Zraitor

With a cursed, bloodthirsty flaming sword, a warrior roams around Scotland battling all sorts of myths and legends. The character of Seton is good and the action is great.

This is a collection of short stories, but they are in order and build off the previous ones making it sort of a novella. Most of them are well done but eventually Seton becomes sort of a private eye and it really clashes with the themes the book starts. Those parts also have characters that seem too modern.

Seton and his friend sell their souls and get ten years to “enjoy” their bargains. Realizing time is up for his friend he races to him to save him, battling a cold version of the Grim Reaper. This is the first story and it's the most well written and done of the book and it sucked me in right away.

I really couldn't get enough of the swords and sorcery, themes of redemption, and just the wonderful fight scenes. Just wish the private eye parts didn't drag it down.

Those stories have been mostly recycled into the Derek Adams stories and are better there as the themes fully fit the character, so if you liked this be sure to check them out.

Really fun and action-packed with loads of gore as usual per the author. I'm sure it's a long shot but I'd love to see a conclusion of Seton's tale.

Well ... It's book eight of this, you know to expect soldiers brewing up coffee, smoking, and bantering in-between shooting monsters.

Sent off to a desert on another rescue mission, everything soon goes wrong. Or does it go right? Their superiors have to be doing this to them on purpose.

They battle the conditions of the desert area and deal with previous injuries a bit more than the death worms. Oh right, the monster this time is Mongolian death worms, but to be honest I was a bit disappointed by them.

Everything is there, flesh-eating and electrocution, and they were certainly gross but they just seemed a retread and didn't measure up to the spiders or isopods. Again like the snakes, they were just not much of a threat, and while obviously, the squad will prevail I never felt any suspense.

While it's certainly a quick read, the action is less compared to the previous books and more spaced out. Of course, lots of time was given to scenery and finally giving the squad members besides Banks some backstory, so I can't complain.

One of the people they were sent to rescue is given his own POV sections and it was nice to see the squad from someone else's viewpoint. He had a great personality and he made me laugh out loud at the end.

So despite being let down by the creature, the adventure and characters still gave me a good read.

Full of the usual Lovecraft tropes, and imaginative and fun. Of course, you must also take the bad as well, repetitive setups, and abrupt endings.

Cold Print was well chosen as the first story. It's just so well written and the main character is so snobby and unlikable as a person he becomes likable as a book character. The Vessel and Tentacle are the other two great stories. As for the rest, while I did like every single one they just don't measure up to those three.

So if you're in the mood for some more Lovecraft by other authors this will work well. And if you're in the mood for a light chuckle, check one of the other reviewer's names and notice how he hypes up “The Clearing.” Now go look at the preview and check the author's name for that story.

While any themed collection suffers from being repetitive, this one suffers A LOT. It's like there was a checklist, make the main character have suppressed memories, throw in some cults, and BOOM, end the world. Failing that, just throw a bunch of weird stuff against the wall and see what sticks.

There were a few stories I did like, but ultimately I think the theme constricted the plots too much, the writing was mostly fine throughout. If I read these by themselves and not back to back I'm sure they wouldn't have annoyed so much, but the same thing over and over with just increasingly over the top weird for the sake of it was just tiresome.

Did I mention how repetitive this is yet?

A device from the future found in the past sets off a series of murders throughout time...

Lots of characters, but they're all pretty poorly done. This one is the detective, this one a soldier... nothing genuine about them. At a certain point, I stopped bothering to keep track of them and just went along for the ride.

Which is my problem with this story mostly, everything felt secondary to the constant jumping around between characters and time periods, nothing was developed at all.

I couldn't tell if the story contained a twist or I was supposed to know all the time due to how poorly paced and confusing this was.

At any rate, it was just disappointing save for the action scenes, which were pretty good but just not enough to save it.

Like usual with creature features, you're just here for the monster. A shoggoth mixed with seaweed terrorizes the coast. That should be pretty lame but the action scenes are fun and full of gore.

It starts with some commentary on environmentalism but that is quickly dropped as people begin getting eaten, which is fair enough I suppose. The characters aren't really well developed, just your standard action movie kind that are just there to drive the plot forward.

The author has two other short stories mixed in throughout he did and it greatly expands on the idea, although he also does that thing where the characters stop reading the journals and then pick them up again and gain new knowledge that of course is suddenly relevant. I hate that.

Your usual fun, action-packed monster movie in book form that this author loves to do. Great to read if you're in the mood, otherwise you'll pick it apart.

