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The Next in Line
An American couple are stranded in a small Mexican town.
33 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1947
82 people want to read
About the author
Ray Bradbury
2,559 books25.1k followersRay Douglas Bradbury was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and realistic fiction.
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
Bradbury is best known for his novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and his short-story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and The October Country (1955). Other notable works include the coming of age novel Dandelion Wine (1957), the dark fantasy Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962) and the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992). He also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, including Moby Dick and It Came from Outer Space. Many of his works were adapted into television and film productions as well as comic books. Bradbury also wrote poetry which has been published in several collections, such as They Have Not Seen the Stars (2001).
The New York Times called Bradbury "An author whose fanciful imagination, poetic prose, and mature understanding of human character have won him an international reputation" and "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream".
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 5, 2020
A little confusing. The “sheepish smile” at the end muddied the waters.
First, I thought it was a mummy story. Nope.
Then, i thought it was a murder story. Nope.
Now I’m thinking it was a bad coincidence story.
There were several tangents and clues that ended up nowhere.
There was no mystery all along, as far as i can tell.
There were also some sexually charged descriptions which were strange and didn’t fit with the plot, or theme, or anything else.
First, I thought it was a mummy story. Nope.
Then, i thought it was a murder story. Nope.
Now I’m thinking it was a bad coincidence story.
There were several tangents and clues that ended up nowhere.
There was no mystery all along, as far as i can tell.
There were also some sexually charged descriptions which were strange and didn’t fit with the plot, or theme, or anything else.
October 31, 2024
This is one unnerved me. At first glance, death is the horror of the story - the funeral at the beginning, the decaying bodies in the crypt, the empty seat. But, really, the horror in this story is our isolation from the living.
Why do we care for the bodies of the dead? Because we love who those bodies belonged to. Caring for the dead is an act of love. And it's an impulse that's ruthlessly milked by the funerary industry.
The bodies in the crypt have been moved there because their families couldn't pay "rent" on their graves. The true horror isn't the decayed appearance of the bodies, but the exploitation of the living, the cruelty to the families, and the fact that after whatever lives the former owners of these bodies have led, their living relatives now have more immediate concerns than caring for their remains. So the real fear is being forgotten, unloved, and rendered unrecognizable to ourselves and those who knew us.
That brings us to the real conflict of the story, which is the main character's evidently loveless relationship with her husband. He's not outwardly cruel to her - he simply doesn't care about her feelings.
The horror there isn't actually about the crypt, but about about being unloved.
I disagree that this story is misogynistic. I've seen the main character described as hysterical, but like many women described as hysterical, she has reason to be. She's emotionally isolated, and he speaks the language of the locals while she does not (it reminds me a little of the much more recent Watcher film, which also used this language gap to illustrate the power imbalance between husband and wife).
It is indeed a haunting story, and it took some thought to realize why it got so thoroughly under my skin.
Why do we care for the bodies of the dead? Because we love who those bodies belonged to. Caring for the dead is an act of love. And it's an impulse that's ruthlessly milked by the funerary industry.
The bodies in the crypt have been moved there because their families couldn't pay "rent" on their graves. The true horror isn't the decayed appearance of the bodies, but the exploitation of the living, the cruelty to the families, and the fact that after whatever lives the former owners of these bodies have led, their living relatives now have more immediate concerns than caring for their remains. So the real fear is being forgotten, unloved, and rendered unrecognizable to ourselves and those who knew us.
That brings us to the real conflict of the story, which is the main character's evidently loveless relationship with her husband. He's not outwardly cruel to her - he simply doesn't care about her feelings.
The horror there isn't actually about the crypt, but about about being unloved.
I disagree that this story is misogynistic. I've seen the main character described as hysterical, but like many women described as hysterical, she has reason to be. She's emotionally isolated, and he speaks the language of the locals while she does not (it reminds me a little of the much more recent Watcher film, which also used this language gap to illustrate the power imbalance between husband and wife).
It is indeed a haunting story, and it took some thought to realize why it got so thoroughly under my skin.
June 4, 2022
I don't like the hysterical portrayal of the leading lady of this story. I get that it's meant to portay her feelings of foreboding and anxiety, but a lot of it comes off like a 1920s psychological analysis of a woman's fear. Beyond that the story was fine.
October 7, 2019
I kept waiting for this story to get more exciting. I love Ray Bradbury's writing style, but thought this one was boring and a bit confusing. Sorry Ray.
October 22, 2019
Es increíble la tensión y la angustia que se siente al leer este libro.
La narración desde el punto de vista de Marie, a medida que se va obsesionando más y más y volviendo más loca te atrapan y te llevan directamente hacia el estado mental de la mujer. Es imposible no ser absorbido por ella y por sus emociones.
