The Executioner Box

by Matt Hilton

B en Taylor failed to heed the do not open! T he question is, what did he unleash?

Inside a crate of assorted junk, Ben Taylor finds a small, mysterious wooden box. It’s etched with words in a language he doesn’t understand. But the written note attached to it is Do. Not. Open.

Yet he cannot resist the urge to lift the lid . . .

Ben never expected something so evil, dark and powerful would be lurking inside. Soon, strange and terrible things begin to his employee gets attacked by an obscure figure, his wife hurts herself badly during work, people start to act abnormally around him and death follows him like the plague . . .

Clearly Ben’s curiosity has unleashed something sinister on the world, and on himself. But what – or who – will he have to sacrifice to get it back in the box?

For fans of eerie tales “on the way to a finale of gut-clutching violence” (Booklist). Avid readers of Stephen King, James Herbert, Ramsey Campbell and Paul Tremblay will relish this latest Cautionary Tale novel from horror author Matt Hilton.

Genres: Horror, Mystery

256 pages, Hardcover

Published October 7, 2025

About the author

Matt Hilton worked for twenty-two years in private security and the police force in Cumbria. He is a 4th Dan blackbelt and coach in Ju-Jitsu. He lives in Cumbria with his wife and son.

Matt is the author of the best-selling Joe Hunter thriller series, as well as standalone horror thrillers and short stories that have appeared in a number of collections and anthologies. Matt's first novel - Dead Men's Dust - was a Sunday Times best-seller and was shortlisted for the ITW New Novel Award 2009.

Reviews

[Mandy K · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Executioner Box 4⭐️

It’s Spooky Season!

This almost had the feel of a cozy mystery with an antiques dealer finding himself in a predicament, well, except for the gory possessive horror scenes. I liked the balance of a normal-to-boring shopkeeper and the demon evil darkness. I thought the characters were all well written and unique to them. My heart was pounding at times. This was a good autumn horror read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for this ARC. This review will be shared on NetGalley and Goodreads.
Pub Date Oct 07 2025

[Rose ✧⁎⁺ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5☆

[Anna Marone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fast read. Kept me on my toes the whole time. I really liked the twist at the ending, predictable but I enjoyed it.
Thanks NetGalley for an arc copy.

[Toni Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one dark story one step into full-on horror definitely far from the mystery tales Matt Hilton used to give us…hum do I like this switch into the Twilight Zone…. not really.

In a few words:

Ben Taylor loves to get bargains when shopping at the stalls of curio dealers to resell trinkets at Taylor and King Curiosities, the shop he runs with his wife Helen. He is drawn to a box that contains a gold and bejeweled amulet that seems worthless but actually is a price jewel, although more intriguing is the box itself which is etched with indecipherable markings that turned out to be more significant in impact….

My thoughts:

This story that delves into chaos and strange occurrences is engaging and well paced enough to have kept my attention for most parts but ¾ into I lost interest with the clichéd dialogue, the flat characters and the chilling narrative, the touch of the macabre did no longer appeal to me.

It is an OK story but I join those who say it’s nothing to write home about. It dragged too much and rehashed things too many times…sorry this is not my favourite story but it may be yours….

My thanks to the publisher Severn House as well as Netgalley for this ARC

[Shireen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars

If you found a mysterious box covered in ancient script, nailed shut and bearing the ominous note "Do Not Open", what would you do? Would you open it? Well, Ben Taylor certainly decides to do just that. The shrewd proprietor of an antique shop, Ben haggles for a box of random items at a swap meet, thinking he's scored himself an amazing deal. But unfortunately for Ben, his curiosity about the spooky little box included in the deal leads him to open it in the shop's storeroom, unknowingly releasing a terrifying entity that starts attacking his employee, his wife, his neighbours - no one who comes into contact with the box and its contents is safe from its evil, aggressive influence.

This book had a cool premise, but I wish that the story delved deeper into the history and influence of the box's magicks. Since this is a single book in a Cautionary Tale series, I hope that the author will end up writing some sort of prequel to this story, giving us readers more about the legacy of this entity. There were some great tense moments throughout yet I was pretty easily able to figure out where the story was headed. I also did have to suspend a bit of disbelief that the main protagonist would take SO. LONG. to clock all the "coincidental" calamities happening around him and not put two-and-two together. Overall this was a pretty enjoyable read and it held my interest to the very end.

Thanks to NetGalley, author Matt Hilton, and Severn House for granting me access to a free digital ARC of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own and are provided here voluntarily.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent, fast-paced horror novel reminded me a little of Sam Raimi’s Drag me to Hell. The owner of a thrift store finds a bag of assorted junk at a “boot sale.” He takes advantage of the little old lady who has apparently included a fancy amulet and takes the bag home. Along with his treasure, he finds a creepy box with a sign telling him not to open it. Just like with Pandora, curiosity takes over and… well, you have to read this book to find out. The elements of the plot will seem familiar to horror-movie junkies, but written in a way that is fun, and horrific at the same time. I was intrigued and had no idea what exactly the curse was. I loved the characters. Ben is not a great person, but he’s also not a bad guy so you’re rooting for him. His assistant, Rachel, is so likable that, even if Ben and other characters may have deserved it, I was hoping she’d be fine. I figured out the final twist (I have been watching horror since I was way too young), but it was still well thought out. So, what have we learned from this read? 1) Never, ever open a creepy box that you obtained under mysterious circumstances and 2) Matt Hilton is an awesome writer.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Severn House.

