My Review
I love horror novels and horror stories, so when I heard about this book, I knew it was going to be for me. I knew I was going to enjoy it before I even started it, and I wasn’t wrong about that! Even the cover of Scary Out There is kind of scary – leading up to the twisted, spooky, and creepy stories inside.
There are over twenty stories and poems in this book that are guaranteed to make your spine tingle. I’ve carefully read each one, and while some are a lot more frightening than others (some of them are just psychologically disturbing and others are downright terrifying to the point where I had to read other books before bed), they’re all brilliant. They definitely aren’t exactly what will come to mind automatically when someone mentions the book being a horror novel – it’s more about individuals and what they are afraid of – for example, one story in the book is about a girl who suffers from an eating disorder who is slowly starting to turn invisible…because she is terrified of not being noticed anymore. While not exactly scary in the traditional sense, many of these stories will make you think and really mess with your mind (and I love that!).
There are authors that I haven’t read anything by as of yet, and authors that are really famous (R.L. Stine, anyone?), so I have to say that books full of short stories are always great ways to discover new authors. I’ve found quite a few that I really enjoyed the work of in this collection, and it will definitely move me to go and find myself some of their books to read.
My favorite story in this collection is Danny by Josh Malerman. Bird Box was one of my favorite novels that I read last year (and still remains so to this date), so I was super excited when I saw that he had contributed a story to this collection. The story is about a fifteen year old girl who decides to take a babysitting job, only to find out that the boy who she is supposed to be babysitting doesn’t actually exist…or does he?
If you like horror or psychologically thrilling novels and stories, I have to recommend that you don’t skip over this one – it’s such a great read, packed with stories and poems from bestselling authors, making it a great way to unwind and relax without having to commit to a full length book. My only word of advice? You might want to sleep with the lights on after you read some of these stories!
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Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks
About Jonathan Maberry
JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning horror and thriller author, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. His books have been sold to more than a dozen countries.
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Giveaway!
3 Finished Copies of SCARY OUT THERE (US Only)
Tour Schedule:
Week 1:
8/22: Life According to a Bibliophile – Review
8/23: Take Me Away to a Great Read – Mood Board
8/24: Never Too Many to Read – Review
8/25: Reading Is Better With Cupcakes – Guest Post
8/26: Bookish Lifestyle – Review
Week 2:
8/29: Kara the Redhead – Q&A
8/30: Here’s to Happy Endings – Review
8/31: Books, TV, and More – Top 10
9/1: Lisa Loves Literature – Review
9/2: The Irish Banana Review – Top 10
OK. That cover is so terrifying! I am intrigued that you are saying the stories are more psychological thrillers than pure horror stories. I do love a great thriller, so I may have to check this book out!
Olivia @ The Candid Cover recently posted…Teaser Tuesdays #67: As I Descend by Robin Talley
I may or may not have placed other books on top of this one at night when I went to bed, but shhh! If you like thrillers, I bet you’ll love this one!
I am going to have to check out this book. I think everyone in my family will enjoy reading these stories. The authors contributing stories are amazing and I’m so happy that new authors got a chance to shine with the best too.
This is awesome! I feel like I’m the only one in my family who enjoys horror (especially YA horror), but if you can share the stories in this book with others, they’d be all kinds of fun to talk about!
I can’t wait to get my hands on this spooky collection! It sounds utterly fantastic!! Love the review and I will definitely not be skipping over this one, thank you!!
Thank you! This book was so much fun to read, because each of the stories had so much to offer to the reader! I hope you enjoy it when you read it!
I’ve enjoyed several of Maberry’s books and this one sounds like another winner!
I haven’t read anything else by him, but I know that after reading this book, I’m going to have to!
I don’t think I could read this one! Too spooky! Just the cover makes me want to hide my eyes.
It definitely has a creepy cover, that’s for sure! The stories themselves aren’t that creepy though – most of them are more of psychological thriller type stories than actual horror, so there’s that!