howlinglibraries's review
5.0
Unsurprisingly, Gemma Amor has done it again and has completely amazed me with how much terror and emotion she can fit into such short, tidy little stories! I first was introduced to Gemma's work through The NoSleep Podcast, and thoroughly enjoyed an earlier collection of hers (Cruel Works of Nature), so I went into Till the Score is Paid with high hopes and was not let down in the slightest.
With many short story collections all from the same author, I whittle my review down only to my favorites, but that's tough to do when you have 11 stories and you've given each and every one of them either 4.5 or 5 stars! Instead, I'm going to indulge myself a bit and talk about each one (without spoilers, of course):
→ Have You Seen My Dog?
An unsuspecting doctor is caught in a nightmare when a sick and violent man becomes convinced she has something to do with his dog's disappearance. I wasn't quite sure where this one was going, but it was equal parts tragic and disturbing, and kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.
→ Pure Water
A hike goes downhill after a taste of the local freshwater sources. I like to take review notes when I read, especially for short story collections so I can keep up with my immediate reactions, and my note for this story is literally just, in all caps, "SO FUCKING GROSS!" I think that covers it pretty well.
motherhorror's review
5.0
Full review originally posted at Cemetery Dance:
https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/till-the-score-is-paid-gemma-amor/
Some authors have a storytelling voice that feels familiar to the reader. I often say that these authors’ books are like coming home after wearing formal clothes all day, and then putting on your favorite pajamas; the definition of comfort.
Gemma Amor’s writing style “fits me.” We are a perfect reader/author match. The minute I start reading one of her short stories I am immediately drawn in and compelled to finish. It’s difficult for me to put any story of her’s down until I’m done.
Her first collection, Cruel Works of Nature, blew my mind. Each story so remarkably unique; the author’s very own illustrations introducing the next tale with the title. When I discovered she was releasing another short story collection, I was beside myself with excitement but also experiencing some hesitancy — what if it doesn’t measure up to the standard set by that first book? What if she decides not to include those illustrations! Perish the thought.
I’m thrilled to report that Till the Score is Paid is a worthy follow up to that high bar Gemma Amor set and, dare I say, she might have even outdone herself. I’m pleased Gemma stuck with her illustrations for this collection, I believe that when an author ventures forth with something unique like that, and it goes over so well with readers, it’s safe to assume they would miss it if it wasn’t there the second time around. We readers are a spoiled lot and we want what we love from our favorites. I loved the beautiful title pages as well, an additional treat.
All of the visual components aside, what about the stories? I must highlight some of my favorites:
“Justine” — Perhaps the standout story for its provocative subject material. A woman finds that she can use an unconventional method to make sure her victimizer pays for what he did to her. Obviously, triggersome (did I just make up a word?) but well worth the cringes and flinches to see Justine get her chance in hell.
“Rat Girl” — Timmy’s new friend is hiding something in his basement. The illustration for this one was so good, I just kept turning back to it while I read the story.
Here’s where I mention that Gemma often submits her short stories to be acted out old-school-radio-style on The No Sleep Podcast, including two of my favorites included in this collection:
“Heart of Stone” — A father would do anything for his daughter, Jenny. He only gets to see her every other weekend, so his time with her is precious. He gives her a special gift for her birthday which is the catalyst for some supernatural events. This one was unexpected and I loved the reading on No Sleep!
“A Birthday Cake for Brian” — Brian’s mother decides to make a special cake for her son on his birthday as a surprise. But it’s Brian who has a nasty surprise for his mother. I loved the way this one reads like a Creepshow episode — it’s brutal, short and sweet. Like the icing on the cake.
Do yourself a favor and grab both of Gemma Amor’s collections. She’s making big waves in the horror industry, nominated for a Bram Stoker and you don’t want to miss out on the conversation or her brilliant stories.
https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/till-the-score-is-paid-gemma-amor/
Some authors have a storytelling voice that feels familiar to the reader. I often say that these authors’ books are like coming home after wearing formal clothes all day, and then putting on your favorite pajamas; the definition of comfort.
Gemma Amor’s writing style “fits me.” We are a perfect reader/author match. The minute I start reading one of her short stories I am immediately drawn in and compelled to finish. It’s difficult for me to put any story of her’s down until I’m done.
Her first collection, Cruel Works of Nature, blew my mind. Each story so remarkably unique; the author’s very own illustrations introducing the next tale with the title. When I discovered she was releasing another short story collection, I was beside myself with excitement but also experiencing some hesitancy — what if it doesn’t measure up to the standard set by that first book? What if she decides not to include those illustrations! Perish the thought.
I’m thrilled to report that Till the Score is Paid is a worthy follow up to that high bar Gemma Amor set and, dare I say, she might have even outdone herself. I’m pleased Gemma stuck with her illustrations for this collection, I believe that when an author ventures forth with something unique like that, and it goes over so well with readers, it’s safe to assume they would miss it if it wasn’t there the second time around. We readers are a spoiled lot and we want what we love from our favorites. I loved the beautiful title pages as well, an additional treat.
