This was a title that came out of nowhere. I was at a going-out-of-business sale at a bookstore and picked up the hardcover for this book. I'll admit that it was based on cover art alone, though the synopsis ensnared me quickly.

I would call this a "folk horror coming of age novel," though it also has strong elements of military PTSD, family strife, grief, friendship, and contemporary world vs ancient world. This is marketed as a book for teens and reads that way, so while the prose is perhaps less complex, the subject matter is engaging and the story well told.

Space Boy is the most thoughtful, character-driven comic I have ever read! Perfect for both children and adults, this story intimately reflects the everyday pains, joys, and friendships of life all through a futuristic Sci-Fi setting.

This book, along with the rest of the series, has truly become one of my all-time favorites! So relatable and healing for anyone who has been through traumas such as moving, loss, and PTSD. And all done in an extremely sensitive and deft manner. The best thing is, it is available as a free webcomic as well as in print—although I absolutely adore the physical copies! 

You don't have to be a cult survivor to have been abused by a traumatizing narcissist, but if you are a survivor, this book is essential and indispensable. I've recommended it countless times, not just to cult survivors for whom it is written, but to others who have broken free from abusive relationships.

When I left a cult in 1994, my shame and my feeling of isolation felt like a prison. This book put me on the road to freedom. It has everything you need to know about what to expect and how to navigate re-entry into your own life, a life that can be free from undue influence and control. 

Broken People is about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and the need to work through it. It's also about policework, bad choices, family dynamics, and second chances. Broken People is the third in the author’s The Lawman Series. You’ll want to read the other books because of Will Diaz, the Lawman himself, but also a rich community of compelling characters, including one called Zorro. Someone should make a movie of this one.

I also said of Sullivan’s Sleeping Bear, “This guy gets it.”

In particular, Connor captures the internal, psychological symptoms of PTSD with his protagonist Cassie Gale, an Army veteran that experiences a soul-shattering trauma.

As a result, Gale withdraws into herself, isolates and seeks solitude away from all her friends and family, and misleads people on her wellbeing, mental state, and readjustment after the event. 

What I found particularly intriguing about Sullivan’s debut novel was the dual aspect of both Cassie’s symptoms, and that of the buried emotions and memories of her dad.

As the plot unfolds and Cassie’s father Jim is pulled into the story, he experiences his own psychological symptoms as events from his service are recollected, all while wrestling with the undeniable panic of a parent worried sick over the fate of their child.

I again was surprised to learn that Connor wasn’t a veteran, as… show more.

There is nothing else in the world like The Imaginary Corpse. Tippy is a stuffed triceratops detective trapped in the Stillreal after he is no longer needed. But there’s a serial killer targeting imaginary friends, and Tippy must work through his trauma to save the Stillreal. This book is somehow both dark and warm—like a needed hug after a traumatic experience. Anyone who suffers from PTSD should give it a shot. Or anyone who just likes a completely unique story.

This book opened the window to my mom and her sisters’ experiences in the last months of the war. I was blown away. It validated my mom’s memories in a way that no other book had up to this point. Growing up on the Canadian prairies I had little patience for my family’s memories filled with pain and suffering. Finally, I understood, that my mom had her own PTSD... something that I inherited and I feel compelled to explore.

Norco '80 is the kind of book that sticks with you long after you’ve finished reading it.

Peter Houlahan captures late 1970s Southern California in all its strangeness and gives a blow-by-blow account of one of America’s wildest bank robberies with perfect pacing that continues to ratchet up the action page after page. The shockingly violent robbery by five landscapers whose leader was an apocalyptic born-again Christian reshaped American law enforcement.

And we’re still feeling the aftereffects more than forty years later in the form of militarized police forces across the country. It’s a book that will keep you up at night telling yourself you’ll quit reading after one more chapter but, most likely, you’ll just keep going. 

This comprehensive book provides information on the impact of COVID worldwide as it is currently understood, so future researchers will have a basis for comparison. The book’s authors address factors such as lockdowns, job loss, grief, and uncertainty that have led to depression, distress, anxiety, and PTSD. Also covered is how different world populations as refugees, at-risk populations as the elderly and frail, and roles as parents have been both mentally and physically impacted. This information will help communities develop programs to help relieve mental health concerns and protect people against similar threats in years to come. The book also includes wellness activities like meditation that help reduce the negative effects of COVID on mental health.

Robin Robertson’s noir narrative The Long Take might seem like an unusual choice for this list.

Essentially a long noir poem, The Long Take concerns Walker, a Canadian veteran of D-Day with acute PTSD who finds life unraveling in the urban landscapes he inhabits after the war.

With a poet’s precision, Robertson follows Walker as he moves from city to city, taking it all in. Homelessness, crime, race—nothing is spared.

Why, you’d think you were in a 40s film noir, reading about it all, and then you find Walker on the streets of LA in 1948 seeing some of those very films being shot, films like Act of Violence and Criss Cross.

An outstanding achievement, The Long Take is a wholly original work of art.