Dark Companions

by Ramsey Campbell

A brilliant collection of stories by one of the masters of horror.


Not all companions are friendly. There are many that you most definitely do not want to see. When Elaine was working late at the office, she thought she was all alone. But something sinister was in the elevator shaft…working its way to her floor. Miles, too, thought he was alone in his new house, the house of a murderer, but he, too, had an unwanted companion. And Knox will never forget what was waiting for him in the dense fog.

Come and meet all of these companions and more in this chilling collection of horror tales by award-winning master of terror Ramsey Campbell. That clawing sound you hear, the haunting singing, the moving shadow—they all mean that something is waiting to make your acquaintance.

Contains “The Companion”, the story Stephen King called “one of the three finest horror stories I have ever read”.

[cover art by Jill Bauman]

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Collections, 20th Century, Anthologies, Short Story Collection

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Ramsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update 12/10/19
I figured it was about time I threw in my 2 cents on the collection that completely changed my tune regarding Ramsey Campbell. Before experiencing this for the first time in the mid-90s, I had only read a handful of his novels and, while laced with some uniquely nightmarish imagery, they usually left me slightly underwhelmed despite the well-executed hallucinatory intrusions of the otherworldly. The hazy/cryptic nature of his prose could be a bit exhausting over the course of 300-plus pages, but in the short stories I'd constantly come across around that time (it seemed every horror antho published during the 70s-90s was legally required to include a Campbell entry) this opaque style was much more palatable and effective. The novels were often prone to a great deal of padding, containing several chapters devoted to detailing normal day-to-day banalities, and an excessive amount of peripheral characters with no clear purpose other than to possibly satisfy some publisher-mandated word quota.*

Dark Companions, on the other hand, revealed to me Campbell's absolute mastery of slow-burn terror that subtly sneaks up on the reader after bubbling under the surface and biding its time until the right moment. That same nebulous writing style that could become wearying in his longer works, has an almost mesmerizing effect at 20 pages that heightens the sense of unease and dislocation. While reading this, a switch was flipped in my head. His long-held reputation among many in the horror community as "the greatest living writer of supernatural fiction" suddenly seemed a very reasonable statement. I've since read quite a few of his collections, but this is the one I revisit most often. It showcases his best tales spanning the mid-70s to early 80s, the period in which he perfected his now unmistakable voice, shedding nearly all traces of his earlier Lovecraft pastiches, as good as many of those were/still are (esp. those collected in 1985's Cold Print). Instead he takes a more surreal, atmospheric approach to weird fiction here, and the results are chilling -- as unsettling and impactful as anything the genre has produced, before or since.

It's hard to single out individual entries, as nearly all are absolute gems, but I will mention a few especially freaky ones that really stuck with me:

-"The Chimney" (1977), a perfect read to get into the holiday spirit, about a little boy on Christmas Eve whose crippling fear of Santa grows until he's in tears, lying in bed and praying no one comes crawling out of his fireplace to kill him. But Santa's jolly and spreads joy, right? Terrifying story, inspired by Campbell's own childhood suspicions.

-"Down There" (1978) concerns a woman working late in her 6th floor office with only her boss for company during a raging thunderstorm. Strange, inexplicable sounds are coming from the mysterious sub-basement, where a bunch of spoiled food had recently vanished, and whatever's causing those sounds seems to be making its way up toward them. Hopefully the elevator's working and gets them out of there in time.

-"The Companion" (1976), in which a man is compelled to visit an old, dilapidated amusement park late at night. The rides shouldn't even be operational, and there are no attendants, but when he decides to get on The Ghost Train, his ride through darkness turns into a nightmare, and he's struck with the terrible sinking feeling he may not be sitting alone in his small train car. This one sent a serious chill or two down my spine even though I wasn't clear on just what the hell happened during my initial read. So I gave it another go and now I think I understand........even less than I did the first time.

-"Mackintosh Willy" (1979), where the narrator recalls an old derelict who used to live in the nearby park when he was a kid. He and his friends all feared Willy even though he seemed harmless. After the old man's mysterious death (and subsequent desecration), Willy will haunt our narrator and his best friend. Figuratively? Of course. But then who/what is leaving tattered clothing remnants around? Is one of the two friends responsible for the death? This one's both unnerving and emotionally moving.

