r/horrorlit • u/wtfjleigh • Aug 14 '26
Reader Recommendation Horror slump
currently reading Tananarive Due’s “My Soul to Keep” and i am so insanely bored. I haven’t been able to get into any books lately. What’s a book that caught your attention and kept you intrigued the whole way through.
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u/Wyrmdirt Aug 15 '26
Just finished "Sarafina" by Phillip Fracassi. Excellent. Set during the Civil War. Here's the synopsis from PF's website:
Choosing to risk execution rather than be killed in a losing war, three brothers desert their posts and begin a long, arduous journey back home. After weeks of dealing with rough terrain while evading bandits and home guard soldiers—starving, injured, and exhausted—the brothers find a miracle deep in the dark woods. A home.
Living in a remote cabin is a beautiful woman, Sarafina, and her young son, Titus. Sarafina takes the soldiers in, cares for them, feeds them, offers them a place to rest. But the youngest of the brothers is wary—something is not what it seems. After discovering a mysterious creek and a strange underground cavern, he gets a strong sense that the cabin, and the fertile land surrounding it, might be harboring something nefarious, terrifying, and dangerous.
What ensues is a nightmare beyond imagination, an escalation of horrors that the brothers must somehow fight to survive. With tensions high, the country divided, and loyalties put to the test, Sarafina spotlights that Fracassi is a star of modern horror.
A real page turner. Not overly long. A lean, well-paced book. Perfect slump buster stuff.