Visceral and heart-wrenching without pulling any punches for the horror. Sure, there were a couple endings that might have seemed a little vague, but the more I think about it the more I like it. Not everything has to be wrapped up tight to be effective. Do whatever you can to get your hands on this book because these stories worm into your brain. Raphael is easily one of the best short stories I've read in years, regardless of genre.

Holy crap! This is maybe only the second book I ever read that was too intense, too brutal, that I had to stop partway through it and read something else for awhile before picking it back up.Stephen Graham Jones writes just brilliant, brutal stories here that, though obviously not true, all feel true, with the undeniable credibility of a good urban legend. Even the one about a werewolf fighting a killer whale. Even that one.They're harsh, disturbing stories, and some of the only stories to ever

A few very good stories here, as well some that were going well until they slipped into awkward writing that lost me at the end. Rereading was no help for me. I see a lot of 5 star reviews so maybe it's me that doesn't quite "get it"?

This collection is close to perfect. Original. Challenging. Spooky. Suspenseful. Heart-wrenching. More favorable words. Some more. More yet.

I started this collection of short stores about 2 weeks after packing my entire life up with my husband and moving to South Carolina in our RV— no jobs lined up, barely a vague outline of a plan for the next 3 months and you can forget about the next year. So, of course, I have been reading solely horror and thrillers as a coping mechanism. I read somewhere that children who have anxiety and grow up into anxious adults tend to seek out media that scares them, because their threshold for stimulat...

This author is trying too hard. Struggling to keep each story all fuzzy so that the punchline will appear all sudden and shocking and everything. It's Boring. It's exhausting. It's short stories for crying out loud. At the second story in the book, I was already mega fagged out. The faceplams and the eye rolling out of that one were long. Life shouldn't be this difficult abeg. 😅At the third story, I was just mega annoyed. Is THIS supposed to be horror or what?? It's just people puking their guts...

I’ve read quite a few of SGJ’s novels this year, but this was my first foray into his short stories and I didn’t quite know what to expect. I’m happy to report that I really enjoyed it & that his particular brand of the strange makes for perfect speculative little mouthfuls. Looking forward to reading the next short story collection by him that I’ve stashed in my TBR. -Father, Son, Holy Rabbit:A boy and his father are lost in the cold and snowed down woods. Fortunately, a rabbit keeps appearing,...

Dark and grim short stories. There were some I really liked and some that I'm not entirely sure I understood. The writing itself is pretty flawless - a straight-up, nonfussy style inviting the inevitable comparison to the King. I mean, Stephen King is in a league of his own, but style-wise and even content-wise, Jones is up there.My favorite stories: "Lonegan's Luck" - I would love to see a movie of this... and a series of stories, which the author says was his original intention."Monsters" - he...

Holy smokes! This was awesome. A high recommend for any fans of Stephen King and/or "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski. This was a collection of short stories by one of my new favorite authors, Stephen Graham Jones.Father, Son, Holy Rabbit: A crazy story of a father and son on the run and a miraculous rabbit that provides them salvation but at a steep price. Incredibly spooky and sad.Till the Morning Comes: A much scarier version of "The Boogeyman" by Stephen King. The Sons of Billy Clay:

Excellent extremely dark and visceral short stories. SGJ has a way of reminding the reader about how much we rely on the social contract. We assume that most people are pretty much okay, and this makes us feel secure. In these stories, we discover that any seemingly ordinary situation or person can morph into a nightmare which we can neither control nor escape. The author often incorporates human moral weaknesses as both the driver of evil and the source for revenge. The creepy factor is high, s...

Some mildly creepy short stories. The author tries too hard, using everything he learned in his creative writing classes.

Based on the reviews, I was super excited about tackling this horror anthology. I needed vignettes to seek my teeth into, not a whole novel. I had high expectations - and unfortunately - this book didn’t meet them. Although, obviously, written by the same author, every single story has the same cadence. Which is to be expected, but I’ve always found anthologies should be diverse in topic, theming and delivery. I would have enjoyed the book more if each story didn’t have the predictable rhythm. D...

One of the stronger single-author collections I've read in the last few years. Well-written, nice variety, engaging voice. I strongly recommend this and will have to pick up other books by Jones.One of the stronger single-author collections I've read in the last few years. Well-written, nice variety, engaging voice. I strongly recommend this and will have to pick up other books by Jones.The book collects thirteen stories published in a variety of venues ranging from more obscure journals and ant...

Dull, boring and forgettable. I feel like the only person in the room who doesn't get the joke. I was looking for some intelligent horror stories and I read this book on a recommendation but I found the stories so unemotional I just couldn't get involved in any of them. I tried reading the first four. The characters are so bland in most cases that they don't need names. These stories remind me of the kind of pointless fiction I remember reading in a similarly-lauded collection by Kelly Link year...

This review was originally published at The Nervous Breakdown:The Ones That Got Away (Prime Books) tiptoes into the darkness, luring us deep into the woods, up into crawlspaces, and to distant islands, where the people, the sacrifices, the losses are our own, our universal fears come to life. You’d think that once he surprised me, once Dr. Jones pulled that old trick where you watch the left hand while the right hand does something else that I’d be prepared for more misdirection, watching the wo...