Friday the 13th Book Roundup: Jeepers Creepers, Creepy Peepers

Happy Friday the 13th! Not so much a holiday per se, but definitely a day that keeps us all a little bit more on our toes. Creepy happenings and spooky things come out to play in the midst of a beautiful spring day.

So today I’d like to celebrate all things absolutely creepy with a book roundup edition featuring books with freaky eyes.

Have any of you ever seen the movie Jeepers Creepers? It was one of the first Rated R movies I ever saw. My boyfriend at the time and I snuck into it after purchasing tickets for another movie (because we weren’t old enough yet — only 15 or so). It absolutely grossed me out though. I had nightmares for weeks and even now some of the visuals are still with me.

I say all of that because one of the visuals, which I won’t get into detail about, had to do with eyes, hence the name of the movie. So I thought this would be a perfect roundup for Friday the 13th.

1) Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn’t want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash—but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

Acclaimed horror author Jonathan Maberry makes his young adult debut with this detail-rich depiction of a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has fallen, the dead have risen, and danger is always imminent.

2) Starters by Lissa Price

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie’s only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie’s head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator’s grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations’ plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .

3) Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey

Braden was born with witch eyes: the ability to see the world as it truly is: a blinding explosion of memories, darkness, and magic. The power enables Braden to see through spells and lies, but at the cost of horrible pain.

After a terrifying vision reveals imminent danger for the uncle who raised and instructed him, Braden retreats to Belle Dam, an old city divided by two feuding witch dynasties. As rival family heads Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe desperately try to use Braden’s powers to unlock Belle Dam’s secrets, Braden vows never to become their sacrificial pawn. But everything changes when Braden learns that Jason is his father–and Trey, the enigmatic guy he’s falling for, is Catherine’s son.

To stop an insidious dark magic from consuming the town, Braden must master his gift—and risk losing the one he loves.