Adele Hartley

Read by Dawn is a collection of 28 short horror stories of natural and supernatural horror. The story telling styles are as varied as the author who wrote them and range, as many anthologies do, from fair to excellent. A few that really caught my attention were: What Will Happen When You are Gone by Jeffory Jacobson, where a couple go to buy a ranch home and discover that it is much more than it seems, Wendy by Ryan Cooper, the horrifying story of a man who can’t let go of a childhood show more friend, Windchimes by Paul Kane, the chilling story of a father’s loss, and finally Coming to a Close by Aurelio Rico Lopez III, the brutal tale of a woman who is kidnapped and abused with an ending that just gave me the chills. Though a few of the stories really didn’t really catch my interest the ones that did made up for them by far. show less

Read by Dawn 2 is an anthology with a little bit of everything. Stories that will really grab readers’ attention grabbers include “The Skin and Bone Music Box,” in which a spoiled ruler takes a precious thing and turns it into an item of horror, “Fat Hansel,” a retelling of an old story with an all new twist that is sure to terrify, “A Candle for the Birthday Boy,” a story of vengeance that is sure to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, and “Fingers,” which will show more terrify the reader with it’s bizarre horror. This anthology also has some classical themes told in an all-new light, including a zombie tale entitled “Harvest,” and the apocalyptic story “A Storm of Ice.” A reader’s advisory note: some of the stories, such as “Guts,” in which a man has a gruesome reaction to drinking tequila, and “Between The Screams,” about a young man who has to do atrocious things to belong to a gang, are not for the faint of heart. As with many anthologies, the tales in Read by Dawn 2 range in quality- happily, in this case, from fairly good to great. Recommended for adult horror collections in any library. show less