The Worst Kind of Monsters

I’ve always loved horror books, but I became a bit unattached from the genre and reading in general. This book is amazing, it opened me up to new kinds of horror, some stuff I found terrifying and other stuff not so much, but it was great to read about and understand someone else’s fears. As it’s a collection of short stories, I can just read whichever one appeals to me at the time, and flick back to your favourites. An amazing book, if you love horror, I would really recommend. I’ve read it over and over.

I couldn't decide on two or three stars, but a couple of the stories were strong enough to warrant giving the author the benefit of the doubt. My biggest gripe with the writing style is that every single story in the book are written in the same manner: a first-person perspective of someone writing some sort of "confession" or legacy or however you want to word it. My second complaint is with the tone and structure of pretty much all of the tales. I have no qualms with graphic and gory. What I do dislike is a story that is weird, confusing, and creepy for the sake of being weird, confusing, and creepy. Many of the stories make little to no sense. They begin, something weird happens, they end. Very little (if any) explanation as to why the bizarre occurrence even happened. I love the "less is more" approach when it comes to horror and weird fiction, but without SOME exposition, the mystique turns into eyebrow-raising silliness. There's a giant, talking dog sneaking into a little girl's room at night? Okay. But, why? And the author shrugs his shoulders and replies "because I said so." A fair chunk of the stories just aren't good. Several of them I found myself just skimming over pages for "important" information just to get through reading them quicker because they weren't holding my interest. Red West, Blackout, Chrome Sunset, and My Father, My Monster are easily the worst of the lot. The last in the list is not even a horror story. It is literally just a story about an abusive father. Of the course the book is not all bad, hence the three-star rating. All of the stories - even the bad - are nothing if not creative. The book is full of fresh, original ideas that are enough to spark at least some interest (even if not all of them are able to hold it). I've given my list of the stories that I found to be the weakest and worst, but there are also a handful that I found to be exceptional and truly worthy of a read: The Tall Dog (I griped about it a bit, but it really is not a bad story at all), Feed the Pig, and The Goat Room (my personal favorite of the entire book) I determined were my favorite reads of the collection. Overall, The Worst Kind of Monsters is a so-so, hot and cold collection of stories. A few solid, well-crafted gems shine among a grouping of stories ranging from the otherwise serviceable, to the downright bad. If you can find the book at a bargain or a library, it could pass the time for a day or two. It's 465 pages long, but not a difficult read in the slightest.

Elias Witherow quickly became one of my favorite horror authors. Where everything else feels like it’s repetitive and stale, Elias’ collection has been a refreshing new take on the genre. Only sad that I’ve basically read his whole lot. Waiting for new material.

This is a collection of short stories from the author of The Black Farm. I loved The Black Farm but have found most of these stories to be rather forgettable. Interesting ideas but most of the time he undoes the impact of a good twist ending by adding another paragraph or two that make it end on a whimper instead of scream

I bought this book as a gift for someone. They told me the stories were great however, the pages in the book are falling out. I do expect better when paying $20 for a paperback.