Another adventure for Kotto that I just didn't enjoy as much as the first book...

When he arrives at Little Dixie you get these amazing and creepy corn men, who are equal parts funny and scary .. but it mostly does away with the crazy over the top stuff in the first.

Kotto himself is more subdued than before, I assume because there is no Richards character to ground him so he was made to tone it down a bit. While he was over much at times, he was always fun, and he just wasn't here.

In the first I never knew what was coming next, here it just becomes a battle between good and evil. I was under the impression the hell stuff was just how people decided to describe it lacking anything better, I didn't realize it was meant to be literally hell and heaven, I found this to be disappointing.

With all the conspiracy stuff pushed aside I wasn't as interested. There were a few fun battles, and lots of gore still, so I'm not outright hating it, I just didn't like the new direction.

To sum it up, I'd like more crazy and fun conspiracy Kotto, and to heck with Warrior of Light Kotto.

Switches between drama, horror, and comedy and is grounded by good and interesting characters.

Kotto is a lot of fun, and he is also a bit too much at times. His training session with Richards was my favorite part of the book.

With Richards you get mostly commentary on soldiers, coming home and finding a place again. Not hard to figure out he is mostly a stand-in for the author, and his inner thoughts bring most of the books serious moments.

This book is seriously over the top and throws every crazy thing at you and just tells you to deal with it. This leads to one issue I had though ... After the huge crazy drug trip part the story just sort of lingers and takes forever to finish. It felt like to me the author was just trying to make it longer to hit novel length.

I still enjoyed it and the large amount of crazy on display. I would recommend it to all people, pod, or otherwise.

We see much more character stuff going on here, for Banks at least. With the death of other squad members weighing him down, he and the Squad go off to Norway for another mission that of course is going to go wrong...

The other squad members are still much the same, with the new ones feeling like they are just there and I kept forgetting about them. You'll see the usual banter and things from all of them.

The action and gore are there as usual and don't let up much, but when it does there were great descriptions of scenery and inner thoughts from Banks.

The creature is fun and though somewhat explained still remains mysterious enough by the end, which I appreciate. Good merging of SciFi and legends. Was nice they had a little difficulty fighting it and didn't just mow it down. I liked the moral dilemma too, even if it forced Banks to make stupid choices to make the plot work.

Another great entry in series, I'm eager to see what awaits in Operation Mongolia. (Death worms!?)

A really well-written collection but unfortunately the repetition wore me out by the end.

The theme running through almost every story is music being used as a key to open up a Lovecraftian other world. Rhythms and melodies, fingers drumming out beats, the same beat playing over and over in one's head, and drinking heavily to drown it out is used in almost every story.

Entire paragraphs of the same thing were also repeated that describe this other place and its effect on the person that goes there. If you read these by themselves you wouldn't notice or care, but seeing them back to back it gets old.

But despite this issue, this is a great collection. The writing otherwise flows, it's always exciting, and the characters are varied and strong. It all leads to another excellent Derek Adams story which does the themes the best, making for a packed short story with all the good stuff. I'd recommend reading it first actually, so it's not hurt by you reading too many similar stories beforehand.

Could tell the difference between this and the last one right from the beginning, the characters were being fun again and the action comes quickly.

The squad gets three new members joining the surviving three and I was glad to see that, was worried adding new people was being ignored. Of course, Wiggins gets a promotion meaning he gets more money per every Sarge's wife joke and action movie reference. (It wouldn't be a proper review from me if I didn't rag on him.)

The spiders ..... Oh, man. A proper scary creature at any size. The author used every part of them well. Fangs dripping venom, hairy bodies, many eyes shining in the darkness, the sharp ends of feet making noises hitting surfaces of things .. Argh. Well done, but argh...

The action in this one just never lets up, and the Squad members and new supporting character's personalities shine through again. It's not bogged down by occult things it's not prepared to go all-in on, and while still not having deep characters they are once again funny without being annoying and very personable.

Even the location is awesome. It makes for a perfect siege situation and I always enjoy those. Then you have the fun alternative history stuff, mostly Roman this time. I was really worried about this one after the last book, but I just can't say enough nice things about it.

S-Squad works best in my opinion when it goes at a blistering pace and keeps the focus on the action and squad member's personalities and not about over-explaining the creatures or magic/occult elements. For the non-stop action and awesomely done creature, this one gets the full stars.

