Review of Tales from The Midnight Shift, by Mark Allan Gunnells

Tales from the Midnight Shift Vol. 1 by Mark Allan Gunnells

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


From Mark Allan Gunnells, author of A LAYMON KIND OF NIGHT and ASYLUM, comes 15 tales of terror. A traffic jam, a travelling circus, a small-town high school…horror can lurk in the most seemingly innocent places.



That's the brief summary provided by Goodreads and on the book cover and is accurate,just not too detailed. I wish the cool cover that my copy has could be shown--a crazed night watchman, a creature lurking in the shadows--Mark has some creeeepy stories here. I am not usually a big horror fan, but a good story is a good story.



What lurks within this volume beyond the brief description provided? Here is a sampling:

"God Doesn't Follow You Into the Bathroom":

A crazed minister believes just that and inside the bathroom is horror.



"Jam":

Here, Mark ventures into the surreal, the nightmare of the ordinary. Elliott is late for work. He gets stuck in traffic. All lanes are stopped. Cell phones don't work. And nothing, nothing, is moving. For hours, for days, and those stranded are slipping, falling into dark madness. Those who for help are never seen again. The mad descend into various hell.



Is that where Elliott and the others are stuck? In purgatory? Is there a way out?



"Acts 19:19 Party":

Book-burnings, a preferred activity of those who are convinced that they know what is best for everybody else and that the burnings will save imperiled souls.



Suppose the books take revenge?



"The Room Where No One Died":

Cole and Shaw, partners, have a new house, but one room seems to be haunted. The ghost is fairly benign, almost playful: there's laughter and balls appearing and disappearing, childish drawings of stick figures come and go, alogn with games of Tic-Tac-Toe. A voice whispers: "Tag, you're it."



They hire Hudson, a ghost hunter of a sorts, who comes to investigate. The answer lies with the former owner, an abused child, who was locked in the room and had only an imaginary playmate to keep him sane... Bittersweet to say the least.



Mark is a storyteller--and his stories are dark--no question of that. Dark and haunted stories, inhabited by monsters, human and other kinds, insane, possessed, often murderous--but compelling. That there is a gay sensibility at work here makes the stories all the more compelling.



If you are a horror fan, here is a good addition to your collection, by a relatively new writer.

Recommended.



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