Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Little Killers A to Z by Howard Odentz- Book Review

Little Killers A to Z by Howard Odentz is not a book* I would have normally picked up. I am not really a horror guy, unless it is creepy horror rather than stabby horror, the cover screams bargain bin book, and the idea of murderous children doesn't appeal to me. I grabbed the book because quite a few people I trust posted reviews on Litsy (a social media for books), so I gave it a go.

I am so glad I did!

This book has 26 stories in it, hitting pretty much all the horror themes- kidnapping by Satanic cults, serial killers, vampires, etc. Each of the 26 stories are about 2-5 pages long and focus on a child's name beginning with that letter of the alphabet.

I will say I loved the length of each story. As one can imagine in a book of 26 stories, there are bound to be duds. For example, I thought the first story and the second story didn't do the book justice. The good news even the duds become good because they are only a few pages long! One doesn't feel invested or feel like time has been wasted on a dud story, which sometimes happens in short story anthologies which have stories spanning 30 pages. I am fine with a dud 2 page long story.

The stories that hit, really hit! Odentz has created some very interesting and creative stories that often have twists and are just a lot of fun- for a horror book. For example, I loved the serial killer story "F is for Fern Who Has Murder in Mind." It is about a little 8 year old girl who loves killing people only to make it look like an accident. No one suspects her because she is 8, so they think she is witnessing all of these horrific things. The whole story is told within her mind, as she playfully does these terrible things for her own enjoyment. There are many others that really hit well.

I am so glad I picked this one up, even though it was out of my genre. Good writing is good writing and Odentz has written some fun horror stories with a twist in each one. Give the book a shot as it is cheap on Kindle, right now.

I rated this one 4.5 stars.

Here is your Amazon link- Little Killers A to Z by Howard Odentz

*I want to thank NetGalley and BelleBooks for this ebook. I received it for free in exchange for an honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.