"Silverweed Road" by Simon Crook is a collection of macabre and twisted tales that take place on a once quiet suburban street where nothing is as it seems. Each story in the collection offers a new horror, from were-foxes prowling to a swimming pool with predatory tendencies, a haunted urn seeking revenge, and a darts player making a deal with the devil. As the residents of Silverweed Road vanish one by one, a sinister mystery unfolds, lurking in the nearby Woods at the road's dead-end.

Silverweed Road became the subject of interest to a former policeman, Jim Heath, who investigated the strange unsolved crimes in this area during his time in the force. He believes that there was something more otherwordly in these cases, and this got him kicked out of the job. The book compiles these weird cases along with Heath’s opinions on them.

I love horror short stories especially when there’s a unifying theme, but I didn’t think all the stories here connected as well as they could. Some of them were too long and lost their impact by the end. A few felt like stories I’ve read before (The Pool, Crash Flowers, Dust). But there are also stories that left an impression on me, in how they blend suburban horror with the dark side of the underworld (The Mogon, Darts with the Devil, Behind The Curtain). The final story, in particular, has potential to be a full novel. An interesting collection with noteworthy gems suitable for spooky bedtime tales.

Silverweed Road is a brilliant collection of creepy stories all set on a Kent residential road. This is a perfect read for Halloween. Truly cannot recommend it enough!

I have to say that I dnf this book after the first story. I'm still a little interested in the story but I just couldn't go on after the first story is about a man obsessed with killing a bird. I kind of understand his way of thinking and his problem, but I just hated it. If the book started with a different story, I might have read the whole book...

I do love a short story. Especially if there is a unifying undercurrent tying multiple stories together. Add to this the fact that horror is a genre which lends itself perfectly to the “punch” this format can provide I was more than willing to ingest this book. 

Horror can come in many forms. My personal poison of choice is brutal realism with unnerving and violent supernatural elements, which unfortunately for me is something only two of the twelve stories really provided. But it’s vital to note that this isn’t to say the other ten tales didn’t provide their own pleasing flavours. The book begins with something akin to a British version of “Goosebumps”, where an avid gardener is battling with an invading Jackdaw as things get dark and bloody fast, leaving me chuckling at the kitsch but enjoyable conclusion. 

Given how all the descriptions of this book emphasised words such as “unnerving” and “terrifying” I was hoping for something darker, but once I had a sense of the vibe Crook was going for the rest of the book was a fun, part tongue-in-cheek part experimental take on the genre. It made me think of “The Twilight Zone”, “Goosebumps”, and a technology void “Black Mirror”. 

Some of the stories I didn’t enjoy and others I loved, but all in all I still had a positive reading experience. Don’t read this to be scared but if you want some funny/creepy bizarre tales then this is for you.

An interesting anthology linked by a common thread, all the stories involve the inhabitants of Silverweed Road, a British suburban cul de sac. There were a few stories that stood out for me, one involving a predatory swimming pool and another where a scientist isolates himself to study the behaviour of cuttlefish. Many of the tales have a Lovecraftian vibe, and others reminded me a little of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected. I do have a major niggle however, for me the stories are overwritten. Peculiar descriptions and purple prose such as characters taking "gasps of coffee", and gems such as "Lois stared into the white well of her boiled egg, lost in the eye of a marigold yolk" had me rolling my eyes and thinking easy tiger, sometimes less is more. There were many more examples like this and they pulled me out of the stories every time. Overall though, I liked the connecting thread and the stories were interesting, if the flowery prose was toned down I'd have enjoyed the book more, but I liked it well enough to want to see what the author does next. Many thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for the ARC.

Silverweed Road is a place right out of a nightmare. These stories, set in this place, are a mixed bag but all of them are quite creepy and more or less full of gore.
A good horror book.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

As with all anthologies or short story collections, some worked for me better than others. But on the whole it was an enjoyable read, and I always appreciate a collection more when there is some link between the different tales.

I read this over Halloween weekend and it fit the bill perfectly. At times creepy and at others, gory, this is an engaging read that will give you all the Autumn spooky-season vibes, but without being out-and-out scary.

I will add that the delight here is no one story in particular, but the simple fact that they remain fresh and distinct. Each one is different (very different) from the others. I often find that collections like this lean in a particular direction, and feel 'same-y' as a result, but this was a joy. If you don't get on with one particular form of horror then simply move on to the next and see what delights await you there. Every tale was a surprise and I enjoyed it all the more for it.

An anthology of creepy and twisted stories set in a Kentish residential street. The stories are interlinked and gory and the perfect read for a dark Halloween night.

A spooky and Halloween-y anthology to enjoy on the chilly & long autumn evenings.

All in all, the stories were interesting, I did not find all of them scary per se, but still, it was a nice and entertaining read.

