Horowitz Horror: Stories You'll Wish You Never Read

Welcome to a world where everything seems normal. At least, at first. But the sinister and truly terrifying lurk just beneath the surface. Like a bathtub with a history so haunted, no one dares get in it. . . or an ordinary-looking camera that does unspeakable things to its subjects. . .or a mysterious computer game that has terrible consequences if you lose. . . . From the creator of the blockbuster Alex Rider Adventures and The Diamond Brothers Mysteries, Horowitz Horror is a wicked collection of macabre tales sure to send shivers up your spine.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10–Bathtubs dripping with blood, a monkey's ear instead of a monkey's paw, a cannibalistic chef looking for new ingredients, and a camera that kills the subject of its photographs are some of the elements in these selections. While the stories probably won't make most readers want to sleep with the lights on, they have their own brand of creepiness. As with most short-story collections, this one is uneven, and the book will appeal mainly because of the author. However, it lacks the sophistication of truly horrifying horror.–Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In this collection of nine macabre tales, Horowitz proves himself as adept at spooky psychological horror as he is at creating breakneck adventure-suspense. Although he consistently draws on familiar themes (bad kids get their due; nice ones are caught up in something out of their control), he always manages to stretch them into his own peculiar version of reality gone mad, which will make readers feel they're simply one step away from horrible chaos themselves. Isabel, 12, doesn't like the new antique bathtub her parents bought, and when bath time approaches, her fears are more than justified; Matthew's birthday gift to his father, an old camera, has a devastating quirk; and city-boy bully Gary finds out everything is different in the country, just as his mother says. Other stories are equally suspenseful; horror fans will like them all. Stephanie ZvirinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Simon Shepherd is a published author and a narrator of children’s books. Some of the published credits of Simon Shepherd include Little Darlings, Studying Plays, Fly, Cherokee, and Fly: A Boy, a Bird, and a Dream.

Reviews

News