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Midnight Paths: A Collection of Dark Horror
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Enter a world where nothing is what it seems. Where darkness never abates, and your deepest fears are just a few steps away.
Travel to an old house in the country where something hungry waits just beyond the treeline.
Watch as a young woman, whose life hangs in the balance, receives a visitor from the afterlife.
Or, journey across an ocean on a romantic voyage that ends in the deepest kind of horror.
This dark collection of the macabre is sure to chill the bones of even the most stalwart horror aficionado.
Enter a world where nothing is what it seems. Where darkness never abates, and your deepest fears are just a few steps away.
Travel to an old house in the country where something hungry waits just beyond the treeline.
Watch as a young woman, whose life hangs in the balance, receives a visitor from the afterlife.
Or, journey across an ocean on a romantic voyage that ends in the deepest kind of horror.
This dark collection of the macabre is sure to chill the bones of even the most stalwart horror aficionado.
146 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 16, 2011
77 people are currently reading
367 people want to read
About the author
Joe Hart
52 books1,376 followersJoe Hart is the Edgar Award-winning and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of seventeen novels including The River Is Dark, Obscura, The Last Girl, and Or Else. His work has been optioned for film and translated into eight languages. He lives with his family in Minnesota.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 12, 2013
Reanimated corpses, bogeymen, aliens, angels, ancient legends . . . there’s a diverse world to be explored along the Midnight Paths we travel with author Joe Hart as our guide. The journey won’t be safe, it’ll be littered with despair and gruesome encounters, and you might wonder if you’ll ever make it out alive. There are ten stops along the way, each as terrifying as the last:
PCA is slow to get into its stride but contains a great finish which leaves a gory image. The Unfamiliar is a weird story, albeit in a good way, and the scene of a broken man walking in a desolated landscape littered with bones reminded me of one of my stories. It has a “what comes around goes around” kind of ending that adds a nice touch.
You Sure Are Calm, Cowboy gets plus marks for its gore value, but it didn’t really seem to have any purpose, and I wondered what the point of this story was. This is compensated by Angel Charlie—a great little story, short but laden with good images and a delightful twist with a final line that delivers the perfect punch.
Old Dog is an entertaining, quick read with a delicious touch of revenge, which leads into Pale Man, the longest story in the book but also one of the best. It contains a great start and introduction, a perfectly paced middle, and an inevitable end—but one that was tainted slightly by POV head-hopping that is a pet hate of mine.
The Man in the Room is an eerie ghost tale with a nice little twist to end. Stress-induced explosions aren’t the norm, except in Joe Hart’s world, but The Exploding Man was probably the weakest of all the stories. Yet it’s still a read that isn’t altogether disappointing.
Adrift details the diary entries of a man lost at sea, revealing a macabre tale of despair and forlorn hope. It’s one of the best stories in the book, extremely well written, and delightfully devoid of a Hollywood ending which is always a pleasing aspect of good horror. Finally, Blackjack gives us a casino with a difference and odds that are way too high. Another good story, about addiction at a cost, which is fortunately not ruined by its obvious ending.
The author’s decision to include a section dedicated to his ponderings on why he wrote the stories and where his ideas came from is a nice touch, as it’s always entertaining to learn how other twisted minds work.
Midnight Paths: A Collection of Dark Horror, by Joe Hart, is a quick trek through dark, uncharted wilderness—it is not a leisurely Sunday stroll. The places he takes us aren’t for the faint of heart or those with a tendency to gag at the merest scent of spilled intestines, so you should think twice about making this journey. I advise you to walk these paths, though, as it’s well worth it.
But you might want to take a torch or a weapon of some kind, and the bigger the better.
You never know what you might find out there.
PCA is slow to get into its stride but contains a great finish which leaves a gory image. The Unfamiliar is a weird story, albeit in a good way, and the scene of a broken man walking in a desolated landscape littered with bones reminded me of one of my stories. It has a “what comes around goes around” kind of ending that adds a nice touch.
You Sure Are Calm, Cowboy gets plus marks for its gore value, but it didn’t really seem to have any purpose, and I wondered what the point of this story was. This is compensated by Angel Charlie—a great little story, short but laden with good images and a delightful twist with a final line that delivers the perfect punch.
Old Dog is an entertaining, quick read with a delicious touch of revenge, which leads into Pale Man, the longest story in the book but also one of the best. It contains a great start and introduction, a perfectly paced middle, and an inevitable end—but one that was tainted slightly by POV head-hopping that is a pet hate of mine.
