The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove

The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove is an anthology of short stories that all take place in the same fictional small town in British Colombia. Each of the thirty-one stories has some of the same characters and has its own take on the creepy happenings of Graves Grove. There are demons, fairies, ghosts, vampires, a tree that is evil and makes children disappear, shapeshifters, and just plain old murder.

I have a hard time finding horror anthologies that aren’t disappointing. Thankfully, I lucked out with this one. I wouldn’t say that any of the stories are particularly frightening, but they are definitely creepy. The best part of this book is how every story takes place in the same town. It lends this sense of cohesiveness to it, especially with some of the same characters appearing in different stories. Each author has their own voice and style of writing, but the way this book is put together, it just feels like different townspeople are telling the story from their point of view. I think I liked J.S. Bailey and Matthew Howe’s stories the best, but all of them were fantastic.

Some of the stories take place in the 1880s while some take place in 2027, with some scattered in between. It never feels disjointed, though. You get this feeling that the town hasn’t changed that much no matter what year it is–the evil that founded it still lingers. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good horror story. It’s pretty clean, aside from some foul language and a couple of gory scenes. This is definitely worth your time. If I keep reading stories like this, I will probably never visit a remote, small town, especially not one that has a giant, evil-looking sycamore tree. Overall, an entertaining read that keeps you interested from beginning to end.