Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror

Editor Datlow has compiled a stunning array of horror in her newest anthology, drawing on new and terrifying leaps in the genre. Some stories are plausible and others are otherworldly and fantastical, but all maintain a feeling of dread. A young woman relives the experience of sexual assault in Lisa Tuttle's "Closet Dreams." Margo Lanagan's "The Goosle" is a grisly reimagining of "Hansel and Gretel." A husband struggles and fails to love his doll-obsessed wife in Robert Shearman's eerie "That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love." Each tale is inventive and startling. Perhaps the most arresting in the collection, Anna Taborska's "Little Pig," proves that horror grounded in reality%E2%80%94in this case, a family being required to make an unbearable sacrifice%E2%80%94can be the most horrific. This is the perfect introduction to the horror genre, especially for readers who don't crave easy scares but appreciate slow burn that lingers long after the book is closed. (Oct.)