Had some issues with this one ... The beginning is way too slow, and nothing really happens. They wander around, hunting for the creature, poking at piles of crap, and doing the terrible sex joke banter. Slowing things down would be great for the series if it was for getting to know the characters better. And there wasn't much description of the landscape either, I figured the author would go nuts with the setting but not really...

After more than halfway through they are finally on the water after the creature and it becomes fun. It eventually falters again though due to bad pacing. There are great action scenes in this though! Just have to wade through lots of what felt like filler to me.

More occult stuff goes on here only to annoy me a bit again though. Doesn't mix well with the soldiers and guns as well as I would like in my opinion. I think it's just because no matter how creepy and weird it gets the Squad never has to really do the rituals and stuff back, just blast everything to bits with heavy weaponry. Yelling a few incantations hardly does it for me.

The same four squad members are back, Banks, Hynd, McCally, and Wiggins. Unfortunately, they weren't very interesting this time around, they are running out of action movie one-liners to drop and the Captain taking up smoking simply isn't character development. They are joined by an old man seeking the creature as well, Alexander Seton who was a good character and did what he could to make up for the others.

I did like this overall, it was simply just not as well-paced and action-packed as the others. The few big action scenes that did happen and Seton saved the book for me in the end.

The S-Squad takes on giant snakes in the Amazon. Lots more action and fun and I sound like a broken record...

Anyways, there aren't any new recruits to the Squad this time, but it makes it easier to remember their names. Banks, Hynd, McCally, and of course the one-liner dropping Wiggins. He's thankfully getting more likable as it goes on and making me wish he gets eaten less and less.

This outing ditches the sci-fi elements and goes full-on Indiana Jones with temples, curses, hidden gold, and snake gods. Like usual, the plot is always moving fast and doesn't linger on much.

If I could have one nitpick it's that the creature here Giant Freaking Snakes, aren't much of a threat to the Squad. They seemed to be at a bigger threat of going deaf firing at them then getting bit. That's not to say the action scenes aren't great, they are, especially the last fight in the book. Maybe the Squad is just that good at this now.

Book four brings the fun and action and adds even more adventure and I greatly enjoyed it.

Brings back the action and full focus on the S-Squad compared to the last book.

Not just one giant creature here, but many. After the beginning and inevitable everything going wrong it is just non-stop action.

The characters are still pretty thin but they definitely have personalities and great one-liners, very action movie like of course. Wiggins, or Wiggo, apparently they like him enough now to give him a nickname, is still pretty annoying with his Sarge's wife jokes, but they weren't as many this time around.

One of the creatures quite surprised me, maybe I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. You already see the Mammoth on the cover, there are plenty of others and it becomes quite a giant animal royal rumble.

I guess I always say the same things for this series, it's just fun. For bringing back all the action and adventure this outing gets 5 Stars from me.

S-Squad takes on Nazi ice zombies in Antarctica...

Unfortunately, they just aren't as fun as the giant isopods were .. I was expecting them to be intelligent and cool (pun not intended) but they are mostly mindless and never speak. Seems a waste of such a typically evil villain to not have them deliver any lines.

What is fun however is everything else going on this story. You get secret experiments with a “demon” that includes a floating UFO that takes people's consciousness out into the cosmos and a really well-written journal that includes Carnacki's meeting with Winston Churchill. A lot of crazy imaginative stuff is going on in this story, and every time it went back to the S-Squad I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I cared far more about the side stories than them this outing, and that's not a good thing.

The main part, S-Squad vs the Nazi Zombie's was repetitive and pretty boring honestly. They mostly just battle back and forth down a hallway filling in time before we get back the previously mentioned side stories.

They also bring in a few new members to fill in for those who died in the last book, but they are all forgettable except for Wiggins, but that's only because he is extremely annoying. Most of his dialogue is just him making sexual jokes about Hynd's wife. You know, funny the first few times, then frustrating the hundredth time...

Banks, the leader of the squad, and Hynd the second are the main characters basically and are mostly likable just because they are effective at what they do, they don't have much backstory. When the story slowed a little in the first one we saw a little character stuff and personality come out, here it's dominated by again the side stories so that doesn't happen this time.

I need to mention just one more thing before I wrap this up... There's a scene where they, to put it bluntly, have a dance-off to turn back the ritual to draw them further in the base and it was just silly and ridiculous looking in my mind. I enjoyed the getting “Lost in the dance” stuff as a metaphor for what was happening in the cosmos scenes but when you do it literally ... ugh.

