The Midnight Hour by Neil Davies is a plainly dressed horror anthology that could easily be
passed by in the crowd of horror ebooks that walk the streets of
amazon.com. However, you would seriously
miss out on a great read if you did that.
The 14 tales that comprise this book take the reader into delightfully,
disturbing worlds of darkness.
Neil Davies was born in 1959 before
the horror genre became the place we know today.
He was ten when Night of the
Living Dead was released and probably nowhere near seeing it for years. He didn’t have the epic novels of Stephen
King and the other bestseller propagators to inspire his writing. He had Hitchcok, Matheson, Bradbury, the
pulp writers, and maybe the great Hammer films of his homeland. Whatever his muse, these tales stand out as
something excitingly refreshing in our zombie, vampire overkill world.
Short story is not really the best
term for what Neil does. I prefer “micro
novel”. Wrapped in these small bites are
fully developed characters and plots that unfold in layers. The pacing is a steady pagan drumbeat that
keeps us turning page after page in a realm where terror stalks the innocent
with cold indifference.
Twelve of the stories are straight on
horror. They’re bloody, they’re dark,
and Davies writes with confidence in his storytelling chops. He doesn’t seem to try and hook his reader’s
attention, but he invites them to look into a peep hole for a glimpse of
evil. Turn away or look. His stories are not meant for mass
appeal. He uses disorientation, over
amplification of the mundane, and ambiguity with the subtlety of a magician. Other times he charges straight on with a
chainsaw to give us lovely gore. I hope
you like the scene with the coat hanger as much as I did.
I give The
Midnight Hour by Neil Davies five maggot-infested severed heads. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks Neil.
In support of a five severed head writer
below you will find a link to his other works.
I know what I want to review next.
I love winter horror.
Heads Will Roll,
Everette Bell
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