I have read several of Graham Masterton's novels, but this is the first time I have encountered his short stories. Overall, Figures of Fear is a strong collection, but it is very uneven. The strongest are "Night of the Wendigo," "Witch-Compass," "Resonant Evil," and "Beholder"; together, these four stories address all of the main varieties of "horror," including supernatural threat, science gone terribly wrong, and the evils that human beings can visit on themselves and others. That "Night of the Wendigo" is so good deserves special mention because an author's note at the end explains that it was the result of a contest in which Masterton wrote the beginning, a reader supplied the middle, and Masterton then furnished the ending; despite being written by two authors, the tone is consistent throughout, and Masterton must be complimented for his ability to take someone else's idea and run with it.

What prevented Figures of Fear from receiving 5 stars were the sub-average offerings: "The Battered Wife," which is a strange mash-up of ghost story and abused wife tale, and "Underbed," which tries to do too much with the trope of children who find their way into an alternate world, with predictably horrifying results. By the time Masterton sent his protagonist into the fourth world, he had lost my interest completely.

I would not choose Figures of Fear to introduce a new reader to Masterton's work, but for those who are familiar with him, Figures of Fear is an entertaining addition to his oeuvre.

I received a free copy of Figures of Fear through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

This review originally appeared at GnomeReviews.ca.

The gnomes received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Figures of Fear is an anthology of horror short fiction by British author Graham Masterton. The collection has a few strong stories but these stories are completely overshadowed by the misogynist mess that is “Witch Compass.”

“Witch Compass” is a story about Paul, an American who made (and then lost) his fortune in Gabon. A woman in a market sells him an item called a witch compass. She says it will point him towards anything that he desires, all he has to do is visualize something he wants and the witch compass will lead him there.

Paul wants a woman, and not just any woman. He wants Katie, an old crush from his school days who publicly rejected him. When he asked her to get a burger in front of the rest of the class, “Katie had clamped her hand over her mouth, and widened her eyes, and then she burst out laughing.” In other words, Katie has made it fairly clear that she’s not interested.

But Paul is interested, and the witch compass leads him to Katie’s house. He knocks on the door, and when no one answers, so he lets himself in. After all, the witch compass told him to come here to get what he wants. It leads him to Katie’s bedroom.

Paul finds Katie lying naked on her bed, unconscious. He finds an empty bottle of pills and a vodka bottle beside her. Women do not generally strip down before committing suicide, but this is a male fantasy in addition to a horror story. Paul briefly considers calling for help, in an internal monologue that is so twisted that the gnomes will quote it:

“If he called the paramedics now, there was a strong possibility that they could save her. She would be grateful to him, wouldn’t she, for the rest of her life?…. There might even be a change that in the future he and Katie could get together. But if they got together now, then he could be sure of having her. Maybe just once. But even once was better than never.”

Paul doesn’t call the paramedics. Instead, he rapes Katie as she dies, cleans up his crime scene, and leaves the house. How does he feel? “Satisfied… Not fully satisfied, but it’s taken the edge off.”

The gnomes cannot recommend this book to anyone with a functioning moral compass, and would advise readers to steer clear of future books by this author.

Rating: 1 Gnomes out of 5 ( )