With the evenings darker earlier and the cold and chilly winter weather keeping everybody tucked up warmly indoors, it is the perfect time for reading. And when it is dark and chilly, what is better to read than a spooky horror story such as The End by Kayleigh Dobbs, a collection of six short stories and the end of life.
The End.
That must be the shortest book and book review ever written. Only joking, The End is the title of the new book by horror writer Kayleigh Dobbs. It is a collection of 6 short stories over 116 pages that are filled with dark and humorous horror dealing with, in some way or another, the end of, well everything – life itself.
The End is part of a series of micro-collections featuring a selection of peculiar tales from the best in horror and speculative fiction. The End is a pocket-sized book, number thirty five in the series, from the Black Shuck Shadows series.
The End is composed of six short stories:
- The Claim They Stake
- Just Like Baking
- Catch Fire
- Dead
- Omega
- The End
The Claim They Stake sees thirty-five year old Billy running for his life, convinced that his elderly neighbour is actually far from human. An interesting tale of conspiracy theories and mental illness that sheds its skin to reveal a horrifying tale. Do you really know who your neighbours are?
Just Like Baking is my favourite tale in this book. It is a tale centred around a coven of witches trying to do some good for their town. But things don’t go to plan when these centuries old witches are forced to include the younger sister of one of the coven. They accidentally conjure up an apocalyptic spirit! This is a dark tale with plenty of understated humour making it a fun dark and creepy tale that has you smiling all the way through – contemporary and modern witches clash to make an excellent story.
Catch Fire sees a married couple go for dinner only to discover that they have been invited to join a deadly cult.
Dead Grace is the story of Grace who wakes up dead, leaves her body and becomes witness to a horrific murder spree.
Omega sees Pastor Bob taking his faithful sheep to meet their saviour, or is he?
The End is tale of what happens after we die.
Overall, The End is a fantastic collection of short stories ultimately about death and The End. Whilst being dark, tinged with fear and horror they all feature an element of comedy to lighten the dark mood. I loved the unassuming humour buried within the fear and tension, who knew something as simple as a ringing phone could illicit a laugh from the reader?
The tales, whilst dark and morbid, are fun to read. Centuries old witches brought up to date in a modern world, lizard people, zombies, and pure evil all feature with the pages of this short book. The stories, whilst short, have been expertly composed and fit as much horror as possible into the pages. It is a book that you won’t be able to put down and one that horror fans will enjoy.
With only 116 pages, the book is quick to read but very enjoyable with horror, death and dark humour. I enjoyed all the stories, with Just Like Baking being my favourite. although it featured less death and horror as in the other stories – it was a fun read.
Kayleigh Dodds is a very talented writer, and she has written a collection of short stories that are fun and chilling. Short stories that will see you smiling in among the horror, and in ways that you won’t necessarily see coming.
An excellent collection of short stories that make fun and chilling reading.
Beware the blood rain!
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £5.99 (Paperback)
Available to buy from Black Shuck Books or Amazon here.