Some of the repeating themes throughout seemed a tad cheesy, but hey, maybe it just was not to my liking!

Thank you to Netgalley, for the ARC!

"All that is loved will be lost."

The addresses along Silverweed Road on the fictional Corvid Estate in Kent hide many secrets, many horrors. It's a place you probably wouldn't want to visit, still less move to. I'd imagine living there would be like experiencing, in real life, the entire run of Inside No 9,

Loosely framed as blog entries written by ex DCI Jim Heath, an embittered man who lost his job because he was unable to explain or prevent the horrors described here, each story gives us much more detail and explanation than Heath was ever able to find. His conclusions and complaints, contrasted with the reality of the horrors described here, therefore have a slightly (if darkly) humorous effect.

It's a nice contrast, slightly relieving the awful things that happen to so many of the resident of Silverweed Road. Most of the stories (each named after a house number) are self-contained, though we see protagonists cross paths (and sometimes swords) before and after their own story so that through the book a clearer and clearer picture emerges of what is going on. However the exact reasons for it all, while hinted at in recurring motifs - such as the jackdaw - are teasingly vague until the last story, where there is an explanation of sorts.

The stories are varied in atmosphere and style, raging from the folk-horrific to outright gore-fests to creepy encounters with the supernatural force that inspires all that goes on here. The extent to which that supernatural visibly intrudes varies a lot, with a clear sense in some stories that the victim brings their fate on themselves (for example, Victor Hagman at no 31) while in others the innocent are ensnared (Shanta at no 10). Not all of the activity takes place on Silverweed Road - one protagonist here is the victim of a supernatural horror from far off, another meets a grisly fate far from Kent but it seems that the street then takes part in their revenge. Horror mixes with domestic strife and business or personal rivalries, the grim events in Silverweed Road sometimes reflecting wider themes of abuse and at others, taking a very particular local form.

There is humour, aside from Heath's increasingly exasperated (and mistaken) commentary, for example in one story where a darts enthusiast makes an unwise bargain to win a big tournament leading ultimately to tragedy (and one of Heath's most perplexing cases) but creating some hilarious moments on the way. Crook reaches into many different worlds for his stories, including a dodgy antiques dealer, a furious film craftsman upset that CGI has replaced his replica monsters and - perhaps most creepy of all - a scientist who chooses the Road as the ideal site for his sinister research into cuttlefish.

If you do visit Silver weed Road, be aware that there are traps here, ancient and malign forces preying on the unwary. There are ancient secrets in the woods about, and the night is not friendly. You won't come here and leave without being altered, compromised, changed.

Still interested in that affordably priced semi...?

Overall, an excellent collection of interlinked stories, which is really much more than the sum of its parts.

In a Nutshell: The perfect anthology to read during Halloween. A collection of creepy horror stories that span a variety of scary themes. Loved it!

Horror as a genre can span so many elements. You have splatterpunk, atmospheric, paranormal, gothic, psychological, zombie, vampire,… even comedy! How much you enjoy a horror story depends entirely on which horror theme works best with you. For me, gory splatterpunk NEVER works. The rest still have a fair chance at clicking, depending on how the story is written. But what almost always works for me is atmospheric and gothic horror. This collection has a majority of stories from the categories I enjoy. No wonder then that it clicked so well!

This anthology contains ten stories, all of which are set on the fictional ‘Silverweed Road’ that suddenly became a hub of unsolved crimes in 2019. Former Detective Chief Inspector Jim Heath handled those investigations, and five years hence, is still brooding over what might have happened. The anthology thus uses Heath’s thoughts as a unifying mechanism across the tales.

Silverweed Road is supposedly a quiet J-shaped cul-de-sac of 41 mock-Tudor semis, built in the 1950s, and bordering the woods. Thus it provides the perfect location to every tale. It did seem farfetched to me that so many paranormal events happened within the same year and on the same road, but the last story explains the reason for this. (As a creature of logic, I like valid reasons, even if the reason is paranormal! 😄)

The prologue contains Heath’s introduction to the weird occurrences on Silverweed road in 2019, then we have a horror story, a blog entry containing Heath’s thoughts on that particular incident, another story, and so on… I enjoyed this innovative presentation. It ensured a thread of commonality across the disparate events, and showed the official confusion over those inexplicable happenings. Moreover, Heath, being the ignorant outsider, doesn’t know what actually happened and can only take a stab at a reasonable justification, unlike we the readers who are privy to the story before reading his blog and thus understand his befuddlement well.

I have read a few horror anthologies by now and in almost all of them, a common factor is repetition. After a point, you start getting a feeling of déjà vu because the pattern and dominant style remain the same, even if it is a multi-author anthology. To my great surprise, every single story in this book is distinct from each other in that each uses a different horror element. This is even more remarkable as it is a single-author anthology. Author Simon Crook has me astounded at his wild and weird imagination! (I mean that as the most sincere compliment!)

