A review by jsilber42
American Morons by Glen Hirshberg

4.0

American Morons is a very solid collection of horror short stories. Hirshberg's stories take time to draw you in, with a slowly building atmosphere of menace and chill and "wrongness", often capped with a creepy or twist. The titular piece features a bickering young American couple on vacation in Italy who find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation when their car breaks down along the highway. "Flowers on their Bridles, Hooves in the Air" has a vaguely Stephen King-like feel to it, where a married couple and their friend encounter a mysterious boardwalk carnival. "Devil's Smile" follows a lighthouse inspector to a remote outpost with a lone inhabitant with a disturbing story. "The Muldoon" is a classically styled ghost story where the two children learn some dark secrets about their family. If you prefer slow-burn, atmospheric horror over gore and action, you'll probably enjoy this collection.