Though several of the stories here are included in Campbell's "greatest hits" compilation, Alone With the Horrors: The Great Short Fiction, 1961-1991, this one is still worth getting as it's pretty much a "best of" as well. He's clearly at the top of his game during this era. His two prior collections, Demons By Daylight (1973) and The Height of the Scream (1976) provided clear indication that he was slowly breaking away from Lovecraft, with somewhat mixed, though admirable results. Both are worth a gander, not only for the various standout entries, but also to track the evolution of one of the field's most accomplished and influential writers, who by age 16 was already getting stories published by August Derleth's legendary Arkham House. Those early pieces may have been a bit lacking in originality considering he was a teen aping his literary idol, but they showed promise. Dark Companions, however, is so consistently impressive that he never quite matched it, in the 20th century at least (I'm not as familiar with his later material, which I need to rectify).

For anyone new to Mr. Campbell's work, this is the place to start. The prose throughout is elegant, yet often disorienting, which only adds to the overall bizarre, disquieting aura and feeling of dislocation, all of which would go on to become distinguishing characteristics of his that are immediately recognizable. Anyone who's kind of "meh" on him should check this out and see if your opinion changes. There are a handful of single-author collections from the 70s/80s horror boom I'd put in the same league as this**, but this might be the scariest, top to bottom. Even when you're not entirely sure why you're suddenly so unnerved.

5 Stars.

*Which, unfortunately, was a thing with some horror publishers. The "Make 'em big like Stephen King" philosophy ruined many a tightly-paced page-turner when it was deemed that it would be better off as a 480-page, filler-plagued slog because "that's what sells," apparently. Of course, King's success was a huge reason the horror boom happened, hence a huge reason 90% of writers in the genre were even getting published so I can't complain. Still, an atmosphere of growing fear and dread can't really be sustained at epic lengths. Unless you're King, or Straub. 40 years ago.

**Not counting career retrospectives that span multiple collections, I'd go with Lisa Tuttle's A Nest of Nightmares (1986), Karl Wagner's In a Lonely Place (1983), Ligotti's Songs of a Dead Dreamer (1986), Lansdale's By Bizarre Hands (1989), the King's Night Shift (1978), Etchison's The Dark Country (1982), and T.E.D. Klein's Dark Gods (1985) as my favorites.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are very few horror authors writing today who possess the blessed gift of invoking disquiet and unease without ever showing exactly what the source of that unease is. Writers such as these have the uncanny ability to tap into basic, human fears, giving them shadowy form through artful prose, sleight of hand, and misdirection. Thankfully, one such writer is still going strong, producing new work, as well as seeing his out of print work breathing new life through Samhain Publishing's new Horror Line.

That writer is Ramsey Campbell, and bringing him aboard is one of the smartest things Samhain could've done to give their fledgling horror line credibility. For Campbell is one of those writers with a knack for making us afraid...

Of nothing. A shadow on the wall. A moist draft wafting up from the basement. A light, papery scuttling from a dark corner. And in this reprint of his collection Dark Companions, terrifyingly and delightful subtle horrors abound. But the most important thing is the core of these stories: human fears. Nightmares. Mundane worries and haunting tragedy. Many of the stories in this collection initially read like straight literary works commenting on the human experience, and Ramsey's touch is so gradual, you don't notice the shadows growing quietly in the corner....

Until it's almost too late. Among the best in the collection are:

"Down There", in which a secretary learns in horrific fashion that something soft and moist and creeping lives in the sub-basement of her office's temporary location. "The Proxy", in which a ghost of a different kind - not even the ghost of a person at all - haunts a woman's house, eventually claiming her husband. "The Depths", in which a writer's sudden, graphic insight into horrors too grotesque to mention proves more than just grisly inspiration for slasher fiction...but premonitions of actual events.