The stories are independent, though elements and characters from a few make their appearance in other tales, the jackdaw being the most common participant in the proceedings. Reading a Kindle copy was helpful because the events aren’t linear. So it was easier to look up house numbers and events using the search option.

As always, I rated the stories individually, and of the ten stories, a whopping seven stories reached or crossed the 4 star mark for me. The remaining three were also good, impartially speaking, but two of those were too gory to be my cup of tea and one was just too wacko.

Here are my top three favourites, all with 5 star ratings:
The Pool – A classic atmospheric horror, where all elements come together in perfect unison, build up the fear factor gradually, and deliver a stunning climax.
Cuttlefish Cuttlefish – Oh. My. God!! I am never going to look at cuttlefish the same way again! I adored the concept and the implementation.
Dust - Who doesn't love a vengeful ghost! Loved every minute of this story, even when it became tough for me to breathe because of all the dust! 😛

The blurb describes this collection as “fun British suburban horror at its best”. I confess, I didn’t see any fun in the proceedings, probably because my sense of humour is wired differently. But it does justice to the claim of having the best suburban horror. Definitely recommended – this is one of the best anthologies I’ve read this year.

3.8 stars, based on the average of my rating for each story. (If I discount my rating for the 2 gory stories I didn’t enjoy, the average is a cool 4.4 stars!)

Trigger Warnings: Well, in horror books, trigger warnings are meaningless because if you want a book without severe triggers, horror isn’t the genre for you. But there’s one thing I want to specifically mention here. Animal torture is quite common in horror stories, probably because many authors take it as a lazy way out of adding to the ‘ick’ factor. In this collection, not a single story has any extreme animal torture (though one pet owner deserved a whack for his treatment of his cat – he did get his comeuppance, so all’s well that ends well.). It goes to show how good horror can be written without mutilating poor animals. Other horror writers, please take note!

My thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperVoyager, and NetGalley for the DRC of “Silverweed Road”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This is a punchy, creepy collection of short stories all set in the houses of the inhabitants of Silverweed Road, where some very strange things are happening…

From the man who taunts the Jackdaws in their garden a step too much, to the dart player who sells his soul to the devil to play better, each of these short stories has some very dark elements to it and you know as you begin each one that there’ll be someone dead before long, because at the start of the book (and in between each chapter) we hear extracts from the local detective blog as he discusses the case from his perspective.

Some of the stories gripped me more than others, as is often the case with a collection of short stories, but as I go to list m favourites I’ve realised there is actually only one or two which I didn’t enjoy as much – all the others were great, with their own unique twists. As commented upon by many other reviewers, this collection had a definite feeling of Inside Number 9 to it (which I loved!)

Coming up to Halloween is a great time to read these stories but they’d be hugely entertaining at any point in the year. Simon Crook manages to tread the line between atmospheric and eerie, creating creepy short stories which never feel ‘too much’…

As you continue reading the stories it becomes more and clear (if you didn’t already realise this) that the stories are all connected in some way, and it makes reading this collection even more fun as you piece together how someone might be linked to someone else on this very odd road… Whether you’re reading this during ‘spooky season’ or not, Silverweed Road is definitely a recommended read.

This is a collection of 12 supposedly short chilling stories all set in 'Silverweed Road'.
The stories are all slightly linked by the appearance of the jackdaw from the first story and by references to the other houses in the street.
Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy any of these stories and this book just wasn't for me.
Thanks to netgalley for this read.

Silverweed Road, the collection of short horror stories, is dark, unique, chilling, and very British. Silverweed Road, the road, is made up of around 40 mock-Tudor houses, is J-shaped, has a dead-end that leads to ominous woods, is full of peculiar characters, and lots of strange events seem to take place there.

Short story horror anthologies aren't typically my go-to reading fare yet something about Silverweed Road seemed to tick the boxes so it pole-vaulted to the top of my to-be-read list. It features 12 horror stories, each of which follows the occupants of one of the houses on the titular road. One of the stories will take about thirty minutes to read and they are self-contained whilst neatly relating back to elements of previous stories such as the crash site, foxes, the woods, jackdaws going "ack-ack" etc... By the time I was reading the last two stories, the importance of the slight crossing over, the strange happenings being significant to numerous neighbours, and the general creepy and supernatural nature of all the stories led to an exciting, surprisingly deep and fulfilling climax. Crook impressively merged these singular tales into a collection of cohesive stories, as unsettling and bizarre as Silverweed Road itself.