Tanto la narración como el cuento te llevan por rincones, narraciones y escenas sorprendentes, muchas de ellas que pasan completamente desapercibidas debido a la locura con las que Marie las narra y las "diluye".
"Los muertos gritaban.
Parecía como si hubiesen saltado, saliendo muy tiesos de las tumbas, apretándose con las manos los pechos encogidos, y gritaban ahora, y en las mandíbulas desencajadas asomaban las lenguas.
Y así habían quedado para siempre.
Todos tenían las bocas abiertas. Era un grito que no cesaba nunca. Estaban muertos y lo sabían. Las fibras resecas y los órganos consumidos lo sabían."
"—¿No se siente nunca sola esta gente?
—Están acostumbrados.
—¿No viven asustados entonces?
—Tienen una religión para eso.
—Me gustaría tener una religión.
—Cuando tienes una religión dejas de pensar —dijo Joseph—. Cree demasiado en una cosa y no te quedará sitio para nuevas ideas.
—Esta noche —dijo Marie débilmente— nada me, gustaría más que no tener sitio para nuevas ideas, dejar de pensar, creer tanto en una cosa que no me quede tiempo para tener miedo.
—Tú no tienes miedo —dijo Joseph.
—Una religión —dijo Marie, sin prestarle atención— me serviría como una palanca para levantarme a mí misma. Pero no la tengo y no sé cómo levantarme."
Y el final, increíble.
Uno nunca se lo espera con Bradbury. Si bien siempre deja pistas, indirectas, indicios y presagios de lo que va a pasar o de lo que va a ser el final, uno nunca se lo espera.
Dos personajes tan locos como la historia que viven.
La narración desde el punto de vista de Marie, a medida que se va obsesionando más y más y volviendo más loca te atrapan y te llevan directamente hacia el estado mental de la mujer. Es imposible no ser absorbido por ella y por sus emociones.
Tanto la narración como el cuento te llevan por rincones, narraciones y escenas sorprendentes, muchas de ellas que pasan completamente desapercibidas debido a la locura con las que Marie las narra y las "diluye".
"Los muertos gritaban.
Parecía como si hubiesen saltado, saliendo muy tiesos de las tumbas, apretándose con las manos los pechos encogidos, y gritaban ahora, y en las mandíbulas desencajadas asomaban las lenguas.
Y así habían quedado para siempre.
Todos tenían las bocas abiertas. Era un grito que no cesaba nunca. Estaban muertos y lo sabían. Las fibras resecas y los órganos consumidos lo sabían."
"—¿No se siente nunca sola esta gente?
—Están acostumbrados.
—¿No viven asustados entonces?
—Tienen una religión para eso.
—Me gustaría tener una religión.
—Cuando tienes una religión dejas de pensar —dijo Joseph—. Cree demasiado en una cosa y no te quedará sitio para nuevas ideas.
—Esta noche —dijo Marie débilmente— nada me, gustaría más que no tener sitio para nuevas ideas, dejar de pensar, creer tanto en una cosa que no me quede tiempo para tener miedo.
—Tú no tienes miedo —dijo Joseph.
—Una religión —dijo Marie, sin prestarle atención— me serviría como una palanca para levantarme a mí misma. Pero no la tengo y no sé cómo levantarme."
Y el final, increíble.
Uno nunca se lo espera con Bradbury. Si bien siempre deja pistas, indirectas, indicios y presagios de lo que va a pasar o de lo que va a ser el final, uno nunca se lo espera.
Dos personajes tan locos como la historia que viven.
December 20, 2023
For the Morgue
18 December 2023
Like a lot of these short stories there is quite a lot you don’t know, but then again I somewhat suspect that that is quite intentional. Like, all you need to know is what is needed to know for you to understand what is going on in the story, but not enough that you are also left wondering, as is also the case with this one.
So, a couple visits this small village in Mexico to go and see a gravesite. You get a grave as long as you can afford to pay the rent, and when you can no longer afford to pay the rent, well, you are relegated to this communal tomb. We spend some time down here, learning about the rites, and also about the people who are down here. The problem is that the wife is really creeped out (and honestly, who can blame her).
She wants to leave, but the problem is that there are barriers to her leaving. Like, the car breaks down and will take a few days to fix. Also, it is too expensive to catch a bus back to the United States. Mind you, the things that aren’t being said is whether he is being honest or not. The wife is certainly spooked, but he doesn’t seem to be all that bothered. Actually, the more you read, you sort of get the impression that he is getting rather annoyed with her pushing him around.
We don’t know what happens, though I get a pretty good idea. Mind you, I’m actually not quite sure this would be all that acceptable these days, particularly with the number of women who are murdered by their spouses, but you could sort of say that this is something that this book is trying to uncover. Mind you, it could also be like Breaking Bad, where the most disliked character ended up being Skyler White – which was quite unintentional (though it probably says more about the viewers than the creators).
