Synopsis:
Suburban Monsters gives you suburban neighborhoods. The house at the end of the block with the overgrown lawn. The darkened store window in a forgotten corner of the shopping mall. The colorful characters of a children’s TV show. What dark secrets do they hide?
From award-winning author Christopher Hawkins come thirteen tales of the horrors lurking right next door.
- A shut-in sets out to make a new life for himself by losing weight at the point of a scalpel.
- A store clerk with a mannequin obsession hides a macabre and tragic secret.
- A master thief tries for one last score in a house that doesn’t want him to leave.
- Two friends learn the hard way that having superpowers doesn’t always make you a hero. It might just make you a monster.
- A lonely painter finds freedom with the help of something lurking beneath the ocean waves.
At turns whimsical and somber but always unsettling, this debut collection of short horror stories is essential reading from a rising voice in dark literary fiction.
Edition:
Review copy provided by the author (thank you!!)
My Thoughts:
I know I always say that rating collections is tough work. Suburban Monsters hasn’t changed my mind. As per usual, I liked some stories a whole lot more than others. But – there is one story that I thought was an absolute knockout.
The Stumblybum Imperative is easily my favorite story in the collection. It is SO strong, and super creepy. It reminds me of a cross between Wee Sing in Sillyville (which admittedly hit me right in the childhood) and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. In other words, it is an absolute mindfucking nightmare. In it, a child’s love of a decidedly creepy tv show leads her mother down a path of paranoia and obsession. Honestly, it’s beautiful in that very particular way that only deeply disturbing stories can be.
There are other stories here that I liked quite a bit, but to my mind, none of them held a candle to Stumblybum. Straight up, I would have read an entire novel about that literal horror show. I just want to make sure it’s clear however, that just because I think that story is heaps more to my liking than the rest of the collection, what I don’t think is that there is a single bad story in Suburban Monsters. Jeebus, could that sentence have been more convoluted? (No.)
Rating:
I definitely recommend Suburban Monsters if you want to be freaked out in short bursts, or if you (like me), really like creepy kid show stories. Because I’m sorry – a solid 80% of kids shows are terrifying. I know, I survived 80s child programming (hello, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, Return to Oz AND that two-part episode of Punky Brewster where the kids are trapped in a cave).
Suburban Monsters By Christopher Hawkins Coronis Publishing Published: March 15, 2023 ISBN: 9781937346126 Paperback, E-book 228 Pages Author's Website
