All tagged horror

Cursed Bunny – Bora Chung

Overall, “Cursed Bunny” is a creative, yet uneven collection. While some stories are haunting and memorable, others feel stretched or underdeveloped. Fans of unconventional horror might find it worth the read, but for me, it was hit or miss.

IT – Stephen King

Despite its length, “IT” stands as one of Stephen King’s most unsettling and complex works, effectively weaving psychological and supernatural horror with real-world brutality. Although King has made a career out of exploring dark and unhinged themes, “IT” pushes those boundaries.

Craven Manor – Darcy Coates

The first half of the book had genuinely good moments, and I'll give the author credit for including a cursed black cat—one of the few charming touches. By the end, however, the story lost all coherence, and I was skimming the last few chapters. All-in-all, “Craven Manor” is simply a gothic misadventure.

Bury Your Gays – Chuck Tingle

While not aiming for highbrow literature, it offers a perfect mixture of astute social commentary, a dash of camp and a fair amount of meta grievances. We may not know the true identity of Chuck Tingle, but it’s fair to say that like R.F. Kuang and “Yellowface,” he has a proverbial axe to grind with the entertainment machine. 

This House Is Haunted – John Boyne

"This House is Haunted" channels the spirit of a Victorian gothic novel with John Boyne capturing the genre's signature atmosphere and whispered gossip about dastardly deeds at a remote English estate. This unique blend of classic setting and contemporary heroine is the novel's greatest strength in what is otherwise a passably but mostly mediocre affair.

Motherthing – Ainslie Hogarth

Expectation: A dark and twisted domestic horror story about how far a young wife will go to save her husband from the ghost of her mother-in-law.

Reality: A bit of a recursive mess, the premise is too thin to sustain nearly 300-pages, but the last few chapters do deliver.

Anoka – Shane Hawk

Expectation: An anthology of loosely connected stories all set in the Halloween Capital of the World.

Reality: The setting isn’t leveraged as much as anticipated (although there are a few nice winks for locals) but Shane Hawk showed promise with this somewhat even horror collection.

The Shards – Bret Easton Ellis

Expectation: A based on true events murder mystery set in the privileged world of 1980s Los Angeles teens.

Reality: A hedonistic cat and mouse story that will have you second guessing everything the narrator (a fictionalized version of the author) has told you.

Night Shift – Stephen King

Reading this collection was a damn delight and a nostalgic serotonin boost that transported me back to high school when I devoured my first classic King novels in mass market paperbacks.  As my mini-reviews show, this was a mostly solid top-to-bottom collection that got better as the stories progressed. It showcased King at the top of his game - observant, reflective, emotional and downright scary.