Encounter

The Boy in the Iron Box #6

by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan, Fabrizio De Tommaso (illustrator)

Dawn breaks, but the nightmare only intensifies in the shocking finale of The Boy in the Iron Box. In a final confrontation, the true nature of the Boy is coming to light.

In a stone chamber, the familiar young figure lingers with an unsettling calm. He has a question for Do you want to stop me? Now, for two merchants of death, each with his own purpose, one last contest lies ahead.

From Academy Award–winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes Encounter, part six of The Boy in the Iron Box, a blood-chilling series of short stories about an ancient secret that was never meant to be unleashed, featuring exclusive interior artwork. Each can be read or listened to in one breathless sitting.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Thriller, Novella, Audiobook, Supernatural

24 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2024

About the author

Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director mostly known for his acclaimed films Pan's Labyrinth, The Devils Backbone, Crimson Peak and the Hellboy film franchise. His films draw heavily on sources as diverse as weird fiction, fantasy, horror, and war. In 2009, Del Toro released his debut novel, The Strain, co-authored with Chuck Hogan, as the first part of The Strain Trilogy, an apocalyptic horror series featuring vampires. The series continued with The Fall in 2010 and concluded with The Night Eternal in 2011.

Reviews

[chantalsbookstuff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this 6-part mini-series! It kicks off with a dead boy found in a box—a chilling start. But as the team tries to figure out what's going on, things take a dark and dangerous turn. Each short book is full of action and suspense, keeping you hooked and eager to find out what happens next!

[Helga چـو ایـران نباشد تن من مـباد · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long shot gets shorter when it’s your only shot.

This is the sixth and the last installment of The Boy in the Iron Box book and what is needed in the battle for survival is direction, determination and clarity.
Because this is what it has come to: survival of the fittest.

Overall my rating for the whole book would be 4 stars.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan wound up their very fun series of short stories with Encounter, the sixth and final story.

The inclusion of the wolf pack in the stories was a devilishly clever sub plot that made this all the more enjoyable. The two writers put these scenes together well, and Liev is a likable protagonist and fitting for this dark palette.

Not gonna lie, this was about what I expected. Not to say that this was a bad ending, not at all, contextually on point, but the surprises that had kept the pages turning up to the end were just not as shocking at the conclusion of this otherwise very entertaining work.

I plan to read more from both writers.

[Maede · Rating 4 out of 5]

در مورد این مجموعه اینجا نوشتم و حالا که تموم شده می‌خوام یک جمع‌بندی هم براش بنویسیم. اول بگم که دلیل اینکه جلد به جلد ریویو ننوشتم اینه که این کتاب اصلا نباید چند جلدی به چاپ می‌رسیده و این‌کار فقط یک تکنیک موفق بازاریابی و بیزینسی بوده. اینکه هر جلد با یک اسم خاص عرضه بشه، دو تصویر اولش داشته باشه و بعد هم حدود بیست صفحه داستان رو پیش ببره. یعنی در اصل کل این داستان باید در یک کتاب چاپ می‌شده

اما در مورد خود داستان بگم که سرعت بسیار بالایی داره، خشنه و نقطه قوت اصلیش اینه که متفاوته، با اینکه رمز و راز عجیب و غریبی نداره. سربازهای مزدوری که به یک ساختمان ویرانه‌ی باستانی پناه بردن، مجسمه‌ی پسری رو در جعبه‌ی فلزی‌ای در ته یک چاه پیدا می‌کنند، در حالی که یک سوزن نقره هم در گردنشه. اما پسر خیلی هم مجسمه نیست و ساختمان بی‌دلیل ساخته نشده

نگاه کارگردانی دل تورو در سراسر داستان حس میشه و خیلی جاها انگار داری فیلم می‌بینی. چهار ستاره میدم چون می‌دونم فضای داستان کوتاهش توی ذهنم هک شده و به این زودی ها یادم نمیره. از اون مهمتر اینکه خوندن این نیمچه مجموعه واقعاً خوش گذشت.

مجموعه رو می‌تونید از اینجا دانلود کنید
Maede's Books

۱۴۰۳/۵/۲۷

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars for Encounter: The Boy in the Iron Box, Book 6 (audiobook) by Guillermo del Toro read by Chuck Hogan.

Finally the boy must be destroyed, but when the dust settles and the rescue helicopters show up only one is left alive.

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

And Then There Was One
Review of the Amazon Original Stories Kindle eBook edition (July 1, 2024), released simultaneously by Audible Originals in audio format (July 1, 2024)

A priest of some renown understood that the throat was the core of my being. Not the head, not the heart, but the throat—the very instrument of devouring. They restrained me, weakened as I was by the pouring sun, until he could fashion a needle of the purest silver, which he ran through my neck.

The mercenary team leader Liev is the last man standing in the battle of his squad versus the creature unleashed from an iron box due to a reckless greedy squad member extracting the single piece of loot it contained, a silver needle. 'The Boy' sets up a final show down, but Liev is without weapons. Can he return to the crashed plane and salvage something with which to finally destroy the seemingly unstoppable entity? But first he must run the gauntlet of the hungry pack of wolves which surrounds the abandoned mountain top fortress.


