20th Century Ghosts

I was told this was an extraordinary collection of short stories. The reviews here and the appraisal on the cover and inside the book all say so. But this book was instead a huge dissapointment.

This isn't a collection of horror stories. Mostly... There are some at the beginning but it's more of a collection of weird stories. Period.

Most of them aren't even that much interesting. I'd compare this book to King's Skeleton Crew - mostly a collection of writing exercises that somehow got at least 20 pages long.

Of course, there are some good stories here but if I don't count the first one “Best New Horror” I had to wait for them till the end of the book.

“The Widow's Breakfast” “The Last Breath” and “Bobby Conroy Comes Back From The Dead” are probably the best ones. But not because of their story but because of their characters. Joe Hill once again proves that if he wants to, he can create very relatable characters in both extraordinary and, as Bobby proves, also ordinary situations.

Most of the short stories weren't interesting and bored me, though.

P.S: If you're bigger insectophobic than me, feel free to skip “You Will Hear The Locusts Sing”. It's a horror version of Kafka's Metamorphosis and the toughest read I've ever experienced:)