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macbean221b's review
3.0
For the first few stories, I thought this was going to turn out to be another collection of mediocre horror stories whose only purpose was to shock and disgust the reader. I nearly gave up on it after getting almost a third of the way through without being especially drawn in to anything. But then a story caught my attention and imagination, so I continued and was pleased to find there were several more really good reads included in the collection. C. Dennis Moore's THE CATERPILLAR was my favorite.
mikekaz's review
3.0
This book left me very mixed. Initially after reading the first few stories, I was disgusted and dreading the rest of the book as juvenile and/or pure gross-out attempts. Then I got to "Maggots" and I found something that spoke to me, something that was enjoyable. It actually had characters that were interesting. It relied on more than cannibalism and deformed rotting bodies, which was ironic because "Maggots" made heavy use of cannibalism and deformed rotting bodies. But the story wasn't about the gross-out; it was about survival and doing what is necessary. Then the next two stories were equally good and I thought maybe it was only a bad start to the collection. Unfortunately I then ran into another stretch of poor to acceptable stories. By the end, the whole book followed that pattern of some good followed by some really bad. I suppose that it is no different than any other collection where you expect to find some good stories, some bad stories and what you hope will be some great stories. Maybe the difference here is that the bad stories include both poorly written stories and gross-out stories. Below are the stories that stood out as better than the rest. Oh, needless to say, the stories in this collection are really extreme stories and not for a casual horror fan.
"Maggots" by Tim Curran - A French soldier in Napoleon's army during the French invasion of Russia must decide how far he'll go to survive. And some thing helps him to decide.
"Coquettrice" by Angel Leigh McCoy - A man falls in love and then finds out that his girlfriend is using him as cover. The story read to me as a modern and deviant spin of ROSEMARY'S BABY.
"Sepsis" by Graham Masterton - A young couple who are in love have problems separating themselves. While many stories in this collection were gross, this one really had me tasting every last drop and bite. And cringing the whole time.
"The Devil Lives in Jersey" by Z.F. Kilgore - A detective labeled as the "occult detective" in his department moves to a small town to help straighten out his teenaged son. Unfortunately the detective finds a new set of supernatural problems. I think I like this story more for the potential than for the reality. There are a lot of elements which were barely touched. The characters have depth potential but are a tad underdeveloped. And the action whips past too fast. This 25 page story should really be expanded into a 200+ page novella or novel and it could be really good!
"The Caterpillar" by C. Dennis Moore - After moving back to his hometown, a man starts to care for his cousin's quadriplegic daughter who he then discovers is changing even more. The ending is potentially beautiful or scary, depending upon your interpretation.
"Maggots" by Tim Curran - A French soldier in Napoleon's army during the French invasion of Russia must decide how far he'll go to survive. And some thing helps him to decide.
"Coquettrice" by Angel Leigh McCoy - A man falls in love and then finds out that his girlfriend is using him as cover. The story read to me as a modern and deviant spin of ROSEMARY'S BABY.
"Sepsis" by Graham Masterton - A young couple who are in love have problems separating themselves. While many stories in this collection were gross, this one really had me tasting every last drop and bite. And cringing the whole time.
"The Devil Lives in Jersey" by Z.F. Kilgore - A detective labeled as the "occult detective" in his department moves to a small town to help straighten out his teenaged son. Unfortunately the detective finds a new set of supernatural problems. I think I like this story more for the potential than for the reality. There are a lot of elements which were barely touched. The characters have depth potential but are a tad underdeveloped. And the action whips past too fast. This 25 page story should really be expanded into a 200+ page novella or novel and it could be really good!
"The Caterpillar" by C. Dennis Moore - After moving back to his hometown, a man starts to care for his cousin's quadriplegic daughter who he then discovers is changing even more. The ending is potentially beautiful or scary, depending upon your interpretation.
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