Sister scaredy cats Lindsay and Barbara read, recap, and review horror novels, covering everything from chilling classics to terrifying new releases.
Lindsay and Barbara reminisce about all 100 books they've read so far and decide on an official top 10: 1. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones 2. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 3. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 4. Sundial by Catriona Ward 5. Lone Women by Victor LaValle 6. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill 7. The Troop by Nick Cutter 8. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty 9. Misery by Stephen King 10. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
READ THIS BOOK. Lindsay and Barbara recap William Peter Blatty's iconic novel of a little girl and the priests who try to save her from a disturbing demonic possession. Featuring: Lindsay's new bamboo, why Mom never believed in Satanism, and the terrible experience of powerlessness in the face of a child's suffering.
Lindsay and Barbara discuss Luke Dumas' museum-filled book about a nervous paleontologist and the ghost dinosaurs that haunt him. Featuring: The T-Rex that was at Lindsay's wedding, too much sister chitchat, how museums work, and the discovery of the bones of the ghost sister dinosaur!
Lindsay and Barbara talk through Christopher Golden's mediocre tale of an American couple who accidentally buy an ultra-haunted, demonic home in Sicily. Featuring: Barbara's review of the TWA Hotel, why you should always tell your grandma what house you're buying, exorcism murder ghosts, and a demon-worshiping realtor. Also – what IS Gumby?
Lindsay and Barbara recap Catriona Ward's confusing tale of a trio of friends in a book in the book and one's a witch and one's the son of a serial killer. Featuring: Pterodactyl sex novels, bffs on the beach, convoluted storylines, and teenage girl magic.
Lindsay and Barbara discuss Kiersten White's highly relatable and creepy tale of the adult survivors of a 90s children's TV show and the cult that created it all. Featuring: Lindsay's hangover, elementary school nostalgia, overcoming childhood trauma, and sacrificing yourself to be with your sister in a pocket universe. Love!
Lindsay and Barbara talk through Jo Nesbo's trippy weird novel about a teenage bully and the surreal hijinks that ensue. Featuring: Lindsay's Cruise Talk™ and recap, watching your friend get sucked into a phone, books in books, electro shock, and sideways trauma healing.
While Lindsay is off cruising around the Caribbean, Barbara, Jan, and Bruce discuss Richard Osman's thoroughly excellent murder mystery about a quartet of septuagenarians. Featuring: Mom's boxed wine, the HOA President, Helen Mirren, and more.
Lindsay and Barbara recap Emily Ruth Verona's take on the ‘90s babysitter slasher. Featuring: Lindsay's first mammogram, what someone did on shrooms, mean teens, and a twist you'll never see coming.
Lindsay and Barbara talk through Riley Sager's haunted house novel of a traumatized interior designer returning to her haunted childhood home, Featuring: SO MUCH CHITCHAT, bad titles, hot Dane, and twisty turny twists,
Lindsay and Barbara discuss Darcy Coates' terrifying tale of scuba divers exploring a wrecked ghost ship filled with super haunted underwater zombies. Featuring: big deep watery hugs, trauma redemption, and the number one best reason to not retrieve your girlfriend's family's heirloom engagement ring.
Lindsay and Barbara dig into Steven L. Peck's mind-melting tale of a Morman man in a library hell containing every book that could ever be written. Featuring: Sister tattoos, Zoroastrian traditions, and hell's greatest meat bone flutist – Lindsay.
Lindsay and Barbara talk through Ari Aster's flower-bedecked horror show about a group of young Americans visiting a Swedish cult for their murderous midsummer festival. Featuring: Pubic hair pie, dirty folk art, and watching your terrible boyfriend burn alive while sewn into a bear carcass. Like ya do.
Lindsay and Barbara discuss Ling Ling Huang's physical horror novel skewering the wellness and beauty industry. Featuring: Holiday updates, freaky beauty treatments, cannibalism, and Zoroastrian sky burials.
Lindsay and Barbara talk through Iain Reid's surreal thriller about a girl meeting her boyfriend's parents at their creepy farmhouse. Featuring: Barbara's embarrassing tumble down the stairs, Lindsay's favorite Xmas movie, creepy confusion, and our proposed Captain Planet reboot starring Greta Thunberg, directed by Greta Gerwig.
