The Swamps by Seraphina Nova Glass
The Swamps by Seraphine Nova Glass was released on 27th January 2026 and it’s a fairly short horror/thriller book. It follows a team of 4 people – Macy, Ethan, Tasha and Max – as they investigate the paranormal for their popular YouTube channel, Ghost Patrol.
Their current investigation takes them to the murky depths of the Louisiana bayou to investigate the disappearances of 2 women. What begins as a simple hunt for answers quickly turns into something far more sinister and they might not make it out alive.
So how was it?
The Swamps is the perfect mix of horror and thriller with suspense and perfectly woven mysterious paranormal elements. It’s the type of book that makes you question whether it’s paranormal or not and I’ll be honest – I wasn’t sure! As soon as I started reading this it gave me the same vibes as another book series I’d read – Experiment in Terror by Karina Halle. I loved the idea of the Experiment in Terror series but it ultimately ended up being pretty cringy and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the characters. I definitely had a better time with this book, I just wish it was a series! I want more!
I read The Swamps via audio and the audiobook was less than 4 hours long so this is definitely a quick and easy read. Sometimes with shorter reads I find myself leaving them and feeling pretty disappointed because I wanted more. I didn’t feel that with this book and that’s a great thing! I think the story and most of the characters were nicely wrapped up and I didn’t feel like I was missing out by the story being so short.
It has a lot of fantastic elements that I think made the reading experience even better. The main characters have rented a creepy old house with a very odd owner that makes you question what she’s doing the entire book. The whole town is superstitious and there’s a cult-like church that has you wondering if they have something to do with the mystery. The town was also home to an asylum that was closed and some people believe the former patients weren’t transferred somewhere else – that they were just let out and are now roaming the swamp. Is it them that kidnapped the two missing women? Were they even kidnapped at all?
Are there any negatives?
Of course, this book wasn’t perfect. There are multiple POVS when one would’ve been more than fine. It doesn’t feel like the second one added as much to the story. While I feel the story was wrapped up nicely, the ending and final twist did feel slightly silly and a little farfetched. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense why characters did the things they did. However, despite these few criticisms I still had a fantastic time reading the book and I’m now interested in reading more from this author that I hadn’t heard of before picking up this short, atmospheric read!
