The Worst Kind of Monsters

Though there is a major problem I have with this set of short stories which I'll get into below, this is a well-written and wickedly creative set of horror and paranormal tales. I was continually impressed with the quality and caliber of these stories, and they had me hooked from start to finish. Overall, I think this is a good package worth your time, and definitely worth the price.First, the good. This author is creative and clearly has a ton of really cool and unique concepts, which is especially important for a good scary story. Even when the stories don't quite hit the mark, it's at least very interesting to see where things are going. He also manages to write a very descriptive narrative that really places you in the scene, without falling victim to droning on and becoming boring. Every story is written with a great sense of suspense.Of the 19 stories featured in this book, I'd rank 13 of them as a 4-out-of-5 or higher, and even those that are lower are still very solid. Some particular favorites of mine include "The Tall Dog", "Blackout", "When Hell Comes Knocking", and "Feed the Pig".My only real criticisms come from the stories that shy away from the creative, the supernatural, and the weird. When writing about these things, the author is at his best. But when he gets gory, I became very turned off. I know that's subjective, and if that's your thing, then this may not be a problem. But despite being well-written, a couple of stories were graphic and violent with seemingly no point but to disturb.In particular, the final story is so pointlessly graphic and disturbing that I think it influenced my opinion of the book as a whole. One scene in particular is so disturbing that it makes me question the mind that came up with it. Sexual violence towards women is unfortunately a common theme in horror, but the nature of it in this story is particularly deranged. It's so bad that I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this book to people I know simply because I'm embarrassed to admit I read the final story instead of walking away.That said, I can't rate this book lower than 4 stars because it really is that good. The good stories are great, and if you don't mind the disturbing finale (or if you read the first 18 stories and leave that one alone), this book is absolutely worth your time and money. Creative, compelling, and suspenseful all the way through.

THE WORST KIND OF MONSTERS by Elias Witherow is a collection of some very sick and twisted horror stories. Even though I've read some of them previously on the Thought Catalog website, this anthology remains extremely disturbing. Many of the stories are a mix of scifi and horror. All of them are absolutely brutal:THE TALL DOG -- family drama with demonic entityTHE HOUSE IN THE FIELD -- the most terrifying, imho, and told from a child's POVEMPIRE SNUFF -- think Hostel mixed with Dark WebTHE GOAT ROOM -- a cult storyTHERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH DAD -- makes Lovecraft look tameFEED THE PIG -- short story from THE BLACK FARM worldTEN DAYS, TEN PILLS -- something very believable and has probably happened in real lifeRED WEST -- more weird than scaryBLACKOUT -- reminded me of the HED PE song, The MeadowWHERE IS MY SON? -- life in HellTEXTS FROM MY BROTHER -- stay away from ropes in the woodsSHIMMER -- connected to the previous storyCHROME SUNSET -- otherworldly invadersMY FATHER, MY MONSTER -- heartbreaking family drama centered on alcoholismBEHIND HELL -- better than the movie Stay AliveHORSE/8MIN -- flash fiction DVD warningDEEP, DEEP DOWN -- when you look into the abyss...WHEN HELL COMES KNOCKING -- you are not obligated to open your door at 3AMTHE WORST KIND OF MONSTERS -- the most graphically violent story of allIf you do not read horror on a regular basis...if you are not used to graphic horror, do NOT read this anthology. I'm not trying to use reverse psychology to get people to read these stories, I am legitimately warning readers: if you are a tourist in the horror genre, stay the hell away from this one.Witherow's imagination gives my imagination nightmares.

I couldn't decide on two or three stars, but a couple of the stories were strong enough to warrant giving the author the benefit of the doubt.My biggest gripe with the writing style is that every single story in the book are written in the same manner: a first-person perspective of someone writing some sort of "confession" or legacy or however you want to word it.My second complaint is with the tone and structure of pretty much all of the tales. I have no qualms with graphic and gory. What I do dislike is a story that is weird, confusing, and creepy for the sake of being weird, confusing, and creepy. Many of the stories make little to no sense. They begin, something weird happens, they end. Very little (if any) explanation as to why the bizarre occurrence even happened. I love the "less is more" approach when it comes to horror and weird fiction, but without SOME exposition, the mystique turns into eyebrow-raising silliness. There's a giant, talking dog sneaking into a little girl's room at night? Okay. But, why? And the author shrugs his shoulders and replies "because I said so."A fair chunk of the stories just aren't good. Several of them I found myself just skimming over pages for "important" information just to get through reading them quicker because they weren't holding my interest. Red West, Blackout, Chrome Sunset, and My Father, My Monster are easily the worst of the lot. The last in the list is not even a horror story. It is literally just a story about an abusive father.Of the course the book is not all bad, hence the three-star rating. All of the stories - even the bad - are nothing if not creative. The book is full of fresh, original ideas that are enough to spark at least some interest (even if not all of them are able to hold it).I've given my list of the stories that I found to be the weakest and worst, but there are also a handful that I found to be exceptional and truly worthy of a read: The Tall Dog (I griped about it a bit, but it really is not a bad story at all), Feed the Pig, and The Goat Room (my personal favorite of the entire book) I determined were my favorite reads of the collection.Overall, The Worst Kind of Monsters is a so-so, hot and cold collection of stories. A few solid, well-crafted gems shine among a grouping of stories ranging from the otherwise serviceable, to the downright bad.If you can find the book at a bargain or a library, it could pass the time for a day or two. It's 465 pages long, but not a difficult read in the slightest.

I’ve always loved horror books, but I became a bit unattached from the genre and reading in general. This book is amazing, it opened me up to new kinds of horror, some stuff I found terrifying and other stuff not so much, but it was great to read about and understand someone else’s fears. As it’s a collection of short stories, I can just read whichever one appeals to me at the time, and flick back to your favourites. An amazing book, if you love horror, I would really recommend. I’ve read it over and over.

A decently scary selection of stories from the author of the Black Farm.A must read for fans of his.

This book of short stories is absolutely perfect. There's a few stories that belong more in the sci-fi genre than horror, in my opinion, which I'm not so much a fan of, but even still, all of these stories are absolute works of art. There's some stories in here that really do push the boundaries of what we normally read, even in horror, and it's absolutely delightful. Buy this book right now, you will NOT regret it.

Most of the storys are really good, just 1 or 2 storys that seem a little bit rushed. Was definitely no waste of time reading it!