ricksilva's review
5.0
Collection of (mostly) horror short stories, some truly disturbing, some simply fun, all intriguing.
From the backroads hell of "Infinity" to the creeping paranoia of "Safe" there is a lot of darkness here. The extremely disturbing nature of "The Sheriff of Nottingham" is enough to overcome some of the logical stretches the story takes, and "Run Rabbit Run" does a great job of using creepy atmosphere to build terror out of a simple situation that gets creepy quickly.
There are also a couple of science fiction entries here. "Polaris" has a Star Wars vibe to it, while "Saving Melanie", the least-dark (it still involves the threat of a pretty terrifying fate for a character) story in the collection, has great characters and worldbuilding in a story about, well, worldbuilding.
A couple of stories feature recurring characters that appear in some of the author's other works. These have more of an X-Files kind of flavor with ghost-hunter Cat Suarez relying on psychic ability and compassion in two of the stories, while "professional badass" Major Sara Harvey and her Blackfire team take out monsters with blades and firepower in "To Protect and Serve".
The longer tale "Gethsemane" has an atheist heroine drawn to a demonic church on unholy ground.
Throughout the collection are great characters and vivid, often unnerving, descriptions that deliver the creepiness.
From the backroads hell of "Infinity" to the creeping paranoia of "Safe" there is a lot of darkness here. The extremely disturbing nature of "The Sheriff of Nottingham" is enough to overcome some of the logical stretches the story takes, and "Run Rabbit Run" does a great job of using creepy atmosphere to build terror out of a simple situation that gets creepy quickly.
There are also a couple of science fiction entries here. "Polaris" has a Star Wars vibe to it, while "Saving Melanie", the least-dark (it still involves the threat of a pretty terrifying fate for a character) story in the collection, has great characters and worldbuilding in a story about, well, worldbuilding.
A couple of stories feature recurring characters that appear in some of the author's other works. These have more of an X-Files kind of flavor with ghost-hunter Cat Suarez relying on psychic ability and compassion in two of the stories, while "professional badass" Major Sara Harvey and her Blackfire team take out monsters with blades and firepower in "To Protect and Serve".
The longer tale "Gethsemane" has an atheist heroine drawn to a demonic church on unholy ground.
Throughout the collection are great characters and vivid, often unnerving, descriptions that deliver the creepiness.
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