Book Review: Six Scary Stories selected and Introduced by Stephen King

Goodreads Summary: Six Scary Stories selected and introduced by Stephen King

Number 1 bestselling horror author Stephen King introduces and presents six gripping and chilling stories in this captivating anthology!

Stephen King discovered these stories when he judged a competition run by Hodder & Stoughton and the Guardian to celebrate the publication of his own collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. He was so impressed with the entries that he recommended they be published together in one book, which Cemetery Dance Publications and Hodder & Stoughton are pleased to report has become a reality. The six stories are:

WILD SWIMMING by Elodie Harper
EAU-DE-ERIC by Manuela Saragosa
THE SPOTS by Paul Bassett Davies
THE UNPICKING by Michael Button
LA MORT DE L'AMANT by Stuart Johnstone
THE BEAR TRAP by Neil Hudson

Reader beware: the stories will make you think twice before cuddling up to your old soft toy, dipping your toe into the water or counting the spots on a leopard…

Goodreads Rating: 3.59 Stars with over 2,000 reviews
Genre Listing: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Thriller
Get the Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Goodreads Challenge: 8/30
2018 Reading Challenge: #40 A compilation of Short Stories. 2018 reading challenge can be found here.

Book Review:

I'm not really sure the best way to go about reviewing this, as I've never actually reviewed short stories compilations before. (Mental note to do this more.) I've decided to review each short story as I get them done. In the end, I might pick a favorite (maybe a least favorite as well.) I think I'll give each a rating, and then my actual book rating will be an average of the 6.

These six short stories were all picked by Stephen King for a writing contest. It was narrowed down from 800 to six, and King states in his introduction that he felt all of these stories deserved to be published. With that, the idea for this compilation was born. 

First up:

Wild Swimming by Elodie Harper

I really liked that this story takes place in e-mails. It made it really easy to read and got to the point quickly. There wasn't a lot of background story, which was fine. It just jumps into Chrissy's travels, and her stay at a run-down inn. It gave just enough details to find Chrissy's adventures interesting. There was a good build-up within the e-mails that Chrissy sends her friend. They start innocently enough, but with each one, you can see Chrissy's fear grow. If this were to be published in a full-length novel, I'd definitely read it. I'd love to read a more in-depth version of the story with history on the sunken village and is being explored. 

Eau-De-Eric by Manuela Saragosa

Eh. I was not really a fan of this one. I found it weird and didn't really get the point of it. I think for this one to be scary it would have needed to be a bit longer. It was well written and interesting, but just when I could start to see how it would be scary, it ended. It made it really anti-climatic.

The Spots by Paul Bassett Davies

This one was pretty interesting, and I liked the psychology and experimentation of how someone would accomplish a seemingly ridiculous task in two different ways. First with the job just being a mundane request and second with an element of life or death introduced. I actually found the ending to be a bit humorous. Overall I thought it was a well-done story and I enjoyed it.

The UnPicking by Michael Button

This story was properly creepy, and I enjoyed every page of it. I loved the odd names that were given to the toys and how each had their own personality. The way the caused mischief started out innocently enough and kind of Toy Story-Esq but then quickly got very dark.  At the time of this compilation, Michael Button was working on his first novel. This short story was enough to make me want to seek out his work. 

La Mort De L'amant by Stuart Johnstone

I don't know that this one was necessarily scary, but it did have a lot of suspense in it. The story left me with all kinds of questions. Some of the questions that it raised were 'why was the old man at the bridge?', 'What was in the truck that he didn't want the officer to see,' 'Who was the woman he kept referencing.' I think the suspense definitely got my heart racing a little bit. Also, this is the second time this week I've heard/read the phrase "Dumb as a bag of hammers." I've never heard that before until this week, and now I've had it referenced twice. 

The Bear Trap by Neil Hudson

The sixth and final story in this compilation is an interesting one. It takes place in an ash-covered wasteland. Calvin, a young abandoned boy, is caught off guard by a stranger who is intent on taking Calvin's home for his own. I liked the detail in this one. It was gruesome and imaginative. A lot of the other stories left the ending up for speculation, but I think this one had a pretty concrete ending. I liked the story of Calvin and his three favorite bears. 

Overall Review:

I really enjoyed these six stories. They were all really creative and made me think. They were unique, and most of them left me wanting more. If nothing else I've got some new authors to stalk on social media.

Here is my list of favorites. 

1.) The Unpicking by Michael Button

2.) Wild Swimming by Elodie Harper

3.) The Bear Trap by Neil Hudson

4.) The Spots by Paul Bassett Davies

5.) La Mort De L'amant by Stuart Johnstone

6.) Eau-De-Eric by Manuela Saragosa

I can see why these were picked as the finalists for the contests. Average stars for my ratings on these comes out to 3.83, so I'm going to bump it up to four stars overall. I'd love to get a discussion going about these short stories, so if you've read them, please let me know what you think in the comment section!