It’s an interesting, abliet short, story. I didn’t mind it.
18 December 2023
Like a lot of these short stories there is quite a lot you don’t know, but then again I somewhat suspect that that is quite intentional. Like, all you need to know is what is needed to know for you to understand what is going on in the story, but not enough that you are also left wondering, as is also the case with this one.
So, a couple visits this small village in Mexico to go and see a gravesite. You get a grave as long as you can afford to pay the rent, and when you can no longer afford to pay the rent, well, you are relegated to this communal tomb. We spend some time down here, learning about the rites, and also about the people who are down here. The problem is that the wife is really creeped out (and honestly, who can blame her).
She wants to leave, but the problem is that there are barriers to her leaving. Like, the car breaks down and will take a few days to fix. Also, it is too expensive to catch a bus back to the United States. Mind you, the things that aren’t being said is whether he is being honest or not. The wife is certainly spooked, but he doesn’t seem to be all that bothered. Actually, the more you read, you sort of get the impression that he is getting rather annoyed with her pushing him around.
We don’t know what happens, though I get a pretty good idea. Mind you, I’m actually not quite sure this would be all that acceptable these days, particularly with the number of women who are murdered by their spouses, but you could sort of say that this is something that this book is trying to uncover. Mind you, it could also be like Breaking Bad, where the most disliked character ended up being Skyler White – which was quite unintentional (though it probably says more about the viewers than the creators).
It’s an interesting, abliet short, story. I didn’t mind it.
January 30, 2024
Voy a acordarme de este cuento cuando vaya a algún museo. Qué imaginación. Me encanta cuando Bradbury se mete con la fantasía y bordea lo sobrenatural. Aquí se mete por nuestros sentidos para hacernos presentes en esa catacumba con esas momias. El nerviosismo de Marie se nos cuela por la piel con la narración. La elección de palabras para las descripciones me dieron escalofríos por momentos y me hicieron aplaudir en otros por lo ingeniosas. Está todo muy bien construido. Guardé un montón de frases, lo amé.
June 25, 2025
“What are our plans for today?” she asked.
“We’re going to see the mummies,” he said.
“Yo quiero veo las mommias, si?”
One hundred and fifteen of them in all. “… one hundred-throated, unending scream.”
Such a great, creepy short story! I re-read it this time because a barista I know had actually been to see the mummies just last summer! And it was totally worth it! Strangely, the details of the sugar skull candies remained strong in my remembrance of the story. “Marie, it said.”
“Ah, no, senor, one would not wish to be next.”
“We’re going to see the mummies,” he said.
“Yo quiero veo las mommias, si?”
One hundred and fifteen of them in all. “… one hundred-throated, unending scream.”
Such a great, creepy short story! I re-read it this time because a barista I know had actually been to see the mummies just last summer! And it was totally worth it! Strangely, the details of the sugar skull candies remained strong in my remembrance of the story. “Marie, it said.”
“Ah, no, senor, one would not wish to be next.”
October 29, 2018
I read this from the "October Country" collection, but this was the only story I wanted to read. I picked this up because of Caitlin Doughty's book "From Here to Eternity" and wanted to read the creepy story about the Mexican mummies. Had a good amount of creep factor, and I liked the ending and how Joseph's character started to change.
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June 8, 2023It was fun to read this the day after visiting the Guanajuato mummies, and the story is a great companion piece to that particular experience. But even given that it was written in the 1940s, it’s remarkably unselfaware in its racism and almost hilariously misogynistic — and the type of self-indulgent short story that makes people dislike short stories.
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September 4, 2023I assume that this was the basis for the Life Work of Juan Diaz from the Alfred Hitchcock Hour but I can't find anything to confirm. Nice imagery but I think I need someone to explain the ending to me...
November 10, 2022
Bradbury could bore the spines off a cactus with his purple prose: "Her eyes were hot and pregnant, swollen with child of terror behind the buried, taughtened lids."
November 18, 2022
/stare
Like, these aren't stories, they're just ideas for a story, but they're super fuckin weird and should maybe be left on the cutting room floor. I don't know about this Bradbury guy.
Like, these aren't stories, they're just ideas for a story, but they're super fuckin weird and should maybe be left on the cutting room floor. I don't know about this Bradbury guy.
November 26, 2023
i was quite into this story & enjoying the declining state of that annoying woman.
but i was very underwhelmed by that abrupt and confusing ending.
but i was very underwhelmed by that abrupt and confusing ending.
August 22, 2024
Just couldn’t get into it.
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April 17, 2025there was no need for Bradbury to go so hard for whatever the fuck that was.
November 14, 2025
The real and only horror is being in a loveless marriage and a man
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews