Ghosts, disaffected wives, deserted towns, obsessive journalists and children who never existed haunt the pages of this stunning, elegant and frightful anthology of “literary horror” assembled by Stoker nominee Tremblay and World Fantasy Award–winning Wallace (Bandersnatch
). There are no chainsaw massacres in these 14 exquisite tales, which range from Steve Berman's hilarious Kafkaesque “Kinder,” about an infestation of German children, to Stephen Graham Jones's “The Ones Who Got Away,” a riveting account of a kidnapping gone wrong. The most outstanding piece is Lavie Tidhar's “Set Down This,” a devastating story of YouTube videos, the Iraq War and the unknown lives on both sides of the conflict. Only a few weak links, like Geoffrey H. Goodwin's lusty but clichéd “Jonquils Bloom,” mar this deliciously creepy book of horrors that prove all the more terrifying for their everyday nature. (Jan.)
