Mr. McCane
For me, this book hit on so many levels. It gave me some of the same feelings I had when I read The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, that social horror. The kind of horror that’s only relatable to certain groups of people, especially those who grew up in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Imagine if S.A. Cosby and Tananarive Due wrote a book together.
This story follows a mother who has recently lost one of her three sons to gun violence and is desperately trying to protect her other two from suffering the same fate. It takes place in a public housing project in Medford, Michigan (a fictional setting), and includes a supernatural element that makes it stand out.
What’s beautiful about this book is the top-tier storytelling, which perfectly captures the feel of these environments. I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, and this book felt so real that I kept having flashbacks to my childhood. Terrible memories of horror, and reoccurring and generational trauma.
The author captures not only how dangerous it can be to grow up as a young Black male, but everything that comes with it: a mother’s screams after losing a child, the emptiness left by absent fathers, the constant feeling of not mattering, and the always present risk of gun violence from guns that seem endlessly accessible for reasons we still don’t fully understand.
I was very impressed by this author. The ending was wild and left me sitting with my thoughts for about 30 minutes.
This isn’t a book filled with jump scares. Instead, it focuses on the horror of living in Hester Gardens. I immersive-read this one, switching between the audiobook and the physical copy. The narrator did an amazing job. This will definitely be one of my top reads of 2026.
For me, this book hit on so many levels. It gave me some of the same feelings I had when I read The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, that social horror. The kind of horror that’s only relatable to certain groups of people, especially those who grew up in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Imagine if S.A. Cosby and Tananarive Due wrote a book together.
This story follows a mother who has recently lost one of her three sons to gun violence and is desperately trying to protect her other two from suffering the same fate. It takes place in a public housing project in Medford, Michigan (a fictional setting), and includes a supernatural element that makes it stand out.
What’s beautiful about this book is the top-tier storytelling, which perfectly captures the feel of these environments. I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, and this book felt so real that I kept having flashbacks to my childhood. Terrible memories of horror, and reoccurring and generational trauma.
The author captures not only how dangerous it can be to grow up as a young Black male, but everything that comes with it: a mother’s screams after losing a child, the emptiness left by absent fathers, the constant feeling of not mattering, and the always present risk of gun violence from guns that seem endlessly accessible for reasons we still don’t fully understand.
I was very impressed by this author. The ending was wild and left me sitting with my thoughts for about 30 minutes.
This isn’t a book filled with jump scares. Instead, it focuses on the horror of living in Hester Gardens. I immersive-read this one, switching between the audiobook and the physical copy. The narrator did an amazing job. This will definitely be one of my top reads of 2026.