Thanks to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for an advanced copy. The publisher is not one I've come across before, but they, and editor Mark Morris, have put together an impressive anthology. Darkness Beckons is a diverse collection that contains within its page's horror in its many guises: tragic hauntings, the horrors of motherhood, the inhumanity of mankind, in-your-face blood and guts, pagan religions and so much more. Did they all hit home for me? No, but that's the nature of an anthology. I'm sure that what didn't work for me will find its audience.

This was a great collection of stories. As with the previous collections there isn't really a concurrent theme throughout. I actually really enjoyed the randomness, and differences along the way. This is a great collection to check out for spooky season.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

Unfortunately none of the stories really gripped me. I read through the stories wanting them to scare and frighten me, but I was not even overwhelmed with uneasiness. Horror is hard to write and personal to you. I am sure if I read some of these stories in a darkened room, on my own, I would maybe have had chills. However, this was not the case. In many instances I found myself questioning the plot and characters, wondering why that would happen and how likely that was. Exposition was a main factor in a lot of the stories and with short stories, I understand the need for quick characterisation, but many of the stories seemed to be written in the same style. If you would have subtracted the names and titles of the story, I would have had a rather difficult time separating these different authors.

Nevertheless, there was one story which peeked my interest, The Service by Ally Wilkes. It was the suspense and mystery that kept me reading, although I knew what was happening early on. There was a twist at the end, but I wonder now, why does everything need a “twist”? I was quite satisfied with the ending, but I was more interested in the aspects which were not fully explored. The meat freezer would have been an interesting path to take, maybe instead of telling me that the head waiter locks people in the meat freezer, the main character could have been locked in while searching for answers. Both created a dramatic point in the story and satisfying our questions without exposition. Yet, I understand these are short stories and without any information or forewords describing the story or author, I can only surmise that this was either written for the anthology with strict constraints, or rather the winner of a competition or publication.

Ergonomically, I read this on an ereader and would have valued a contents page, with clickable links, a foreword describing the author, why this story is in the anthology and where this story was first published.

There was a range of stories in this anthology, unfortunately they did not resonate with me.