Okay, so I read the first book in this series, and my review of it is mostly positive. There are a couple of real gems in this book, but most of the stories are okay to mildly good.
Different people read horror for different reasons, so the reason to read this one is because of the plots. The plots are actually decent, and some have twist endings (my specialty). The overall vibe of this book is the campfire stories feel, tales you tell while sitting around a fire.
Now, I’ll go over the good points first. There are a couple of really, really good stories in here, and my personal favorite would be one titled “Intruder.” This particular story is good enough to published in any professional magazine back in the day.
There are some unique ideas in here, and for what it’s worth, I didn’t notice any big proofreading or editing errors while reading it. I would say this has easy prose with no complex words or thematic entries, so basically anyone can read it.
The bad points are…well…most of the stories are too short. They’re just too darned short, and they could use a little more length. I’ve always said a story is only as long as it needs to be, but I think most of these tales need to be a little longer. Trust me, I wrote a couple of books titled “100 Tall Tales” and “More 100 Tall Tales,” and those stories were waaaay too short for any normal reader.
Furthermore, all of these stories are in 1st person point of view, and I’ve said many times that this particular POV is for special situations. It shouldn’t be used to write every story, and unfortunately, I believe this particular POV has become popular thanks to Stephanie Meyer and her Twilight series.
Also, there’s no copyright page, which, though not specifically required for an eBook, should probably be included anyway just for the author’s, any author’s, protection.
This is only the first book in this series, and authors improve over time, so I imagine her later books are probably better than this one, but my overall review of this book is that it’s good, just not exactly great. There are a couple of fantastic stories in here, though.
My overall fear temperature for this book is 72° Scarenheit (22.22° Hellcius).
Blair Daniels: Don’t Scream: 60 Tales of Terror Review Copyright © 2025 bloodytwine.com Matthew L. Marlott
