sister won't accept the official explanation. Virginia's life is wreck, but Jenny was seemingly perfect. The book alternates between Virginia's investigation and Jenny's life in the days leading up to her death and it had me holding my breath and trying to figure out what was going to happen. I loved this one.

 Disclosures -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy of The Remaking. I got The Prized Girl from the library. This post contains affiliate links.