The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five edited by Ellen Datlow, part 2
Kill All Monsters
A woman tries to keep herself and her child safe. Good.
Best Line:
“Soon they would run out of road.”
The House on Ashley Avenue
A haunted house is a danger to all who enter it. Good.
Dead Song
The making of a documentary on post zombie apocalypse music turns ugly. This is creepy and very good.
Sleeping, I was Beauty
A creepy poem based on ‘Sleeping Beauty’.
Bajazzle
Bizarre Oz horror.
The Pike
From the author of ‘One’ comes this terrible tale about pike fishing.
The Crying Child
A young boy learns the secret of a shunned remote Italian village. Good.
Best Line:
“It was because the villagers wanted to keep something out - out of their houses.”
This Circus The World
Short and dull tale of something.
Some Pictures In An Album
Photos in an old album reveal a terrible truth. Good.
Best Line:
“Nobody would willingly knock on this door or want to see who lived behind it.”
Wild Acre
A man survives an attack and nothing is ever the same. Okay.
Final Exam
A woman has survived an apocalyptic event at a cost. Good.
None So Blind
Not horror, more noir.
The Ballad of Boomtown
An unhappy woman is the sole occupant of an Irish ghost estate. Okay.
Pig Thing
Written by Adam L.G. Nevill. A family hope for a new start in New Zealand but things go terribly bad one night. This was excellent.
The Word Made Flesh
Grief makes a man do a mad thing. Bad.
Into The Penny Arcade
A girl has to get into a mysterious lorry to escape bullies. Weird.
Best Line:
“What are you gonna do to her in there?”
“Can we watch?”
Magdala Amygdala
The victim of a disease is being remade. Excellent.
Best Line:
“We will use the blood of this world to write dark, beautiful poetry across the walls of the universe.”
Frontier Death Song
Written by Laird Barron. A man tries to escape the Wild Hunt. Excellent.
~
Spirits From Beyond by Simon R. Green
The 4th in the ‘Ghost Finders’ series sees JC, Melody and Happy sent to a haunted country inn. There they come up against Druidic magic and foreshadowing of what is to come. This was good, enjoyable and highly entertaining. Roll on Book 5.
Best Lines:
“No-one allowed in or out, by order; and if you were wise, you didn’t ask on whose order.”
“The building was looking back at him. And not in a good way.”
“Anyone the Druids worshipped is not someone you’d want to meet in a dark catacomb.”
“He had a strong feeling of being watched by cold unfriendly eyes. But then, he often did.”
“I refuse to die by furniture!
~
The Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner
A dire 1998 thriller from the author of ‘The Other Daughter’, ‘The Third Victim’ and ‘The Next Accident’. Tess and her daughter are on the run from her escaped convicted serial killer husband Jim. Tess asks a drunk marine to protect her and inexplicably falls for him in an array of badly written sex scenes. The marine’s vile bitch sister hangs around to be a vile bitch who causes plot complications. Jim lurks being one of those boring omnipotent serial killers who can do anything. This was ridiculous.
Best Lines:
“We caught you in the end!”
“Ten bodies later...that you know about.”