Is there any way to stop 'The Boy'? Cover illustration (which is hidden behind the title script) by Fabrizio De Tommaso for the eBook edition, colorized in the Audible edition.

Encounter is the inevitable conclusion to screenwriter/film director Guillermo del Toro's & author Chuck Hogan's latest vampire/zombie horror story collaboration.

Siege is the sixth & final of six stories in The Boy in the Iron Box series released on July 1, 2024 by Amazon Originals & Audible Originals.

Trivia and Links
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan have collaborated several times in the past, especially on The Strain trilogy (2009-11), which was later adapted for a TV series (2014-2017).

Guillermo del Toro Update
Guillermo del Toro has now left Toronto after working here for several weeks on his adaptation / extension of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). He will continue filming scale models and backgrounds in London as he reported on X (formerly Twitter) here on July 4, 2024. The film is expected to premiere sometime in 2025.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this series of short stories, each extending from the first one.

Would the mercenary be able to kill the boy in the end? Scary stuff and also thrilling.

I recommended this series.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Boy in the Iron Box” is co-written by Academy Award-winning director, Guillermo del Toro, and bestselling writer, Chuck Hogan. It is a serialized novel published in six parts as part of Amazon original stories in Kindle format.

This review covers all six parts of “The Boy in the Iron Box” and is posted as an overall review of the parts as whole, including:

Plot – a low-flowing plane carrying a team of mercenaries’ crashes in a remote mountainous area of China. Their survival begins immediately, facing snowstorm conditions and predatory wolves on the attack. However, they come across a mysterious stone fortress that is laid out in a mazelike structure, but something feels wrong. Dangerously wrong. The wolves will not come near the fortress and appear to be afraid of the place. The place seems to hold unexplained secrets. When let loose, one of those secrets is going to unfold a deadly horror that cause the ultimate battle for survival…

“Falling Down” (Part 1 / 29 pages) – starts with a plane crash, lots of action, and introduces the beginning of a strange and scary mystery; enough creativity and suspense to make you want to read the next part.

“The Pit and the Box: The Boy in the Iron Box” (Part 2 / 26 pages) – the creepy story builds well and has a cool cliffhanger ending.

“The Hunted: The Boy in the Iron Box” (Part 3 / 19 pages) – things escalate quickly as the hunt is on to find who killed one of the team members turns the mystery into horror.

“Risen: The Boy in the Iron Box” (Part 4) / 24 pages – things get deadly real as the horror increases and the surviving team members fight to stay alive against a monster that can’t be real.

“Siege: The Boy in the Iron Box” (Part 5 / 29 pages) – the team faces its last battle and learns more about their enemy’s tactics in the penultimate chapter.

“Encounter: The Boy in the Iron Box” (Part 6 / 24 pages) – the final showdown with the deadly creature becomes a one-on-one struggle to stop a destructive evil being from unleashed into the world.

This novel works better in its serialized format. At least it does for me. The strengths and weaknesses in this one are intermixed, but the good stuff mostly outweighs the bad to deliver a fairly entertaining read. Not great, but not bad.

The good news is that although the storylines were pretty predictable, the storytelling was good enough to make up for it. The short and snappy chapters were full of action, plot twists and turns, and gory violence that felt more like a screenplay treatment than a novella. The transition from a thriller to an outright horror story was well-delivered, even if it was formulaic in nature and easy to see the deaths before they happened. However, I will say that I was not as satisfied with the ending as I wanted to be. Quite frankly, it was weaker than I was hoping for, especially after all of the buildup. Then again, maybe the authors will continue the story in another serial novel. We’ll see…

Overall, this novel, which was delivered in serialized chapters to strengthen its marketing, was an entertaining popcorn read. Not great, but not bad. It had good moments and lesser moments, but then again nobody watches movies like “The Thing” and “Aliens” for academy award qualities. They watch them to have fun and be scared. If that is what you are seeking, then this escapist read provides that same level of tension and horror elements. Enjoy!

[Dollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story by Del Toro & Hogan. I find Del Toro to be a horror master, and I’m always impressed with his work. Even with this short, serialized novel, every chapter creeped me out in one way or another. The ending really did me in. I will probably still be thinking about this one for a while (which is one of the things I love about horror. It sticks with you.) I enjoyed the illustrations, too. They added their own level of creepiness. I was not disappointed with this series, especially since I got to read it for free.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel a little twisted describing horror as “fun” but this serial was just that - fun…. And brutal. The serial aspect worked as a nice palate cleanser between other books.


SPOILERS::
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I hate an ambiguous ending! But it was still a good read.

[Pam Baddeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This concluding instalment has a different vibe, being a one-to-one between Liev, leader of the mercenaries and the Boy. Some of it is exposition to explain the backstory of the Boy. The unequal contest ends the way the reader might predict, but then I didn't feel the writers were quite playing fair, especially given the involvement of silver. The series as a whole suffered from the lack of character involvement; I didn't really care about any of the characters as they were never developed as people. They also seemed pretty inept for a crack unit of black ops mercenaries. I did feel sorry for the wolves though. So I would rate this final episode at 3 stars and the same overall for the six-part-series.

[Krystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fantastic ending to Liev's story, though not so much the Boy's.

Really enjoyed how this went down, and it was nice to get a little more meaning and story in amongst the horror and gore.

Wasn't a huge fan of the epilogue - felt like a bit of a cheap, pointless trick to me.

Still, it's been a decent series and a fun, fast read.

[Zara Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great conclusion to this tale! I really loved the short instalments, it was an interesting concept and I feel that it added to the atmosphere and tension. Really creepy, nice amount of gore, and a really good plot!

[Ella Milan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual genre but glad I stumbled across these books. Well written and full of tension.
Having each part as a separate book really mucked up my annual reading challenge tally though x

[Jawairia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series so much and was kept at the edge of my seat the whole time. not sure how I feel about the Epilogue. I think i would have preferred the outcome to be left a mystery.

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

My broad review for the whole series rather than just this final installment. I challenged myself to read the six parts over multiple days instead of binge reading the whole thing. It was a lot of fun and the story was very enjoyable.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great ending to the series!

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Predictably disappointing ending.

3 explosions out of 10

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenge

Liev was the last man of the team standing, and the boy… or demon, whatever it was, wanted to challenge the leader of these deadly men.

Five stars of action and horror.

[Ross Cumming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to wait till I finished reading all 6 parts of this story before posting my review.
The story concerns a group of mercenaries who plane crashes in the remote mountains of China. The survivors, after being attacked by a pack of wolves manage to take refuge in an ancient labyrinth type temple where they hope to eventually rescued. However the temple contains a coffin type box, secured by chains which is unwittingly forced open by one of the party unleashing a unknown being which starts to hunt down the members of the party, one by one.
The story is quite creepy, chilling and gory as the mercenaries battle against the being and in doing so try to determine its weaknesses. The story builds to a thrilling climax which pits man against ‘beast’ as the both fight for survival and the story ends on a chilling twist.
The format of the 6 parts worked to an extent, in that each section ended on a bit of a cliffhanger and I looked forward to resuming the story in the subsequent part. However the first part was released on its own and the other five were all released together, where I thought spacing the subsequent parts out would have had more effect ?
I’m not sure if this is a stand alone project or if it’s the basis of a movie or if it’s even the start of series which will subsequently progress the story. Whatever happens this is a decent read for fans of the authors and horror fans in general.

[Tabitha (Reading Tabby) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a whole, The Boy in the Iron Box is a creepy and exciting action/horror story but I felt this last section, Encounter, kind of ruins things? It was going strong, I thought I might end up giving it a 5 star but it's really 3.5*, rounding up to 4 because it's Guillermo Del Toro and this would've been a great episode of Love, Death + Robots lol. Giving the boy a voice and intent wasn't a great decision; I think the story benefitted from the mysterious horror of the boy and not knowing what it is/was. Too many answers were attempted, and I can't believe I'm saying that we didn't need it.

Overall a decent wintery monster story.

[MM Suarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What in the hell?” said the commander, who was ahead of the rest."

Well just about what you would expect happens to a bunch of mercenaries that got more than they bargained for, after finding some ruins and a locked box. Some waxing philosophical about the nature of man and the state of world, the big showdown and the 😲 ending. We've been down this road before but at least for me it was fun getting there. It wasn't The Strain Trilogy which I loved, but if you like Guillermo Del Toro go for it!

[Carm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really dug this series of short stories... it was the perfect mash up of action and horror. It's "The Thing" and "Predator" mixed with "Silent Hill" and "Resident Evil"... with just a touch of "Ghostbusters" (Is that too many things? Shut up... it's my review)! The first story in the series had me worried... but once it kicked into overdrive, it stayed there, until the end. Bonus points when the villain wins 😈

[Mark Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a series of a novel serialized into six installments. I was able to read it for free as one of Amazon ‘s prime free reading pics of the month. Fun, well written, and actually pretty scary. Recommended for you to download all six if you’re a prime member. It’s free and worth your time. Each download is about 25 pages

[Colleen Villasenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure where the ending would end up, but it took my breath away. All combined, these books make for a great short scary story. It was fun in the creepy way that the ghost stories told around a campfire at night are

[Bookworm With a B · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for a monster that reasons.

A story is just so much better when the creature can speak and think for itself. It answers questions while raising dozens more. Absolute brilliant ending. But now I must know...what happens next???

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice ending

This was the perfect way to end this saga if a little predictable. The outcome was almost expected though you still had to root for the possibility of a victory for the human race.

[BeccaJBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

All 6 parts of this serial were really great. I liked the short story format, I liked the cliff hanger ending to each instalment and I really liked the creepy boy story :)

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final episode in the Prime Original series The Boy in the Iron Box.... Number 6. Wild story

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ended the way I thought I might end
No it was not live having a dream before the plane crashed