All of the visual components aside, what about the stories? I must highlight some of my favorites:
“Justine” — Perhaps the standout story for its provocative subject material. A woman finds that she can use an unconventional method to make sure her victimizer pays for what he did to her. Obviously, triggersome (did I just make up a word?) but well worth the cringes and flinches to see Justine get her chance in hell.
“Rat Girl” — Timmy’s new friend is hiding something in his basement. The illustration for this one was so good, I just kept turning back to it while I read the story.
Here’s where I mention that Gemma often submits her short stories to be acted out old-school-radio-style on The No Sleep Podcast, including two of my favorites included in this collection:
“Heart of Stone” — A father would do anything for his daughter, Jenny. He only gets to see her every other weekend, so his time with her is precious. He gives her a special gift for her birthday which is the catalyst for some supernatural events. This one was unexpected and I loved the reading on No Sleep!
“A Birthday Cake for Brian” — Brian’s mother decides to make a special cake for her son on his birthday as a surprise. But it’s Brian who has a nasty surprise for his mother. I loved the way this one reads like a Creepshow episode — it’s brutal, short and sweet. Like the icing on the cake.
Do yourself a favor and grab both of Gemma Amor’s collections. She’s making big waves in the horror industry, nominated for a Bram Stoker and you don’t want to miss out on the conversation or her brilliant stories.
readswithdogs's review
5.0
Just realized I never reviewed this fantastic collection!!
Till The Score is Paid is a very good read! I didn't skip a single story and honestly, loved each one! The multiple hiking stories have made me question my desire to ever go on a hike again! There was also a creeeeepy cannibal story with a twist that I loved and plenty of other human monster tales!
I'll continue to read what Gemma Amor writes because she's got that dark and delicious part down!
Till The Score is Paid is a very good read! I didn't skip a single story and honestly, loved each one! The multiple hiking stories have made me question my desire to ever go on a hike again! There was also a creeeeepy cannibal story with a twist that I loved and plenty of other human monster tales!
I'll continue to read what Gemma Amor writes because she's got that dark and delicious part down!
teamredmon's review
5.0
Gemma Amor has hit it out of the park again with this collection of stories. The stories in this book deal with a variety of subjects. There are lost dogs, creeks in the woods, seeking justice, crazy kids, monsters under the bed, cults, and more. These stories are hard-hitting and emotional often dealing with deeply emotional subjects. It's clear to me that Gemma Amor writes with her heart on her sleeve and blood in her ink. Stories that I particularly enjoyed here were: Have You Seen My Dog, Pure Water, Justine, The Strangler, and Caleb.
Have You Seen My Dog is about a woman terrorized by an old man that's lost his dog. It's wonderfully creepy.
Pure Water follows friends hiking in the woods finding out why you shouldn't drink tainted water. The descriptions in this one are incredibly horrifying.
Justine is a woman dealing with the aftermath of being kidnapped and raped. She's hell-bent to make sure the man that violated her gets the justice he deserves.
The Strangler dives into postpartum depression and reveals it as a hideous monster under the bed waiting for your weakest moment to pounce.
Caleb revolves around an English farm during WWIIs that takes in a refugee child. I really loved this story and its deep weirdness.
Gemma Amor is the real deal and one of my favorite authors writing today. I will read anything she writes.
Have You Seen My Dog is about a woman terrorized by an old man that's lost his dog. It's wonderfully creepy.
Pure Water follows friends hiking in the woods finding out why you shouldn't drink tainted water. The descriptions in this one are incredibly horrifying.
Justine is a woman dealing with the aftermath of being kidnapped and raped. She's hell-bent to make sure the man that violated her gets the justice he deserves.
The Strangler dives into postpartum depression and reveals it as a hideous monster under the bed waiting for your weakest moment to pounce.
Caleb revolves around an English farm during WWIIs that takes in a refugee child. I really loved this story and its deep weirdness.
Gemma Amor is the real deal and one of my favorite authors writing today. I will read anything she writes.
errantdreams's review
5.0
Have You Seen My Dog? is an unusual ghost story with a very non-stereotypical beginning, end, and middle. There’s a dog who does impossible things, and a poor doctor who’s having a very bad time of things. She keeps running into a possibly-demented old man who accuses her of having his missing dog. And he gets violent when he gets angry.
Pure Water is a short-but-quite-creepy story about why not every stream you run across while hiking is necessarily all pure and healthy to drink from.
Justine introduces us to a young woman who was raped by a man she used to work with, and how she’s handling the aftermath. He’s about to go to trial, and she wants him to face that, but she’s just gotten a call saying he committed suicide. She isn’t about to let him get off that easy. This is a very poignant story about a woman coming to terms with some very dark things that happened to her.
