The brain-child of extreme horror author Matt Shaw, Behind Closed Doors brings some of the biggest indie authors together in this collection of madness.
One apartment complex, Nine original stories. Come and meet the residents!
Featuring stories by Matt Shaw, Michael Bray, Stuart Keane, Paul Flewitt, Ian Woodhead, Craig Saunders, Shaun Hupp, Andrew Lennon, Matt Hickman and Mr.E Jones.
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books "Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories" Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
Behind Closed Doors is a short story anthology from some of the UK’s premier and up and coming horror writers.
Come and meet the residents of the Watch Tower apartment block, one of the most prestigious apartment blocks in the country and home to some of the most twisted, depraved people in this world. A den of immorality, wickedness and a body count that comes straight from the warped nightmares of Matt Shaw.
Stories by Michael Bray, Matt Hickman, Shaun Hupp, Craig Saunders, Ian Woodhead, Andrew Lennon, Stuart Keane, Paul Flewitt and Matt Shaw, with a kind of introduction and last words by Mr. E Jones.
There's one or two stutters along the way but Behind Closed Doors packs in more than its fair share of violently gruesome frivolities. With torture aplenty, brutal death, sharp implements, brutal death, gardeners, more brutal death, demons and to finish, a little bit more brutal death.
My favourite story has to be Apartment 3B with Resident: Connor Fox written by Stuart Keane. Connor phones his alcoholic wife whilst on business but he also has an apartment in the Watch Tower complex and Alice, who isn't his wife, is due any minute. This is a gripping tale of madness and guilt as the protagonist’s sanity constantly flips in terrifying perspectives. Closely followed by Paul Flewitt, Apartment 16c and demonic horticulture (don’t laugh).
Andrew Lennon writes a revenge tale of the cheated husband variety from Apartment 2B Residents: Mr & Mrs Murphy. Husband is a butcher and he's pretty handy with a cleaver, coupled with the cringing hobby of taxidermy.
Matt Hickman gives us Apartment 6A Resident: Lisa Harper, an attractive career woman who has been taking things to the extreme with drug and alcohol usage. Lisa gets a bit of a surprise when she stumbles in on boyfriend Daniel in a somewhat compromising position wearing a Rainbow mask (prepare yourself Zippy). She's gone downhill ever since and is currently engaged in a drunken one nighter with Michael, and another revelation is about to hit so to speak, with a large sex toy.
Final story comes from the man himself Matt Shaw with Apartment 8B Resident: Phil and its party time, with a slight difference, minutest details really with regard to the amount of beating pulses in residence. Read it you'll see.
Highly twisted and entertaining extreme horror shorts from an immensely talented ensembles.
You are about to meet the crazies that reside at The Watch Towers. When I say crazy...I do mean crazy.
1. Lonely fellow in apartment 11 just looking for a companion. Uses numbers to correspond with his horrible past. Sorry to the intruder trying to get into his apartment.
2. Young and successful Miss Lisa Harper, apartment 6a. After catching her boyfriend in a compromising situation with another man, her life spirals into drugs and alcohol until her knight in shining armor saves her, or so she thinks.
3. Sweet elderly Mrs. Molly Summers, apartment 5c. Loves her tea and the taste of people.
4. Russian Mihael Katovich, apartment 8. Never cross the Russian Bratva or steal kids that don't belong to you. Your head depends on it.
5. Happy couple The Murphy's - apartment 2b - love until death do you part or apart in pieces, whichever comes first.
6. Foster Family Love, apartment 4c - One big cirlce of lies, secrets and loving thy foster brother and sister.
7. Family Man Connor Fox, apartment 3b - NOTHING is what is seems. I hate my family, I love my mistress, my family is gone, there is no mistress. Paranormal, mental breakdown at its finest.
There are couple other strange ones you get to meet on this elevator ride into the dark and sadistic! If you are afraid of elevators, it is best to stay off this one.
Loved that all this authors came together on this one. Having such diverse writing for each apartment was fascinating to read!! I would really love to see a full length book about a couple of these deranged people!!
For the most part, I really enjoyed this eager awaited book. The usual suspects came up trumps and gave the readers exactly what we had been expecting from this eclectic mixture of writers.
Stuart Keane's contribution was a complete mind-f*** which I had to reread to get the constant shifting, whilst Andy Lennon's and Shaun Hupp's stories both had that all-out no holds barred gross element down pat. Matt Hickman's was exactly what I was expecting and a welcome change of pace to the other stories.
All in all, a decent mix although I did find a couple of the stories lacking in regards to how they fitted into this anthology. I was expecting the stories to somehow tie together or at least, like a couple of the writers did, make allusion at the other building inhabitants. It doesn't make this anthology any less than a five star read.
I am looking forward to reading more from Paul Flewitt, as this was my first exposure to his work and I was impressed with his contribution.
If it were possible to leave more than 5 stars, this book would get 10! Each and every story was a mini masterpiece. I enjoyed this thoroughly and it's no shit sandwich :) You couldn't tempt me into living at the Watch Tower but I highly recommend reading about it.
Disturbing, disgusting, horrifying, terrorizing, are just a few words I would use to describe this fantastic book. Once again these very talented authors have put together exactly what a horror book should be. The stories fit perfectly together and the terror and gross factor build and build and the you get to the last story written by the most disturbed of them all Mr. Matt Shaw and it just blows you away. I would highly recommend this book to everybody who loves a good scare. If I could give it more then 5 stars I would !
Yeah I liked this book a selection of horror stories by some of my favourite authors Matt Shaw Michael Bray etch. It's about an apartment building, everyone has a story. It's bleak and bloody. You have been warned. I loved it
I thought this book would potentially turn out to be similar to "Blood Bath". Prior to reading that I wasn't a fan of short stories , but the collaborative work and talent of the authors soon changed my mind.
Behind Closed Doors had the potential for being great and I hate to say this, but given the calibre of the authors here the only shock factor was how boring most of the stories were. I was sorely disappointed and bored. So much so I did the unthinkable and gave up on some of them part way through.
But hey that's just my opinion and if like me, you read reviews and then make up your own mind regardless whether to read a book, go for it. Maybe after having a " Shaw Fest" day where I've devoured one story after another, my thrill level was on too high a setting? For me this book, just didn't come close x