Mischief Night Massacre is a lively anthology featuring ten short stories, many previously published but now conveniently collected. The book blends horror and dark humor, exploring themes of fear and revenge through a mix of chilling and playful tales.

The pacing makes it easy to dive from one story to the next, with standout pieces that twist familiar themes, like trick-or-treating gone wrong. This collection isn’t just for horror fans; it offers a fun look at our darker impulses. Overall, it’s an entertaining read that kept me hooked from start to finish!

Surprised how much I liked this! Loved that it was short stories I could read one before bed, I am a big scaredy cat so I did sleep with my closet light on haha but loved

Mischief Night Massacre brings together ten short stories, many previously published but collected here for reader convenience. As the title and cover would lead you to believe, these stories are all about Halloween and there’s nothing that I love more this time of year than curling up with a good Halloween-themed horror collection. Before I go in to a short description of the stories, I want to start by saying how much I love the cover art. It gives off a vintage Halloween feel with a warm color palette and is seriously sinister.
Ok, let’s dive in.

RUSSIAN DOLLHOUSE:
The old house on Waterford Lane has been abandoned for years. Eager to impress her crush, Kit goes to the house with a group of friends for a harmless Halloween prank but they end up walking in to a house of horrors.

DIA DE LOS MUERTOS:
A war veteran with PTSD is living in Mexico and wanders out amongst the Day of the Dead celebrations to get a drink but things end in a bloody showdown.

EASY PICKINGS:
Two bullies get their comeuppance on Halloween night when they choose the wrong kid to pick on.

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES:
A group of criminals use the anonymity of Halloween and its masks to rob the homes of old, rich people and end up getting a little taste of their own medicine.

A NOT NOT-SO-SCARY HALLOWEEN:
Danielle and her brother Robby are trick-or-treating in the suburbs of Orlando while their cousin regales them with horror stories about the local alligators…

RAIN:
When a rainstorm traps Georgie and his brother inside the house on Halloween night, their dad starts to tell scary stories. It’s up to Georgie to decide if they’re real or not.

BLACK:
Max and Rose’s marriage is falling apart and it’s going to take a lot more than a trip to Frightmare to fix it… or will it?

RIDE LIKE THE DEVIL:
Taye goes to the local carnival with his sister and her boyfriend where there are rumors of a ride that some people didn’t come out of last year…

PULP:
In the longest story of this collection, there’s a bit of a mash-up between Scream and Groundhog Day, where Jaime must learn to trust his instincts if he wants to survive the party in the woods.

LAST HALLOWEEN:
When two girls go out trick-r-treating and run in to a couple of boys from school, they decide to get drunk in the woods but something is lurking out there and they may not make it out alive.

In these stories, readers will find haunted houses and the undead, monsters and creepy kids, lots of blood, some Hannibal Lecter vibes and many nods to iconic horror films, and of course lots of tricks and treats. My personal favorites are honestly hard to choose when it comes to such a strong collection but I would put Russian Dollhouse, Easy Pickings, Rain, and Black at the top.
This is a wonderful Halloween collection that is perfect for readers who enjoy the dark and macabre. The imagery is sharp and visceral so readers beware!

Thank you Corpus Press for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review! Available 09/24/2024 ❤️‍🔥👻🏚️

Such a great story! Loved reading this just in time for halloween! Overall a cute and quick read for halloween

I really enjoyed these ten tales of horror and was a great overall concept for a good Halloween tale. Jason Parent was able to weave interesting tales with the spooky element that I was hoping for. Each story worked overall and had a few unexpected elements to them. I hope Jason Parent writes more collections as this was really well done.

Had to get my glasses and pen out for this one.

I Loved it.

I always try to pick one or two stand out stories and this was hard but
Russian Dollhouse is living rent free in my head yall.

If you recall seeing me say something irl about mannequins, this little short story is what tipped me over the edge of paranoia, gave me the spooky vibes from a horror movie called The curse of Sleeping Beauty, those things concern me greatly lol.
I'm not saying they are real, but I am saying I give them a healthy respect, just incase. ( tie this in with, I just finished another book heavy on the mannequins and I'm loosing it lol)

Second was Easy Pickings, this one wasn't scary but it was so so so satisfying. I hated the MC and loved every single second of it.

I want to keep listing my favorites from this but there are only ten, and I can't tell you about all of them, then what would you get to read?