By Thana Niveau

PS Publishing, out mid-October

A wide variety of stories guaranteed to unsettle…

I’d come across a couple of Thana Niveau’s stories prior to this collection, but will be keeping my eye out for future releases after completing reading it – there are some writers who capture that feeling of there being something just out of sight, that you catch a glimpse of out of the corner of your eye, and Niveau is up there with the best. Each story in here is relatively short and snappy, with the author quickly creating the world in which it’s set – sometimes very much our reality, other times a fantasy or horror environment. Characters are relatable… in fact, sometimes almost too relatable as you find yourself empathising with their actions, and then realise that they’re about to (or have done) the unbelievable.

There’s some very graphic horror – the descriptions of a Japanese snuff movie with its echoes of Ringu is one of the most intense – and good use of rising tension (a group of holidaymakers’ encounter with ancient evil is one of my favourite stories in the book). “Be careful what you wish for” would seem to be advice quite a few of the protagonists might be wise to listen to – but if they did, there wouldn’t be this highly unsettling collection.

Verdict: You might not want to read this collection in one sitting (as events dictated that I had to)… since you might want to sleep that night. Needle-sharp horror. 8/10

Paul Simpson