A review by joebathelt
The Best of Richard Matheson by Richard Matheson

4.0

This is an anthology of short stories by Richard Matheson selected by Victor Lavalle. I came across the author in an article about the origin of horror tropes in popular culture and, indeed, gained some insight by reading this collection. Despite their age, many of the stories seem instantly familiar. In fact, reading this book feels a bit like reading the plot of B-movies from the 60s. Richard Matheson clearly had a knack for creating an atmosphere of suspense and dread. Even seemingly mundane activities like driving on a motorway, buying a statue from a flea market, or going Christmas shopping can be transformed into utterly horrifying experiences. His writing style is very sparse, one might even say simplistic, and feels a bit like reading a story from a pulp magazine. The anthology provides a broad selection of quite different stories. Some of the stories are certainly more compelling than others, and some have aged better than others. This is a great book to read for any horror fan. Especially avid readers of Stephen King will probably see the influence of Matheson. For other readers, the book will open a fresh appreciation of the cultural root of the horror and suspense genre in American pulp fiction from the middle of the last century. Even for readers without any of these interests, the book should be enjoyable to read for the pure pleasure of well-crafted suspense in bite-sized stories.