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claudia_is_reading's review
4.0
What I really, really liked about this book is how the author slowly leads us into a world of darkness through creepy imagery and her powerful prose.
This is a book for those who want their chills come from intelligent foreshadowing and not unnecessary shock or gore. As in any anthology, some stories are better than others, but all in all, this is a fantastic read.
I got this book for free, and this is my honest and voluntary review
This is a book for those who want their chills come from intelligent foreshadowing and not unnecessary shock or gore. As in any anthology, some stories are better than others, but all in all, this is a fantastic read.
I got this book for free, and this is my honest and voluntary review
ghostreads's review
2.0
I originally came across Daniels's work several years ago on the r/nosleep Reddit forums, and liked whatever story I had found enough to add the paperback edition of this short story collection to my Amazon wishlist. Now, two years later, I've finally set down to read it--and oh, boy. This is objectively bad. It really pains me to write that about a small-time creator, but there is almost nothing positive that I can say about this entire collection, even after reading all 311 pages and 61 stories.
Each short story only averages about three pages, and the miniscule length barely gives the reader time to grasp what's happening, let alone feel any kind of emotional attachment when the "twist" inevitably pops up in the last line or two of each chapter. Most of the stories are either too cheesy to take seriously, too uninteresting to care about, or too baffling to even understand. Several genuinely felt unfinished, as though Daniels sat down at her computer with an idea but never wrote past the first few paragraphs, and there were a handful of stories that had almost identical setups and payoffs, leading to a strange sense of deja vu every time the "big reveal" involved. Unfortunately, this incomprehensible mixture of repeated plots, overused premises (looking at you, the-call-was-coming-from-inside-the-house, creepy-ax-wielding-guy-in-the-woods, and there's-someone-looking-back-at-you-through-the-door-peephole), and half-finished stories cheapens the few decent ideas that did seem to make it into the book, but even those are still full of issues.
The stories that do have some kind of narrative are riddled with leaps in logic (I lost count of how many times a character ran screaming from something completely mundane in order to "build tension" quickly), absurd dialogue and narration ("Yeah, we're not like other girls. We listen to ACDC, Kansas, and Styx, not prissy little pop stars like Taylor Swift" [175] has to be a joke, because if it's not I might have to retract any good thing I say about this book on principle), unresearched elements that pull you out of the narrative entirely (the entire premise of "I Answered A Payphone" hinges on a world where *69 apparently didn't exist in the 2000s), and--worst of all--completely preventable formatting and grammatical mistakes. For every story that I didn't find honestly god-awful, there were five that I did... and two more that were completely nonsensical. And, if I ever have to read an italicized Thump! again in my life, I think I might just die.
The worst offenders were the "connected" stories about, all of which were terrible on their own and worse when strung together. The through-line of the book was so poorly constructed that I had to reread "The Visit to Dr. Atwell" twice just to pick up on all the thrown-together elements from the rest of the collection. Nothing made even the slightest bit of sense () and I honestly believe that a majority of the collection was written without an overarching narrative in mind, with the final two stories written (and a few minor edits to others made) at the last moment as some kind of hook to drum up book sales.
I could go on, but that seems unfair at this point--this is a terrible collection of stories and I absolutely do not recommend it. If you do plan to pick it up, however, don't waste your time reading most of what's included. The best of the bunch (although keep in mind how low the bar for "best" is at this point) are: "The Hitman With A Heart" (not horror), "I Fell Asleep On The Subway" (not horror), "The Cornfield" (not horror), "Shadow On The Stairs" (horror), "The Baby Kicked" (horror; the best story of the whole collection), "My Library Has A Secret Basement" (horror), and "My Bath Was Not Relaxing" (horror). I am being generous, here--if I ever decided to re-read this book, I might shorten that list even further. The fact that only seven out of sixty-one stories in this entire collection are even worth the time it takes to read them speaks for itself.
2/5 for being awful but not "problematic".
Each short story only averages about three pages, and the miniscule length barely gives the reader time to grasp what's happening, let alone feel any kind of emotional attachment when the "twist" inevitably pops up in the last line or two of each chapter. Most of the stories are either too cheesy to take seriously, too uninteresting to care about, or too baffling to even understand. Several genuinely felt unfinished, as though Daniels sat down at her computer with an idea but never wrote past the first few paragraphs, and there were a handful of stories that had almost identical setups and payoffs, leading to a strange sense of deja vu every time the "big reveal" involved
Spoiler
a stalker and/or ex-boyfriendThe stories that do have some kind of narrative are riddled with leaps in logic (I lost count of how many times a character ran screaming from something completely mundane in order to "build tension" quickly), absurd dialogue and narration ("Yeah, we're not like other girls. We listen to ACDC, Kansas, and Styx, not prissy little pop stars like Taylor Swift" [175] has to be a joke, because if it's not I might have to retract any good thing I say about this book on principle), unresearched elements that pull you out of the narrative entirely (the entire premise of "I Answered A Payphone" hinges on a world where *69 apparently didn't exist in the 2000s), and--worst of all--completely preventable formatting and grammatical mistakes. For every story that I didn't find honestly god-awful, there were five that I did... and two more that were completely nonsensical. And, if I ever have to read an italicized Thump! again in my life, I think I might just die.
The worst offenders were the "connected" stories about
Spoiler
Switchblade, Dr. Atwell, the clones, and the "How Will You Die?" appSpoiler
especially the absurd there-was-a-bomb-the-whole-time endingI could go on, but that seems unfair at this point--this is a terrible collection of stories and I absolutely do not recommend it. If you do plan to pick it up, however, don't waste your time reading most of what's included. The best of the bunch (although keep in mind how low the bar for "best" is at this point) are: "The Hitman With A Heart" (not horror), "I Fell Asleep On The Subway" (not horror), "The Cornfield" (not horror), "Shadow On The Stairs" (horror), "The Baby Kicked" (horror; the best story of the whole collection), "My Library Has A Secret Basement" (horror), and "My Bath Was Not Relaxing" (horror). I am being generous, here--if I ever decided to re-read this book, I might shorten that list even further. The fact that only seven out of sixty-one stories in this entire collection are even worth the time it takes to read them speaks for itself.
2/5 for being awful but not "problematic".
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