The Worst Kind of Monsters

by Elias Witherow

There's a dog sneaking into your daughter's bedroom and whispering in her ear. There's something horrible in that storm over the ocean. What does "feed the pig" mean? What are those ropes in the sky? Why is Dad acting so funny? In these dark tales you will experience every type of horror imaginable. It is so gruesome, frightening, and demented that only the bravest of readers will make it through these pages.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Horror Thriller, Fiction

483 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 3, 2016

Reviews

[Scot Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was quite a disappointing collection of horror short stories. Instead of playing with fear, in almost all of these stories Witherow seeks to merely shock and disgust his readers. If graphic descriptions of torture, murder, blood and gore are your thing, this book provides that. If you are looking to be frightened, to feel that cold, icy feeling in the pit of your stomach that is the hallmark of dread and true terror, this collection will leave you sorely disappointed. The writing leaves much to be desired, the stories often come off as juvenile, and the author's attempts at introducing supernatural elements come across as childish. This one is not worth a read at all.

[em ✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

19 horror stories perfect for spooky season. Not exactly highbrow literature but very entertaining. The third story, “Empire Snuff” is the funniest thing ever (if you have the fucked up sense of humor I do), the ending had me laughing out loud. “The Goat Room” is equally hilarious in the most absurd way. Many of the stories are over the top and quite silly.

And of course, “Feed the Pig” brings me back to the world of The Black Farm, one of my favorite books! I’ve wanted to return to Witherow’s work for a while now, and this is a good place to start. Would recommend for those craving an easy horror read! You can read one or two a night just before bed to really ensure those nightmares…

[bean · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had to be totally honest, I think the author has some interesting concepts but doesn't know how to diversify his stories when it comes to characters and narrator voice. It's usually an identical template, start to finish. I felt like I was just reading the same stories, with the setting and the monster just different.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!!! I read this in one sitting! Brings back the old school horror that got me hooked in the first place! Need more!!!

[Gabrielle Branch · Rating 5 out of 5]

The BEST collection of horror short stories I’ve ever read! There are 19 in here, and I wanted more.

[Serenity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geez… that was intense at times. Well written. I think he hit every trigger you could have.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite collections I have read. I read this back in 2017, and read it again. This has a wide range of stories from supernatural, creatures, snuff films, and serial killers. 19 stories which my top 3 are:
1) Empire Snuff
2) The Worst Kind Of Monsters.
3) Behind Hell

[Elizabeth Vassberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting collection of horror stories! Everything from the supernatural to real world horrors. Some stories were a little "meh" for me but I think that's because I'm super desensitized from how many extreme horror stories I have read over the last couple years but I have to say that the last story was absolutely, brutally awesome! I'll definitely be reading more by Mr Witherow!🤘🏻😈

[Iben · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was intens...How do I even rate a book like this?
I didn't technically finish the book because I couldn't get through last story 'The worst kind of monsters', and I'm honestly not completely sure how I feel about this book. Most of the stories were great, other stories scared the shit out of me, and the rest were just downright disturbing.

[Cassi · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly good book filled with some disturbing stories. No spoilers here, but Feed the Pig is especially gruesome, and really gives me the chills. Though the stories centralize around "shock" horror, the theme never seems to get boring through each tale, giving me something to look forward to (as much as a person can look forward to gore) in the next story. The stories are smart, Witherow has a knack for horror writing, and has never failed to entertain, and disgust me. When I have to put a book down for a few moments, only to pick it back up and feverishly return to reading, I know I've found something good. This is a book I'll constantly return to, to give myself a late night scare.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my type of book to read the stories are too short so you dont get attached to the characters. If you like to read short stories then it’s a great book but if not then it’s not worth the read. And many of the chapters/stories are alike

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were really good. There is a variety of horror genres represented here, so you kind of never know what you'll get with the next one. Stories are graphic, gory, and really designed to make you feel uncomfortable and kind of gross.

That said, the last story did cause me to remove a star and write this review. "The Worst Kind of Monsters", the story behind the title, is basically torture porn with some really, really unnecessary sexual violence thrown in. I read a ton of horror and this one honestly made me want to bleach my eyes. I could stand the other stories and their subject matter, but this just went too far. Maybe the author takes that as a compliment, but I don't appreciate the 'shock value' behind it. Some things you just don't need to include.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part I enjoyed this book, even though it was often a little more gore than I like. I prefer creepy over gore. There were a couple of short stories that were cringe-worthy and one that I ended up skipping parts because the depiction of decapitation was written so well....too well, and thoughts of decapitation victims and empathy for their families made it too difficult to read. There is also a grotesque rape with a foreign object scene in a torture centered story that was pretty tough to take. However, I very much enjoyed a couple of the creepier stories that lacked the gore and violence. My personal favorites were The Tall Dog and Horse/8min.

[Michael Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not normally one who is squeamish when reading brutal stories but I have to say that some of the ones in here are rough. I thought they were very good but man are they brutal. The story that shares the same title as the book was one of the most violent things I've read

[Ayame Giralt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this book thinking the stories were going to be bizarre creepy horror llike Junji Ito just in writing. What I got was more r/nosleep but like the bottom of the barrel.

1. The Tall Dog 3/5 It was a bit rough to get through but wasn't too bad. The ending was kind of lackluster for me

2. The House in the Field 3/5 This one started off pretty strongly and interesting but again the ending was lackluster

3. Empire Snuff 1/5 I think this was meant to be more gore but was ultimately just boring

4. The Goat Room 5/5 This was easily the best story out of the whole collection. It had a bit of the feeling of The Lottery in that in the back of your mind you had a feeling that things were not quite what they seem

5. There's Something Wrong with Dad 4/5 Kind of reminds me of The Crazies. But there isn't much to say about this one

6. Feed the Pig 1/5 This one suffered a lot from feeling like a creepypasta. It felt very try hard with the shocking imagery

7. Ten Days, Ten Pills 1/5 This also read like a bad creepypasta

8. Red West I actually don't remember this one at all. I think it's the one with the family at the beach house? And then I guess Jesus basically comes to fight some monster that may or may not be a metaphor for something? I think that's this story but yeah.

9. Blackout I have even less clue which story this is. I can't even guess at the plot.

10. Where Is My Son? 2/5 Again very creepypasta like. There's so many stories in this that use the same imagery of someone grinning creepily

11. Texts from My Brother 2/5 Again very creepypasta-esque

12. Shimmer 4/5 This was one of the better creepypasta type stories. The ending was kind of meh but I really enjoyed the build up

13. Chrome Sunset I mostly skimmed this one because I didn't enjoy it

14. My Father, My Monster 5/5 I really enjoyed this one but it felt kind of out of place here. To be honest it was almost more Chicken Soup for the Soul than a horror short story

15. Behind Hell I don't really know how to feel about this one. It just seemed like gratuitous extreme horror but I feel neutral towards it

16. Horse/8 min 5/5 short and sweet and to the point with the unease. It ended at a good place without dragging on too long. But I should knock off points because I paid for it lol. It would have been a banger r/nosleep post though

17. Deep, Deep Down 3/5 This one had potential. It was kind of Lovecraft-esque but still ultimately fell flat for me

18. When Hell Comes Knocking I think I dissociated while reading this one because it's another one that even skimming through I have no idea what the story is about

19. The Worst Kind of Monsters I feel the same way about this one as I do about story 15 (Behind Hell). But I also feel like this is what Empire Snuff wishes it was which is weird to say because it's all by the same author.

I think my average rating is 2 stars but I'm going to go ahead and keep it at 1.

[Erin Gorowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories were so creepy and cool but others were down right sick!!! I really enjoyed the devil one, the ropes from the sky, and the one with the well. Those ones were SCARY!!! some of the other stories were really just nasty but I do appreciate that he doesn’t involve children in his twisted stories.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a pretty good collection of stories! I wasn't a huge fan of some, they took some stranger turns that just personally isn't my taste, but they were unique! I liked the length of them compared to a lot of collections that have really short stories. The last one was BRUTAL - my personal favorite

[Dre Scott-Urichen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't sleep after listening to the long dog. Thinking about the silent creeping up the stairs even while being seen all because a child was experiencing a deep sadness is fantastic. I read this while home alone for weeks and i was very stressed and sad so this story literally kept me up at night. fantastic

[Stacie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if my expectations were too high after reading "The Black Farm" and "Return to the Black Farm" or what, but this one fell flat for me. Some of the ideas seemed a bit redundant story to story, while others were good but they fell flat at the end. The last story, called "The Worst Kind of Monsters" was just plain effed up, but the ending was good.

[Alecia Proctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in one weekend and it’s already one of my favorite compilations! These stories will have you turning pages with your mouth open and contemplating the meaning of life, especially the last one. I say give it a try! Love this author and all of his work!

[Ko Kojira · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice anthology book of spooky little stories. Like any other anthology, the quality and character of the stories fluctuates - they were all relatively good, a few duds notwithstanding - but the mood of the whole was very consistent throuout. Pretty run of the mill and enjoyable.

Favorite stories: The House In The Field and There's Something Wrong With Dad

[Joel B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mix of stories that delve a little too deep into the darkness for me at times, my fragile mind was rocked by this great mix of dark short stories.

I especially like The Black Farm prequel 'Feed the Pig'

[Rikke Nordravn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best thing I read for a long, long time! Absolutely awesome.

[Ashley Moody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. As I expected.

As usual an amazing book. I've read them all so far. Impatiently waiting for a new release😁 Elias Witherow has quickly become my favorite author.

[Leslie Sele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloody good

I gave this book 5 stars because it was not only
Well written, it was very entertaining! I recommended this to anyone that enjoys dark horror.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evil has manh faces

Very, very dark. There are no happy stories here. There are no good characters, no salvation. This is dark, at times gory, hell

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for the horror fan! When you want a quick thrill, look no further.

[jonslady04 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Elias Witherow

Every single story in this book is amazing! I may just go back and read them all over again!! Great book of stories!

[Scarlett Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly horrifying.

[Jessica George · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best way to describe this book would be to say young adult horror, very boring. Notes for mentions of suicide, drug usage and animal cruelty.