Book Summary: Ankle Snatcher

Obey the rules. It’s the only way to survive the night in a short story about what hides in the dark by the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother—then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.

Grady Hendrix’s Ankle Snatcher is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.

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Book Review: Ankle Snatcher

I am continuing my reviews of the Creature Feature collection from Amazon Originals today with this review of Ankle Snatcher, by Grady Hendrix.

Marcus is a man haunted by his past. He meets a woman who matches his wit and seems haunted by hers. Could it be love? Or is it just the opening to a horrifying and tragic tale about inherited curses?

I won’t be the one to spoil it for you, but since it is in the Creature Feature collection, I’m sure you can draw your own conclusions about which direction this story takes.

I enjoyed Hendrix’s storytelling style a lot. This was my first introduction to his writing.

I listened to the Audible version of this book and found the narration to be enjoyable. It was about 45 minutes long, and I listened in one sitting.

Pros:

• Short (both the book and the Audible version)
• Attention grabbing
• Paced well
• Open-ended

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NEW from Grady Hendrix

There’s power in a book…

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, to give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).