"Out of Copyright", an always timely piece about an unscrupulous anthology editor that pilfers the wrong story. "The Invocation", a classic 'be careful what you wish for' story, in which a college student wishes the noisy, troublesome old lady living above his apartment would shut up...for good. "The Pattern", possibly the BEST story in the collection, about the "echoes" that are left in the wake of tragedy, and their unexpected effects on all of Time.

"The Show Goes On", a terrifying allegory of a store owner "walling off" memories of his youth and the now-defunct cinema next to his store. "Call First", in which a nosy library clerk gets more than he bargains for when snoops where he's not meant to be. And finally, the collection's title piece, "Dark Companion", in which a man's phantasmagoric reliving of old carnival days takes a wrong turn...literally.

Ramsey Campbell's work isn't for everyone. But for those looking for something finer, something of substance, with subtle horrors woven in artful tapestries of smooth, flowing prose...he might be just what they're looking for.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects twenty-one horror and fantasy stories.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a signed copy. Campbell is always eerie, although sometimes his stories are either a bit slow for me or perhaps just too densely constructed, requiring more of the reader than I'm usually ready to give. But most of his stories, even if I don't fall in love with them, leave me with a feeling of distorted reality. Campbell is definitely a bit of a different thinker.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book so many times that my copy got worn out and water damaged and I am currently on a mission to find another copy at a used book store. This is the one that made me a fan of Ramsey Campbell. His short stories are almost more effective than the full-length novels, because these skip all the fluff an go right to bone-chilling. However, the horror in these comes not so much from the paranormal as our own imagination, and that which you gather from the characters.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Campbell really shines in his short fiction, and he along with Adam Nevill are the only writers that can give me a genuine scare and one of the only writers I re-read. Of the 21 stories here, I'd already read several in other collections, but many are worth a second go.

These stories often contain the blighted urban landscape that characterizes Campbell's earlier work, which I love. There's also an atmosphere of loneliness in many of these, especially "Napier Court," "The Little Voice," "Drawing In" and "Calling Card." This feeling of isolation, combined with the creepy touches Campbell constantly throws in seem to make for a perfect combination of generating fear.

And Campbell uses these touches to full effect, as in this creative example from "Calling Card":

"An insect clung to a tinsel globe on the tree. When she reached out to squash the insect it wasn’t there, neither on the globe nor on the floor. Could it have been the reflection of someone thin outside the window? Nobody was there now."

Or in "The Little Voice":

"all the coats lay in a mound [...] The mound looked as if a lumpy shape were hiding underneath. They were coats. Nothing but coats. Good God, it wasn’t as if they were moving. But if the lurker were holding itself still, waiting to be uncovered…"

Having read Campbell's first collection "Demons By Daylight" I would rate this one above it. Although his first collection has some great stories, this one shows him in full command of his powers. For now I've skipped reading his second collection "The Height of the Scream," which is generally seen as one of his lesser collections. It's telling that only one story from "The Height of the Scream" was reprinted in Campbell's "best of" story collection "Alone With the Horrors" while twelve from "Dark Companions" were.

My favorites would be "Down There," "The Little Voice," "The Show Goes On" and "The Chimney."


Mackintosh Willy
I know this story has won awards and S. T. Joshi has called it a "masterwork," but I wasn't overly impressed with it on my first read six years ago and I still don't think it's one of his best. It does have a creepy ending and a gritty urban flavor I think works well. A man recalls in his childhood how a homeless man who slept in a shelter in the park chased the boys away who ventured too near. After he dies his ghost returns seeking vengeance.

Napier Court
This was a really eerie story, with ratcheting tension and a skillfully crafted sense that the protagonist is perhaps not alone. It's tinged with delirium and painful regret and loneliness and finishes with a beautifully terrifying closing sentence. A young woman, depressed over a break-up and ill is left alone by her parents in a house that isn't quite empty.

Down There
Comparing my notes from when I first read this story five years ago, I think I enjoyed it far more this time. I liked the abandoned office building as a horror setting, again with the run-down urban setting. It's not one of the absolute best here perhaps, but it's creepy and has some good action too. A woman working in an old office building has to contend with something which has been festering in a sub-basement.

Heading Home
Cool little "Tale From the Crypt" type tale about a scientist, a murder and a terrible vengeance.

