Book Review: Thriteen Chairs by Dave Shelton

You shouldn't go into abandoned buildings...by yourself.

 In an abandoned house, the ghosts gather. They argue, they laugh, and they tell their stories. Some tell their own stories, some tell stories they have heard elsewhere. Some of them are true, some are not. But each tale draws you closer.

One by one, the storytellers depart, until suddenly it's just you and the narrator, alone in the dark...

Usually I read and rated short stories as I read them, but as this is all by one writer I didn't. Instead I'm going back and rated them. This book also has the benefit of illustrations at the start of each story which I will share my favourite of.

Let Me Sleep: This is the standard past deeds coming back to haunt you, typical beware of actions. Probably is a weak start. 3/5 stars for bling.

The Wrong Side of the Road: The standard past deeds coming back to haunt you. Okay, this makes me think of The Midnight's society's first episode, but only because Taxi. Woods. Spoilers. Don't drink drive kids. 2/5 stars for smashed glass.

Oswald: Cats are evil. Oswald is an evil cat, a cat eviler than usual. Basically, torments his owner. Going with the motif of these being stories told, this is the first one that really feels like character telling the story. It works okay. 3/5 stars for ticker bell.

The Red Tree: This is an old grim fairy tale thing going on, matching the character telling the story. It's a good imitation and creepy idea. 3/5 stars for fool's gold.

Tick Tick Tick: This is another mash up. There's this clock tower, the character goes there, you can probably guess what happens. Though, apparently left the other characters 'shaken' besides Jack, when its a pretty dull, obvious ending that makes me want to go read Poe. 2/5 stars for cloak, cloak, cloak.

Beneath the Surface: A boy loses his parents and brother in a boating accident and is haunted by water. I had forgot this story and had to look it up which is one of the reason, why I won't be reviewing short story collections this way again. 3/5 stars for Death Puddles.

Razor: A journalist hears a ghost story about a murder house at a pub and goes for it. 4/5 stars for tidying spirits.

The Girl in The Red Coat: A revenge story, sort of. 4/5 stars for Eyes.

The Patchwork Sailor: A revenge story where Daddy finally comes home. 3/5 stars for odd handed.

Unputdownable: My favourite story in this book. Someone moves into a Writer's Cottage and then must write and write. 5/5 stars for fill-out notebooks. 

Snowstorms: This is set in the North Pole or somewhere really snowing.  The snow messes with you. 4/5 stars for snow globe.

Among the Dead: This is the life story of the leader of this ghost telling affair and what this thing is about. These last two stories connect the narrative

device with the stories. 4/5 stars for coffins.

The House Where the Ghosts Meet: Jack tells us what lead him to the house and just what the deal is. 3/5 stars for bike safety.

Overall, I give this 4/5 stars for ghost meetings. I think it pretty good for Juvenile Horror, people on Goodreads are really harsh towards this book and I don't understand why. The choice of story placement could have been better, especially as the start stories are very similarly theme wise.  It does contain some standard horror stories but it does them well. They're not scary, but I find it odd that adults are rating Juvenile Horror for its fear level. I found this Teen/YA section of the library, I probably place in the kids' section going off the other Juvenile Horrors.