However we have something to be excited about. I have our first book review here on BlazinBlue's Horror Review.
Those We Left Behind is an anthology written by Brandon Applegate. Mr. Applegate was so awesome and kind to send a pre-release copy to me.
Now, I will say that the cover for the book is what made me stop and go 'Hey, this is something different here.'. It brilliantly grabs your attention and draws you in. After that alone, I was on board. It just screams horror in a way that I haven't seen in some time. I mean look at that haunting image above.
The next thing that just lured me in was the sypnosis of this anthology.
"A bedtime story has unspeakable consequences. A walk in the woods introduces a father to his daughter's horrifying new friends. A bit of trash in the shower drain leads to a surreal fight for survival. In this collection that ranges from magical fantasy to blood-spattered horror, Brandon Applegate guides you on a journey through the darkest, most tragic corners of his imagination. From the surface of Mars to the supposed safety of a child's bedroom, his stories will remind you that it's not a sacrifice if it doesn't hurt."
This sypnosis is alone so powerful. It lays out a groundwork of what one could possibly imagine. And for me, that's a deep deep rabbit hole. There is absolutely so much that my mind alone could come up with. And honestly, it's only a small fraction of what one could find in this fantastic collection.
Typically, I imagine that when one does a book review that they tend to go in depth of what makes it so great. However, I'm not going to go into too much detail. It would honestly be a huge disservice to this collection to give away all its secrets. It is a very powerful journey. I have yet to think of a book that has hit me so hard as this one has. And that is saying a lot as I have read Pet Semetary. I know that there's a lot of people that consider Pet Semetary to be such a high bar. As a parent especially, it's truly deeply terrifying the thought of losing one's child. However what Brandon has done with this collection of stories has surpassed that.
This collection can be a bit of a brief read. I mean the whole thing in all is 128 pages covering seventeen stories. That's a really fast read if one so wills it. However, I don't recommend doing that. Take the time to just let the stories unfold on their own. Don't rush it. It makes the journey so much grander and greater. Something I greatly appreciated with this was that there was story notes at the end, as well as content warnings. Now this is something that I honestly haven't seen in other anthologies. It allows the reader to get a glimpse behind the curtain as well as if one wishes get a brief idea of what to expect.
The more that I think about it, the more I tend to think of this anthology compared to Joe Lansdale's High Cotton. I remember diving into Lansdale's world of reading back in the early 2000s. It was just after Showtime brought us the Masters of Horrors. Specifically the one - Incident On and Off A Mountain Road. It was a bit of a gateway as that also introduced me to Don Conscarelli's work on Horror as well. High Cotton was a fantastic read. Definitely one of my favorites for sure. I am happy to say that Those We Left Behind and Other Sacrifices has joined that in the pantheon.
What I will talk about is that first story in this collection, Bedtime Story. At once, it feels like a familiar setup with a Grandpa telling his grandson a story. It's light hearted and relatable. It's comforting. However as the bedtime story moves on, it becomes clear that it's Grandpa's story. It's one of doing ones duty, loss, heartbreak, and becoming lost in the world. It's such a twist that left me floored. By the end of the story, I was sitting there with the book in my hands just shocked. I hadn't seen the ending coming by a longshot. It in a way sets the tone of what this collection will be like. It's not going to be happy or comforting. Again as Grandpa beautifully puts it in the story, "It's not a sacrifice if it doesn't hurt.".
In the end, Those We Left Behind and Other Sacrifices feels like a new brand of horror in one way. It's not relenting. But in a sense, it feels like a callback to Lovecraftian. This collection is one that I highly recommend. It's a fantastic introduction to what Brandon Applegate can do. And I cannot wait to see what comes next. If you have a chance, pick this book up. It can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble as well as his website.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
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