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sea_caummisar's review
5.0
Five shiny stars for this one. From the first page of the author's intro, I felt like a friend was welcoming me inside his head to see his stories.
The first story was very realistic and believable. Sometimes it's the simplest stuff that makes us realize that this world is full of crazy people. I didn't quite understand why the same story continued in the end, unless it was a full circle kind of thing.
My favorite story was about two best friends, each hiding secrets from each other, stuck on a boat together. 'Rage' was appropriately named and a great read. Oh yeah, if you've ever taken a drink and felt like you swallowed a hair, there's a great story in here for you
The first story was very realistic and believable. Sometimes it's the simplest stuff that makes us realize that this world is full of crazy people. I didn't quite understand why the same story continued in the end, unless it was a full circle kind of thing.
My favorite story was about two best friends, each hiding secrets from each other, stuck on a boat together. 'Rage' was appropriately named and a great read. Oh yeah, if you've ever taken a drink and felt like you swallowed a hair, there's a great story in here for you
graphomaniac666's review
5.0
It’s been a while since I read a good anthology of stories, and I have to say that I really enjoyed this one. These stories were all quite easy to get drawn into and held my attention well, the introductions were all very captivating and the twists were often quite wild. Wofford is very good at conveying the important information needed at the beginning while also burying the lead enough for effective surprises later. I really enjoyed his action scenes and descriptions of body horror especially, I think he’s very skilled in both those areas. I think it was a smart choice to break up the first story into two parts, Rachel was easily the most likable character in all the stories to me so returning to her at the end felt very appropriate. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror and is looking for something to spark their love of reading again!
(Everything from this point on is going to be a spoiler, you’ve been warned!!)
I found two running themes in this collection of stories that kind of perplexes me a bit, those two being revenge and digestion. Or perhaps just simply nature, depending on how you’re looking at it. At first, I thought that the stories were going to bleed into each other a bit more in unconventional ways- for example, Off the Beaten Path Part 1 ended with Rachel being “Stranded” out there in the forest, and then that is the title of the next story. That ended up not being the case for very long, but if I had an ask for Wofford’s next anthology, it would be for this to happen because I feel that it’d be fun for the reader to discover and an interesting challenge for the author to work within. In any case, I really loved reading this book, and I think Wofford’s a really cool guy who genuinely cares about his readers. He reached out to me in a mutual horror book group we’re in and offered me a free copy of his book, just because he had extra and wanted it to go into good hands. I’m so glad I ended up enjoying this book as much as I did, I think he truly deserves more readers and I’m excited for what he comes up with in the future!
Off the Beaten Path Part 1
I very much loved this story, easily a 5 from me. This story is scary due to its relatability, how someone can prey on the vulnerability that love brings, and unfortunately I think most people will at some point in their life experience a deeply hurtful betrayal from a loved one that might make them think of this story. Off the Beaten Path Part 1 portrays the whirlwind and whiplash from those changing emotions towards the person you previously loved in an artfully compact way. Rachel becomes a projection for how you felt when xyz happened and how confused and hurt you were. And how you had to inevitably protect yourself, again and again against something worse every time. My favorite part was when Rachel forgot the keys, and the chaos it led to. As a survivor of some trauma myself, reading about another person making some very human errors in a situation like that helped me a bit more on my quest to forgiving my own mistakes like that in fight or flight scenarios. You can’t help but root for Rachel in the end if you’ve ever experienced a violent partner, and I think it was very successful as a result. She is a triumphant symbol of what it is to be your own advocate, and it is a strong way to start the collection off.
Stranded
This was amazingly difficult for me to read in the best of ways, and a wild contrast from the emotions in the first story! Wofford proved to me he knows horror well in this one. I found it interesting that this seems to be the only story in this collection that doesn’t seem to be rooted in revenge somehow. It certainly delivers on the digestion theme though, my god. I happen to have a horrid fear of both parasites and bellybuttons, so imagine my shock a few pages in! During the bellybutton body horror I had to put it down a few times and reflect on life before returning to this one, but I got through it all by the skin of my teeth! Good job on scaring me! It certainly gets a 5/5 from me because I was Very Disturbed, I was squeamish, and I’ll never forget it. No matter how much I may want to haha!
