Normal for the Spider

by Hank Schwaeble

From Bram Stoker Award winning author Hank Schwaeble, Normal for the Spider is a spine-tingling thriller that will keep readers hooked to the very last page.

Sienna Shaw is an apex predator. She kills without remorse when it suits her purposes, steals from those she judges undeserving of what they have, lives by her own set of rules. Just don't call her a serial killer. She knows what she is and what she always will be--a survivor whose governing creed is simple: Trust No One.

Or so Sienna believes, until the day she encounters a shadowy group that calls itself the Book Club. A small, well-funded, highly secret society united by their shared taste for the macabre and a desire to instill fear among entrepreneurs, industrialists, politicians--any who imagine themselves in charge of civilization--to remind them who is really at the top of the food chain. Sienna soon finds herself as a reluctant guest on a remote and supposedly haunted island where the Book Club plans to unleash hell upon its next target and usher in a new chapter of its terroristic mission.

But not even Sienna is prepared for the tangled web of betrayal and horror that awaits, or the very real monsters that will be let loose--including ones that may have been present all along.

Genres: Horror

322 pages, Hardcover

Published September 15, 2026

About the author

Hank Schwaeble is a horror, thriller & suspense writer who is the two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Damnable (Berkley/Jove), Diabolical (Berkley/Jove), and The Angel of the Abyss (re-released by Esker & Riddle in 2021). He is also the author of the horror-noir collections American Nocturne, nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Best Collection, and Moonless Nocturne, which has been optioned by the producer of The Equalizer movies. His stories have appeared in publications such as Weird Tales Magazine and Dark Discoveries Magazine as well as anthologies such as X-Files: The Truth Is Out There, V-Wars: Night Terrors, and numerous other outlets. His next novel, Normal for the Spider, will be released by Blackstone on September 15, 2026. A former Air Force officer and Special Agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Hank is a graduate of the University of Florida and Vanderbilt Law School and is a practicing attorney. He is also a licensed pilot. He resides in Texas with his wife, fellow writer Rhodi Hawk.

Reviews

[Niniane]

I love stories about unhinged antiheroines who kill without a qualm. So I thought it would be right in my alley.

The beginning was fun in a B movie way, but it did not take itself seriously, which was perfectly fine. I also enjoyed the humor.

However, the story completely slumped after Sienna joins the club. There were long and completely useless scenes, such as the one with the bats or the dinner where Bob explains his investment plans. Sometimes, you don't need this much detail, you know.

The whole club thing was completely purposeless in the end? We saw too little of their activities. The last sections tried be by a weird fusion between "The menu" and "Saltburn"with a Frankenstein-like monster.

The characters were cardboard cutouts. I would have loved to know more about Sienna's past, how she came to this lifestyle, what was her childhood like..How could I care about what happens to her with so little characterization?

[Lili Hill]

This story was such a surprise! I went in blind on this one and really consumed it. It is a great, fast-paced horror with true villainy. It has this great secret-society-pulling-the-strings vibe that just hits right now. I loved how bad the bad guys could be. Thank-you, Blackstone Publishing and Hank Schwaeble, for this complimentary copy. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

[Cass (only the darkest reads)]

If you're a fan of genre-bending novels, Normal for the Spider might just be for you.

We follow our murderous lead, Sienna, as she gets recruited to a clandestine society of baddies. Put through her paces to prove her worth to this secret sect, Sienna utilizes her special ability to deceive, manipulate and ultimately survive. Once in the fold she joins this group of assassins and masterminds, known as The Book Club, to a special retreat on a notoriously "cursed" and unknown island. But a weekend that's supposed to be fun and games (well the sort of fun and games that psychopath enjoy) immediately turns to terror, and Sienna is forced to figure out who is targeting the Book Club, and why.

I was a really big fan of all the world building surrounding our group of misfit murderers, but found the book shifted to a horror novel quite sharply once we landed on the island. I still enjoyed the book, but felt like the plot in the second half felt like I was reading a different story. I'm not a huge monster person, so even though there was foreshadowing to our creature showing up, it kind of took me out of the immersion of the novel. It's not my preferred swerve. I also don't know if we have enough background on Sienna to understand how she fits in with this group, which she does also express in her dialogue, so it is intentional.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this one, and even with a twist I didn't love, I still couldn't stop flipping to the next page to see what would happen next.

