A Book I Read: Cranberry Cove by Hailey Piper

Bram Stoker Award-winning author Hailey Piper joins Bad Hand Books with a supernatural crime novella.

Something unspeakable is happening at Cranberry Cove.

For decades, the chilling mystery within the derelict hotel has claimed those foolish and unwary enough to go inside.

Following the violent assault of a criminal kingpin’s adult son, enforcer Emberly Hale takes a dark journey into the haunted core of Cranberry Cove—and her own past—to find out the horrible truth.

Disclaimer: It should, of course, go without saying, but this is my personal opinion and nothing more. Yours may be different, and that's cool.

Daniel's thoughts:

Hailey Piper is a name that guarantees a brilliant read, and the announcement of anything new from her is pretty well guaranteed to result in my posting a gif of Fry from Futurama shouting SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY! Ever since I read The Worm And His Kings, I’ve been a huge fan, and I’ve loved everything I’ve read of hers.

Cranberry Cove is no exception.

Its protagonists are two gangland heavies, Emberly Hale and Conner Bohme, sent to investigate the long-abandoned inner city hotel Cranberry Cove after their boss’ son was sexually assaulted there. As they learn, the assailant isn’t corporeal, and initially seizes Emberly – but it only targets men, and Emberly, as a trans woman, doesn’t qualify. The presence is looking for a man – one very specific man. Emberly’s employer bars her from returning to the hotel; instead, she investigates the Cove’s history, trying to discover the assailant’s identity and that of its intended target. But Conner doesn’t believe in ghosts or demons; out of protectiveness towards his old friend, he returns to Cranberry Cove to find her attacker…

Cranberry Cove is the kind of narrative that Piper does so brilliantly: it has the pace of a relentless thriller, vivid and beautiful language, great characters and a genius for weaving the darkly magical into a fast-paced narrative, along with plenty of sharp and telling insights into society and sexuality. It has a particularly dark and noirish feel to it, and might be her bleakest long-form tale yet. It’s a terrific read and I devoured it in a couple of days (if I’d been less busy at the time, I might have polished it off in a single sitting.)

Is it a good place to start with Hailey Piper? I’d say anything of hers is a good place to start. And once you do, you’ll want more. Go read Cranberry Cove. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will, but it’ll be in a good way.

Mostly.

You can get hold of Cranberry Cove here.