The Beast You Are

A smorgasbord of horror bites, each uniquely and strangely tasty

This collection showcases the author’s breadth of style and imagination. Tremblay excels at finding a specific, engaging story within an unusual setting (as he does in “The Last Conversation,” which makes post-apocalyptic sci-fi both creepy and emotional); or in taking a familiar setting and dropping the unexplainable into it. Perhaps my favorite example of the latter is “I Know You’re There,” an effectively chilling and moving exploration of the interplay of memory, trauma, and grief. Though a few of the stories in the collection are fantastical—one or two almost zany—most are all the more haunting for the human instincts and fears that anchor them. The Beast You Are is varied feast for those who enjoy unsettling horror and don’t mind endings that leave room for imagination.