Full Throttle by Joe Hill is a selection of short stories. The stories are creepy, unique and very good, if somewhat predictable.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't expect a whole lot from this book - as mentioned everywhere else, <i>Full Throttle</i> mostly contains stories that have already been published, and I had read quite a few of them before I cracked the spine on this collection.

Having said that, those that I was unfamiliar with - Wolverton Station, Late Returns and You are Released, among others - knocked my socks off.

I've said before that my favourite brand of horror is the kind that comes with a happy ending. Joe Hill takes this and puts a new spin on it; many of the stories within <i>Full Throttle</i> don't have a happy ending, but some of those show humanity at its greatest.

For better or worse.

As always with a short story collection, there are stories here that I enjoyed and others that didn't quite work for me. What I would say is that overall, I do like Joe Hill's writing style and all of the stories were easy to read and accessible. The standouts for me were:
Faun - A really interesting take on both portal fantasies and Ray Bradbury. I thought the action was great and the twist was super fun.
Late Returns - This was probably my favourite and I loved the idea of having one last book that needed to be returned after death.
Twittering from the Circus of the Dead - Structurally really clever, told in twitter length vignettes. A fun take on the zombie story.
Mums - A really poignant and creepy tale about one boy's love for his mother and the horror of survivalist camps.
You Are Released - The apocalypse is now and you are on a plane. Really good!
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

An excellent collection of short stories, some really creepy other a bit flat.
Tall Grass was terrifying and I loved it.
Joe Hill is a talented storyteller with his own voice.
A good read, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

My first experience of Steven Spielberg was that classic thriller Dual so to find the first story in this collection was based very much on that film was an absolute treat and it didn't disappoint. 'In the Tall Grass' was possibly more chilling than the film despite being much briefer but the true horror for me was Dark Carousel, that one might haunt me for life!

I generally avoid short story collections; experience tells me that I tend to not enjoy them much.

On the other hand, I very much like Joe Hill, and really enjoyed his collection of novellas, Strange Weather, a few years ago. So, I decided to give this collection a go.

And ultimately what we have here is what I generally find with collections of this type - a real mixed bag.

The best stories for me were the first two. Throttle is a hurtling thrill-ride, pitching bikers against a faceless trucker in a bloody and compelling battle. Dark Carousel, meanwhile, is a delightful horror based on that creepiest of locations - the carnival. I also enjoyed Faun, a tale of hunters looking for supernatural game.

Some other stories were OK, others fell a little flat for me. I look forward to Hill's next novel, but even he couldn't quite pull off the impossible and make me love the short story format.

Many thanks for the ARC of this book, it was a thrilling ride from start to finish!
No schlock horror writer ever managed to invest their stories with such a sense of terror, revulsion and dread and I think this is because Hill has that little bit extra - a sense of humanity. After all, if you don’t care about fictional characters you aren’t going to care what happens to them, but in many of these stories the plot became secondary to the punch of reading what has happened to the people. He is fantastic at building a back story without overwriting it and becoming tedious.
I loved the Father/Son narrative that runs through many of the stories and he explores his own relationships in the Intoduction and Afterword in a way that is interesting and not indulgent.
Hard to pick a favourite, but if I had to it would be a coin flip between Late Returns and Wolverton Station. Or maybe it would depend on my mood, as there truly is something for everyone within these pages.
If you’re after a Stephen King pastiche then this is not the book for you. If you want tales that build on the best of his legacy plus breathe new life into zombies, folk tales, critiques of capitalism and good old fashioned Monsters then you won’t be disappointed.
Not all books I read from Netgalley make it onto my personal social media pages but this one will for sure.

Joe Hill is a tremendous writer and this is a tremendous set of stories. A collection that spans the last few years there’s some collaborations with his famous father, Stephen King, and while some of the beats are the same as his Dad’s style in the other stories, the voice is very much Hill’s.

There’s a wide variety of stories to enjoy here. There’s the menacing “Throttle” where a motorcycle gang is chased down by a lorry. “In the Tall Grass” is a nightmarish tale of getting lost and is already being adapted by Netflix. “Faun” was one of my favourites, a door has been opened to another world and the opportunity is seized by a group of big game hunters to grab some unique scalps. “Late Returns” is a short story that could easily have become a full length novel. A man finds himself at a loose end after the death of his parents and takes up a job driving the local mobile library. He soon finds that the job comes with a strange extra as the dead come to return books a borrow the ones they don’t know they need yet.

The short story format is used to great effect by Joe Hill. Some stories end with devastating quickness and a few left this reader clambering for more. It’s a format that suits horror writing down to the ground and the author gets the most out of every word. Hill’s full length novels are fantastic, but I think this is the format where he truly excels. This is a broad collection which offers something different to the reader with each chapter. Heartily recommended.

