Edited by Mark Morris

Titan Books, out now

A collection of terrifying tales that will stick with you for a long time…

With latest collection of horror stories edited by Mark Morris only just reaching readers, I don’t intend to go through each of the tales within and review them in detail, since one of the joys of this collection is that you really do have no idea going in what sort of horror is going to be involved.

Will it be something insidious that haunts the participants? Or will it be something that a few years ago you might not have regarded as the subject of a horror story, but in today’s society, is something that’s all too prevalent? Will you as the reader be put in the place of the central character and realise just how terrible a choice they are being presented with ? (And the writer of that story has quite rightly noted that this is one of the most horrific stories that they’ve ever written… it’s over a week since I read it and I keep wondering what I’d do in that situation!)

Morris hasn’t insisted that the writers keep to a set length – something that can really handicap a collection – so unless you’re one of those people who checks the contents page to see how long a story is (or worse, flips through to find the next chapter’s start), you are very much in the authors’ hands. Some turn the screw from the first paragraph; others crash the horror in at the end. Some you’re way ahead of the participants, in others you’ll kick yourself when you realise what’s really happening.

There’s not one weak link in the chain, and there are a couple of authors here whose work I didn’t know before but which I will be seeking out. Often with anthologies you’re aware that the editor has used a little bit of sleight of hand to disguise a weaker story, but any and all of these could be extracted and read separately. That’s a byproduct of Morris’ conscious decision not to theme the anthology, so everyone has brought their A game and set out to tell a good horror story.

And they succeed. Roll on volume 2.

Verdict: Some truly haunting tales makes this a required purchase for horror fans. 10/10

Paul Simpson

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