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I bought this lengthy collection with high expectations. Thirty five modern horror stories are herein collected, the theme being that they stem from the three editors' home countries - the UK, USA and Australia. The authors range from established professionals to new arrivals on the publishing scene; consequently the volume partially sets out to showcase new talent, always an admirable ambition.They're brought together beneath a suitably spooky cover - actually some human skulls tucked away in a display case. As with many such compilations, however, the results are highly uneven. Perhaps a dozen or so of these tales are absolutely first rate (the best is probably the genuinely disturbing 'Bedfordshire' by Peter Crowther) and some of the more interesting are undoubtedly those written by women, who generally approach horror from a more thoughtful and consequently more frightening angle. A further dozen are worthwhile and a final group is frankly pretty forgettable. In my opinion this volume would have benefited from a little more judicious editing; whittling it down to around twenty stories and cutting out the obvious deadwood would have done much to improve it. As it is, there are definite high spots but this particular ghost train is a bumpy ride.
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