The Pandora Room

March 1, 2019
The follow-up to the Bram Stoker Award-winning Ararat (2017) is another mythologically framed, horror-thriller hybrid. U.S. Department of Defense covert problem solver Dr. Ben Walker and UN executive Kim Seong are summoned to the border between Iraq and Turkey, where Dr. Sophie Durand may have found the fabled Pandora's Box deep in an underground city. Her diverse, international team of experts is trying to secure the box for history, but they are in mortal danger from armed jihadists and the infectious diseases and murderous ghosts seeping out of the box. Though the pacing is quick, and the action is cinematic, Golden provides a detailed setting and excellent character development. Where this novel shines is in the horror. The tension and fear are eerily realistic, while the supernatural monsters are unique and utterly terrifying. The many points of view portrayed ratchet up the dread in this smart, satisfying series that will appeal to fans of supernatural thrillers like Jonathan Maberry's Joe Ledger series and historically framed horror like The Hunger, by Alma Katsu (2018).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

November 15, 2018

In an older version of the well-known Pandora myth, both Pandora and her sister Anesidora had jars, one holding all the world's evils and the other all its blessings. Here, in a city in northern Iraq, archaeologists unearth a chamber whose walls bear testimony to that older version. But there's only one jar, and surrounding countries (not to mention jihadi forces) vie to grab it. But what does it contain? From the New York Times best-selling author of Ararat, Dead Ringers, and more,

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