Horror Reviews

Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils by James Lovegrove

Sherlock Holmes and his creator may be long dead, but this has not stopped the master detective living on in the works of others. James Lovegrove has written several stories that have expanded on Arthur Conan Doyle’s legacy, but The Cthulhu Casebooks offer something very different by blending in the works of another classic author, H. P. Lovecraft. This mash up of Doyle and Lovecraft comes to a conclusion in Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils as Holmes finally gets his chance to rid ...

Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach by Ramsey Campbell

Ramsey Campbell has won countless awards over the years and many of his stories are considered classics in the field of horror. S. T. Joshi has stated that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."

Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach is being published by the brand new imprint, Flame Tree Press, as part of their launch line-up. The book follows the couple Ray and Sandra as the journey to the new ...

The House by the Cemetery by John Everson

There seems to be a rise in a new form of entertainment these last few years, that of the live action experience. While "escape rooms" seem to the most prevelant, there is also a niche for those who would prefer to be scared rather than think about puzzles.

The House by the Cemetery is an old, derelict building known locally as "Bachelor’s Grove" and is situated within the grounds of an ancient, crumbling cemetery. Rumor has it that the ghost of a witch haunts the place. What be...

The Mouth of the Dark by Tim Waggoner

The very nature of horror means that it should not always be a pleasant read. You should be unsettled, scared and perhaps even disgusted at times, but a balance must be struck. If an author is failing to get genuine scares into their book they may resort to cheap tricks such as writing things so gross that the reader becomes appalled. Is that horrific, or just plain nasty? Tim Waggoner is a veteran of the genre and should know his ways around the dark arts of horror, but is that the case with...

This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong

Spiders seem to tap into a primeval fear inside humans. Perhaps in the days of cavemen there were 20 foot spiders that ate those that travelled at night? What I do know is that the average domestic spider in the UK is unlikely to spring off the wall and eat through your skull. This set of events is not true of an undisclosed town in America were the spiders will not only drill into your brain, but they are invisible so you cannot even see them noshing your noggin.

Dave and John are ...

The Folio Book of Horror Stories by Ramsey Campbell

The Folio Book of Horror Stories is a new anthology, collecting some of the finest stories of the macabre written over the last two hundred years or so. The collection is edited and introduced by the award winning, legendary author and critic Ramsey Campbell, who has thoughtfully provided an insight into the process of editing the anthology over at the Folio Society blog. His introduction in this book is just as insightful:

A horror story may convey supernatural fear or psycholog...

One of us will be dead by morning by David Moody

One of us will be dead by morning. Fifteen people trapped on Skek, a small, barren island in the middle of the North Sea between the coasts of Denmark and the UK. Skek is the home of the extreme sports company Hazelton Adventure Experiences, who specialise in corporate team building in an environment without distraction.

Life on Skek is tough, one slip on a rock is all it takes. That's all it took for Vanessa to die - a momentary lapse, a push by her fellow colleague and her bo...

The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

I picked up The Chalk Man purely as a result of Stephen King recommending it on twitter after he said If you like my stuff, you'll like this. He isn't wrong. While it has a voice all it's own, The Chalk Man is a perfect accompliment to Kings' work.

It begins in 1986, 12 year old Eddie and his friends meet up as the travelling fair arrives in their town. On this fateful day, during a horrific fair accident, Eddie meets Mr Halloran - the Chalk Man. He gave Eddie...

Terror is our business: Dana Roberts casebook of horrors by Joe R Lansdale & Kasey Lansdale

Joe R Lansdale, a prolific writer, has written in a variety of genres from westerns to graphic novels and horror stories. He's won ten Bram Stoker awards, the Edgar award, the American Horror award and the British fantasy award. Apart from his horror stories he is perhaps best known for his crime novels featuring the amateur detectives Hap & Leonard (which have recently been turned into a TV series).

He's also written some stand-out tales of the "supernormal", featuring ...

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Final Girls asks the question what happens after the horror film has ended. How does the fastest and smartest girl cope after the horror ends?

Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with her student friends 10 years ago. She was the only one to return, surviving a horror film level massacre. On doing so she automatically became a member of an exclusive club, the Final Girls. She joins Lisa - survivor of a knife weilding maniac who killed 9 of her soriority sister, and Sam the only person...

Salems Lot by Stephen King

Salem's Lot was Kings second published novel, following on from his success with Carrie. Written shortly after King moved to Maine (the bulk of the story was actually written before Carrie), it follows the writer Ben Mears as he moves back to the small town of Jerusalem's Lot (known locally as Salem's Lot, a fictional small town in Maine). Ben spent part of his Childhood in Salem's Lot and from the outside, little seems to have changed.

That includes the derelict pro...

Strange Weather by Joe Hill

Strange Weather contains four stories that are subtly linked; each different in theme and style. They are tied together, as you might expect from the title, by some pretty unusual weather.

The book begins in 1988 with "Snapshot" which describes 13 year old Michael Figlione living in the Silicon Valley area. He discovers a character known as "The Phoenician", an odd, creepy, tattoo'ed guy taking polaroids of people with a very strange camera. Set in the 80's, for anyone wh...