The Man in the Room is an eerie ghost tale with a nice little twist to end. Stress-induced explosions aren’t the norm, except in Joe Hart’s world, but The Exploding Man was probably the weakest of all the stories. Yet it’s still a read that isn’t altogether disappointing.
Adrift details the diary entries of a man lost at sea, revealing a macabre tale of despair and forlorn hope. It’s one of the best stories in the book, extremely well written, and delightfully devoid of a Hollywood ending which is always a pleasing aspect of good horror. Finally, Blackjack gives us a casino with a difference and odds that are way too high. Another good story, about addiction at a cost, which is fortunately not ruined by its obvious ending.
The author’s decision to include a section dedicated to his ponderings on why he wrote the stories and where his ideas came from is a nice touch, as it’s always entertaining to learn how other twisted minds work.
Midnight Paths: A Collection of Dark Horror, by Joe Hart, is a quick trek through dark, uncharted wilderness—it is not a leisurely Sunday stroll. The places he takes us aren’t for the faint of heart or those with a tendency to gag at the merest scent of spilled intestines, so you should think twice about making this journey. I advise you to walk these paths, though, as it’s well worth it.
But you might want to take a torch or a weapon of some kind, and the bigger the better.
You never know what you might find out there.
January 21, 2020
Fun but odd
Really enjoyed reading this one. I like short stories from time to time and these did not disappoint. Some of them were strange but most were pure karma!
Really enjoyed reading this one. I like short stories from time to time and these did not disappoint. Some of them were strange but most were pure karma!
December 17, 2016
Consistently scary selection of short stories
I've been on a Joe Hart reading binge over the last few days. I really am enjoying this author's work.
I will mention that I like his novels better than his short stories but that's just a personal preference. I like to really get to KNOW the characters I'm reading about and, while Hart does a good job fleshing out his characters in his short stories, it's in his novels that his characters come to life for me.
That written, I did enjoy these stories. They were dark and creepy with all kinds of monsters included - some of them even human.
There are ten stories included. My favorites were:
Old Dog
Pale Man
and my favorite of all - The Exploding Man
The author also includes notes at the end of the book, letting readers know where he got the ideas for his stories. I really enjoyed that.
So now I'm off to read another Joe Hart novel but I surely recommend this collection if you like horror stories or short stories in general.
I've been on a Joe Hart reading binge over the last few days. I really am enjoying this author's work.
I will mention that I like his novels better than his short stories but that's just a personal preference. I like to really get to KNOW the characters I'm reading about and, while Hart does a good job fleshing out his characters in his short stories, it's in his novels that his characters come to life for me.
That written, I did enjoy these stories. They were dark and creepy with all kinds of monsters included - some of them even human.
There are ten stories included. My favorites were:
Old Dog
Pale Man
and my favorite of all - The Exploding Man
The author also includes notes at the end of the book, letting readers know where he got the ideas for his stories. I really enjoyed that.
So now I'm off to read another Joe Hart novel but I surely recommend this collection if you like horror stories or short stories in general.
March 22, 2015
Well-written, gripping, and chilling.
I am thrilled to have found Hart's work through the Kindle Unlimited program as it is hard to find a horror writer who does it well. The stories in this collection are excellent. They kept me on the edge of my seat, and I did not want to stop reading, even when the sun began to peak over the horizon. I particularly enjoyed "Old Dog" as budding serial killers have always been a fascination of mine, and Hart's grotesque yet intriguing portrayal had me cringing through a sickened grin. I look forward to making my way through the rest of Hart's body of work.
I am thrilled to have found Hart's work through the Kindle Unlimited program as it is hard to find a horror writer who does it well. The stories in this collection are excellent. They kept me on the edge of my seat, and I did not want to stop reading, even when the sun began to peak over the horizon. I particularly enjoyed "Old Dog" as budding serial killers have always been a fascination of mine, and Hart's grotesque yet intriguing portrayal had me cringing through a sickened grin. I look forward to making my way through the rest of Hart's body of work.
May 1, 2018
Excellent short stories The author did an excellent job of keeping you hanging on in each story and wanting more of each story they pull you in to wanting the story to go on. They have just enough horror to keep you wanting to know more. I thoroughly enjoyed every story.
I am following this author along with King his writing is similar to Stephen Kings own. I would enjoy more novels from him.
I am following this author along with King his writing is similar to Stephen Kings own. I would enjoy more novels from him.
October 31, 2012
Some of the goriest, most disturbing short horror stories ever.
July 22, 2018
Interesting stories
Joe Hart does not disappoint in this collection. Imaginative stories with interesting characters draw you in and make you wish they weren’t so short.
Joe Hart does not disappoint in this collection. Imaginative stories with interesting characters draw you in and make you wish they weren’t so short.
