Book Review: “When Things Get Dark” edited by Ellen Datlow
When Things Get Dark
Edited by Ellen Datlow
Released in the UK by Titan Books on September 21st, 2021
I’ve long been a fan of Ellen Datlow’s work. Her anthologies are usually fantastic, bringing together an excellent range of authors under pretty interesting themes. Hearing she was putting together an anthology in tribute to Shirley Jackson, I was super excited. Admittedly, I have only had the pleasure of reading The Haunting of Hill House and “The Lottery”, but both show how Jackson earned her place among the top horror writers.
I think reaction to this anthology is going to depend, largely, on how you view Jackson herself and her works, and perhaps how much you’ve read. To me, Hill House and “The Lottery” excel because they take the domestic and tease out the horror in them. They push characters to the extreme within societal norms, and force them through and to the other side, portraying what might happen when those ‘norms’ are broken.
With the authors involved in this, I was expecting something much stronger. There are some really solid stories here, and the ones which capture Jackson’s essence but create something new are effective enough to make up for those which either fail in the essence aspect but are still decent stories, or which are not-great stories but fit in with the theme.
There are too many to go through them all individually, but I do want to highlight the stronger ones and maybe mention a few of the weaker ones. Elizabeth Hand’s “For Sale By Owner” is the second story, and it nicely reflects a boredom with the domestic, but an inability to let it fully go. I enjoyed this one but found the ending to be a bit of a let-down. The atmosphere and tension are really built up well, but ultimately the key events happen off-page, and the ending feels weak compared to the rest of the story.
“Quiet Dead Things” by Cassandra Khaw is a standout for me. This one shows paranoia controlling a town, when a murder pushes them to close their borders. Xenophobia takes root, and the darkest elements are hinted at as things escalate. Richard Kadrey’s “A Trip to Paris” is a good story that uses escalation well, as the character’s mind seems to unravel, until she realises others can see the faces in the mould, too.
“The Party” by Paul Tremblay felt like one of the weakest stories. I usually love Tremblay, but I’ve only read a couple of his novel length works. This story felt a bit wishy washy, like it didn’t quite know what it was going for. Stephen Graham Jones, another writer I like, gives us “Refinery Road”. While a good story, it just felt out of place in the collection. Still, it was written well and definitely intriguing, but maybe belongs somewhere else.
“Pear of Anguish” is creepy as hell, and Gemma Files’ writing is really excellent. It has a good balance to it, as a new girl finds herself caught up with another misfit. “Special Meal” by Josh Malerman felt like it was trying too hard to be “The Lottery” without understanding what makes that particular story so powerful. Malerman’s story just feels a bit too abstract, too removed, whereas “The Lottery” – like Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale – touches on ideas that feel almost too real.
The last two stories really prevented me rating this anthology lower. “Tiptoe” by Laird Barron keeps us uncertain and on edge, like Jackson’s own writing, keeping most things implied and using the protagonist’s point of view to shield us from what happens. And finally, “Skindler’s Veil” by Kelly Link. This is the longest story in the anthology, but manages to avoid overstaying its welcome. It’s imaginative, creepy, with a strange Wonderland-like balance between whimsey and darkness. It feels like it could be lifted out of my current favourite TV show The Magicians, as a PhD student ends up housesitting and is confronted with some unusual rules. In Horror we expect characters to break the rules, and Link really keeps us on edge about what this character is going to do.
This is a good anthology, and like many everyone is going to have their own favourites. Still, some of the stories felt a touch disappointing, with their inclusion seeming to be due to the author’s name more than anything else. Yet overall it’s still an excellent tribute to Shirley Jackson, and the good outweighs the bad.
Grade: B
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
I received this ebook from Titan Books via NetGalley for review consideration.