Honestly I wasn't expecting this collection to be great. I haven't had much luck with horror anthologies on Amazon and most of them tend to be either forgettable, weirdly sexual or just entirely gore-based. The stories in this aren't (on the whole) any of those things. Most of them are really unique, very gripping horror stories that manage to be surreal at times without crossing the line into absurd or incomprehensible. Alas not every story in this collection is great and I was slightly put off by the author gushing about his own stories at the end which knocked off a star or two.
So let's start off with the good. 'Bolts' is pretty solid, albeit I was very put off by the weird vibes the main character's relationship had. It felt very forced and read like someone writing about a fantasy relationship. Thankfully this doesn't last and the story is a neat twist on a classic. 'Calendar Girl' was really great and one of my favourites. The suspense is built up well and its not entirely predictable which is great, 'Here' is beautiful and mesmerizing, and again you can't really tell what is going on as the plot sucks you in. It's not really even a horror story but it fills you with dread and the potential for horror keeps you guessing. 'The Mellified Man' was another favourite and, while predictable, I still loved every second. All of these I would give 4-5 stars.
Most of the rest I would give 3 stars each. 'Helping Hands' was one of the more engaging ones, and 'The Lacquered Box' only missed out by not really being very clear in what was going on. I hated 'The Mire of Human Veins' at first but it grew on me as it went on. My main problem was the overly-descriptive writing style which doesn't really fit with the other stories and comes across as pretentious. 'Orifice' was so close to being good for me but it just fell a bit on the weird side.
There were only a couple that I either didn't read properly or actively disliked. They tended to either be more on the sci-fi side or else I hated the format of the story. 'Sharp Edges' was very bland and I skimmed it after the first few pages. I couldn't even read 'Snapback' due to the terrible format of it being emails or reports or whatever it was. 'In Men, Black' was also uninteresting to me and I couldn't engage with the alien plot at all. Assume all the rest that I haven't mentioned are middle of the road for me.
Overall, I was very pleased with this collection. Though this review may seem fairly negative, I was genuinely enthralled by most of the stories and some of them I know will stick with me for a very long time. Taff's writing style is clear, enjoyable and quick to digest which is perfect for a collection like this. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who enjoys horror anthologies and I would love to read more from the author.
Overall Rating:
.5
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