December 30, 2018
Great!
Really good book! Great book to read when you have short bursts of time and need closure on a story before you have to stop reading..
Really good book! Great book to read when you have short bursts of time and need closure on a story before you have to stop reading..
December 24, 2019
Ten steps into fear
Joe Hart proves again that he is a force to be reckoned with when talking about contemporary horror.
The ten short stories in this collection are worth your time. Actually, a couple of them can even be called masterpieces: "You Sure Are Calm, Cowboy" and "Adrift" alone are worth the price of this book.
Of the remaining eight tales, only two are relatively weak: I found "The Unfamiliar" hard to follow (but it might be me not being a native English speaker) and "The Exploding Man" too much over the top. Hence the four stars instead of five.
Joe Hart has a knack for clever and efficient descriptions, often supported by apt similes. The narration flows easily and clearly.
One story, "The Pale Man", is much longer than the others but it is still enjoyable and readable in only one session.
There's a lot to like here, and little to dislike: I think the book is well worth its price.Highly recommended.
Joe Hart proves again that he is a force to be reckoned with when talking about contemporary horror.
The ten short stories in this collection are worth your time. Actually, a couple of them can even be called masterpieces: "You Sure Are Calm, Cowboy" and "Adrift" alone are worth the price of this book.
Of the remaining eight tales, only two are relatively weak: I found "The Unfamiliar" hard to follow (but it might be me not being a native English speaker) and "The Exploding Man" too much over the top. Hence the four stars instead of five.
Joe Hart has a knack for clever and efficient descriptions, often supported by apt similes. The narration flows easily and clearly.
One story, "The Pale Man", is much longer than the others but it is still enjoyable and readable in only one session.
There's a lot to like here, and little to dislike: I think the book is well worth its price.Highly recommended.
February 21, 2020
Great collection
If you like horror this is the book for you. Wonderful short stories and chilling scenes. If you read his older books first and work your way through to his more recent ones, you'll see the development of a great talent.
If you like horror this is the book for you. Wonderful short stories and chilling scenes. If you read his older books first and work your way through to his more recent ones, you'll see the development of a great talent.
March 3, 2020
Inventive and intense horror
The people in Mr. Hart’s horror stories are doomed. Some are resigned to their fate, while others are desperate to avoid it. Regardless, what happens to them will be grim, even terrifying.
The people in Mr. Hart’s horror stories are doomed. Some are resigned to their fate, while others are desperate to avoid it. Regardless, what happens to them will be grim, even terrifying.
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March 25, 2022Midnight Paths
I've always enjoyed reading stories of the macabre & Joe Hart didn't disappoint. It's always exciting to find an author I haven't read yet, & discover that I like his stories & style of writing. I'll be looking for more from Joe Hart.
I've always enjoyed reading stories of the macabre & Joe Hart didn't disappoint. It's always exciting to find an author I haven't read yet, & discover that I like his stories & style of writing. I'll be looking for more from Joe Hart.
April 18, 2020
I really loved this book. This author definitely knows his stuff. A great read that I recommend.
October 29, 2025
Dark Tales
A collection of dark tales, short stories. Well written with interesting characters and plots. A good collection of short horror stories. A good read.
A collection of dark tales, short stories. Well written with interesting characters and plots. A good collection of short horror stories. A good read.
November 16, 2012
Mixed Bag.
I gave this a try on a whim as it was an amazon deal of the day a little while back. Even though I have tons to read by people I've already downloaded or have been reading for a long time I'm always on the lookout for new authors. I pulled the trigger on this self published collection of dark horror. I found it to be a mixed bag.
Some of the stories range from pretty to really good, my favorites being PCA, Old Dog, Angel Charlie and Adrift.
The others didn't do much for me with maybe the exception of The Exploding Man. I was really enjoying that story..right up until the over the top ending that ruined it for me.
The others were just ok. Pale Man, the longest in the bunch I found to be a little too slow for my liking.
This is really a collection of monster stories with some supernatural tossed in there.
Midnight Paths is just one of those books that I didn't find myself liking too much for a reason I can't quite put my finger on. Although I will say that the author uses MANY similes. And I do mean many. 'The night descended like a...'...'the car's tires screeched, sounding like a....'....'the ocean reflected the noonday sun like a....'...it's constant and it felt forced, as if he were trying to be a little too sophisticated and 'literary'. That's the best I can describe it (and here I am, unable to put my thoughts into words and I'm complaining about HIS writing style? Oh the irony! But I am a customer and I do have an opinion..so there it is).
