Edited by Mark Morris

Flame Tree Press, out October 20

Twenty tales of horror from familiar and unfamiliar names…

It’s always difficult reviewing an anthology of horror, particularly the type that Mark Morris has produced now for three different publishers, comprising stories with no set theme. You need to give a flavour of the book, but so many of the stories rely on you going in with no foreknowledge, It’s probably enough to know that an author whose name you recognise has produced stories that are as suspenseful as any you’ve read of theirs, or someone you don’t know – who may be the author of one of the four stories picked by Morris from the open subs period – has come up trumps with the sort of tale that makes you very glad that the lights are on, and not flickering, and the power cut really was just for a few seconds, and of course the lights will come back on…

We have creepy children whose cries of frustration will ring a bell with any parent, and even creepier adults who really don’t know what they’re messing with. There are stories that make you look at everyday occupations in a different way – sometimes just with the last sentence of the tale – and others set in worlds very different from ours that are created in a few short paragraphs. There are some that will scare you – and they may not be the ones that scared me… but those are here, and rationing to two “chapters” a day probably was a wise move.

What they have in common is quality.

Morris promises in his introduction that the stories will get under your skin.

They do.

Verdict: Another well curated collection – enjoy the voyage of discovery. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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