The Proxy
I liked this one even though it's not among the very best here, it generates a sense of mounting fear. It starts out with a bit of a M.R. Jamesian flavor but has a very creative twist at the end I never saw coming. A woman uncovers an old foundation in her garden, and seemingly unleashes an evil.

The Depths
This was another re-read, and I mostly agree with my original assessment: Very weird story, I think there's a good, original concept here, I just wish it was a bit less vague at times. After a writer stays in an old house where a horrible murder occurred, he is plagued by constant nightmares and his mind overflows with atrocities which happen in the real world.

Out of Copyright
Another re-read, this is a fairly short story of the supernatural invoked from a horror tale. A standard story of ghostly revenge I found more humorous than creepy.

The Invocation
This is a sort of "creepy crawly" horror story, and very effective in that regard. The "why's" of this story are a bit vague and mysterious, but by the end I didn't care. A young man renting a room in the house of an old woman accidentally summons a horrible creature into existence.

The Little Voice
This was the first thing I ever read by Campbell, I recall it was in the first volume of the Shadows anthology. I was very impressed by this story, and I think it holds up quite well. This is a very emotional, and dark horror tale with an unrelenting horror and overflows with Campbell's "half seen" hints at the horrific. A lonely woman inadvertently invites the ghost of a child into her life.

Drawing In
Oh boy, another spider story. This story is effectively skin-crawly and yet keeps you guessing. I also liked that, despite its rather short length, it establishes a good sense of place. A man recovering from a trauma stays in the house plagued by odd phenomena.

The Pattern
This was a decent story, but not among the best here. It feels a little too predictable perhaps. A couple staying at a rural cottage keep hearing cries in the woods.

The Show Goes On
I read this story about five years ago, and still think this is one of Campbell's best short stories. His technique of creepy touches and half-glimpsed horrors really works to create a supreme atmosphere of dread. One of my favorites. A man suspects thieves are able to enter his shop at night through a storeroom connected to a long-shuttered theater next door. He spends the night in his shop and explores the creepy old place.

The Puppets
I feel I missed something with this story. The central plot is about a doomed romance and the horror exists at the edges in a secondary plot -- but the two aren't seamlessly brought together in my opinion. A young man starts dating a young woman above his station in life, while observing that an old marionettist in the village acts increasingly strange.

Calling Card
This is a short, perhaps a minor story, but effectively creepy still with a potent atmosphere of loneliness. An old woman receives a vaguely threatening Christmas card, and starts to feel she is being stalked.

Above the World
Another I didn't re-read, here's my previous review: This was a pretty good story, a little slow starting out, but develops into a nice "lost in a haunted wood" type tale. A man explores the mountain where his ex-wife and her husband died of exposure, and becomes lost in a sudden fog, and seemingly changing nature of the woods themselves.

Baby
Another re-read, by far the most grimy story, a great generation of blighted urban atmosphere, the horror elements are kept rather vague at the start. It's more subtle and effective by holding its punches until the end, and has some very effectively hallucinogenic prose evoking a feeling of drunkenness and disorientation. An alcoholic bum decides to kill an old woman who is rumored to be wealthy and pushes around a baby carriage.

In the Bag
I didn't bother to re-read this one, here's my previous review: This story certainly has a powerful, creepy theme to it, but it also was a bit predictable to me. Campbell usually picks a theme (here suffocation via plastic bags) and brings it into the story in creepy ways, in the novels this can get run into the ground. A man haunted the guilt over someone in his childhood he saw suffocated by a plastic bag becomes worried after someone tries to do the same to his own son.

Conversion
This is another very short story, a very strange one. I like the mood of this one, with its dense prose, and even the rather kooky surprise ending. A man returns home to his wife late at night, with an overwhelming sense of dread that something is wrong.

The Chimney
This is a very creepy story, one Campbell's best. The end is a little vague, but it's all the more memorable for it. A timid boy fears something lurks in his bedroom chimney. He is told about Santa and fears the idea, but knows he will have to face the presence eventually.