I received a ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

I received this book from netgalley in exchange of an honest reiview.

Full throttle is a short collection written by Joe Hill. Two short stories, Full throttle and In the tall grass, are co written with his father, Stephen King. I liked this book. Many stories have supernatural elements, like Faun, Wolverton Station or In the tall grass and many of them are creepy, chilling and all of them wonderfully written. I enjoyed reading this book.
The stories left me with a sense of wonder and fear. My favourites are Dark carousel and By the silver water of lake Champlain. Full throttle, the story, didn't impressed me so much and I didn't like all the short stories, but I found many of them enjoyable and interesting.
They explored relationships, father and son in Full throttle, friendship in Dark Carousel and in By the silver water of lake Champlain, father and son in Faun and so on. They are short stories, sometimes ending with a cliffhanger and a sense of ineluctability. Creepy, interesting and captivating.

A diverse and well rounded collection of tales from Joe Hill,with an occasional assist from dad Stephen King, Full Throttle takes the reader from realistic revenge (Throttle, Thumbprint) to dark fairy tale fantasy (Wolverton Station, Faun) and into the realm of the simply nightmarish ( Twittering from the Circus of the Dead, In the Tall Grass). As well as the diversity in the stories, I was particularly impressed to find that I enjoyed all of them , quite often in a collection such as this, I might find one or two I loved ,a few that are okay and several that fall flat, Not so here, each one was so well crafted that I would be hard pushed to pick a favourite, though if my arm was twisted I would plump for Late Returns, a story about a mobile library that occasionally stops for patrons who are visiting from the past , it was a simple but clever premise , beautifully executed.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own .

Incredible!
Joe Hill has inherited the talent of his father! In the Tall Grass is exceptionally creepy!

Full Throttle by Joe Hill is an anthology of short horror stories.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Orion Publishing, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis and Opinions:

A rather long intro to this book entitled "Who's Your Daddy" tells us of Joe Hill's journey to come out from under his famous father's shadow.  A brief synopsis of each short story follows:


"Throttle" (with Stephen King)....a group of bikers are chased by a semi.  Although my husband rides, and I was looking forward to this one, it was just ok.

"Dark Carousel".... rather unconventional beasts on a carousel come to life.  This felt like a Stephen King book.  Loved this one!

"Wolverton Station".... a businessman travelling by train encounters wolves or wolfmen?  Interesting, but not great.

"By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain".... two children find an oddity off the pier. A monster story!  Quite good!

"Faun".... a hunting expedition through a portal. Though the hunting scenes at the beginning bothered me a little, the latter ones did not.  The story was good!

"Late Returns".... a bookmobile travels far and wide. A time-travel story.  Loved it!

"All I Care About Is You".... a girl celebrates her birthday with a robot. Not a fan.

"Thumbprint".... PFC Mallory Grennan meets up with an old colleague who has had a break from reality.  Although I have read this one before, I still enjoyed it.

"The Devil on the Staircase".... a young man with very little,  finds a stairway down the mountain that leads to hell.  He turns around.  Not sure about this one.

"Twittering from the Circus of the Dead".... a family road trip takes a strange turn, as the daughter tweets about their misadventures.  Zombies!  Pretty good!

"Mums".... a young boy plants strange flowers on his mother's grave, while his father plans to blow up the world.  Good story!

"In the Tall Grass" (with Stephen King).... when a brother and sister hear a young boy calling out from a field of tall grass that he is lost, they attempt to find him.  Have read this before, but it is still great!

"You Are Released".... imagine being in a plane when a nuclear war breaks out down below.  I've read this before, and still love it.

"A Little Sorrow" .... (bonus story found at the end of the acknowledgements)  A man, suffering from the pain of loneliness,  gets help.  Okay.


One final thought.  At the end of the book, there is a section entitled Story Notes and Acknowledgements.  I really wish that the story notes had been either right before or right after each tale.  It's frustrating to read them after.

I'd definitely recommend this book.  Joe Hill writes like his father, and incorporates many other famous authors that have influenced him.  His books are always a good read!

3.5 stars

I don't actually like short stories,but sometimes an authors name convinces you should give them another try.
Glad I did. As always some are going to be better than others,and some more memorable.
I don't think I had a stand alone favourite,but I finished most of them in one sitting.
Overall favourable impression... quite an achievement considering I don't actually like this type of book.😁

A great book full of stories that baffle, bemuse, intrigue and interest the reader, I have not seen the Netflix film that has materialised from one of the stories but I will do so forthwith and see if they can do a decent job of a good story