A review by findingmontauk1
Off the Beaten Path by Wofford Lee Jones

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!