Beholder by Ryan La Sala

Source: NetGalley, thank you to the publisher!
TL;DR: If you like Spiders or Existential Dread in your horrors this could be for you, but overall pretty bland for me.

Plot: Thought it felt a bit convoluted at the beginning the plot was pretty solid. The twist was interesting, though not whole unexpected
Characters: Fairly standard fair for a Young Adult book. None particularly stood out and others were flatter than a sheet of paper
Setting: New York is a strong character here, the different locations and winding streets, but it’s appearances feel brief. This might have aided the book if we’d had more of that aspect
Horror: Maybe a 4 out of 5 on this one. I am not at all scared of spiders (I love them in fact) so the monster between mirrors didn’t phase me. The wallpaper though – that was creepy

Thoughts:

Beholder by Ryan La Sala is an interesting horror read for me. I’ve been exploring the genre more and more in the past few years and this might be the first time I’ve found a book that seems to target two specific phobias that simply completely miss me. Spiders and a sense of existential dread.

This follows Athan, who is the bearer of a family curse that means he’s unable to really look in the mirror. After surviving a party turned massacre he gets caught up on the run from those who seem to be hunting his family and him. He ends up in the company of Dom, a young man of considerable artistic talent and an equal amounts of secrets.

The biggest part of this I enjoyed was the nod to The Yellow Wallpaper which is one of my favorite classical horror works. There are hints at a great exploration of art and horror and what art can do to the masses. The book was fast paced and the plot drove this forward, if you want a fast YA Horror this would definitely fit that bill.

Outside of that the story was actually a little bland for me. The characters didn’t hold much personality outside of what we’re told. Additionally the biggest horror elements, a large spider and the dread of something catching you or the end of things, both completely slid past me. I am not scared of spiders in the least, in fact I love them. And I don’t particularly struggle with any kind of dread of this style. And the story seemed to really hinge on those. If that’s something you’re into (or in this case scared of) you’ll probably enjoy getting the pants scared off of you.

Overall this wasn’t a bad read, there were some strengths I genuinely enjoyed. However it’s reliance on some (in my opinion) generic horror motifs caused it to fall flat. If you enjoy YA Horror or like those two elements in horror, this is probably going to be for you.

3 out of 5 creepy, crawling wallpapers.