I will say that when it's good it's pretty good. Maybe it's just a style thing. I think the ideas are there but maybe I didn't like the way they were told. Hard to say. My hat's off to him for self publishing this and getting some notice. I respect anybody that can do that. In addition, the inclusion of where his ideas for each story actually came from which he put in at the end of the collection was actually very cool. I liked that insight into where the stories and ideas came from.
All in all not bad. I believe he's actually working on a novel now so I may have to see what that's all about in the future.
I gave this a try on a whim as it was an amazon deal of the day a little while back. Even though I have tons to read by people I've already downloaded or have been reading for a long time I'm always on the lookout for new authors. I pulled the trigger on this self published collection of dark horror. I found it to be a mixed bag.
Some of the stories range from pretty to really good, my favorites being PCA, Old Dog, Angel Charlie and Adrift.
The others didn't do much for me with maybe the exception of The Exploding Man. I was really enjoying that story..right up until the over the top ending that ruined it for me.
The others were just ok. Pale Man, the longest in the bunch I found to be a little too slow for my liking.
This is really a collection of monster stories with some supernatural tossed in there.
Midnight Paths is just one of those books that I didn't find myself liking too much for a reason I can't quite put my finger on. Although I will say that the author uses MANY similes. And I do mean many. 'The night descended like a...'...'the car's tires screeched, sounding like a....'....'the ocean reflected the noonday sun like a....'...it's constant and it felt forced, as if he were trying to be a little too sophisticated and 'literary'. That's the best I can describe it (and here I am, unable to put my thoughts into words and I'm complaining about HIS writing style? Oh the irony! But I am a customer and I do have an opinion..so there it is).
I will say that when it's good it's pretty good. Maybe it's just a style thing. I think the ideas are there but maybe I didn't like the way they were told. Hard to say. My hat's off to him for self publishing this and getting some notice. I respect anybody that can do that. In addition, the inclusion of where his ideas for each story actually came from which he put in at the end of the collection was actually very cool. I liked that insight into where the stories and ideas came from.
All in all not bad. I believe he's actually working on a novel now so I may have to see what that's all about in the future.
March 1, 2016
A small bunch of good stories
This was a decent set of stories. My favorite being the pale man. Then adrift was my second favorite. All the others were good also but these two stood out from the rest. Would I recommend this to my friends. Yes I would. If you like good short story horror then this is a good investment.
This was a decent set of stories. My favorite being the pale man. Then adrift was my second favorite. All the others were good also but these two stood out from the rest. Would I recommend this to my friends. Yes I would. If you like good short story horror then this is a good investment.
September 17, 2012
This is a series of short horror stories. They are all very good and scary/creepy. I didn't want to put it down but it did give me a rather uncomfortable night of creepy dreams. I recommend it to any one who likes to get scared.
September 27, 2012
The writing is fantastic, reminds me of the better work of Jonathan Lethem in its use of symbolism. The imagery is well-constructed and there is enough horror and gore to satisfy any fan of the macabre. Loved it from beginning to end.
April 27, 2013
I found very few redeeming qualities in this bland compilation. Poor editing, mediocre writing. This reminded me of something a teenager might have hidden away in notebook - something scribbled down when he was bored in class. All in all, a very lacklustre effort.
May 8, 2012
There's a story for everyone. Hart has put together a wide selection of stories that will surely have something for every taste. Sit back and enjoy a well written collection of stories.
May 22, 2012
These book had some really creepy stories in it! I loved it! And I even read it at night and didn't have nightmares. lol If you like horror stories this is a good one!
August 11, 2012
Really good book of short horror stories.
September 17, 2012
Nice little collection of horrors. Some new twisted twists.
January 11, 2013
Some of this books stories were awesome, others turned my stomach & some I wanted to skip! Its a real mixed bag!
October 11, 2012
Good collection of weird horror short stories. I liked the one about the mean kid and the poor old dog. Heh. Good ending. But otherwise, not bad story in the bunch. Good read!
January 28, 2013
I enjoyed most of the stories in the book. Might have to check out more from this author in the future.
October 31, 2014
I don't know what to say exactly. I have read all of Hart's books and this was my least favorite. Normally his stories creep me out, but with these, I was just left perplexed.
January 20, 2015
Short stories
I liked some of the stories. Other stories were confusing and bizarre. If you like different short stories that are twisted you'll like this book.
I liked some of the stories. Other stories were confusing and bizarre. If you like different short stories that are twisted you'll like this book.
February 5, 2015
Great collection of short stories
This is a nice collection of short stories let's you make your own opinion in the end would recommend to my friends
This is a nice collection of short stories let's you make your own opinion in the end would recommend to my friends
October 12, 2012
Not scary at all.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews