An excellent horror thriller. This starts at a slow pace and build the tension and fear perfectly with a unique but detailed, rich writing style. The best thing about this book is it reminded me of Stephen King’s novels, never boring, always full of horror. Highly recommended.

3.5 stars. This had a really strong start and I thought I was going to love it. Somewhere around the half way mark my interest waned. While I did think the characters were well written and fully fleshed out, I didn’t love them. I never really got fully invested in Daniel or Hannah. As the story progressed it went to a place I just couldn’t get on board with. I had expected this would be more of a grounded murder investigation with a believable resolution. The idea of the drifters was so unique/horrifying, the explanation and ending was a bit disappointing for me. I would still recommend this book on how interesting a premise it is. I’m sure I will be in the minority with not loving it. Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has a great premise which initially hooked me in, however i did find it hard to connect with the writing for the first 40%. It was quite choppy and there were alot of short sentences, which didn't really flow well for me. That said there were elements of it that I did enjoy. The horror, and tension were built up throughout, felt like it had you checking over your shoulder to see what's behind you. The book deals with the main character Daniel's grief, childhood trauma and PTSD from his war service. This makes him an interesting character. Plagued by all this and a supernatural entity out for blood. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Shining meets Woom Special Agent Daniel Stansfield sees dead people. But the people on the side of the highway aren’t dead. They just wish they were. They don’t remember how they ended up wearing the skin suits, and even if they could, they can’t explain because they’re tongue-tied – literally – with strands of long hair (gag). This book has absolutely no interest in behaving itself. That motel scene. I haven’t whispered WTAF at a page like that since WOOM. Different context, exactly the same facial expression. An unapologetic love letter to Stephen King, this is a respectful nod to The Shining, and I don’t think John Denver has scared me this much since Final Destination traumatised an entire generation. This was disgusting. Ridiculous. Completely unhinged. Naturally, I had the best time. Headlights was the cosmic-horror fever dream that left me wondering what the hell did I just read???

This was a hard book to review because I was really enjoying it until I felt like it took a hard left turn into another kind of story. The book has a really strong opening with a tense scene from the main character's childhood. It is a scene that raised a lot of questions for me and made me want to read more to find out what, exactly, had transpired and why. Soon thereafter, the story started to remind me of Season 1 of True Detective, which I really enjoyed! It is gritty, dark, and mysterious—if a serial killer is at work, how are they pulling off these seemingly impossible murders via proxy? I was really into it until around the 70% mark. This is where it felt like the foundation that had been built up until that point was left behind and that the story went in a completely different direction. A romance develops very quickly between Daniel and Hannah, but not in the conventional way, where two people find that they have chemistry with each other through interpersonal interaction (which leads to greater familiarity with one another, a shared sense of intimacy, and a deepening connection). How Daniel and Hannah connect is explained, but because it is so abrupt, it doesn't feel "earned." There is a sex scene which felt out of the blue to me, with certain acts/details that do not make sense from a physical (human body) perspective. I don't get anything out of sex scenes in books; they're alright if I feel that they are consistent with the overall narrative. But this one, I feel, does not need to be there and is confusing, as well. It totally took me out of the story. After that, I had trouble staying engaged—I'm not sure if this was because I was so disappointed in the surprise departure from the rest of the book. The narrator of the audiobook did a great job maintaining the tension of the first ~70% of the story with his tone of voice and rate of speech, but when things turn on a dime, his style feels out of sync with many of the events that follow. There are a lot of different things going on all the way through to the conclusion, which I found unsatisfying. I'm able to suspend disbelief, but there does need to be some degree of logic for me in the context of the overall narrative. Headlights is memorable for me because I've never experienced such an extreme contrast in my enjoyment between 2 parts of the same book before. That being said, if you enjoy crime thrillers AND spicy romance novels, you might love it! Thank you to Netgalley for the advance listener copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.