I Am Ghost introduces us to a quiet man named Max, and the Ghost that takes him over once a year on Halloween. He runs into an all-too-knowing Devil Kid as he stalks his prey, and his night takes a sudden turn. This is one of my favorite stories in this volume. It’s chilling and unusual.
Rat Girl features army brat Timmy, who semi-sorta makes friends with the spoiled rich kid Lee at his new school. But he finds that Lee has a secret–he’s keeping a rat-like girl in his basement, who has a tail and furred, shell-like ears. When a tragedy occurs, Timmy is desperate to figure out how to help the girl. Even the children in these stories have a lot of personality to them–including punks like Lee.
My Best Friend is a creepy story about what happens when two best friends get lost in the woods and fall into a mine shaft. Short but clever!
Heart of Stone is another one of my favorites in this volume. The main character is father to a nine-year-old girl named Jenny who’s the light of his life. He likes nothing more than to take her for monster hot chocolates before sending her back to her mother. All he wants is to delight in her love forever, but Julie, his ex-wife, introduces a lot of bitterness into the equation. And well, this guy is not quite… normal. I don’t want to give anything away; I’ll just say that I really loved this man as a point-of-view character, and that this is a lovely juxtaposition between the supernatural and an all-too-human story. Absolutely riveting.
Cell Block B features McCready, who keeps waking up in Cell Block B with no real memory of who he is or what he did to get there. But one of these days, the Warden is going to come for him–and then things are gonna get real ugly.
A Birthday Cake for Brian is short, bloody, and, well, it’s actually kind of funny.
The Strangler delves into a rather monstrous incarnation of the specter of post-natal depression. The narrator has a fascinating run-on voice that really brings the whole thing to life and keeps this story from being too oppressive.
Caleb is my other favorite story in this book. It’s 1940 and there’s a war on. The narrator’s farm is down one person who got sent to war, and they’re taking in an evacuee. That’s when a rash of misfortunes hits the farm, and Johnny, who helps out around the farm, starts acting very suspiciously. This is told in the form of a journal, and it’s very intriguing. The sense of time and place is excellent, and the ending is powerful.
I should include a content note; the various issues are handled with sensitivity, but there are themes of rape, abuse, suicidal ideation, postnatal depression, gore, and animal harm.
This is a wonderful book of short stories, and I heartily recommend it to any horror fans out there.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/12/review-till-the-score-is-paid-gemma-amor/
Pure Water is a short-but-quite-creepy story about why not every stream you run across while hiking is necessarily all pure and healthy to drink from.
Justine introduces us to a young woman who was raped by a man she used to work with, and how she’s handling the aftermath. He’s about to go to trial, and she wants him to face that, but she’s just gotten a call saying he committed suicide. She isn’t about to let him get off that easy. This is a very poignant story about a woman coming to terms with some very dark things that happened to her.
I Am Ghost introduces us to a quiet man named Max, and the Ghost that takes him over once a year on Halloween. He runs into an all-too-knowing Devil Kid as he stalks his prey, and his night takes a sudden turn. This is one of my favorite stories in this volume. It’s chilling and unusual.
Rat Girl features army brat Timmy, who semi-sorta makes friends with the spoiled rich kid Lee at his new school. But he finds that Lee has a secret–he’s keeping a rat-like girl in his basement, who has a tail and furred, shell-like ears. When a tragedy occurs, Timmy is desperate to figure out how to help the girl. Even the children in these stories have a lot of personality to them–including punks like Lee.
My Best Friend is a creepy story about what happens when two best friends get lost in the woods and fall into a mine shaft. Short but clever!
Heart of Stone is another one of my favorites in this volume. The main character is father to a nine-year-old girl named Jenny who’s the light of his life. He likes nothing more than to take her for monster hot chocolates before sending her back to her mother. All he wants is to delight in her love forever, but Julie, his ex-wife, introduces a lot of bitterness into the equation. And well, this guy is not quite… normal. I don’t want to give anything away; I’ll just say that I really loved this man as a point-of-view character, and that this is a lovely juxtaposition between the supernatural and an all-too-human story. Absolutely riveting.
Cell Block B features McCready, who keeps waking up in Cell Block B with no real memory of who he is or what he did to get there. But one of these days, the Warden is going to come for him–and then things are gonna get real ugly.
A Birthday Cake for Brian is short, bloody, and, well, it’s actually kind of funny.
The Strangler delves into a rather monstrous incarnation of the specter of post-natal depression. The narrator has a fascinating run-on voice that really brings the whole thing to life and keeps this story from being too oppressive.