Call First
This was another re-read, my first reading was so long ago I don't recall my original thoughts on it or where I read it. This is a minor story, but the plot reminds me of what I think is among Campbell best stories, "Again." A man becomes curious about a strange old man's house, and breaks into it while he is away.

The Companion
This is another re-read, and another stand-out. Stephen King praised this story, and it's easy to see why, it has a very creepy ending and really holds its punches until then, building effectively. A man interested in old fairgrounds explores one and starts seeing the ghosts of his dead parents in the distance, and reliving childhood fears.

[Kamakana · Rating 3 out of 5]

220615: i read this in comparison with stephen king as he is described as 'britain's version', have read now a few of his works, most prefer 'hungry moon', and of that the sort of 'metaphysical' aspects of horror. this is a series of short stories, collected in 1980 though dating to 1967. this is all horror. perhaps best read intermittent rather than in a few days, as the plot shared becomes too familiar...

i can see why he has won so many genre awards: he is a fluid writer, he operates well in first-person, in omniscient, in second-person, he creates characters, he finds common discomfort leading to horror, he does not distract with poetics. in this i like his work. as far as horror... this did not disturb me near as much as hp lovecraft but more than king, though i can see his pacing to reveal too slow for some readers...

a complaint i often have with short stories, not only genre but literary, is that there is often sort of a 'trick' turning usually at the end, and once you know it, the story does not offer anything in rereads... some of my favourites (a clean well-lighted place, snows of Kilimanjaro) i enjoy reading over and over. Campbell's stories have immediate, 'provocative' effects, rather than 'evocative' reason to read again. though who are these people who read more than once anyways...

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

During my teenaged Lovecraft phase, I read some of Ramsey Campbell's early stories, found them okay, promptly forgot about them. Stephen King's unqualified rave for Campbell's short story "The Companion" sent me running to this collection, which is very strong stuff. Having read "The Companion," I'm still not entirely sure what happened -- Campbell's approach is sometimes too damned oblique. But several other stories are far superior. One of Campbell's greatest strengths is his ability to create wounded characters struggling to get on with their lives, which makes them all the more vulnerable to the menace gathering just beyond their field of vision. This is particularly the case in a story like "The Pattern," which delivers not just a bone-jellying shocker of an ending, but a genuine sense of tragedy. Now if I can just figure out what was going on with that carnival ride in "The Companion."

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first introduction to Ramsey Campbell. I would say this collection is ok - not bad but not great. Most of the stories were kinda depressing (so much so that my reading buddy dropped out about mid way through), and all of them were much more on the subtle side than in-your-face. The stories often left a lot up to you as to how you believed things were finally resolved at the end. Only two of the stories stuck out for me, one being Out of Copyright and the other being The Pattern. The Pattern has a very interesting plot twist that I particularly enjoyed, an idea that I found original. Definately a change of pace.

[Malcolm Carlock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a longtime fan of Ramsey Campbell, but regarding the full body of his work I have some catching up to do. I was not disappointed here.

I felt some of these stories were stronger than others, but overall I have not been so creeped out by a book of supernatural tales for a good many years.

The introduction by itself I found to be a worthwhile read. I left it until last, after I'd read the stories. In it, he describes some of the life experiences that led him to write, and to write these kinds of tales. It was, more or less, exactly what I had expected from having read his stories, these and others in the past... the gritty reality of life in and around Liverpool, and in smaller towns in the west of England and Wales, along with how his own experiences colored his views and impressions.

The supernatural horrors in his tales often begin as extensions of the banal fears, horrors and unpleasantnesses that are sometimes found in daily life, merging almost seamlessly from one to the other. His characters, even the unpleasant ones, tend to interest and engage, and one tends to sympathize with them for at least some of the horrors they experience, of either type, even when one or both are part of a comeuppance of some kind.

[Sam Fleming · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this for a specific story ("The Trick"), which turned out not to be in it, but never mind.

By halfway through the book I had Campbell's plot structure figured out.

Angst-ridden protag sees/feels/experiences things that are a bit odd. Dismisses them out of hand. Spends 5 or more pages bleating on about husband/wife/colleague/lunch/job/pet goldfish/next door's cat/Beethoven while odd things get odder, continues to dismiss them as either not being real OR being irrelevant. Protag gets eaten. The end.

