The Monkey's Paw and The Toll House

by W.W. Jacobs

W.W. Jacobs (1863 - 1943) was an English author of short stories and novels. Although much of his work was humorous and nautically themed, he remains most famous for his horror stories, including "The Monkey's Paw" and "The Toll House."

28 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2016

About the author

William Wymark Jacobs was an English author of short stories and novels. Quite popular in his lifetime primarily for his amusing maritime tales of life along the London docks (many of them humorous as well as sardonic in tone). Today he is best known for a few short works of horror fiction. One being "The Monkey's Paw"(published 1902). It has in its own right become a well-known and widely anthologized classic.


~Literary Works

Many Cargoes (1896)
The Skipper's Wooing (1897)
Sea Urchins (1898) /aka More Cargoes (US) (1898)
A Master of Craft (1900)
The Monkey's Paw (1902)
The Toll House (1902)
Light Freights (1901)
At Sunwich Port (1902)
The Barge (1902)
Odd Craft (1903) : contains The Money Box, basis of Laurel and Hardy film Our Relations (1935)
Dialstone Lane (1902)
Captain's All (1905)
Short Cruises (1907)
Salthaven (1908)
Sailors' Knots (1909)
The Toll House (1909)
Ship's Company (1911)
Night Watches (1914)
The Castaways (1916)
Deep Waters (1919)
Sea Whispers (1926)

Reviews

[Sir Robbiethehoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Monkey’s Paw was rather average and had an irritating and at times clunky feel to it. An okay read, nothing special. It is about how ill fortune could befall someone should they be tempted to make wishes with dubious objects ...
It was like a more simplified version of the Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson which I much preferred.

The Toll House has a classic haunted house vibe to it. Quite reasonable. Friends decide to spend the night together in a reputedly haunted house and trouble transpires🏚. 3.5ish being generous.

[Misha Ferrell]

This book contained 2 novellas.

The first is the classes Mikey’s paw which you get 3 wishes, usually with consequences attached. This was a fun quick read at just a few pages long.

The second was the toll-house which was also just a few pages long. This follows a group of men who are spending the night in the hotel. They heard it’s haunted, but they don’t believe in ghosts. Once they get there strange noises start. Is it their minds.. or something sinister?

[KatermannX · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh man, I loved those two short stories. In just a few lines, The Toll House especially managed to create a seriously creepy atmosphere—without any blood or over-the-top stuff.