Into Wrack and Ruin

by Benjamin Kurt Unsworth

Genres: Horror

290 pages, Paperback

Published September 5, 2025

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

With lnto Wrack and Ruin, Unsworth crafts a series of well written, weighty tales that cover a multitude of genre conceits ranging from the supernatural to folk tales, with a dash of cosmic horror thrown in. Where the collection stands out is the relish in which the author shirks convention and produces stories that are in parts nebulous, yet bristle with ambition. There is the assured confidence of a writer who knows their voice and is content to raise it so that it may be heard.

I advise that those seeking new genre talent invest a moment to listen, and take heed.

[James Everington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short horror fiction from a new horror author, Ben Unsworth. The tales are varied and consistently well-written. The author obviously knows his horror history, from classic literary horror Doctor Who, and those influences feed into the worlds he creates here. Occasionally, in a couple of weaker stories, those influences seem too obvious, the inspiration for a story seemingly a twist on a trope rather than anything more, well, inspired. Sometimes you can see the zipper on the monster suit... but for most pieces here, it's hard to tell and Unsworth has blended his influences and own experiences into some horrific and horrible wholes. I'm mixing metaphors horrendously now so I better stop, but I'll just add that the story about a plastic bag - yes really - is one of the creepiest and most original things I've read for years.

Recommended.

[Happy Goat · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impressive collection, which shows a marked improvement (it was already good before, fyi) in Unsworth's writing over the last couple of years, displaying what can only be described as an epic amount of variety in the types of horrors he explores.

There's one about a plastic bag that just.....I have no words, honestly, but it's my favourite.

[Frazer Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ambitious collection of weird tales that draws on the minutiae of village life to give its characters life beyond their pages, and one which refreshes old tropes in surprising ways, too. From tenebrous trees to pervy policemen, and from plastic bags to sacrificial Santas, Unsworth’s emerging voice is at once methodically macabre & gleefully gory.

[Kayleigh Dobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ben Unsworth's writing and penchant for story telling has come a long way since the collection he co-authored with Simon Kurt Unsworth, which was already good. A fantastic imagination, some of his influences obvious (and delightful to pick up on) and others a mystery, and a vocabulary to match the atmosphere he paints throughout.

[Runalong]

A bit too old school in style and approach for my tastes other readers may enjoy this

[Catherine Cavendish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to Little Hodbury - it's a village you'll be glad you don't have to live in. To say bad things happen there is an understatement. The very soil beneath your feet is infested with... well, I'll leave it to Benjamin Kurt Unsworth to tell you. And he does, admirably, in this debut volume of thirteen short stories, all centred on this small and apparently perfectly quintessential English village.

This is the author's first book, although you would never know it from the assured and vivid use of language which paints, at times, the most bizarre of scenes. There is humour here and there is violence. Murder, tragedy, madness and monsters abound. It's easy to recognise Lovecraft, Ramsey Campbell and the author's great sci-fi loves - Dr Who and Blake's Seven. Not that this work is in any way derivative. It pays homage while launching probably one of the freshest new voices in horror you are likely to find. Great reading, and I am sure many more books will follow. I, for one, look forward to diving into more strange and terrifying worlds of Benjamin Kurt Unsworth. For now, I leave you with one word of warning - if you are out and about and see a sign to Little Hodbury, keep driving!

[Anthony Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection displays evidence of a strong authorial voice – one that belongs to a nineteenth century novelist on Speed. Blimey, there’s a lot of language going on in here with the prose often straying way beyond purple and into the ultra-violet spectrum.
It’s for that reason I’ve knocked off a star from my rating. I don’t mind writing that challenges me, and enjoy trips to the dictionary just to find out what that word I’ve never seen before actually means as much as the next man, but readability is key to my enjoyment of any book and I fear that the prose here is so dense at times that it often made following what was going on a bit of a struggle.
Sometimes less really is more.
It’s a shame because there are some great ideas on display here; the author’s passion for the genre is evident throughout and there’s one story in particular which is a bona fide classic in the making. (It features a plastic bag giving a performance which surpasses even the one in American Beauty for profundity).