This described every story in the book, and I found the protagonists largely unlikeable, so the highlight of each story was the part where he or she was eaten. I would not recommend this as an introduction to Campbell's work, even though there are a couple of genuinely creepy stories in it ("Mackintosh Willy" and "Above the World"). I'd say this was more for existing fans.

[Jarrod Scarbrough · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great collection of stories. Campbell has such a gift for subtle horror, and this collection highlights that very gift. I have to admit to normally not being a huge fan of short stories. I have to read a few at a time in between longer works of fiction. Takes a while but then I get to enjoy the stories a lot more! If you like ghosts and things that creep up on you in the dark, this is a great collection of stories for you!

[alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

About half way through this collection of stories, and I've decided to set it aside (perhaps for good). Some decent ideas and some decent writing thus far, but just not a strong pull for me to see it through when there's so much else to read. My first attempt at Campbell so I don't know if/when I'll try him again (a friend tells me he's put together some good anthologies though).

[Brian Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good collection of tales by Ramsey Campbell in the tradition of the Victorian subtle ghost story style of writing. Campbell's tales in this collection are very similar to Henry James 'The turn of the screw' and especially the writings of MR James. Ramsey Campbell was greatly inspired by MR James short stories, in relation to the use of suggestion of supernatural accurances rather than depiction. His style like James's, can be very creepy, he can create atmosphere and dread without revealing the identities of the ghost or monsters. Moreover, the stories confront us with various character studies of the protagonists and their state of mind in such a way which make the reader ask the question, are the characters experiancing an actual event or is there an emotional termoil making them imagine such things? Yet, in some of the tales at the end of the story Campbell's characters can be seen to have been visited be the supernatural. The stories are more cerebral rather than cut throat horror. Overall, a good collection and well worth a read on a dark night.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Stephen King, short stories, horror, and old fashioned Gothic horror; which is a lost art form by the way. That being said I should have loved this book and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. A few of the stories were relatively good but most were frustratingly poor. I think if I had read this in 1982 maybe I would have been terrified in a good way but the writing was so dated I found myself cringing. The prose was just over the top and couched in metaphor like a man who ate a thesaurus and wasn't going to quit until he spit up every hack writing trick in the book to bludgeon his poor reading victim senseless.

If you read 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', that is a book with incredibly descriptive and dense prose and the reader comes away with a sense of reading something dark and powerful. Here you just come away with a sense that you might have enjoyed it in another life, at another time.

[Sistermagpie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally enjoyed this collection of stories by Ramsey Campbell, only a couple of which I'd read before. My favorite was probably "Heading Home" which still makes me laugh in ghoulish delight at odd moments.

There is a vague theme to the piece in that everyone does have some sort of dark companion, but it's a very loose theme, nothing that makes all the stories alike by any means. I'm definitely going to look for more RC in the future.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. Looking back, there's only two or three stories that will still be with me for a while. The rest were enjoyable as I was reading them, but nothing really "clicked", and I'll likely forget them in the weeks to come. Some genuinely creepy scenes in almost every story, and a nice atmosphere in all of them.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely creepy and literary horror. I highly recommend it.

[Randy Money · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Campbell's fourth story collection and by this time he had found his voice and his subject(s). The collection starts with the excellent "Macintosh Willie" and ends with the also excellent "The Companion" and between are 19 other stories. As with any collection, I enjoyed some more than others. Highlights for me were: "Down There," "The Show Goes On," "The Chimney" and "Calling Card." That said, there are no weak stories here.

[Jim Teggelaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Ramsey Campbell, but after reading a few shorts in this collection, they all began to blend together. Lots of creepy settings and shifting shadows but not enough story telling or real scares here.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more conventional horror than his ‘stranger things , stranger places’, still some quite unsettling stories tho! Several slightly predictable endings however too.