So we have a fun, imaginative story, where action and well, everything, takes a backseat to the side stories going on. This weakened the book a bit to me because well, that's what this series is, pew pewing some beasties, or so I thought. Of course, you can add other stuff and I appreciate that it was still an odd choice to me

Wasn't sure if I should have started this series so soon after reading Crustaceans, but it's awesome and fixes every problem I had with that.

The author has taken part of his story Discontinuity from the collection B.E.M. and reworks it into this one. Now a squad of soldiers sent after a Russian drilling ship find the giant isopods, that emit a blue light, and have venom laced claws. Oh, and they like to eat people...

The isopods are far scarier than the giant crabs and didn't seem as goofy. The action is constant and fast, and the story is never boring. It turns into a great siege tale as well, slowing down a tad and getting to know the characters a bit.

And yes, there are actual characters in this one. No, they aren't deep, and at first, it seems they will be forgettable but as it goes on I got to like them. I'm just gonna keep comparing it to Crustaceans and where I said there the soldiers just had names and shoot guns, and that's all... not the case here. Likable characters. And here the female character isn't a useless crab expert that knows less about crabs than you or I and does nothing but tag along. She knows how to fire a gun, bandage up the team, and figures out key things about the isopods before anyone else.

I see other reviews talking about the abrupt ending, and while that is certainly true, it's part of a multi-book series so I didn't find that to be a problem.

I was going back and forth about how to rate this, but it was meant to be an action-packed fun creature feature and it delivered that in full, so it gets the rare 5 stars from me.

Seems to be a collection of William Meikle's stories pulled in from all other things he has written. There were a lot of “I know that !” moments for me having read a lot of his work now. Most of them are great, and the ones that aren't are too short to really offend.

Cold as Death is an Augustus Seton story, he returns to an old friend's side to fight an incarnation of Death that has come for him from a ten-year bargain made. This story has amazing fantasy elements that I couldn't get enough of, and it seems I can't find the collection of this character on kindle and that made me sad. A reaper that brings cold death, a flaming sword, just loved it...

The Kelp is one of his “blob” stories where a mad scientist finds a Shoggoth and combines it with kelp to make a weapon for the military, you know where this is going.

Frankie, Dracula, and the Wolfman Walk Into a Bar is okay, a terrible band dressed in costumes make a deal with a man in a Satan costume that looks too real. I'm sure you also can figure out where this one is going.

The Siren's Song, a man sick of London gets away on holiday to the coast of Scotland where he encounters a very ahem, forceful mermaid creature. This idea is also used in The Midnight Eye Files Series The Sirens and I couldn't tell you which came first but I can tell you... Ouch, that's gotta hurt.

The Hair Belt is about a journal written in 1755 about a soldier's encounter with a strange man that owns a belt that turns one into a werewolf. I suppose it's okay to just outright say it seeing as how the name and certainly the big picture of a werewolf before the story spoil it already. The story is a really well-done adventure, and this journal appears in The Midnight Eye Files Series book The Skin Game. (Which both name and picture of a werewolf on the cover give it away as well :) )

Ghost Nor Bogle Shalt Thou Fear, after a power saw accident a man is rushed to the hospital where a Grim Reaper like being is found... It's not too bad.

Professor Challenger: The Cornish Owlman, well I'm not too familiar with the character so I can't comment on the accuracy but it's a fun adventure story. Carnacki and his electric pentacle make an appearance too. “Some see the owl, some only see the mouse.”

The Angel is a pretty meh story, I'm not sure why it's in here, I guess it's only to set up the themes in the final story in the collection. Thankfully it's short. A man finds a winged skeleton believed to be an angel.

The Dreams That Stuff Is Made Of is a weird story about a man, not sure if he's a movie producer or just in special effects, tasked with making a scary giant gorilla monster for a movie. After he fails spectacularly, a man named Mr. Mkele for some reason appears and tells him the pelt he has stolen was once a shape-shifting sorcerer. It's just a really goofy story that's kind of fun.

The Dragon's Bargain is about a man sent to a cave by a woman to obtain its spit. Why? Well, it's really short so it won't take long to find out.

Wee Robbie is a wonderfully done story about a man and his pregnant wife taking a vacation to yet again, the coast of Scotland. The scenery and atmosphere in this one are well written. I was wondering why I had read it before, and then I realized it's the beginning of William Meikle's other book, Eldren- The Book of the Dark. Turns out he took out the strange, deformed little people in this and swapped them for vampires in that. I greatly prefer this version, it's so much more gross and effective.

