Horror Book Review – Asylum: 13 Tales of Terror
From the author of the UK Amazon Horror Chart #4 hit “Gated” comes the Amazon UK & US Horror/Anthology Chart #1 bestseller & also voted #5 on The Horror Novel Review’s Top 10 Books of 2013 “Matt Drabble, has created thirteen haunting short stories that leave you with a chill…” SAGE ADDERLEY “Matt Drabble is nothing short of a genius when it comes to painting a picture of his characters and the scenes of his stories…I am usually not a big reader, but this novel was sensational! I started reading and couldn’t stop…” LITTLE BLOG OF HORROR “Consistently very, very strong and it’s got one of the finer wraparound tales you’ll spot in recent release… Like Stephen King, or Clive Barker, there’s simply no telling what the man will deliver in a package of this nature…” HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS “This was one freaky ride…The stories are surprisingly creative and I would often find myself wishing to read faster to get to the twist at the end of each story…”THE AMBER DIARIES “Matt does it again with these mind blowing shorts about Blackwater Heights. Allow him to stand the hair on the back of your neck on end and keep it that way until the very end of the book…” EKINDLE REVIEWS.COM “Turn down the lights, turn off the TV and cuddle up with these stories tonight – talk about being afraid of the dark!” BOOK FIDELITY “It takes skill to make the short story format work and Matt Drabble has mastered it as he is able to establish both character and story in a matter of pages while conveying a sense of horror and terror” REELYBORED.COM Blackwater Heights is a building with a long dark history, some of it is well known but more is shrouded in myth and legend. None more so than that of its founding father Horace Whisker. Martin Parcell is an ex-journalist with shattered dreams of an author’s career. Sidelined through a car crash’s injuries, he finds himself forced through governmental austerity measures having to take a custodians position at a private mental health hospital. A writer with undoubted talent, but an author without a story. He begins his new job deep in depression and drowning under waves of his lost dreams. On his first night he meets Jimmy, his elderly supervisor who has spent most of his life within the hospital walls. Jimmy is nearing retirement age and desperate to rest his weary bones. Jimmy offers Martin a way out for both of them, access to the background histories and stories of the hospital’s patients. A collection of 13 tales from the darkly disturbed minds of the residents of Blackwater Heights. As the long night unwinds, Martin finds himself deeply troubled as the tales unfold before him and threaten to drag him down into their insanity.
Asylum: 13 Tales of Terror
Throw an extra piece of wood into the fire and turn off the lights, sit down on the couch, grab yourself a glass of your preferred choice of beverage and get ready to immerse yourself into a body of horror with Matt Drabble’s Asylum: 13 Tales of Terror. I am no stranger to the horror anthology as it was, once upon a time, my favorite form of fiction. No longer satisfied with having to rediscover a character and a new storyline every few pages, I have since moved on to the full-length format of the novel leaving the anthology behind me. But with promises of dark tales of madness, murder, and mayhem, I simply could not pass up an opportunity to read Asylum.
Ex-journalist Martin Parcell lands a job at Blackwater Heights, a psychiatric hospital, with hopes of landing a story to help catapult his writing career. As one can imagine, chaotic and sinister stories abound at a mental institution. With the help of a seasoned worker, Martin is taken into thirteen rooms where the residents are more than willing to share their dark and disturbing tales.
Martin’s story at the asylum is the wrap-around that surrounds the thirteen tales, reminiscent of classic horror anthologies such as Tales From the Crypt and The Twilight Zone. Despite the predictability of the initial story, ‘Picking Up Strangers’, Drabble pours on the terror with each story that follows in vivid and very descriptive detail that puts you right into the story. It takes skill to make the short story format work and Matt Drabble has mastered it as he is able to establish both character and story in a matter of pages while conveying a sense of horror and terror.
The stories featured in Asylum: 13 Tales of Terror incorporated eminent levels of mystery at their inset and end with a bang. I was immersed in each story, turning each page with anticipation and eagerness. They were, after all, engrossing. I will, however, admit that the wrapper story (Martin’s story) was one that I would consider unnecessary as Asylum would work without it. Add to that, I saw what was coming at its conclusion. That said, Asylum is a notable example of a horror anthology and I would be hard-pressed not to recommend this one to anyone. Be forewarned: thrills and scares are abound!