monikasbookblog's review against another edition
5.0
Thank you NetGalley, Pricks like thorn media and The Behrg for reader’s copy of this book. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!
autismreading_mom's review against another edition
2.0
nerdontheloose's review against another edition
5.0
There wasn’t a single story that I didn’t take something from and liked something about it. That said, some of the stories were beyond me and I couldn’t make much sense of where they went with the snap of a finger, the ideas they are based on however, are definitely very intriguing and the writing is just fascinating. Most of these stories have quite an open ending and it takes quite a bit of imagination and your own ability to join links and to understand what might have happened at the end and where it’d have gone from that point. Recommended if you like short stories that speak to your imagination and turn the gears of your mind.
There is also a kind of a behind the scenes, heartwarming note by the author at end of the book, sharing whys and hows of these stories, and what inspired him to write these, his struggle with depression one of the major contributing factor. He also calls out anyone struggling with depression to feel free to reach out to him if they need help.
kmk182's review against another edition
5.0
I signed up for an review copy of this book having never heard of the author. There are a lot of books coming out by authors I read a lot or books with a lot of hype; so I kinda wanted go just take a shot with this one. Boy, was this a pleasant surprise. Being that it's made up of short stories I was going to do it in chunks while I read some novels I'd be anticipating, but this book was lingering in my brain so much I had to stop a novel 100 pages in and go back.
I made the comparison to Palahniuk and Ellis earlier because a lot of this book is dark. The author here isn't using violence as padding, but there are some difficult subjects here. In one story a couple loses a baby, in another a man grapples with suicide. However, the author does this as graceful as one can without always giving us a happy ending.
Like most short story collections sometimes the author stretch out a little and sometimes the stories falter a little; but even at the worst I still enjoyed most of these stories. This is more to say there may be some stories in here you don't like, but there are some amazing ones in here.
Again I must say this isn't going to be for everyone based on the content, but then again if you've head Stephen King you've tested your limits some too, so I highly reccomend this one.
neha_s's review against another edition
2.0
'The Passengers You Cannot See' is the collection of 15 short horror stories, and you have all different sub-genres of horror in these stories. Few of them I really liked & few were either disappointing or too boring for me.
Stories I really liked :
- One Star Review : Creepy & dark side of a writer, I really liked the twist in this one
- Kill Your Darlings : It was really disturbing and I liked the concept very much
- Patterns : This one was kind of psychological and paranormal horror, and the twist completely took me by surprise.
- Stillborn: Another one with creepy & cool concept, really liked this one.
Apart from this, there were few stories I thought had so much potential but due to the writing style author chose, made them so vague and kind of pointless that I lost my interest. And few were just underwhelming and not scary at all.
I really liked the concept but the writing style was so not for me.
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readbydusk's review against another edition
4.0
What sets this collection apart is the way it deals with mental illness as part of its stories. The horror of not knowing what’s real is evident in These Concrete Walls, Patterns and Happiness Is A Commodity. My favourite stories are Scabs, a beautiful love story set during a plague invasion and Amado, a straight up nasty creature horror.
I have to admit that I wouldn’t describe this book as entertaining, as the stories are really bleak and raw. This is purely my personal preference though. I do appreciate the Author’s Notes at the end, it’s always nice to get a look at the original ideas behind the stories.
CW: mental illness, suicide attempts, infant loss, graphic violence
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for a digital review copy.
wellwortharead's review against another edition
3.0
Some of these stories were better than others, a few I felt were a bit vague when it came to the ending. My favorites all involved children, as I'm sure I have told you more than once kids creep me out anyway! From the horror that befalls those who take in an abandoned baby in "Reborn" to the complete and utter devastation of coming home from the maternity ward in need of a tiny coffin instead of a crib in "Still Born", those were the tales in this collection that most resonated with me. "Amado" also involved children as an attempted rescue goes awry. I just can't say that I enjoyed the rest of the book as much as those three stories.
I received an advance copy for review.
yogaalakshmi's review against another edition
3.0
whateveryoneelseisreading's review against another edition
3.0
I've read quite a lot of horror anthologies recently. I'm going to be honest, this one didn't really stand out. That might seem harsh but it's not necessarily a bad thing. The stories in this collection for the most part were fine. Some were really good-Kill Your Darlings for example is a fantastic story about an author who pushes the whole 'write what you know' thing too far. Still Born was a heart-breaking and chilling tale about a couple dealing with the title topic. But putting those two aside, the other stories in this collection are just sort of all right. There was only one I actively disliked and that was due to me not being able to cope with the content (Scabs if you're curious). I definitely think this collection is worth a read and the author is clearly talented when it comes to themes. It lacks many of the problems I've had with previous anthologies and it's just a shame that more of the stories didn't blow me away.
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars
monikasbookblog's review
5.0
Thank you NetGalley, Pricks like thorn media and The Behrg for reader’s copy of this book. This review is my own and is not influenced in any way!