The Best of Richard Matheson by Richard Matheson

"Groundbreaking for its time, Matheson's stories still hold their horror and suspense even into the 21st century. He's a truly master at suspense and leaving you feeling helpless and alone, which is exactly what you're hoping for when reading Horror Fiction."

4 Stars.

Pros: There were definitely some stand out stories in this collection and I can see why Matheson has a reputation for being groundbreaking in the Horror fiction genre.

Cons: The problem with collections of short stories, is near the end, it all starts to feel similar.

Full Review:

I've always heard of Richard Matheson but have never taken the time to read any of his works. I'm glad I finally did. He was and still is, ground breaking for his time. His works, dealing mainly with Science Fiction, space travel and a smattering of horror, are all original, eerie, spine chilling and some even manage to pull at your heartstrings and make you teary eyed.

A few stand outs in this collection were Where There's A Will, Dance of the Dead, The Last Day, Long Distance Call and No Such Thing as a Vampire. Many people know some of Matheson's works, since at least two of his short stories, "Third from the Sun" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" were made into "Twilight Zone" episodes.

He's not afraid to dig into the arcane, the obscure, the stranger, darker parts of human life and explore what it is that makes us tick, or more accurately, what it is that scares us and makes us feel helpless and alone. Though by the end of the book, I was ready for it to be done, since you can only read so many short stories at once before they all start kind of blurring together, overall I really enjoyed this collection. It was good to sit and read and be truly, properly terrified. It was fun, in a dark and twisted sort of way, which I'm sure is exactly what Matheson was aiming for.

Comments

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