Book Review - The Darkest Night by Various Authors

Title: The Darkest Night
Author: Various authors
Genre: Horror/ Short stories
Published: 2024
 
Description: From some of the biggest names in horror comes an Advent calendat of short stories perfect for the darkest nights of the year.
 
Review: The anthology “The Darkest Night” is a collection fo 22 horror stories with a Christmas or Winter theme, each story written by a different author. I really loved this idea and decided to pick it up for the holiday season. With short story collections, you have so many stories to choose from. Most of these stories weren’t really scary and were just okay. Just a few of them stood out and I will spotlight them in this review.
 
The story “Cold as Ice” by Tim Waggoner follows a divorced man who is trying to date, but has no real desire. While driving home ins a storm he sees a strange creature running beside him. This story felt like a true wintery horror story, what I was expecting from this anthology. One of the stories that was actually scary.
 
Caly McLeos Chapman wrote the story “Mr. Butler”, which was a bit strange, but I loved this. A card board box shows up at a man’s house. The same card board box has once been his only friend, called Mr. Butler. It’s very different from the rest of the stories, but I absolutely loved it.
 
Nice by “Nat Cassidy” was probably my favorite, where we meet 6-year-old Mitchell, who has been very good this year and is sure Santa knows it. But when the Elf on the shelf comes alive and tells Mitchell he should be naughty, because otherwise the elves have to work too hard, the young boy takes it a bit too seriously. Surprising story, which takes a very dark turn.
 
The story “Eggnog” by Kristi deMeester didn’t really feel very Christmassy or wintery, other then the fact that part of the story was set at an office Christmas party, but this story somehow really grabbed me. And I felt very fulfilled at the end.
 
Probably the most ridiculous story, but also ridiculously good, was “Being Nice” by Jeff Strand. An eighteen year old receives nothing but a lump of cole for Christmas and he tries to make it right. But everything only gets worse. The story is pretty brutal, but I really laughed at it too.
 
Of these 22 stories, these were the only ones that really stayed with me, the rest was just okay and most of them were very forgettable. I probably would not recommend this book, but if you’re willing to pick it up, these are the stories you should be excited for.  
 
Rating: 3/ 5