Stranger : Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters

Rating:
Summary: Darkness Peering
Review: Strangers is a collection of horror and suspense stories centered around the theme of strange encounters. And, besides for the few inevitable misses, the stories collected in this book are great. Some of the best names in horror and suspense fiction are collected in here; Jack Ketchum, Patricia Highsmith, Muriel Gray, Ray Bradbury, Lovecraft... The book collects both old and new and the result works surprisingly well.

The real reason to get this book is for Jack Ketchum's brilliant story The Box, about a man who sees his family deteriorate after they encounter a strange individual who has something to share. But there is also a brilliant story by Christopher Fowler here, where a man's worst nightmare becoems reality. Patricia Highsmith's tale mixes fantasy and horror quite masterfully. And Tabitha King's story, although a little too long, is a frantic portrayal of a woman in panic.

Thomas Tessier, Alex Hamilton, Lisa Tuttle, Edith Wharton, Muriel Gray and Jay Russell and John Wyndham all present stories that are very entertaining, imaginative and, at times, brilliant.

Unfortunately, the book does also present a few misses. Bradbury's tale of a man lost in an unknown town is very predictable and boring. Mark Helprin's Letters From The Samantha goes round and round in circles and never stops anywhere. And Victoria Rothschild gets in way over her head with her strange little tale.

But overall, this book is a keeper. Michele Slung has collected a slew of memorable story that are often suspenseful, often scary and mostly entertaining.