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A review by wellwortharead
The Essential Sick Stuff by Ronald Kelly
5.0
I love short horror stories and normally when reviewing a collection I will mention my favorites by name. I can't really do that here because it would end up being a table of contents. I would need to list them all, since they are just that good. Ronald Kelly is a master of his craft and these 23 stories more than live up to the title. There is indeed some very sick stuff to be found in this book. Spiders, ticks, snakes and otherworldly parasites lurk among the pages and infest unsuspecting characters in the most gruesome of ways.
That is not to say the "sick stuff" is confined to blood sucking creepy crawlies. There are plenty of twisted individuals of the human variety as one man finds out on his way home from the happiest place on earth with his young family in tow, when a simple pit stop veers off into horror and depravity. A winter storm awakens a desire to feast on human flesh, a demonic presence waits to be fed, an evil man gets what he deserves on Halloween in a story that made me think if it were a movie I would have to look away and peek at it occasionally through my fingers, not wanting to miss anything but unable to bear the full scope of horror. A mother curses the family who wronged her son with grisly, blood curdling results, culminating in an eerie horseback ride that brought to mind Sleepy Hollow in a far darker and more disturbing way. I may have lost a pound from all the calories I burned due to cringing and squirming in my seat while I read.
I received an advance copy for review.
That is not to say the "sick stuff" is confined to blood sucking creepy crawlies. There are plenty of twisted individuals of the human variety as one man finds out on his way home from the happiest place on earth with his young family in tow, when a simple pit stop veers off into horror and depravity. A winter storm awakens a desire to feast on human flesh, a demonic presence waits to be fed, an evil man gets what he deserves on Halloween in a story that made me think if it were a movie I would have to look away and peek at it occasionally through my fingers, not wanting to miss anything but unable to bear the full scope of horror. A mother curses the family who wronged her son with grisly, blood curdling results, culminating in an eerie horseback ride that brought to mind Sleepy Hollow in a far darker and more disturbing way. I may have lost a pound from all the calories I burned due to cringing and squirming in my seat while I read.
I received an advance copy for review.