Helpful Score: 3
from amazon...
A generously unrestricted theme events that take place in a single terrifying night and talented contributors build high expectations for this quartet of brand new horror novellas, most of which, alas, disappoint in their failure to develop a plot suitable for their length. Bentley Little's "The Circle," the only tale that faithfully limits its events to a single evening, presents three interrelated vignettes of weird incidents in a suburban neighborhood, all of which prove to have an explanation that is surprisingly humdrum by genre standards. Christopher Golden's "Pyre," in which a young woman comes to terms with her estranged father by means of supernatural experience, depends on a labored back story about a Maine island haunted by Viking ghosts. In "Jonah Rose," Tom Piccirilli spends more time elaborating his narrator's convoluted history as a former faith healer who took up with sideshow freaks than establishing that history's bearing on his mission to rescue his kidnapped son from a strange urban underworld. Only Douglas Clegg's "The Words," about two teenage outsiders whose alienation leads them into the creepy "world of Nowhere," uses its expansive length to build the atmosphere and tension crucial for orchestrating its unsettling events.
A generously unrestricted theme events that take place in a single terrifying night and talented contributors build high expectations for this quartet of brand new horror novellas, most of which, alas, disappoint in their failure to develop a plot suitable for their length. Bentley Little's "The Circle," the only tale that faithfully limits its events to a single evening, presents three interrelated vignettes of weird incidents in a suburban neighborhood, all of which prove to have an explanation that is surprisingly humdrum by genre standards. Christopher Golden's "Pyre," in which a young woman comes to terms with her estranged father by means of supernatural experience, depends on a labored back story about a Maine island haunted by Viking ghosts. In "Jonah Rose," Tom Piccirilli spends more time elaborating his narrator's convoluted history as a former faith healer who took up with sideshow freaks than establishing that history's bearing on his mission to rescue his kidnapped son from a strange urban underworld. Only Douglas Clegg's "The Words," about two teenage outsiders whose alienation leads them into the creepy "world of Nowhere," uses its expansive length to build the atmosphere and tension crucial for orchestrating its unsettling events.
Four novellas in one book, all dealing with things that go bump in the night or worse. Four chilling tales of what happens when the sun goes down.
Good stories, some are better than others. A nice change of pace from reading regular novels.
Good stories, some are better than others. A nice change of pace from reading regular novels.
Four scary stories from four top writers. Don't read them alone, with the lights out..what was that,,that sound...it's only my imagina>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Four novellas by some of the best in horror fiction - if you're a horror fan, you'll enjoy this.
To be plain o' honest, I read this book for the Bentley Little story. I'm not interested in the other three. Little's "The Circle" is worth the read... macabre, grotesque, in true Little style.
This book was ok. I am sure others liked it all very much. This is a collection of four novellas. The only ones I dug were the ones by Bentley Little & Christopher Golden. I was dissappointed by Piccirilli. I normally dig him, but I really gave that story a try & just did not like it. I made it through a little over half on Piccirilli & skipped to the last by Clegg & could not get into it either. but the first two were great.
Adult Horror Fiction
