Dark Books Coming Out in July 2024 part 2 of 2

Memories of the Lost, by Barbara O’Neal (Lake Union Publishing, July 30, 2024)

Months after her mother dies, an artist sees a painting in a gallery that makes her lightheaded and dizzy. A handsome stranger comes over to help her. She later discovers a document in her mother’s papers that makes her realize her whole life has been a lie. She enters into a fugue state, finds a lead to the painting that started it all, and retreats to a remote seaside village to discover the source of her uncanny inspirations.

https://amzn.to/45NhdTW

Midnight Rooms, by Donyae Coles (Amistad, July 2, 2024)

In 1840s England, the orphaned daughter of a white man and black woman is offered marriage by a wealthy stranger. She accepts the opportunity, and is whisked off to his surprisingly decaying family manor. The servants are skittish, and she’s never allowed to be outside unaccompanied. Her husband is kind, but she begins getting drowsy at dinners, having macabre nightmares and waking up hearing screams in the night. In the morning, she finds bruises on her body.

https://amzn.to/3VM1QGD

The Moonlight Market, by Joanne Harris (Pegasus Books, July 2, 2024)

I am a huge fan of Joanne Harris and I’m extremely excited for this book. It’s set in London, where young orphaned photographer Tom walks around the city photographing interesting things. He meets Vanessa. He followers her into a mysterious secret alternate world that’s hiding in plain sight on the streets and rooftops of London. It’s inhabited by strange colorful beings who are at war with each other – one nocturnal, and one in the light.

https://amzn.to/3L8Hxyl

My Mother Cursed My Name, by Anamely Salgado Reyes (Atria Books, July 30, 2024)

Felicitas finally meets her estranged grandmother, who turns out to be cold, strict, and dead. The grandmother decides the only way she can cross over is to make sure her daughter is in a better place in life (work, husband, God, etc) and the only person who can hear the grandmother is Felicitas.

https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Cursed-Name-Novel/dp/1668038005/

Nicked, by M.T. Anderson (Knopf/Doubleday, July 23, 2024)

Set in Italy in 1087, where a pox is sweeping through the city. A lowly monk is visited by Saint Nicholas in his dreams; and a charismatic treasure hunter seeks the monk’s help to steal a mysterious liquid from Saint Nicholas’ grave to cure the plague.

https://amzn.to/4eHK0xc

Pink Slime, by Fernanda Trias (Scribner, July 2, 2024)

Dystopian. An algae bloom has poisoned the air and a city is ravaged by plague. A mysterious corporation makes the only food people can safely eat, a disgusting pink paste made out of who-knows-what. A woman struggles to stay and survive in the city and keep her few tenuous relationships alive.

https://amzn.to/3zhzQmD

State of Paradise, by Laura van der Berg (Farrar Strauss Giroux, July 9, 2024)

In Florida, a mysterious illness arrived, made people sick, then disappeared. Weird things start happening, and a company called Electra starts handing out a mind bending virtual reality device. A ghostwriter for a thriller author notices w