Thank you so much to Hannah and Layne at Books Forward, and Blackstone Publishing, for a copy of this novel, which came out last week!

[Jazz]

First, thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC. This book started off strong. I was intrigued at the beginning and was interested for about 1/3 of the book. Then, it lost me. I did not enjoy the rest of it. It was too long and could have been shorter for what it is. I felt like all of the political conversations between the club members detracted from the more interesting points of the story. I think there should have been a greater focus on some of the things the club had accomplished, the backstories of some of the members, and more focus on the Island itself and all of the things that took place there with the club members. The end portion of the book on the Island felt like a Scooby Doo episode and was not really that interesting either. I ended up feeling very annoyed that none of these super smart, super cool villains were able to do anything at all to protect themselves. I really wanted to like this book, but I could not get past the center portion of the book. I really pushed through even though I wanted to DNF.

[Kristy Johnston]

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for a free review copy.

This story follows Sienna in third person. Sienna is a killer who comes into contact with another group of killers collectively known as The Book Club. This shadowy group is composed of a mix of individuals with their own egos and motivations. The leader of the group has been preparing a remote island for their biannual retreat where they invite a few targeted individuals for the scare of their lives.

I was attracted to this story by the description of the morally gray group of individuals and the potential for thrills and chills in an isolated island setting. It started off strong with Sienna in a high-energy situation. Unfortunately, I found the introduction of the Book Club members slow and confusing, bogged down by philosophical speeches and cursory yet ambiguous observances of the group. The story picked up once the group arrived at the island, and I flew through the last half, but I never really felt like I had a clear picture of the personalities in the group and that detracted from the end reveals. I also had a few moments of disbelief over Sienna’s eccentricities.

Ultimately, I think the individuals that made up The Book Club were lacking a depth of character and backstories that might have elevated my enjoyment of the final moments of this horror thriller.

[Autumn Ketchum]

Firstly, I would like to thank NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the arc. This book had a very promising premise, and while I can see what the author was trying to do, it just didn’t land for me. The book was really slow to get to any action really. There was a lot of different characters, sometimes I got a little lost in that, as well as all the different moving pieces in the story. It was hard to get invested and really care what was happening, honestly. I had to take a break around the halfway mark to be able to come back to it and finish the book. Too drawn out, too many moving pieces in the plot, this just wasn’t for me.

[Jennifer]

Imagine asking for help from a bookshop owner and you end up in an escape room competing for entry into an elusive club you didn't apply for and know absolutely nothing about. Sounds cool, right? Now, imagine you arrived late to a movie and said "oh it's only 10 minutes I'm sure I haven't missed much" when, infact, you have missed pivotal plot points and you end up feeling like you were just dumped into the middle of a story everyone else is caught up on except you? Yeah... that's exactly how this book made me feel. It's funny that I created that analogy in my head as someone who is NEVER late to anything. Anyway... this book was not for me.

[Becca]

Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me an ARC of Normal for the Spider!

DNF @ 45%.

Sooooooo, I should have enjoyed this book much more than I did. I feel like the opening chapter was interesting, but after that it started falling flat for me.

Also, for some reason I was really bothered by the main character’s name being Sienna Shaw when thats the name of the protagonist in the Terrifier series 😅

[Bella]

A must-read blend of horror, crime and comedy that reinvents the predator-versus-predator thriller.

At its core, this is a story about people convinced they understand the food chain, until something starts hunting them. As the story widens from urban crime and surveillance toward isolated, horror-inflected suspense, author Hank Schwaeble delivers a string of satisfying reversals.

Check out the full review at BestThrillers.com.

[•mikaela• :)]

✨ARC Review✨

Secretly society vibes, filled with horror on a spooky island. 👀

This was fun! Devious people, dangerous intentions and a fight for survival.
Everyone has suspicious motives, but when they get stuck on an island with a crazy killer, or two, the twists and turns lead to an unexpected ending.

[Joanna Folger]

Loved it!

[Elizabeth C]

If you like dark twists and turns, this is for you!
Thanks to Weird Tales for the ARC!

[Bruce B]

Action-packed and very intense. Goes from chills to thrills to setting up a wild ending.