A review by motherhorror
Every House Is Haunted by Ian Rogers
5.0
I have had the best luck in horror lately! Two great collections back to back! This collection by Ian Rogers is totally different than Bracken MacLeod's 13 Views of Suicide Woods that I reviewed earlier.
Yet still a five star collection. Just goes to show you that authors have totally different voices and you really get a feel for that in a collection like this.
I've seen Ian Rogers compared to Shirley Jackson's style and I would totally agree with that. He has an elevated level of prose under his belt and sometimes I found the descriptions so compelling, I would re read them a few times before moving on in the story. Especially in stories like "Cabin D" and "A Night in the Library with the Gods"
These stories range from the beautiful and poetic, like "Autumnology" to like an X Files vibe like the "Dark and the Young" and then my favorite kind of stories that Ian writes, the dark and humorous like "Aces" and "The Cat". I would say that's his wheelhouse, the ones that are drawing you in with clever dialogue and humor but also carry around a sense of the creeps lurking around the edges.
The book is broken down into mini collections, The Vestibule, The Library, The Attic, the Den and the Cellar. I loved the first collection very much and the Attic and the Cellar close behind. One of my favorite stories was "the Currents", a family finds a man washed up from the river that they believe to be dead. Really an interesting read because you have no idea where it's going, it's like being around the campfire at night with a creative storyteller.
Of course there are always a few stories in these collections that don't grab you or you don't resonate with them. Not every story is a home run.
I also would tell readers that this collection isn't necessarily terrifying. I'd use words like haunting, creepy, strange, supernatural or paranormal and just entertaining as hell. Classic. Classic tales of the dark and mysterious. I highly recommend this book.
Yet still a five star collection. Just goes to show you that authors have totally different voices and you really get a feel for that in a collection like this.
I've seen Ian Rogers compared to Shirley Jackson's style and I would totally agree with that. He has an elevated level of prose under his belt and sometimes I found the descriptions so compelling, I would re read them a few times before moving on in the story. Especially in stories like "Cabin D" and "A Night in the Library with the Gods"
These stories range from the beautiful and poetic, like "Autumnology" to like an X Files vibe like the "Dark and the Young" and then my favorite kind of stories that Ian writes, the dark and humorous like "Aces" and "The Cat". I would say that's his wheelhouse, the ones that are drawing you in with clever dialogue and humor but also carry around a sense of the creeps lurking around the edges.
The book is broken down into mini collections, The Vestibule, The Library, The Attic, the Den and the Cellar. I loved the first collection very much and the Attic and the Cellar close behind. One of my favorite stories was "the Currents", a family finds a man washed up from the river that they believe to be dead. Really an interesting read because you have no idea where it's going, it's like being around the campfire at night with a creative storyteller.
Of course there are always a few stories in these collections that don't grab you or you don't resonate with them. Not every story is a home run.
I also would tell readers that this collection isn't necessarily terrifying. I'd use words like haunting, creepy, strange, supernatural or paranormal and just entertaining as hell. Classic. Classic tales of the dark and mysterious. I highly recommend this book.