There is an unwinding of fear with this collection of atmospheric horror tales where ordinary is anything but ordinary. There is nothing is as it seems. There are five unique tales. The horror is surreal. Be wary of the wicked spine-chilling stories. It left me wondering how the author composed these stories. I did enjoy it but be aware that these stories have horror themes that also includes such as bad language, depictions and more.

Things From The Dark
K.K. Monroe

3 / 5

Ok. So ...
This author is obviously extremely talented.
And it's also clear that these stories originate from a raw, vulnerable, personal place.

But unfortunately the stories (for the most part) were too slow for me.
Don't get me wrong, there is an eerieness that's settled over you by the end of them ... But I personally struggled through them; one in particular was slower than molasses in January ... and despite it being a short story, it took me five days to finish.
I'd nearly forgotten the beginning by the time I reached the end.

I do love me a slow burn ... But several of these seemed to move so slowly, they kinda fizzled out for me, personally.

I thought the writing was absolutely beautiful though. I will definitely read more from this author in the future.

I encourage you to pick up a copy and see what you think for yourself with this one, especially if you're a fan of slow burn horror.

A cosmic, atmospheric horror realm where fear unfurls like ink on parchment. Each story peels back layers of the psyche, weaving sticky webs of surreal horror. From “The Reckoning” to “The Red Light,” Monroe’s tales are a haunting dance with the unknown. However, beyond pacing, the book leaves us yearning for deeper emotional impact.

Unfortunately this collection of horror stories didn't quite catch me. Definetly a talented writer but this one was not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I didn’t hate this, but I didn’t love it. I felt the strongest story was the first, and they got progressively weaker from there. The first story felt like something I would have read from a Stephen King collection (compliment) and the last felt like a Goosebumps story (also a compliment).

I wouldn’t necessarily buy but I would pick up from the library.

These 5 unique horror tales are a slow burn into human madness in various forms. K. K. Monroe writes an atmosphere where you’re teleported into the story, you can seep into the surroundings and feel the madness consuming the characters.

Things From the Dark 4.5⭐ this left me wanting more from the story
The Lady of the Lake 5⭐ stood out above them all. This is the kind of slow-burn horror I want more of. This story makes me excited to read more of K. K’s writing.
The Mechanism 3.5⭐ the slow madness of burning was wonderful, I really wanted to know what else was going on outside the interrogation room.
The Red Light 3⭐ to much talking about ball cancer and pissing. Definitely got better as the story went on, and the narrator got deeper into the facility…
Be Careful What You Find 4.5⭐️ what a couple of crazy kids. I hope Jelly goes back and get what he wants.

i found the synopsis of this book incredibly interesting and was so excited to dive in. the first story had my attention, but the rest of them fell flat for me. i struggled with each story going forward, and found it hard to engage in. i think it was just not for me, unfortunately.

I love horror. All types. Shlock horror. Creepy horror. Jump scare horror. Slow burn horror.

This anthology of 5 falls into the latter category and was a joy to consume. They are slow burn, they're intelligent, and they crank up the tension exactly how I like it. Slow and low but then BLAM you get the good stuff.

The Lady In The Lake was the stand story for me - a long meandering walk towards a dark conclusion where people you know you don't really like are definitely going to have bad things happen to them - BUT it's dished it out in little morsels and skillfully done.

Throughout there's swearing and sex and adult themes - but unless you're still reading Goosebump then that's a good thing, right?

And yeah, it IS a good thing. I adore anthologies between big reads and this one hit the mark perfectly. Get this, get some creepy music on, light some candles and luxuriate in the creepy dread that always pays off.

Top marks, thank you

Things from the Dark is a collection of SLOW BURN horror stories, many of which include mature content. There are some stories that I loved, some that didn't hit for me, and some that I had hoped for more. KK Monroe writes vividly and excels in nightmares and distorted reality sequences.

The collection starts off with "The Reckoning" to set the tone. This is one where I would have liked to see a little more - the prose was beautiful, but I want know more about what the character had experienced.

"The Lady in the Lake" is another story I really liked, fantastic concept and fun piece, but I would have liked to know more regarding the myth/legend behind what was going on here.

My favorite was the creature feature at the end, "Be Careful of What You Find". This one was almost reminiscent of Goosebumps, but a little more graphic.

Things from the dark, is an Anthology of Horror stories, that does not fail to disappoint.
Five amazing stories, that unleashes fear, terror and atmospheric gory!
Each tale has a different story from The Lady in the Lake, that it’s an amazing Horror of a slow burn tale involving a woman that has gone to the summer cottage of her dreams, with the man of her dreams, but he does not exactly feel the same even though he gives her a reason to believe he does. Unbeknown to her, there’s a pull from the house that will see him give everything to it, even his Fiancé.