Caleb is my other favorite story in this book. It’s 1940 and there’s a war on. The narrator’s farm is down one person who got sent to war, and they’re taking in an evacuee. That’s when a rash of misfortunes hits the farm, and Johnny, who helps out around the farm, starts acting very suspiciously. This is told in the form of a journal, and it’s very intriguing. The sense of time and place is excellent, and the ending is powerful.
I should include a content note; the various issues are handled with sensitivity, but there are themes of rape, abuse, suicidal ideation, postnatal depression, gore, and animal harm.
This is a wonderful book of short stories, and I heartily recommend it to any horror fans out there.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/12/review-till-the-score-is-paid-gemma-amor/
brennanlafaro's review
5.0
There has been a lot of discussion in the horror community lately about trigger warnings contained in books labelled as horror. Whatever side of the fence you may fall on, Gemma Amor’s introduction serves as an establishment of theme, as well as notifying readers that potentially troubling subjects will be covered in the stories they are about to read. Amor gives us enough warning that any reader who find themselves wanting to avoid spoilers can get out before they arrive and skip right to the stories.
Personally, I loved the introduction. It caused me to think a little bit deeper about everything I was reading as I went through the collection. There are supernatural elements in some and hints sprinkled here and there in others, but the stories as a whole are very down-to-earth, and very human. Gemma Amor’s illustrations accompanying each story also add a very much appreciated personal touch, and give every entry their own unique character.
“Have You Seen My Dog?” is a strong opening story which makes us think: if we have a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s, are they restored when they pass? On the surface it’s a frightening story, inducing paranoia in the reader who waits for a surprise around every bend.
“Justine” was my favorite story in the collection. This is one of the prime reasons for the introduction Amor wrote, and although I’ve never personally experienced the events the titular character goes through, it’s all too easy to empathize with her plight. The vivid imagery contained on the character’s trip through hell was exceptionally well-detailed and conceived.
“The Strangler” was another favorite. Again, I can only relate from an outsider’s perspective, but having known women who experience postnatal depression, reading about a tangible vision of this depression and anxiety is difficult. Amor reaches into our chest with this one, grabs our heart, and shakes it around a bit for good measure. This is a great example of what I meant earlier when I wrote about causing me to think deeper. This piece brought out some serious feelings in me. I can only imagine how it might affect someone who had experienced it first-hand.
I could write a discourse on every story in this bunch. There’s not a bad one in here, and when a story collection doesn’t have any skips, it’s pretty much an automatic 5 star for me. It’s a rare occurrence. I will highlight some other favorites before I leave you to order it from Amazon or straight from Giles Press, though. “Pure Water” is a quick fun read that reminded me of something from an early Stephen King story collection. “Rat Girl” is a poignant story that gets more empathy out of the reader than the reader might expect to give up. “Heart of Stone” covers a lot of potential themes, and I found myself examining the events of the story in a multitude of ways.
Maybe someday I’ll read something by Gemma Amor and find it worthy of less than 5 stars, but it’s not today.
I was given an e-book by the publisher for review consideration
Personally, I loved the introduction. It caused me to think a little bit deeper about everything I was reading as I went through the collection. There are supernatural elements in some and hints sprinkled here and there in others, but the stories as a whole are very down-to-earth, and very human. Gemma Amor’s illustrations accompanying each story also add a very much appreciated personal touch, and give every entry their own unique character.
“Have You Seen My Dog?” is a strong opening story which makes us think: if we have a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s, are they restored when they pass? On the surface it’s a frightening story, inducing paranoia in the reader who waits for a surprise around every bend.
“Justine” was my favorite story in the collection. This is one of the prime reasons for the introduction Amor wrote, and although I’ve never personally experienced the events the titular character goes through, it’s all too easy to empathize with her plight. The vivid imagery contained on the character’s trip through hell was exceptionally well-detailed and conceived.
“The Strangler” was another favorite. Again, I can only relate from an outsider’s perspective, but having known women who experience postnatal depression, reading about a tangible vision of this depression and anxiety is difficult. Amor reaches into our chest with this one, grabs our heart, and shakes it around a bit for good measure. This is a great example of what I meant earlier when I wrote about causing me to think deeper. This piece brought out some serious feelings in me. I can only imagine how it might affect someone who had experienced it first-hand.
I could write a discourse on every story in this bunch. There’s not a bad one in here, and when a story collection doesn’t have any skips, it’s pretty much an automatic 5 star for me. It’s a rare occurrence. I will highlight some other favorites before I leave you to order it from Amazon or straight from Giles Press, though. “Pure Water” is a quick fun read that reminded me of something from an early Stephen King story collection. “Rat Girl” is a poignant story that gets more empathy out of the reader than the reader might expect to give up. “Heart of Stone” covers a lot of potential themes, and I found myself examining the events of the story in a multitude of ways.
Maybe someday I’ll read something by Gemma Amor and find it worthy of less than 5 stars, but it’s not today.
I was given an e-book by the publisher for review consideration
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