Behold the Void

Behold the Void by Philip Fracassi is a short story collection of horror tales, largely featuring the cosmic sub-genre. Themes of parents, children, loneliness, toxic masculinity and misogyny, and fear of loss recurred throughout many of the stories in the collection. and For me, this collection was a mixed bag. A few stories really stood out to me as four and five star stories including Fail-Safe, Mandela, Baby Farmer, and Horse Thief (especially part 2). I also mostly enjoyed Coffin and Mother, but sadly the other three stories were disappointments to me. I noticed that Fracassi writes beautiful prose, but I found many of the stories to be long, slow, and loaded with detail that did not directly advance the plot. Perhaps it's simply my preference as a read, but I think I enjoy stories that are plot driven more than character or world-building driven, and that made reading some of this stories a tad tedious. This collection was published prior to Fracassi's Beneath a Pale Sky, which I have previously reviewed. I think I preferred Beneath a Pale Sky a bit more, although my comments about meandering detail holds true in both collections. Still, fans of literary horror may find this an enjoyable read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was my first introduction to Philip Fracassi's writing. These short Horror stories were very well written in the style of Stephen King with well developed characters and truly horrific imaginative ideas. Like Stephen King, Fracassi understands the world of children and young people in the stories where such characters are the main protagonists. Perhaps my favorites in this anthology are “Altar,” “The Baby Farmer,” “Mother,” “Fail-Safe,” and “Mandala.” Many of the characters, like most people, are flawed. Some have drinking problems, some have fallen into infidelity, some are careless or non-caring, some are susceptible or broken, but they could be you or someone you know living everyday lives until the “dark” reaches out and grabs them. In Fracassi's Horror universe monsters may not always be supernatural and both human and supernatural acts of horror may coexist within the parameters of the story. In most cases the final outcome is dire or left open to the reader's imagination, but Fracassi does allow for redemption in the final, nail-biting tale “Mandala.” A truly satisfying Horror anthology read.