Then we have The Mechanism, which is my personal favourite. Relishing the heat from hell in one unlucky town, that last 24hours. The heat exceeds everything that has ever been recording and people are reacted with unprecedented effects, unravelling the story of what can happen if the heat is so unbearable, so twisted, it will eat you up from inside and play terrible tricks to the mind.

I would 100% recommend this book to anyone that loves Horror! This would be perfect to read at Halloween for all those thrill seekers! Beautifully written and will take the reader to the depths of the dark, very atmospheric and does not disappoint in the scare factor. I enjoyed every story, and I will be reading this again when those dark nights roll on.

My favourite book of the year so far!

I mostly picked this book up due to the interesting synopsis and cover. I had never heard of the author before. I also knew that I would be getting slow horror and when it worked, it worked. Unfortunately, at points the stories weren't just slow, but glacial. K.K. Monroe shines in their use of interesting plots and very detailed character studies, but if you're looking for horror that will actually unsettle you deeply or that delves into the gorey details, you might have to look elsewhere.

I quite enjoyed the introductory short story "The Reckoning", which somewhat functions as a framing device following a woman waking up in the hospital after an accident. I really enjoyed the prose here. The story is a bit short and I think some more padding could have been interesting here, but it is an interesting start! (tw death, car accident). (4/5)
The Lady in the Lake follows a stressed lawyer when her equally busy laywer boyfriend invites her to his father's cabin near a lake for a getaway. Immediately nightmares start haunting her. Unfortunately this one was quite aprubt and did not manage to build tension as much as I had hoped it would. Most of the scary moments happened in dreams and were so disjointed from what we were presented during the day, that they did not really manage to scare me and the end did not hit as hard as I hoped it would. (tw murder, death, drowning). (2/5)
The Mechanism is at parts incredibly good (the radio show parts, the world building) and then unfortunately kinda ruins that by having an incredibly boring MC and a story that moves very, very slowly until it reaches the big reveal. If this story had been a bit snappier, I think I would have really enjoyed it! I did enjoy the prose and the descriptions of the world a lot. (tw child murder, murder, police brutality, mass murder, death). (3/5)
The Red Light is another story that could be really scary and has a great set up, but is really dragged down by its narrator and its plodding pace. The narrator has an incredibly repeptitive monologue and I got tired of his focus on his "balls cancer" and the "burning in his pecker", as well as his constant repeptition of "Nooooo, sireeee, Bob" very, very fast. Unfortunately this one is by far the story I enjoyed least and it is the longest in the collection. The horror is underexplored (in fact we don't get told about the scariest moments. And we had to work to get there! That felt like an incredible letdown), the narrator is annoying, and the pace is glacial. I think this story could have been cut down by... half? without loosing any important moments of the story or used that extra space to explore the horror more. The end was unsettling and intruiging, but I know I would have enjoyed it more if the rest of the story hadn't been such a slog to get through. (tw cancer, death, mass death). (1/5)
Be Careful of What You find is the last story and compared to the others before it, a short one. It follows a teenanger obessessed with death and corpses, who wants to capture something. A short story that manages to present interesting characters and an interesting monster, all presented with good pacing. Not as scary as I had expected, but I had fun reading it. (4/5)

I love love looooove slow burn horror and this book has plenty of it. I enjoyed all of the stories in the book with The Red Light being my favorite. The last story is a little bit different than the rest but I enjoy flashbacks and dream sequences in horror.

Overall a solid collection of five slow burn horror.

4.5 stars. Entertaining, thought-provoking, spooky, and grisly. This was some crazy good writing; I did not want to put it down. Each story was a really fresh and original slow-burn that kept my senses of morbid curiosity peaked practically the whole time. The missing half a star is due only to the longest story happening to be my least favorite of the bunch. Absolutely check this out if horror short stories are your thing.

Oh man, this was a tragic case of author/reader mismatch. Things from the Dark is a diverse selection of short stories ranging from a near death experience, to an SCP Foundation-style laboratory, to a brush with hellfire. My favourite story by far was the final one, a creature feature called Be Careful of What You Find. It's also the one that had the most straightforward, concise narrative. The remaining four stories all had at least some element of dreams/visions/hallucinations and the airy, confusion of time and space that come with that. Unfortunately, that's simply not what I prefer in horror stories so I didn't enjoy them as much as the other reviewers. If that if your kind of horror, then this collection might be right up your alley!