"Everything and all. There is a darkness below, and it rises."The thing that struck me the most about this collection of novellas is Nate Southard's sharp imagination. Each story has an intriguing concept that begs to be expanded, whether it's the tale of a Compton street gangopening a door to Hell (or something even worse) in the first novellas He Stepped Through, or in Deeper Waters, the story of a redneck magician defending a diner from attack after a severe flood hits a small town, bringing with it creatures from deep in the Ohio river.
I also really enjoyed Southard's approach to horror: his build-up of atmosphere, his dedication to keeping the horror mysterious mostly mysterious and unseen, and his equal intensity with both the subtle suspense bits and with the balls-out gore. The two novellas in the middle of the collection suffered a little from being a bit meandering without a worthy payoff, but He Stepped Through and last story (Safe House), were haunting and very effective.
"The light? You know better than that, Jimmy. Ain't no light but the sun. It's all darkness past that. Heaven ain't shit but a myth the devil's scared of."
GRADE: B
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