At this point everyone who reads my reviews should know I do an overall rating for the collection, with individual ratings for the stories. So here we go!
“Growing Things”-(3 stars)-This follows Merry from “A Head Full of Ghosts”. I didn’t find this scary honestly, and just kind of went well okay.
“Swim Wants to Know if It’s As Bad As Swim Thinks”-(3 stars)-I honestly had to read more about what this even was since the title confused me. For those who don’t know, SWIM stands for someone who isn’t me and the person in question is scared about a monster being nearby. Reader has to decide if this is true or if this person is descending into some sort of mental illness spiral.
“Something About Birds”-(4 stars)-Reading about a horror author and an interviewer who somehow has crossed into literal horror in his own life was interesting. The format of the story (interview) and then dialogue was hard to get into, but I liked this story more than the two that came before it.
“The Getaway”-(5 stars)-I really enjoyed this one. The narrator’s name is unknown for a while, but then we find out his name is Danny. Danny is trying to get away with his friends and you are left wondering what is real and who maybe are just ghosts haunting Danny. I felt sorry for Danny because you realize he’s just bad decisions constantly and seems to blame his brother Joe.
“Nineteen Snapshots of Dennisport”-(5 stars)-The story follows an unknown narrator reviewing 19 pictures they took during a summer where his father and mother seemed to unravel before their eyes. In the end though we get a reveal of a murder and something darker that is coming with the narrator deciding between two possible endings.
“Where We All Will Be”-(5 stars)-The end of the world in a unique way it seems.
“The Teacher”-(2 stars)-A narrator (named Kate we eventually find) telling us about the love that she and her fellow students have for their teacher Mr. Sorent. I don’t know, this one was weird and I was not feeling it at all.
“Notes for the Barn in the Wild”-(4.5 stars)-Reminds me a lot of “Disappearance at Devil’s Rock” so no idea if I really loved this, or I just had fond memories of that story.
“_______” (3.5 stars)-I still don’t know about this one. I am guessing at lot about what happened here and then just felt a bit dissatisfied by the ending.
“Our Town’s Monster”-(5 stars)-Very dark story about a monster that takes out everyone in a town.
“A Haunted House is a Wheel Upon Which Some Are Broken”-(5 stars)-This is a choose your own horror adventure style story and I loved it. This one took me a while to get through because I went back and chose all of the different choices to see what happened to Fiona in the end.
“It Won’t Go Away”-(3.5 stars)-I weirdly think I read this story somewhere else or an idea like this story before and it bugged me the entire time I was reading. Deja vu. It’s not a bad story, just not that interesting in the end.
“Notes from the Dog Walkers”-(5 stars)-This gets increasingly more and more dark as we go along and read notes from dog walkers. I would have fired people like 3 notes in. The way the notes are written with just run on sentences that go on and on across pages just makes you feel tense and full of angst as the notes go on and on.
“Further Questions for the Somnambulist”(1 star)-Nope. I don’t know what this was trying to do.
“The Ice Tower”-(3.5 stars)-Much better than the story that came before it, that’s for sure. A story taking place in the ice and cold. I wonder why horror writers often include winter/ice cold in their books? Why does winter always make me think of cozy fires, warm sweaters, and comfortable blankets. I relish winter. Maybe I am odd 🙂
“The Society of the Monsterhood”-(4 stars)-Terrible story about the people (The Society) who supposedly hunt monsters. Of course this asks who are the real monsters here. And of course it’s humans.
“Her Red Right Hand”-(3.5 stars)-Sad story about the death of a loved one which somehow ties into Hellboy. I wonder what was real or not real when we get to the end and just didn’t get everything that the story was trying to do.
“It’s Against the Law to Feed the Ducks”-(4.5 stars)-Something has happened (some type of apocalyptic event) and we follow a young boy named Danny and his family who seem to be trying to find a place where they can all stay and be safe.
“The Thirteenth Temple”-(5 stars)-A stalker who follows the character in the first story, Merry. If you read “A Head Full of Ghosts” you know that Merry was working on what really happened to her sister and her family. This has Merry telling a story to the unknown stalker.