[David McGrogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ramsey Campbell understands horror. These are stories which are not just scary (and most of them are seriously bloody scary), but also scarily bleak: endings which are not just bad, but horrifying in themselves - endings in which you get the sense that matters are only going to get worse and worse for the characters rather than better. That is Campbell's peculiar genius. The evil he conjures in his work is inexplicable and inescapable, allowing him to realize a kind of Lovecraftian grand insurmountable horror even in these short vignettes of apparently quotidian British 1970s life.

[Debbie Johansson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ramsey Campbell certainly knows how to write stories that evoke great atmosphere and unease. I felt some stories were stronger than others, such as 'The Depths' and 'The Pattern', which stayed with me long after I finished the book. A good collection of horror stories that will keep you turning the pages.

[Keith Cochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories. Something about the English angle makes it even more scary. Really enjoyed "The Companion".

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do we unanimously kick all the hippies out of horror?

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horror

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If it were possible I'd give this book 2.5 stars because I enjoyed half of them and didn't enjoy the other half. The stories are written well with a couple of nice flourishes in style here and there. There is a feeling of treading the same ground through a couple of the stories, as characters are punished for past transgressions which could be a manifestation of a guilty conscience, or some of them might be a result of a fever dream or heightened emotional state. Some (and these are my favorites) are horrifying wrong place at the wrong time situations such as found in "The Pattern" and "The Depths". There are also two oddballs in this collection, both feeling like stylish experiments in very short form writing which are refreshing. But the more mundane, psychologically grounded stories about guilt, fear, trauma etc are kind of a wet blanket and not as fun. For instance two stories both end in a grisly manner but where one feels random and shocking, the other feels grim and sadistically undeserved.
But that's just my opinion, and if one looks at what horror novels I do give high ratings to, it's easy to tell why I might have found this one a bit dull. But if you like your horror a tad more realistic, I would recommend it for that reason as it's great example. It's just not my bag.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ramsey Campbell desperately wants to be the Nabakov of modern horror literature, and it shows in all three of the books of his I've read so far (I've also read Midnight Sun and The Count of Eleven). The bad news is, I don't think he quite gets there. The good news is, this collection of short stories is easily the best thing I've read of his so far. I think Campbell's subtle and understated style is much more well-suited for the quick one-two punch of the short story rather than the long slow march of a novel. Some real winners here: The Pattern, Call First (which could have easily been an old Twilight Zone episode), The Companion, Above The World, and The Chimney are all worth the price of admission.

Campbell's style can get old after a while, however. He's so subtle in places that his prose requires a re-read just to figure out what happened. In my opinion, horror requires a certain visceral reaction, and Campbell does not always produce that. Also, as other reviewers have pointed out, after a while the stories become formulaic and kind of run together (fog, dust, a sudden ghostly appearance in the last sentence, etc.). He's good for hard-core horror fans, but the casual reader would do well to skip him.

[Dallas Fawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most story collections ever published, there are a handful of mediocre stories in Dark Companions, but, more importantly, it also contains a handful of the best horror stories ever written. My favorite is "The Chimney," but "The Man in the Underpass," "The Trick," and "The Companion" all belong in this category as well. Close behind those four I would put "Down There" and "Mackintosh Willy."
I think the least successful stories found in the collection are 5 very short stories (4-5 pages) written in the style of EC comics, though I do like "Call First" and "Heading Home," which is a fun story, even if you see the ending coming.
What Campbell does better than any other horror writer I've read is create a constantly building atmosphere of tension and dread. Although he tends to follow a common pattern in how he concludes his stories, the journey getting there is almost always an intense experience. Campbell is also an accomplished prose stylist, though at times I think the writing is convoluted and even confusing.
It's also worth noting that there are several different editions of Dark Companions with significant differences in content.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen King was right: "The Companion" is one of the best stories Ramsey Campbell ever wrote- and it's not even the best story here. I first read "The Chimney" when I was in high school, and the heady mix of supernatural horror, psychological torment, and Christmas has stayed with me ever since. That story alone is worth the price of admission, but "Call First" and "The Trick" are almost as good. The only story I was let down by was the most famous, "Mackintosh Willy," which feels almost like a distillation of Campbell's greatest hits and favorite tropes into a single story. It's a little overanthologized also.