Synopsis:
Fear – arguably humanity’s strongest emotion – is both a blessing and a curse.
It hinders some, while it fuels others, but without it, our species would not have survived hundreds of thousands of years. However it might affect you, you’ve felt fear. We all have. Within this book, you’ll come face to face with new fears as you open your imagination and experience the incredible lives of original characters in eight vast different short stories that span many unique and gripping genres, including thriller, tragic romance, crime, science fiction, retelling, and more.
Each story is a different face of fear.
Review:
Fear by Jose Trevino is a short story collection featuring nine horror tales. Trevino works across horror genres to bring us tales ranging from psychological, supernatural, paranormal, and science fiction.
Trevino’s ability to move seamlessly between past and present tense, along with point of view shifts, is impressive. One story may be written in the third person past tense, then the next in first person present tense.
Trevino displays a variety of characters, all of which were natural and full of depth, even in the short time we get to know them. From a grieving son to a misled youth who has joined a cult, each character is unique and enjoyable.
In some of the stories, the horror builds alongside the plot, revealing unsettling details slowly to help understand each event. In others, Trevino wastes no time. He pulls you in, terrifies you, and leaves enough to the imagination that there is no choice but to continue flipping the pages.
Trevino writes with authority. Though he often drops the reader into an unknown setting, he continues on, delivering just enough knowledge to understand what is happening but leaving the questions unanswered until the right moments.
The stories themselves were unique: twisted retellings of familiar legends, and distinct perspectives on common subgenres. In particular, Dinner For Two and the Hunger took me by surprise in such a delightful way. Both were dark, unprecedented takes on the familiar vampire and zombie stories.
The stories within Fear provided a great balance between dreadful and hopeful. There were terrible endings (my personal favorite), happy endings, and some stories ended with ambiguity, leaving the reader to make their own decisions as to what occurred thereafter.
Fear is a must-have for any horror reader’s shelf—perfect for those who appreciate thought-provoking narratives, fear rooted in everyday life, and genre-spanning, morbid tales.
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