This took me several months to complete and I really wish I had DNFed it. I didn’t because I love John Connolly so much, but honestly this anthology was not great. And when I realized 50 percent of the book is in essence a biography of Christopher Lee and his involvement with a film called “Horror Fest” I should have been fully done.
I adore the Charlie Parker series since Connolly has done a great job of blending mystery/horror/magical realism, etc. I was hoping for more of the same here. But honestly most of the short stories were not that great, and when we get to the behemoth of the last 50 percent I was over it.
“The Pilgrim’s Progress: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository” (4 stars)-Fans know about the Caxton Private Lending Library, here Connolly gives you a story about its origins. It was honestly a little bit long and I found myself drifting a bit while reading.
“And All the Graves of All the Ghosts” (5 stars)-Honestly I thought this was a great short story with a surprise ending. And sadly poignant. Typical Connolly (in a good way).
“The Evenings With Evans” (5 stars)-A story about grief. It had a great ending in my mind.
“Abelman’s Line” (2 stars)-I was really bored while reading this and confused. I mean I got what it was about, but I was confused. I never really like stories about time travel or paradoxes.
“The Mire at Fox Tor” (2 stars)-This was honestly just boring to me.
“The Bear (1 star)-It just read unfinished to me. I love magical realism, but I was like, is this all we are getting? It did have illustrations though which was nice.
“The Flaw” (2.5 stars)-It takes forever to get going and the ending was a bit of a letdown.
“Unquiet Slumbers: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository” (2 stars)-I usually love stories involving this library. Again this read as unfinished to me. And I think we are supposed to just know what character dropped in.
“Our Friend Carlton” (3 stars)-This one was interesting and at times funny and sad.
“Horror Express: Extended Edition” (1 star)-This deals with the making of this film, but mostly the actors involved. Connolly goes into how he published a novel at one time about the fictionalized life of Stan Laurel (I had no idea). It just gives context into why he got interested in filmmaking. But this goes on and on. There are three parts to this thing. It did not need it. Also when this story starts it’s at 50 percent (my Kindle showed me that). When it’s finally blessed done we are now at 96 percent. Also this is essence is an autobiography of Connolly, he talks about everything and how he started to get interested in this, he goes pages on a shot for shot description of the film. I was reading to tear my hair out. Was it interesting to read about Christopher Lee (who knew Tolkien) and others? Yes. Did I want to devote so much time to this, absolutely not.