Frostbite
I think this one was probably the weakest for me, although I enjoyed the characters, the gore, and the setting. It was a little harder for me to feel scared, but it also could have been some residual numbness on my part due to the last story
(Everything from this point on is going to be a spoiler, you’ve been warned!!)
I found two running themes in this collection of stories that kind of perplexes me a bit, those two being revenge and digestion. Or perhaps just simply nature, depending on how you’re looking at it. At first, I thought that the stories were going to bleed into each other a bit more in unconventional ways- for example, Off the Beaten Path Part 1 ended with Rachel being “Stranded” out there in the forest, and then that is the title of the next story. That ended up not being the case for very long, but if I had an ask for Wofford’s next anthology, it would be for this to happen because I feel that it’d be fun for the reader to discover and an interesting challenge for the author to work within. In any case, I really loved reading this book, and I think Wofford’s a really cool guy who genuinely cares about his readers. He reached out to me in a mutual horror book group we’re in and offered me a free copy of his book, just because he had extra and wanted it to go into good hands. I’m so glad I ended up enjoying this book as much as I did, I think he truly deserves more readers and I’m excited for what he comes up with in the future!
Off the Beaten Path Part 1
I very much loved this story, easily a 5 from me. This story is scary due to its relatability, how someone can prey on the vulnerability that love brings, and unfortunately I think most people will at some point in their life experience a deeply hurtful betrayal from a loved one that might make them think of this story. Off the Beaten Path Part 1 portrays the whirlwind and whiplash from those changing emotions towards the person you previously loved in an artfully compact way. Rachel becomes a projection for how you felt when xyz happened and how confused and hurt you were. And how you had to inevitably protect yourself, again and again against something worse every time. My favorite part was when Rachel forgot the keys, and the chaos it led to. As a survivor of some trauma myself, reading about another person making some very human errors in a situation like that helped me a bit more on my quest to forgiving my own mistakes like that in fight or flight scenarios. You can’t help but root for Rachel in the end if you’ve ever experienced a violent partner, and I think it was very successful as a result. She is a triumphant symbol of what it is to be your own advocate, and it is a strong way to start the collection off.
Stranded
This was amazingly difficult for me to read in the best of ways, and a wild contrast from the emotions in the first story! Wofford proved to me he knows horror well in this one. I found it interesting that this seems to be the only story in this collection that doesn’t seem to be rooted in revenge somehow. It certainly delivers on the digestion theme though, my god. I happen to have a horrid fear of both parasites and bellybuttons, so imagine my shock a few pages in! During the bellybutton body horror I had to put it down a few times and reflect on life before returning to this one, but I got through it all by the skin of my teeth! Good job on scaring me! It certainly gets a 5/5 from me because I was Very Disturbed, I was squeamish, and I’ll never forget it. No matter how much I may want to haha!
Frostbite
I think this one was probably the weakest for me, although I enjoyed the characters, the gore, and the setting. It was a little harder for me to feel scared, but it also could have been some residual numbness on my part due to the last story
evanbondauthor's review
5.0
Wofford Lee Jones has crafted a collection of tales that are dark, disturbing, and delicious. Many of the stories sat with me long after I read the pages, giving me chills far into the night. Some of the wicked tales will be burned into my memory for all time such as Stranded (which makes me never want to get a hair my mouth again) or The Scuttling (which will keep me from every exploring a beach at night). If you're a fan of dark stories, horror, and story collections then take a quick trip Off the Beaten Path but be careful out there!
findingmontauk1's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Off the Beaten Path is a solid collection of short stories/novelettes that connects the reader with horror on different levels. Each story surprised me and had me wanting more, but I would like to call out my three favorites: "Off The Beaten Path - The Beginning," "Stranded," and "Dead Bait." There's a reason I don't really hike, take dark roads, go the "faster more scenic route," and tend to always be a cautious person... and these stories just support my theories! "Stranded" really spoke to me, and I couldn't help but get a visual from one of the vignettes in John Carpenter's movie, Body Bags. The plots are not the same at all, but in "Stranded" a character swallows a hair in his drink that starts to do weird things inside his body and it all goes downhill from there. In Body Bags, a man gets a hair transplant and essentially turns into Cousin Itt. But both make me think of this really long hair protruding from your body where it shouldn't be and just... I can't quite explain the gross horror I feel from that! Wofford Lee Jones did a wonderful job at bringing some of my personal fears to life in the pages of this collection, and I think there is a story in here for everyone!
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