Hello St Marks

Be warned, this is not my brightest hour. You've heard of the Bridgertons? Netflix's most successful series, ever? I'd quietly read the first book in Julia Quinn's series last year, so—prompted by the outrageous success of the series—moved onto the second book, 'The Viscount Who Loved Me'. Oh my, it's just as silly as it sounds, but the silliness conceals a dark theme of power and submission played out in an escalating series of sexual assaults. That's not what Quinn calls it, of course. They get married in the end (spoiler, sorry), so all's well that ends well, but I was weirded out by it.  So then to Josh Malerman's 'Bird Box', another book later adapted for screen. I love an apocalypse story, and this one is solid. The world is overrun with creatures that turn you violently suicidal if you look at them. Four years on, Malory is raising twins behind shuttered windows, with blindfolds on, trained as babies to wake up without opening thei...