A review by mikekaz
Hellbound Hearts by Richard Christian Matheson, Nicholas Vince, Sarah Pinborough, Sarah Langan, Barbie Wilde, Conrad Williams, Mike Mignola, Stephen Jones, Gary A. Braunbeck, Marie O'Regan, Christopher Golden, Nancy Kilpatrick, Chaz Brenchley, Simon Clark, Kelley Armstrong, Paul Kane, Steve Niles, Nancy Holder, Peter Atkins, Lucy A. Snyder, Neil Gaiman, Yvonne Navarro, Mark Morris, Mick Garris, Dave McKean, Jeffrey J. Mariotte, Jeffrey J. Mariotte, Tim Lebbon, Clive Barker, Doug Bradley

3.0

Many times in a short story collection, there is some kind of theme to tie all the stories together: zombies, vampires, cats, what-have-you. In this case, all the stories focused on Clive Barker's Hellraiser movies. You know the ones with Pinhead, where solving a magic puzzle cube summons the Cenobites (denizens of Hell) and then they drag you off to Hell itself. By itself this is a great idea. I found the Hellraiser movies very entertaining. Putting together a bunch of stories with a different perspective on the Hell resulting from solving a puzzle box should result in a pretty good book. Unfortunately my biggest problem with this collection of stories was how predictable many of the stories were. The stories quickly became formulaic and boring. Rather than several new twists, it became one of those typical slasher movie sequels where the same cliches are used. The rare gems of good stories merely highlighted the tired ones in between. It is really too bad because so many of the authors in this book are really good authors. My favorites are below

"The Confessor's Tale" by Sarah Pinborough - A boy with no tongue hears the sins of the town.
"The Collector" by Kelley Armstrong - A woman obsessed with puzzles focuses her attention on the puzzle box.
"The Promise" by Nancy Kilpatrick - A reunion of sorts is held at a cemetery.
"However..." by Gary A. Braunbeck and Lucy A. Snyder - A nice spin on the idea of maxing out on gore.