The Silent Dead, back to August Seton! He brings his flaming sword to a cursed castle and it's awesome. Loads more fantasy stuff. Flaming sword, zombies, curses, yes, please!

Ah finally, the last story, the Fallen. It's a fantasy/horror western about a group of soldiers transported to some otherworldly battleground after they are hit by a strange vortex. They get caught up in a battle of angels against demons. Lots of action and I liked it.

So ends that long review, this is a great collection full of adventure and action, with horror sprinkled in. Most of the stories aren't scary but it's so full of imagination and fun, so who cares?

A detective, haunted by the death of his girlfriend investigates an office building where a computer program has violently killed everyone.

The characters in this one aren't really great, a detective and an assassin, but it's so action-packed and the violence is gruesome. I enjoyed the commentary on technology a later character brings up too. ( As I sit here endlessly consuming digital entertainment)

The story reminded me of an updated version of the old X-Files episode “Ghost in the Machine” There are a few annoying coincidences like the USB stick having Mel on it, the main character's girlfriend's name and another thing at the end that would be a spoiler. The ending itself was a little annoying too.

I like action, and I like gore, and this book is packed with those.

I mean just look at that cover, a giant crab eating someone... That's exactly what you get here, don't read it for anything else.

The two main characters aren't very deep. Shona, an expert in crabs, I guess, is just kinda there. She does nothing but follow the soldiers around, who have names and shoot things and that's about it, but not once does her knowledge come in handy. Her only background is she has a father who is also an expert. We learn he knew about the crabs years before the invasion and was forced into retirement for talking “crazy”, and honestly the little we get on him makes him more of a character than Shona ever becomes, it is a shame we couldn't have swapped the characters out for each other.

The second, Porter, is well, a mean drunk. He gets roped into the story by trying to sell a giant crab he finds to a zoo. He sort of goes through a well, I wouldn't call it a redemption arc, more of a less of a jerk arc.

The whole thing works cause William Meikle is such a good writer, and he goes full into whatever he's doing, even if it is giant crabs attacking New York City.

There are problems with the kindle version, there are no chapters and paragraphs when changing characters so I was confused often and had to keep going back when I realized I was with another character, that really needs to be fixed.

So again, this a book about giant man-eating crabs. It is stupid and fun in equal measure. Clackety-Clack, Snickety-snick.

Stainless Steel Sarcophagus is about a strange mirror with a mind of its own that rolls around in a store, showing people's reflections as undead versions of themselves. It manages to be amusing and I prefer this sort of humor compared to the silly/goofy stuff that comes later.

The Dollmaker's Vengeance was okay but I really wasn't too involved with the character's revenge plot seeing as it's just a small snippet of a story leaving just the creepiness of living dolls that bite and such. Dreamland stories with these kinds of characters don't always work for me.

Queen Of the Vultures is another dreamland story and again showcases the humor in the first one that I like since it's more restrained and not being forced like the upcoming stories. A wizard of sorts seeks a vulture goddess that eats the undead.

House of the Ocelot brings yet another dreamland story. A man becomes interested in a strange house, and after bringing a robed person outside of it cookies and latte is allowed in. Inside he finds cat people who eventually bring him to Ulthar. Another one I enjoyed, and cats are the best, well ahem, most of them...

Oh boy, here we go. The next two just aren't so great, Unspeakable and Spawn of The Rancid Deepnessess... Full of the silly stuff that's beyond forced I warned of earlier, I appreciate the imagination and all but, no, just no.

The final story, Inside-Outsider almost ends up the same as the last two but thankfully it becomes a body horror that just barely manages to work somehow. Not quite sure how multiple people know what elephant testicles look like but, hey. The story gets grosser and weirder as it goes on and just dares you to finish.

I'd say the short collection is worth a read, and I'm sure others like the silly stuff in those two stories better than I. The writing is never bad and I enjoyed myself well enough despite the things I didn't like.

A solid short horror story focusing mostly on atmosphere.

Dave Duncan comes home to bury his father and does the usual William Meikle character thing of going to a bar to gather information and getting incredibly drunk. To be fair I liked him and his inner turmoil. His problems with his father should be relatable to many.

The Auld Mither lurks behind in the entire story, occasionally stepping out to play mind games or do something horrifically violent. She was really well done and described.

It's a bit hard for me to talk about this one as again, it's very atmospheric and I don't want to give too much away. The Auld Mither's full appearance in the story is great and I'm not gonna ruin that.