The stories are varied, some feature various horror tropes as homage, they are kooky, sometimes gritty, and they showcase slick humour with their overall weirdness and also with the character interactions. Off the top of my head, I could summarise some of the tales as 1) A Gardener vs. Some Birds, 2) A Darts Player Sells His Soul to a Devil, 3) The Abandoned House and What Leaves it Every Morning, 4) A Valuable Ring and a Haunting Hand, 5) Ashes of a Lost Love, 6) A Tree That Wants to Drink Wine, and 7) The Artist and the Swimming Pool. This would give potential readers an idea of what to expect, without really giving that much away.

Lots of bad things happen to the characters that we follow. So much so that, between stories, we are witness to short intermissions by Former Detective Chief Inspector Jim Heath of Kent Police. The ex-officer tries to make sense of the many disappearances, uncharacteristic murders, and unexplainable catastrophes. These were welcome breaks and they bring us back to how all the strange occurrences on Silverweed Road appeared to the general public. His blog entries were an extra layer to the narrative and it was interesting to see him feature in some of the stories, before his dismissal. Again, this was a neat crossing over.

I had a mostly positive time with Silverweed Road. After about the fifth story, which was about the time I started to understand that the stories were connected and the piecing together mattered, I found myself more engaged. They aren't reported in chronological order. So, when characters we're familiar with pop up to argue with a neighbour, even though in their story they either died or were placed in a psychiatric ward, it doesn't appear jarring, in fact, it seems to fit with the weirdness and the humour of the novel and the road. At about the 9th story, I was feeling a bit fatigued with the read and that's probably down to the fact that I raced through this novel in a week, and should perhaps have taken my time and savoured each entry. That being said, getting over that minor hump, the last two chapters were two of the best in the collection, wrapping events up nicely. The very strong finish brought my rating up to a 7/10 and I'm interested to see what Crook releases next.

I received a review copy of Silverweed Road in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Simon Crook and Harper Voyager.

What a fantastic piece of horrorcraft!

Firstly, I absolutely love the structure of the book. It starts with an extract from The Silverweed Files - records of an ex-Detective Chief Inspector Jim Heath, who’s made notes about the numerous Silverweed Road incidents that have baffled the police.

Then, the stories follow; 10 narratives in 3rd person, each describing the events connected with one of the houses on Silverweed Rd. Each story is followed by another extract from DCI Heath’s records, providing a commentary on its events from the police point of view, & also Heath’s personal conclusions, doubts, claims and questions.

More importantly, as you keep reading, you realise that some elements from the initial stories feature in those that follow, as the main characters of the stories are all neighbours in the same street. Thus, whilst every story has a plot of its own, those little elements add to the feeling of 3-dimensionality of the world created in the book, the dark microcosm that is Silverweed Road. Also, as you progress, you realise DCI Heath’s commentary gradually binds the stories into a cohesive frame.

I read it in 2 sittings & was enthralled. The concept is very-well thought through, the construction is immaculate and the writing! It was such a pleasure to read. It starts deceptively simple, but after a while you notice certain phrases that recur, & you realise they recur for a reason, giving an almost imperceptible rhythm to the stories. This is another bit of evidence of how well the book is thought through, as some of the stories hark back to ancient folklore and songs.

One of the phrases appears as early as the prologue: “There were forty-one houses on that dead-end road, and 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯 from every one.” The writing is gorgeous, whilst steering clear of purple prose.

I haven’t enjoyed a horror book so much in quite a while. Wholeheartedly recommend!

I enjoyed this much more than I expected to as this is not normally a genre I would read very much. I think that the way the stories interlinked was clever and each of the stories were interesting. A great Hallowe'en read.

I enjoyed Silverweed Road a lot. I thought this was an original concept for a collection of horror stories, each one set in the same suburban street where bad things just happen. I liked the little afterward for each story with a retired detective from the area offering his opinion on what really happened. The stories are horror stories and features all-manner of unpleasant creatures and events but the structure of the collection did add an element of humour. This is worth a read.

A series of strange, inexplicable deaths and disappearances all occur on the same suburban street in Kent. This book is a collection of short stories from behind each door on Silverweed Road.

Silverweed Road contains some genuinely chilling horror stories. My personal favourites were the ones about the mutant cuttlefish and the empty house at No. 27 – these were exceptionally creepy and stood out amongst the rest. Others were less good, but I appreciated the cohesive nature of the entire collection.

What I didn’t particularly like were the “stolen heartbeat” and “all that was loved was lost” lines that appear in each story. While I appreciated the attempt at a visual link between every story, I thought that the appearance of the jackdaw and subtle references to neighbouring houses achieved this perfectly well, without the need for the pretentious one-liners.

Overall an entertaining read. Very different feel to most "spooky" stories. Not particularly fast paced or gory, more to make you shudder rather than think oh my god I can't read that. Very inventive. Some of the stories slightly missed the mark, The Pool for example. The ending felt a bit weak, A good job and I will read more from this author