24 Tales of Madmen, Monsters, and Misery.
A tantalizing blend of horror, suspense, and crime stories; each unique but all dark, disturbing, and violent.
Between the covers lurk:
A tarot card reader who makes house calls.
A disabled man in a miserable marriage who is regaining the use of his arms.
An ex-con who can’t resist carrying out one last home invasion.
Bickering business partners that … who is regaining the use of his arms.
An ex-con who can’t resist carrying out one last home invasion.
Bickering business partners that resort to unconventional mediation to solve their problems.
An alcoholic pedophile forced to spend time in the desert.
A troubled university student who goes on a bloody rampage.
An alert detective who makes an unorthodox decision when he finds himself in the middle of an armed robbery.
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I’m usually all for anthologies. They typically offer a good variety of stories, and if you run across one you don’t care for, you can always move on to the next. At least, that’s the way it works for me more often than not – and on those off times, I run into one like this one, one that disappoints me more than I care for. There were a few stories that I liked better than others, like the story of the tarot card reader or the one about what comes through a strange hole in the wall, but some took the obvious and easy way to conclusion, one or two that went beyond violent or creepy and were just disgusting, and several were repetitive. There were also some that felt like I’d heard them before. Maybe it was just similarities to something else, but some of these stories seemed awfully familiar.
The bright spot of this anthology was the variety of voices. The different narrators worked well for the various characters as well as the fact that the stories were all independent of each other. Many times, I’m turned off by a reading style or particular voice, but with Untold Mayhem, the opposite was true. The voices kept me listening when I would’ve otherwise given up.
So, while this book didn’t really work for me, I do believe it has its place and would probably appeal to many. Some of the stories are creative and have a little bit of a Ray Bradbury vibe that many would enjoy
First of all, I am not usually a fan of short stories. I avoid reading them because they are corny or ridiculously predictable. However, I had just finished a novel late in the day and wanted to listen to something shorter than a full novel. I found this book available on NetGalley and thought I would give it a go.
I was pleasantly surprised that these stories read like creepy old campfire stories. Some were told in first person (which added a level of creepiness) and others in third person. I listened to the audiobook version and was pleased to hear a different voice for several stories before the voice(s) repeated; feeling fresh again. Although a couple stories were predictable, they were still fun to listen to. “News First”, story #6, is the only story that I would have omitted. As a retired first responder, the crimes that break us and cause us the most trauma are crimes against children. The fact that this story involved crimes against many children, it is very triggering.
That one story aside, I truly enjoyed the uniqueness of most of the stories and how many involved karma. There were times I laughed or cringed at the ending. I found that the book was also available on KU. I downloaded the kindle copy so I could continue to read when unable to listen. The description of the book was completely accurate, “A tantalizing blend of horror, suspense, and crime stories; each unique but all dark, disturbing, and violent.” It takes talent to tell so much in so little time, Tullius achieves that wonderfully.
Thank you NetGalley and Vincere Press for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.