Status Updates From Bloody Britain

Daylight Robbery. 2.5. Crushingly depressing (not a bad thing) and Anna is on the side of the good guys, I know, but again the simple cinematic style doesn’t work for this one. Overall disappointed with this book. 44:14

Bloody Tower. 4. Read before in London Terror Tales but scarcely recalled it. Same fairly basic writing as the rest of the book, but the cinematic style works well here and the killings of the misguided oafs are quite satisfying. Very compelling in its own way. 41.5:13

Coachman’s Cottage. 2.5. Fairly routine take of a vengeful spirit. The notion of hunger driving the spirit is interesting, but that’s about it. I think Anna’s approach is more visual. Might make decent short films but don’t work for me in the written form, where I prefer an indirect approach built up through layers of detail. 37.5:12

Rock Star. 3. OK in an Amicus anthology tale kind of way but still not getting a sense of engagement, and the characters are somewhat clichéd. And the violence starts to feel a little pat and predictable. Some nice touches though redeem it somewhat. 35:11

Formby Point. 4. Rolls along quite nicely for the most part, although the prime interest is in the travelogue/history lesson aspect, which is very engaging and to my knowledge accurate. The ending is a bit routine though and rather flat for my preference. Not sure that the death and dismemberment serves any function though32:10

Walk in Park. 1.5. Trivial, with stock characters.
Out of The Light. 3. Interesting idea and quite gruesome in the book’s contents, but it feels a bit flat, and by this point in the book I conclude that Anna is not so good at conveying atmosphere via accumulated details. 28:9

Gatehouse. 3. This book isn’t doing it for me. This was interesting enough if a little clichéd, like a mediocre Hammer film. The plot twisted a few times but to no great effect. Characters not too rounded either. 23.5:7

Lemmy/ Trump. 3.5. All too plausible extrapolation of the current political climate, disappointingly under developed - but how much more nastiness could the reader have taken anyway? 20.5:6

Cat Sitter. 4. Quite a neat tale. Initial sense of dread blooming into a bit of a dip into HPL territory, though not sure it’s fully integrated. 17:5

Haggis Queen. 2.5. OK but no more than a piece of creative writing. 13:4

Teatime. 4. Nasty little story, but utterly compelling. Nicely grim comeuppance twist at the end, though my concern is who will eliminate the eliminator! 10.5:3

Cyril’s mission. 3.5. Nothing out of the ordinary, ancient beast in church crypt, but surprising ending, though surely Timmy can write and exonerate Cyril? There’s enough evidence that the worm is real and not imagined by Cyril as a cover for deviant behaviour 6.5:2

Night of the Crone. 3 Interesting and well-told enough but rather a routine vengeance tale.