Monsters in Our Midst

The author of Psycho , which spawned a legion of homicidal maniacs in modern horror fiction, returns as an anthologist with a sequel to last year's Psycho-Paths . Once again inviting some of the field's finest writers to explore the subject of deranged evil, Bloch has elicited 17 terrifying, brilliantly conceived characters, each one disturbingly credible and original. Among the most memorable: an ungrateful grandson-in-law whose chosen weapon is a garbage disposal in Ray Bradbury's darkly humorous ``Fee Fie Fo Fum''; a gas station attendant and frustrated inventor whose homemade gasoline additive makes for cleaner air and countless mysterious deaths in Robert E. Vardeman's ``A Gentle Breeze Blowing''; an overzealous animal rights activist in Lawrence Block's ``How Would You Like It?''; and a neurotic young actress who feels she doesn't get enough messages on her answering machine in ``The Lick of Time'' by Jonathan Carroll. As Bloch promises in his introduction, the selections consistently explore--with chilling success--``the why , as well as the way'' psychopaths operate, adeptly mapping the fine line between human and inhuman, sane and insane. As unsettling as they are entertaining, many of these forays into the psyche's dark side are sure to become classics. (Nov.)