Kevin J. Kennedy Presents: The Horror Collection Neon Edition

3 stars

I struggled a lot more with Neon than I did many of the other KJK Horror Collections that I read.  There were some stories that stood out to me, however:

“The Next Door Collector” by Elizabeth Massie.  I wasn’t really expecting the twist about who the real bad guy was, so that made this story a pretty fun read.  I thought the ending was a bit rushed and didn’t wrap things up like it could have but overall an interesting story.

“Daisy Chains” by MJ Mars.  You’d be hard pressed to find an MJ Mars work that I didn’t like.  She always delivers and this story was no different.  I’d love to see more of The Roaming Captive and learn who she was and how she became an urban legend.

“Nocturnal Pursuits of the Elderly” by Mark Towse.  What a wild ride! I was absolutely not expecting the turn that Mark took and loved it for catching me completely wrong-footed.  The elderly have to have fun too, huh?

“Ink Runs Red” by M.P. Norman and “The Dripping of Wineskins” by Brian Hodge both get honourable mentions as I’d love to see those as full stories.  They were both so fascinating to read and I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the worlds that they began crafting.  If either of those stories ever became full books on their own, I’d buy them in a heartbeat.

Overall, I just couldn’t get into Neon as much as I wanted to.  It turned out to be a quick read, but not something that I was super blown away by.