Bedbugs

(Review originally published at Red Adept Reviews.)

Overall: 4 1/4 stars

Plot/Storyline: 4 1/4 stars

I genuinely liked it, but Bedbugs is definitely a slow burn, er, itch. There are no really big scary moments to be had, at least not for the vast majority of the book, and Mr. Winters took his time in ratcheting up the psychological tensions as opposed to the showy terror.

What we have is the story of a woman who, like most people, has reasonable fears and flickering moments of paranoia. As the book goes on, the reasonable fears grow and what was a flicker - the babysitter is probably a bit of a skank - becomes a steady light - the babysitter's skankiness makes her dirty and a danger to my home, the babysitter's skankiness makes her dirty and a danger to my home.

The question becomes if Susan is a reliable narrator and what, if anything, she observes is the truth, and what is her descent into madness? This is the level at which Bedbugs succeeds. Is she the sane? Is she insane? In either case, what will her beliefs make her do next?

Verdict: Don't read if you want big time scares, but if you like your horrors to build slowly, this bedbug should bite.

Characters: 4 stars

Susan is an interesting character and we spend a lot of time in her head, but other characters - like her husband - remain rather unformed. Some of this is probably about Susan's growing suspicions, but I still was left ambivalent toward him, and feeling like he was more a vaguely drawn figure than a fully realized person.

I never had any great warmth for Susan, but the author did a wonderful job of showing who she was at the beginning and then slowly taking her to a dark place. I enjoyed how a few thoughts that seemed so fleeting came back to become obsessions, as if the initial thoughts had deeper roots than first imagined.

Verdict: While I felt that some of the characters were given too little detail, the author did such a beautiful job with the main character and so I have to rate this pretty high.

Writing style: 4 ?? stars

Nicely done. Smart and capable! I felt like this writer knew what he wanted to do and just how to do it. While I wasn't dazzled, I was impressed. More than anything else, I want to feel the storyteller knows what the hell he's doing!