With the gore, folklore, and general creepiness this one is pretty good.

Fast-paced, and full of gore. The first book is by far the best. Shane Ryan is different than usual main characters, in his forties, scarred, and completely hairless due to fear causing it all to fall out.

Lots of unique uses of the subject material, but it always reminded me of other things. The shifting rooms in places made me think of the horror movie House, and the iron being used on the dead, and the salting and burning of the bones, of course, the TV show Supernatural. I know these ideas are likely far older than those, but it seems impossible to think they weren't an influence.

The problems with this are easy to say, once you get past the first book it ceases to be horror and becomes action with horror elements. That is fine, but the suspense is pretty much blown when you know Shane, no matter how much he gets hurt, is gonna fight the ghosts directly and win. He also ceases to have any real character development. That is also fine in a way, suffering from loads of trauma before the story even begins, and taking more and more physical and mental damage as the books go on, it's understandable, but that doesn't make him interesting. In the first story seeing him as a child, and dealing with the problem as a grown-up is great, but that just stops.

Shane also has some power that lets him instantly learn a language when heard, and to gain strength from the dead if they lend their support, allowing him to harm ghosts directly. This is never truly explained why, except in a very small way that would be a spoiler. He can just do these things. Are they psychic or supernatural? Who knows, the story just expects you to go with it. When you consider he is also a highly trained marine, he is often left with little threat as the books go on.

The supporting characters aren't much better really, he eventually meets another military man with about as much personality as him and similar combat skills, minus the powers. The stories are filled with various ghosts that do get a fair bit of background, but that's about it. To say it bluntly, read this for the action and gore, not character work.

And well, that action and gore are quite great. The author comes up with some dark and twisted things, and despite its turn into action, there are still some horrific things that happen. There are some truly creative scenarios going on here with how crazy the ghosts are, and I found each one to be fresh and never repetitive.

One other minor problem I had though was at the end of every book there is a section that explores the past of whatever was going on. It was an attempt to fill in background details, but I found it unnecessary and it damaged the mystery. I didn't need it all spelled out for me, maybe others will like that better though.

After nine books the idea was quite exhausted, and so was I. But I had a lot of fun with this one.

Starts off with the usual trope, a small-time private detective is visited by a beautiful woman who is paying too well and probably not telling him everything. The cases in the three main stories lead to Lovecraftian monsters, shapeshifters, mermaids, and werewolves... There are lots of things here the author does his own spin on and it's pretty good. I don't really want to say much more about them, best to see for yourself how crazy it gets.

Derek Adams is a good character, he has a lot of inner thoughts to relate to, and I liked his friendship with Doug. He solves most of the cases by blundering through, getting drunk, getting beat up A LOT, and talking to people with heavy Scottish accents.

Which of course leads me to the downside, it is a fairly big collection and it drags on and feels repetitive at times. All the action and mystery gets padded out by a lot of bar visits, and I was pretty burnt out by the end.

Still, it's fun and easy to read. Definitely worthwhile.

A husband, wife, and their daughter move into a haunted house, each affected in their own ways by what's there.

Ana, stuck alone in the house while her husband, Edison works and stays at a hotel, begins to hear whispers and see strange things after finding a door under a rotten tree they have removed.

Her daughter says “Zo” over and over, and Edison becomes a heavy drinker and violent. With it being a small town, everyone treats her as an outsider. How trapped Ana feels as everything goes on is well conveyed.

The only downside is that this is an overdone storyline. We've all seen/read this before. Seeing more from Edison's point of view would have been nice too, but I understand it was necessary to keep some mystery and show how alone Ana felt. It's still very well done and a good read though.

If you've been reading the Dark Corners in order you just had four terrible stories in a row, but this one at least lets the collection end on a good note. Real characters, real horror, and no forced Harry Potter references.

A film critic with a terrible personality takes his equally terrible family on a stupid vacation, yep, that's it.

Everyone is described as a moron in this one, and it's hard to disagree. Nothing is remotely interesting here. No horror, no drama, no point. Plenty of insufferable Harry Potter references, however.

The author throws out random social commentary then proceeds to do absolutely nothing with it. Yes, those are things, now back to this big block of nothing.

Making this all the worse, I thought this would be about a bored father forcing his family along on a murderous road trip. I couldn't even spoil what happens cause nothing does happen.

The absolute worst “horror” short story I've ever read. No one should read this, not even someone going through this whole horror collection.