The Dark thrills to look forward to: what to watch and read in October

 


JACKAL By Erin A Adams



A young Black girl goes missing in the woods outside her white rust belt town. But she's not the first—and she may not be the last. . . .

Liz Rocher is heading home for her best friend's wedding, and she is not looking forward to it; as a Black woman, Liz had a hard time growing up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a primarily white town. And then, on the wedding day, the couple's daughter, Caroline, vanishes—and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood.

Liz has seen this before:  Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in Liz's high school, disappeared into the woods and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart removed. And Keisha and Caroline are not the only ones. Someone is taking black girls.









From Catriona Ward comes the Shirley Jackson Award-winning novel Little Eve.

On an island in Scotland, a clan prepares to bring about the end of the world and its coming rebirth. The Adder is expected to arrive and deliver one of its members with its powers. The entire clan is prepared to fight for that honor, as is the young Eve, who might be even more eager than most.  But that is all halted when Chief Inspector Black is investigating a brutal murder. Soon all the secrets will be exposed.


THE MIDNIGHT CLUB on Netflix

The reaction to the trailer has been full of impatience; even if Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass is pumping out one horror gem after the other, audiences can get enough. And I am p[articularlly looking forward to this one:  Based on a nineties novel, it takes the teens in a haunted house trope and turns it on its head: these young people are terminally ill patients in a hospice, and instead of waiting to die, they form a club, telling each other's stories that will instead try to scare them to death. This quickly becomes a desperate plea, understandably so, not to die, to do everything in their power to stay alive. But, you know, that seems unlikely, and they make a pact that the first to die will contact the others. Here is the trailer:


 


 THE GOOD NURSE on Netflix

Maybe watching Five days at Memorial wet my appetite. Still, I am looking forward to this tale of this angel of death: The trailer starts so innocuously, but Oscar-winners  Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain play, respectively, Charles Cullen, a nurse who is confirmed to have killed at least 29 people ( but probably many many more) and the nurse how helped to catch him. Watch the trailer here




THE FAMILY GAME by Catherine Steadman




Harriet Reed has it all; she is about to become famous as a writer ( very hard to do!) and is engaged to Edward Holbeck, the heir of a powerful family. Edward tries not to let his family interfere in their lives, but he can no longer hold them back, and Harriet refuses to see how he sees them. So when Edward's father, Robert, hands Harriet a tape of a book he's been working on, she is more than willing to listen.

But as she presses play, she learns this is no novel. It's a confession to a murder.

Harriet doesn't understand why he would let her listen to it, but she is convinced that it is a test she must pass. She can now destroy her father-in-law. But why put her in this position? Is it all a game for this family?


SHANTARAM on Apple+


At Apple +, they must have thought, hey, shows with an unlikely transplant work well for us; look at all teh Emmy's Ted Lasso rakes in; let's do another. So, let's call Shantaram Ted Lasso in Bombay. If Ted was a former convict and sedate, Richmond was the chaotic Indian city. I am kidding. But only because this sounds as strange at first as the other show was.
Charlie plays a fugitive named Lin Ford, who flees to 1980s Bombay. And ex-pat life in extremis, Lin tries to better his life, but trouble follows him. Working as a doctor in the slums and meeting Karla, a fascinating woman, are his chances to find his path to something better.  Watch the trailer here