With her studio relying on AI to greenlight new projects, finding the next breakout series is Grace’s only shot to save her job. And her sanity.
Her solution may be Frank Pendleton: a brilliant but abrasive – and admittedly handsome – ghost hunter who claims he can’t feel fear, making him uniquely attuned to the paranormal.
Frank is either a fraud or the real deal. Skeptical, but hoping for TV gold, Grace assembles a crew to shoot a proof of concept.
But when the production descends into a nightmare, Grace is forced to face the impossible: ghosts are real, and though cold and distant, Frank may be their only chance of getting out alive.
Ok, I want to make something clear even though it won’t be clear at all really, and probably a little confusing: I will ALWAYS prefer if the dog lives in a horror novel/movie/show. Always. If you know me, that is probably the least surprising thing I could say.
My two dogs, quite honestly, represent an enormous part of the reason why I keep going in life, and I could never overstate their importance to me.
All that said, it isn’t necessarily a deal breaker for me if the dog (or cat, or other animal!) dies in a story. And I’m not sure there’s really a “formula” for me here, it’s just something that feels different on a case by case basis. There are dog deaths in certain stories that fucking gutted me, but didn’t necessarily “ruin” the story for me. The one in “Midnight Mass” is springing to mind here. Like that one upset me on a level I can’t fully explain, but I still love that show (I have 100% skipped “that scene” on a rewatch and would continue to do so).
And then there are certain dog deaths that have a way of really tainting my relationship with a story, and that brings me to BLACK TIDE by KC Jones.
I had actually read & loved KC Jones’s second book, WHITE LINE FEVER, first. Somehow BLACK TIDE was a book that I didn’t make the time for when it was released, but after being so impressed with WHITE LINE FEVER, I wanted to circle back to Jones’s first Nightfire book!
I’ll try to keep it kinda brief here & actually start reviewing the book I’m trying to review, but there’s a great dog named Jake in BLACK TIDE. He does so many amazing and brave things, while getting badly hurt in the process. And you could make the argument that Jake’s fate is left somewhat ambiguous, but…it’s kinda not. He doesn’t make it and it sucks. I just kept waiting for the two main (human) characters to find Jake at the last minute…like I sincerely was expecting it to happen, turning the pages, getting closer and closer to the end, feeling so anxious…and then I turned the last page and it was…devastation. Jake died & I fucking hated it, so much. I couldn’t even bring myself to review the book & I put my copy in a box of books to donate, because it really got to me and I didn’t want the book on my shelf.
So yeah, that’s the kind of reaction I can have when the dog dies, depending on the story.
Needless to say, when I got an email back in May about reviewing HOUSE HAUNTERS, KC Jones’s latest offering, I was thrilled to see this in the publicity email: “HOUSE HAUNTERS is Blair Witch’s own reality TV program, complete with vengeance-hungry ghosts, soulless TV producers – and, of course, Fishstick, the corgi sidekick. Don’t worry – the dog doesn’t die in this one!”
I haven’t read any reviews for BLACK TIDE, but the last line in that quote above leads me to believe I wasn’t the only person who had a strong/negative reaction to BLACK TIDE, and yeah, just so glad the folks at Nightfire thought to include that info in the email.
Grace Wonderly is a television producer, and she’s kind of fucking had it. What was once a job she was extremely passionate about has turned into a total grind, and the main reason why? AI. All ideas for new shows are now run through her studio’s proprietary AI, Criterion (dubbed the “Critter”). Grace’s boss, Chris, loves the Critter, while the whole pivot towards generative AI has left Grace feeling not just burned out, but worried about her job security.
Lucky for Grace she’s planning a week off in Portland, Oregon, visiting her best friend, Vanessa. Luckier still, Vanessa has recently had an interesting (possibly supernatural) encounter with a man named Frank Pendleton. Frank is quiet, serious, a little moody. He makes his living as a home inspector, but in other situations, he also moonlights as something of a ghost hunter.
Hey, why not. Get that roof inspected and have unfriendly spirits driven away from your home all in one shot? Worth it.
Always along for the ride with Frank is Fish Stick, his beloved Corgi. Not only is Fish Stick Frank’s best friend, she also acts as a living threat detector. Fish Stick can sense supernatural presences and give Frank the heads-up when some poltergeist might mean them harm, which is super helpful, because Frank? He doesn’t feel fear.
Like, at all.
So Grace begins to wonder…could this be the big break she desperately needs? A mashup of a home inspection reality show and a ghost hunting show, with grumpy (but good looking) Frank and his loyal Corgi as the stars? They give it a shot & things get spooky!
There’s something about the structure of this book that’s fundamentally different from what you might expect. Almost (but not quite) like a little trick by the author (and/or publisher) in a way. It’s not super spoilery but I don’t want to necessarily give it away here, either. But the book kind of subverts expectations in a way that was fun & surprising!
I’ve been working on this review for longer than I’d care to admit, and in the meantime it’s been kind of a nightmare couple weeks for me, so I’m wrapping this up in the interest of preserving some small portion of my fragile mental health.
But HOUSE HAUNTERS is a great book! Super character driven, a really unique premise, one Very Good Dog, and some excellent spooky scenes! It’s also a scathing indictment of AI in the arts, which was awesome to see. Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Nightfire for sending this one my way!
