The Horror Collection: Topaz Edition – Kevin Kennedy

5/5 stars

If you’ve never read any of Kevin’s collections, you’re really missing out on something special. While Ellen Datlow is undoubtedly my Anthology Queen, I wholeheartedly believe that I’ve found my Collection King! Normally, I’d talk about a couple of my favourites, but as all these stories could be in favourite contention, I’ll instead pick out a few that really caught my attention:

‘Henry’ by Glenn Rolfe and ‘ASMR’ by Mark Towse gave me the skin shivers. In a society ruled by appearance more than anything, they both did an excellent job of showing the lengths that people will go to impress someone they like or to make sure they look better than everyone else, even if those lengths are to the extreme.

‘The Hopper’ by Lee Mountford gave me a bit of fun nostalgia as it reminded me a lot of one of my favourite TV shows, Quantum Leap. Only in Mountford’s version, Sam would’ve been a whole lot more self-serving, and the consequences for those around him way more horrifying.

‘In Name, Only’ by Steve Stred and ‘AutoBurger’ by Leigh Kenny were especially horrifying as I sort of had an idea for where the stories were going, but they both blew my expectations and had me making faces at my phone once the reveal happened.

‘Freaks’ by Christina Bergling was a longer story in the collection, but well worth every second spent reading it! I really gained a lot of sympathy for Dorothy and her children while I was reading, and it made the ending so much sweeter when I got there.

I could go on and on about every story in this collection; they’re all so good, and I’m honestly sorry to see the end of this book! Huge thank you to Kevin for letting me read this early, and I can’t wait to see this release to the wider world!