As the Night Devours Us by Villimey Mist

St. Rooster Books, 2022

ISBN:  9798834327097

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org |   Amazon.com )

Villimey Mist, an Icelandic writer with wide-ranging interests, presents creative, gory, horror-filled stories in As the Night Devours Us. These are short stories that pack a plot punch against a backdrop of contemporary life that is sometimes mixed with folklore and mythology. In addition to Icelandic monsters including an evil whale, a monstrous cat, and a Loch Ness type creature, there is a story that includes a Greek goddess and one that features a Native American skin-walker.

The book’s characters are usually rather one-dimensional in a way that allows Mist to focus on the horrors of the events, themes and situations she culls from real life, such as a volcanic eruption, crimes, serial killers, cults, bullying, and even the author’s personal fears. They are accompanied by practical, albeit dramatic, life lessons, that won’t soon be forgotten.

The variety in this collection is one of its strengths. A wife is forced to prove her culinary skills by preparing meals with parts of her husband’s dead body; life-like mannequins turn out to be dead bodies; rape victims are offered a chance to take their revenge in an unusual way.  There are zombies, vindictive powers of Nature, and imps that eat people’s fingernails. Scary plot twists, unreliable narrators, and vivid descriptions spark fear through strong emotions, weird revelations and unexpected thought processes as the characters are faced with tough choices and plenty of self-sacrifice.

Some of the stories are accessible to young adult readers, but there are also some themes that are more appropriate for mature readers. The author’s comments on each story are provided at the end of the book. Whether the action includes torture, human sacrifice or just mean girls run amok, these tales will surprise, shock and horrify you.

Reviewed by Nova Hadley