Some writing cries out to be accompanied by the howl of the wind, a candle lit room, and a glass of Absinthe. There is nothing quite like sitting down with a good horror story after the right mood is set. Amy Grech’s exquisitely crafted collection of short stories, Blanket of White, is the perfect companion on such a night. These stories haunt. They make the heart beat faster. They leave the reader questioning the innocence of the creaks and bumps of a house settling in the night.
This is the writing of a woman who loves the horror genre. You can tell it flows in her blood. The tale “Raven’s Revenge” is a loving homage to Edgar Allan Poe and his tales of ghosts demanding justice for their untimely demise.
You can feel echoes of Stephen King’s tales of childhood adventures that turn grizzly in “Initiation Day.” “Perishables” questions the lengths one goes to in order to survive like King’s “Survivor Type” did.
“Damp Wind and Leaves” is a gorgeous love letter to Halloween and the iconic movies of old like Dracula, The Wolfman, and The Mummy.
These occasional echoes of the past are delightful spice for those who also love horror and can indulge in the allusions. But beyond that Grech fills her writing with specific imagery that transports the reader. Her worlds are sensuously full and encompassing. You can smell the damp autumn air in “Damp Wind and Leaves” and feel the snowy winter cold with its blinding whiteness in the title tale “Blanket of White.”
For those who wonder if a woman can push the boundaries and disturb, Grech answers with a definitive, “Yes.” There are true sociopaths in her tales. There are bloody dispatches. Grech not only horrifies on a physical level, there is emotional horror as well. Parental love twists into dark obsession or neglect. Lovers’ obsessions give new meaning to consuming hunger. Sibling rivalry reaches frightening levels. She brings life to what she calls “the aftermath of people’s grief.”
Grech is able to engage her readers emotionally. She moves their hearts with sorrow, makes them cry for justice, and raises a laugh of devilish delight when a bad guy gets what is coming to them. She reminds us that we have all have taken journeys into darkness and tasted despair, obsession, rage. Her characters are crafted with such depth and reality that no matter what twisted action they might take part in, we buy in and believe it.
Each story in the collection is unique, and it is a pleasure to see what world we will be thrown into next. There is enough diversity of subject matter and tone here to delight nearly everyone.
Blanket of White deserves to be read not only by lovers of horror, but by everyone who just craves good writing. Don’t let the twisted nature of the stories turn you away. As Grech’s character Nicholas says to his victim when she shrinks away from his blade, “Come, come, don’t be shy. It only hurts the first time.”
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Blanket of White is available for purchase at Amazon.com, Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble.com, Books on Board, CoolerBooks, Damnation Books, and Diesel eBooks.