COME CLOSER…
Five terrifying collected horror novellas newly reissued from the “modern-day Algernon Blackwood”.
Skullbelly
After three teenagers disappear in a forest, a private detective is hired and uncovers a terrible local secret.
The Separation
Marcus arrives in Germany to find his friend up-and-coming prizefighter Charlie in a deep depression. But soon Charlie's behavior grows increasingly bizarre. Is he suffering from a nervous breakdown, or are otherworldly forces at work?
The Stranger
Set a rural Florida parking lot, David returns to his car to find a stranger sat behind the wheel. The doors are locked and there’s a gun on the dashboard. And that was when then the insanity started…
After the Fade
A girl walked into a small Annapolis tavern, collapsed and died. Something had latched itself to the base of her skull. And it didn't arrive alone.
Now, the patrons of The Fulcrum are trapped, held prisoner within the tavern's walls by monstrous things, trying to find their way in.
And one more novella to be revealed!
Four previously published novellas join one brand new story in this glorious collection from one of my favorite authors.
All five novellas were new to me since I missed reading them before they went out of print.
Each novella stands alone so you can read them in any order you choose.
In the first story, an urban legend may prove to be real when some unsuspecting teenagers go camping where they shouldn't. Only one returns but he is too traumatized to speak. Did Skullbelly kill his friends? This was my least favorite only because it takes place after the fact and deals mostly with the private investigator the families have hired to find out what happened to their missing kids. This is a case of it's not you it's me. I just do not like police or detective work.
The Separation has been hard on Charlie. He hasn't been himself since his wife left. He says he feels displaced. His friends want to help him but this is well beyond a case of depression and they are not equipped to handle it. Trigger warning here for animal abuse.
I mostly liked this novella. It had a twilight zone/old-timey vibe to it that I enjoyed but I had to skim when I got to the animal abuse.
What would you do if you found someone sitting in your car and they refused to get out? That is the situation faced by David in The Stranger. This was one of my favorites in the collection. It's creepy and gory and my favorite form of horror when a normal situation turns bizarre and then goes totally off the rails.
Another favorite was After The Fade, which reminded me a lot of Stephen King's The Mist. But instead of a grocery store, we find ourselves trapped in a bar during a very strange occurrence.
In the new novella Fierce, a mother and daughter survive a car accident on a snowy desolate stretch of road., but that was the easy part to live through compared to what happens next. I loved this one, it was survival horror at its finest.
4 out of 5 stars
My thanks to Titan Books
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