A very good collection of horror stories. I especially liked "Crawlspace", it reminded me of the Clive Barker movie "Dread." I am a big fan of horror and will keep up with any of Mr. Light's future books. ( )

As usual, I received this book for free. Not as usual, I have no idea why or from whence. It showed up in the mail, which isn't unusual, but I can't account for its presence on my shelf. Whatever the case, it was free. Despite that happy happenstance, I give my candid thoughts below.

The content of this book is straightforward horror pulp. In the tradition of those epic magazines of the 50s and 60s, Light brings us a collection of quick hits designed to entertain and horrify in small easily digested bits.

On the positive side of the ledger, Light's works are reasonably unique. In some cases he goes back to old standards, but in general his stories are original and thrilling. From a narrative standpoint, he also does a good job of building tension and painting a narrative picture. He has the building blocks of a set of solid stories at his disposal.

On the negative side, there is a tendency to go too far. I understand that in general pulp is rather brash, but I have to admit that when flesh starts rending and blood starts splurting that it tends to lose me. Evans also has a tendency to telegraph his stories' endings through overly-revealing titles and early missteps in the story. One is seldom as surprised as one would hope with an Evans story. Lastly, the writing lacks a certain degree of polish. This is the sort of thing acquired much later in a career so I have no fears for later work, but for now the author's choice of words and phrasing is rather primitive and immature.

In summary, Light has the framework for an interesting series of stories. His view is fresh and provocative but execution is lacking. Otherwise good tales end up coming across as rather puerile. A fair amount of polish is needed here but the future is bright for this author. ( )