Lindsay and Barbara talk about Craig DiLouie's wackadoo novel about the child survivors of a mysterious death cult as they grapple with their trauma 15 years later. Featuring: Self mutilation, emo music, recovered memories, and how Lindsay would be a great cult VP.
Lindsay and Barbara recap Daniel Kehlmann's novella about a struggling screenwriter driven mad by an isolated vacation house that's also a rift in the space-time continuum? Featuring: The world's worst blurb, calling my sister “middle aged,” Besties II, and using the word hypotenuse in everyday speech.
Lindsay and Barbara discuss Erin Bowman's scary-in-space novel about a crew attempting to escape an alien infection. Featuring: Dream interpretation, losing and finding Barbara's phone, scary space zombies, Dr. Lady, and transportation narcolepsy.
Lindsay and Barbara dig into David Mitchell's tale of a mysterious London house that only appears every nine years and the people who go missing there. Featuring: Red bland wine, physical therapy, soul-slurping siblings, lacunae, deadly hatpins, and more.
NOT SCARY – Lindsay talks Barbara through the first of Sarah J. Maas' ultra-popular sexy fairy books. Featuring: Magic psychic fairy bonds, masque masks, will-they-won't-they, and more totally fun non-scary things.
Barbara tells Lindsay about Camille DeAngelis' cannibal-coming-of-age story. Featuring: The New York Marathon, delicious boys, surprise grandpas, and Timothée Chalamet.
5Lindsay and Barbara recap Edgar Allen Poe's iconic short story about a dude visiting his depressed friend in a creepy mansion. Featuring: Non-scary book obsessions, the spirits of vegetable things, Notting Hill, and critical criticisms.
Lindsay first shares her hilariously harrowing experience with an intoxicated woman at the Denver Airport. Then the sisters discuss Joan Samson's chilling novel about a small New Hampshire town that gets taken over by a conman auctioneer. Featuring: New England antiques, the lure of land, child auctions, and Watching the New Baby.
Lindsay and Barbara talk through Danielle Valentine's meh novel about an anxious millennial who gets pregnant and miscarries (but doesn't?). Featuring: Spilled wine, telling-not-showing, and putting your soul into the body of your best friend's dead baby.
Lindsay and Barbara recap one of the greatest short stories ever written – Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. Featuring: Sound description of an accordion, sore losers, and human sacrifice.
Lindsay and Barbara talk about Kathe Koja's “punk existentialist horror novel” about a mysterious hole and the people obsessed with it. Featuring: Exploding mouse skulls, scary porn, art weirdo cult followers, goo cocoon, and an antidote to happiness.
Lindsay and Barbara discuss Matt Shaw's badly written but excellently recappable tale of a dad gone wild. Featuring: Twirly hands, Father Time, how Barbara would rewrite this book, and dogs that talk with buttons.
Lindsay and Barbara recap Clive Barker's iconic novella about a dissolute dude who tries to claw his way out of hell and the sister-in-law who helps him. Featuring: Super scary cenobites, a trip to the mall, sad-sack friends, and more.
Lindsay and Barbara talk about Gillian Flynn's twisted short story about a fake psychic pulled into a dangerous family haunting. Featuring: a chilly-holdie, hand jobs, creepy teens, and more.
Lindsay and Barbara discuss Victor LaValle's discomfiting tale of a man wrongly held in a mental hospital terrorized by “the devil.” Featuring: Seahawks training camp, mental diagnoses, and all the pronunciations of the word “woman.”
Lindsay and Barbara recap Gerardo Sámano Córdova's magical realist tale of grieving parents growing a new creature from a piece of their son's dead body. Featuring: Light cannibalism, fluid sexualities, barking dogs, and more.
Lindsay and Barbara are joined by infamous cousin-friends Matt & Tyler to dissect Stephen Graham Jones' genre-film-inspired novella. Featuring: Return to the creepy boathouse, decidedly non-magical mental illness, high school friend dynamics, and much much more!
Lindsay and Barbara catch up after weeks and weeks of not recording and briefly recap Algernon Blackwood's iconic proto-Lovecraftian tale The Willows. Featuring: Diana Krall! Therapy! Indescribable cosmic creatures!
Lindsay and Barbara chat about Elizbeth Hand's acid-folk-fuelled oral history of a 70s band's pagan breakdown. Featuring: Wren witch faeries, grimoires, a neolithic mound shaped like half an egg, doggie-horsie-this-book, and our mother singing Arlo Guthrie.