Genre: Horror Short-Story Collection Published: Faber & Faber, November 2024 My Rating: 4.5/5 stars
“A teenager longs for perfect skin. A scientist tends to fragile alien flora. A young man takes the night into his own hands. Each of these characters has a desperate desire. Can any of them be sated?”
After reading the sampler as an ARC, I had high hopes for this book. Now, having finished the whole thing, I can confidently say that this is in my top 10 horror-anthologies! Through a central theme of “hunger”, Clark explores the horrific, the darkly hilarious and the intensely melancholic, through a collection of 11 short-stories. Although they represent a large variety of styles and subgenres, there’s a remarkable consistency in quality throughout them all. Although some of them didn’t quite work for me personally, its wide range guarantees there’s something for any kind of horror-reader with a craving for the dark (and humorous) aspects of humanity in here.
Individual Story-ratings:
- Build a Body Like Mine: 5/5 stars
A woman advertises then unconventional way she’s managed to obtain her dream-body… The recently emerged subgenre of “diet-culture/fatfobia-horror” doesn’t usually work for me, but this is the best of its kind I’ve read. Disturbing and visceral.
- The Problem Solver 1/5 stars
A woman takes her (boy)friend to confront the man who raped her. The friend doesn’t hold back…
I didn’t quite see the point of this story. It felt too much like a matter-of-fact description of a scene, and too little like a story with development/plot in it.
- She’s Always Hungry: 5/5 stars
A coastal community unravels as their men fall under the spell of the latest “catch of the day”; a creature fished from the murky depths of the ocean, calling all of them home…
You know I love me an good-old-fashioned ocean horror and this was a wonderful twist on the familiar trope.
- The Shadow Over Little Chitaly: 2/5 stars
A story told entirely through a series of increasingly unhinged Google-/Tripadvisor-reviews for a Chinese-Italian take-away-restaurant, which may or may not exist, and/or serve calzones filled with banh mi noodles…
I’d already read this one in the sampler and my opinion stands upon reread. Cool idea, but the format just isn’t for me. Since none of the other stories are told in this “alternative format” I frankly don’t feel it was a smart move to chose this one as a sampler-story.
- Hollow Bones: 4/5 stars
A sci-fi story about a woman infected with an alien pathogen. Reads like a drug-induced fever-dream, matching the content of the story perfectly.
- Goth GF: 2/5 stars
A young man becomes obsessed with his “goth-girl” coworker, and each of her attempts to dissuade him make him fall even more in love with her.
I get what this story was doing and reading from the mind of this clearly sad and unhinged man had a certain satirical quality to it. Still, being in the mind of a neckbeard-misogynistic-stalkers-perspective just really wasn’t enjoyable to me.
- Extinction Event: 4/5 stars
A scientist accidentally finds the solution to man-made pollution and global warming in her research over a “plant” that landed on earth from outer space. This story takes a more melancholic, rather than horrific turn, which I personally loved. We’ve seen the “humans-are-the-monsters-all-along” trope done to death in the genre of eco-horror, but Clarks take struck a remarkable chord with me.
- Night Stalkers: 2/5 stars
Three teens drop acid and go on a drug-filled night-prowl.
This story truly felt like the odd-one out in the collection. All stories contain recognizable horror-elements, but this one just felt lacking in that regard…
- Shake Well: 1/5 stars
A teenage girl buys an unauthorized medication to treat her acne off the darkweb.
Any horror that focusses just on the gross-out factor is an immediate no for me. no matter how well you describe a puss-filled-pimple to me, it won’t make me enjoy your story, nor find it scary…
- The King 4/5 stars
In a postapocalyptic, an immortal woman with a tendency towards cannibalism, cruelty and domination, seizes her chance to claim dominion over the remnants of humanity.
Unexpectedly; this one was hilarious. The way Clark gave voice to this unhinged woman and all her diabolical doings made for a darkly joyous read.
- Company Man: 5/5 stars
A woman lives a “new life” under an assumed identity in order to escape an unknown horror in her past. When she meets a man and begins to fall for him, she finds herself split between “Dora” (her new personality) and “Martine” (her old life). On top of that, she might not be the only one who isn’t quite showing her true self…
I wasn’t expecting this final story to be my favourite, and yet it might just be… Apart from the harrowing atmosphere of lingering dread and distrust, there’s an heir of melancholy and regret to Martine/Dora, that adds a weight to the story. Few writers have gotten me to feel for two characters this much in such a short amount of pages, which made the emotional payoff at the end even more devastating.
Many thanks to Faber & Faber Ltd for providing me with a sampler in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
You can find this book here on Goodreads.
