A review by avereads
Hark! the Herald Angels Scream by Christopher Golden

4.0

“The thing people really hate remembering, even as they celebrate a guy nailed to wood: all Gods demand a sacrifice. They're so fucking hungry.”

Hark! The Herald Angels Scream is a collection of eighteen Christmas horror stories that I really enjoyed! Here’s a breakdown for each story:

Absinthe & Angels by Kelly Armstrong 5
Christmas in Barcelona by Scott Smith 5
Fresh as the New-Fallen Snow by Seanan McGuire 5
Love Me by Thomas E. Sniegoski 3.5
Not Just For Christmas by Sarah Lotz 4
Tenets by Josh Malerman 4
Good Deeds by Jeff Strand 5
It’s a Wonderful Knife by Christopher Golden 4.5
Mistletoe and Holly by James A. Moore 4.5
Snake’s Tail by Sarah Langan 3
The Second Floor of the Christmas Hotel by Joe R. Lansdale 3.5
Farrow Street by Elizabeth Hand 2.5
Doctor Velocity by Jonathan Maberry 1.5
Yankee Swap by John McIlveen 5
Honor Thy Mother by Angela Slatter 4
Home by Tim Lebbon 3
Hiking Through by Michael Koryta 4
The Hangman’s Bride by Sarah Pinborough 5

This collection had a lot of authors I wanted to read, some new to me and some I’ve read before, and I enjoyed it for the most part. The standouts for me being Christmas in Barcelona, Good Deeds, Yankee Swap, and The Hangman’s Bride. The latter honestly felt like I was immersed in a novel and I completely forgot I was reading a collection it was that good. Yankee Swap is like a Saw fantasy and I loved it. Overall, a really good collection of you’re looking for some holiday horror. There were a few duds for me after the halfway point, but it didn’t bring down the collection for me. All the ratings rounded up and averaged out lead to a four star overall.