So today I’m back with another blog tour for a work by Jim Ody, you may remember a few months ago I really enjoyed his book The Crazy Season, however this is something completely different. It’s an anthology of his short stories within the genres of psychological thriller and horror. A massive thank you to Zoe from Zooloo’s Book Tours and Jim Ody for allowing me to read this book and be part of the tour.
Let’s jump in…

For the first time, the best of Jim Ody’s published short-stories are together in one anthology, including four previously unreleased.
Twelve twisted tales that touch on psychological/thriller, horror and YA, including:
A detective sent to a travelling circus to find a missing boy; A guy with a mysterious trunk must meet a stranger at a motel to survive; A doll turns up and becomes a little girl’s best friend. Then things turn strange; A surprise birthday party is memorable, if only the birthday boy survives; and a group of orphans find the world is about to end…
1 The Reveal
2 A Moth in The Jar
3 The I-Scream Van
4 Teaching Tom
5 Boat Trip
6 The Trunk
7 The Day
8 A Doll Named Sasha
9 Surprise Party
10 The Orphans
11 Hide & Seek
12 Virgin Women From Outta Space
–Goodreads–

I don’t think I’ve read a full anthology before and definitely not within this genre so this was a little out of my comfort zone but I’m so glad I read it. As I’m not a massive horror reader there are some stories which I didn’t really enjoy as much as others or that I just don’t think think I understood what the author was trying to do with the ending of some of them. There are 12 stories in this so I’m not going to get into them all I’m just going to mention the ones that really stood out to me.

We kicked of this anthology with a bang with the story The Reveal, this is about a detective who is sent to a circus as he has been hired to find a missing boy. This story was really interesting and then the ending was some shutter island level shit! I really enjoyed it and had to put my kindle down for a while after it.

Then we have A Moth In The Jar which honestly broke my heart, I’m not going to mention the plot of this as it is really impactful without any prior knowledge.
I wish I never read A Doll Named Sasha as my son has so many teddys that he is obsessed with him and reading about a doll turning up and taking the place of her beloved bunny teddy and what happened is not something that I ever want to consider.
Virgin Women From Outta Space gets an honourable mention here for being one of the strangest things I’ve ever read.

Surprise Party was definitely one of the standouts from this anthology, I loved the atmosphere and the plot. The ending was also perfect for me.
Now Hide & Seek was my absolute favourite, I loved this! Three boys go down to the woods to play hide & seek, what’s the worst that could happen? I wish I could discuss this with someone because this just left me speechless I had to sit with my own thoughts for a while afterwards.

I really enjoyed this collection and I’m so glad I read it, Jim Ody’s writing is something really special and I can’t wait to read more from him.

-Grab Your Copy Here-

So Who Is Jim Ody?

Jim writes dark psychological/thrillers, Horror and YA books that have endings you won’t see coming, and favours stories packed with wit. He has written over a dozen novels and many more short-stories spanning many genres.
Jim has a very strange sense of humour and is often considered a little odd. When not writing he will be found playing the drums, watching football and eating chocolate. He lives with his long-suffering wife, three beautiful children and two indignant cats in Swindon, Wiltshire UK.
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