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A review by lilyn_g
Corpse Cold: New American Folklore by John Brhel, Joseph Sullivan
3.0
My co-host and I buddy-read this book together for review, and our thoughts were so very similar that we combined our reviews rather than writing up separate ones. She will be posting the full review, so I'm just going to hit the main points.
Our biggest issue was being unable to tell if we were the correct audience for the book or not. I've never read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. She has. Sometimes it felt like the author was trying to spook us (and it was done quite successfully). Other times, it just felt like it was nostalgia. The feelings bounced around enough that we were both kind of iffy at the end.
However, Corpse Cold: New American Folklore does contain some solid stories. I thought I'd mention a few of my favorites.
Autoplay 'On'
We were agreed on this being a very good one. The way it plays to modern fears is perfect and Gracie mentioned she has noticed a rise in stories of creepy, cursed or haunted YouTube channels and most of them are very good. Story: 4/5 Illustration: 4/5
The Big 'M'
The title is a bit vague but the story is not. It's the one we could pinpoint the most as being 'adult horror'. The situation and the choices made I don't think a younger person would understand.
What would you do when it came down to supporting your family versus putting up with an asshole boss. I think that's something most adults would understand and sympathize with.Story: 5/5 Illustration: 4/5
Moss Lake Island
Parts of this were a bit silly but there were a few scenes that were described very well and were quite creepy. Story: 4/5 Illustration: 5/5
It That Decays
Nope. Uh-uh. This caused us both to shudder and groan for several minutes. Can we just not ever hear about this theme again? Okay, great, thanks! This would definitely fall into the adult horror area unless you never want your child to go to the dentist ever again. Story: 4/5 for the "Hurk!" factor. Illustration: 3/5
Jesup
Just a little meh. It does have the feel of an urban legend with the mother and step-father being absolutely awful. It seemed to have a bit of tongue-in-cheek referral to the alligators in the sewer legend that we kind of liked. Story: 3/5 Illustration: 4/5
Last Train Home
Last Train Home was a decent story but lacking a bit of 'oomph'. We did like the different twist on the "ghostly warning", though and the ending was a bit intriguing. By the way, keys can be used as at least a fallback method of self-defense. Story: 3/5 Illustration: 5/5
A Casket for My Mother
I really liked it and thought the Patreon 'reward tier' aspect to it was interesting. Story: 4/5 Illustration: 3/5
We liked the authors' notes at the end very much. In some cases they were more interesting than the story themselves.
Overall, this really wasn't a bad collection, but it wasn't as strong as it could have been. And while, again, some of the individual stories were great, it wasn't clear if we were the right target audience for this book or not.
It was a good collection to buddy read with Gracie and see what our thoughts were as we went. We're very similar in some ways, but different in a lot of others, so I think I was surprised to see exactly how much we agreed on the stories in this book.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.
Our biggest issue was being unable to tell if we were the correct audience for the book or not. I've never read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. She has. Sometimes it felt like the author was trying to spook us (and it was done quite successfully). Other times, it just felt like it was nostalgia. The feelings bounced around enough that we were both kind of iffy at the end.
However, Corpse Cold: New American Folklore does contain some solid stories. I thought I'd mention a few of my favorites.
Autoplay 'On'
We were agreed on this being a very good one. The way it plays to modern fears is perfect and Gracie mentioned she has noticed a rise in stories of creepy, cursed or haunted YouTube channels and most of them are very good. Story: 4/5 Illustration: 4/5
The Big 'M'
The title is a bit vague but the story is not. It's the one we could pinpoint the most as being 'adult horror'. The situation and the choices made I don't think a younger person would understand.
What would you do when it came down to supporting your family versus putting up with an asshole boss. I think that's something most adults would understand and sympathize with.Story: 5/5 Illustration: 4/5
Moss Lake Island
Parts of this were a bit silly but there were a few scenes that were described very well and were quite creepy. Story: 4/5 Illustration: 5/5
It That Decays
Nope. Uh-uh. This caused us both to shudder and groan for several minutes. Can we just not ever hear about this theme again? Okay, great, thanks! This would definitely fall into the adult horror area unless you never want your child to go to the dentist ever again. Story: 4/5 for the "Hurk!" factor. Illustration: 3/5
Jesup
Just a little meh. It does have the feel of an urban legend with the mother and step-father being absolutely awful. It seemed to have a bit of tongue-in-cheek referral to the alligators in the sewer legend that we kind of liked. Story: 3/5 Illustration: 4/5
Last Train Home
Last Train Home was a decent story but lacking a bit of 'oomph'. We did like the different twist on the "ghostly warning", though and the ending was a bit intriguing. By the way, keys can be used as at least a fallback method of self-defense. Story: 3/5 Illustration: 5/5
A Casket for My Mother
I really liked it and thought the Patreon 'reward tier' aspect to it was interesting. Story: 4/5 Illustration: 3/5
We liked the authors' notes at the end very much. In some cases they were more interesting than the story themselves.
Overall, this really wasn't a bad collection, but it wasn't as strong as it could have been. And while, again, some of the individual stories were great, it wasn't clear if we were the right target audience for this book or not.
It was a good collection to buddy read with Gracie and see what our thoughts were as we went. We're very similar in some ways, but different in a lot of others, so I think I was surprised to see exactly how much we agreed on the stories in this book.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.