[Suesyn Zellmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Taylor loves to find hidden treasures for his store, and his latest acquisition is no exception. He cannot help but be curious about the small box that’s nailed shut, even though it states right on it, “Do Not Open.” I mean, who can resist that? Well, Ben should have. Because he has no idea what he’s unleashed by opening it. No matter how he tries to convince himself that his run of bad luck is just that – bad luck, he has a suspicion that the cause is something much worse.

I never thought a horror story would be too long, but I think this one was. It’s filled with dark humor, and it’s a fun story, but it could have been shorter. It’s not like there was any question that the box held something evil, and bad things happened almost right away. I guess the author wanted to show that the characters wouldn’t jump right to the supernatural theories, and that it took time for Ben to realize there was no logical explanation. It’s hard to explain without bringing up plot points that could be spoilers, but the longer it went on, the less scary and foreboding the whole thing seemed.

But overall, it wasn’t too over-the-top, and I found the explanations for the box’s origin quite plausible. And the ending? Hilarious! I mean, who didn’t see that coming?!

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚The Executioner Box
✍🏻Matt Hilton
Blurb:
Inside a crate of assorted junk, Ben Taylor finds a small, mysterious wooden box. It’s etched with words in a language he doesn’t understand. But the written note attached to it is Do. Not. Open.

Yet he cannot resist the urge to lift the lid . . .

Ben never expected something so evil, dark and powerful would be lurking inside. Soon, strange and terrible things begin to his employee gets attacked by an obscure figure, his wife hurts herself badly during work, people start to act abnormally around him and death follows him like the plague . . .

Clearly Ben’s curiosity has unleashed something sinister on the world, and on himself. But what – or who – will he have to sacrifice to get it back in the box?

My Thoughts
Super fast read, keep me turning pages to see what happens next. The twist and turners keeps thing book interesting
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.
Thank you, NetGalley, Severn House, Author Matt Hilton for the complimentary ARC, I am leaving my opinion of the book to show my appreciation.
#NetGalley
#SevernHouse
#MattHilton
#TheExecutioner Box
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Hugh Dunnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is refreshing every now and again, just to read a book for the pleasure of reading a good story. The Executioner Box doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t; it is simply a good (supernatural) story well told. Very much in the vein of the incomparable James Herbert, a lot of quite creepy stuff happens to ordinary people, which makes it very relatable and heightens the horror. It is a lot less Catholic than Herbert, which I think is a shame, with much of the ‘religious’ elements of the book relating to what we are told are ancient/pagan beliefs. But let’s see how that works out…

Overall, the dialogue and descriptions well done, and the set pieces are well constructed and (if you are into this type of novel) quite believable, but there is also a welcome quantity of humour to lighten the terror. And it is terror that is presented in this novel, but very much the enjoyable kind! It is never unbearably disturbing or nauseating, as can be the case in much modern horror writing, but it is thrilling and genuinely unsettling.

[Taylor Chown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Executioner’s Box was a good read overall, though I did find that some parts dragged a little and could have been tightened up. The pacing slowed down in a few areas, which made it harder to stay fully engaged, but I still enjoyed following the story through to the end.

Of course, the main character can’t resist opening a box clearly marked “Do Not Open”, and from there the story really takes off. Much of the book centres around the characters debating whether this act is responsible for all the bad things that start happening in their lives.

I liked the way everything wrapped up — even though I was able to predict the ending, it was still satisfying to see it play out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

[Cass Chloupek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. Nothing to write home about for me though. Most of the book is spent ignoring the obvious bad vibes that are impacting all of their lives because of the box. That made sense in the beginning but too many things started happening for it to reasonably be considered a coincidence. I wish it had explored more if the origins of the curse because that felt too rushed to me. Only towards the tail end of the book they touched on it. Not a bad story but I wished there was more bite. All of the characters felt very flat to me and the story didn’t have much impact.

[Josette Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you see a note that indicates specific instructions; it might be a good idea to follow said instructions. Once warnings are ignored who knows what can happen. That was the horror of this novel. One could never guess what was coming or if there was an end in sight. I found this book perfect for horror lovers.

[Neville Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't open the box it said, of course Ben did and thing happen. Good plotting and pacing the characters ate well drawn in this enjoyable fast horror novel. A bit predictable but in no way stops the enjoyment. Thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this review ARC.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was ok. Just didn't like any of the characters, wasn't particularly scary. lacked atmosphere and tension.