Yellowjacket Summer: 3⭐
This one starts out like a typical backwoods horror story, but there's a twist where a sinister hillbilly kid has the psychic ability to command yellowjackets to do his bidding. This one was mildly enjoyable.
Makeup: 3⭐
A crook steals a makeup case from a famous horror movie actor, and it turns out the makeup has some magical properties that transform its user into various monsters, depending on the application. This one was also simply good; but not great.
Doom City: 2.5⭐
An apocalyptic type story that starts out decent, and ends on a dream-sequence type twist we've seen a hundred times before. Meh.
Nightcrawlers: 3.5⭐
Finally, a pretty good story. This one is about an old war vet that wanders into a diner one day, bringing some... trouble along with him. It's hard to say what without spoiling it, but let's just say his PTSD and some things that happened in the war are possibly more of a threat to others than himself. This was an intriguing story with a dark and fitting ending.
Pin: 1.5⭐
I have no idea what this one is even about.
Yellachile's Cage: 2.5⭐
About a prisoner that knows voodoo, and passes his abilities along to another prisoner. It was okay, I guess?
I Scream Man: 1.5⭐
Like Pin; another very short and a "wtf did i just read" kinda story. Not for me.
He'll Come Knocking At Your Door: 4⭐
This is the best story in this collection. About a father/husband that moves to a new town with his family, in which everything seems to go exceedingly well. TOO well, as a matter of fact. Life seems perfect in this small town... until he discovers the reason for the constant good luck, and the price that is to be paid for it.
This was a very dark, creative, and even frightening, story. I enjoyed this one quite a bit - though I would have liked to see it a tad bit longer and fleshed out more. It felt too short.
Chico: 2.5⭐
A slice of life story about poverty and domestic violence. Well written, but the story doesn't go anywhere.
Night Calls the Green Falcon: 3.5⭐
This one was surprisingly enjoyable!
It's about a washed up superhero actor and stuntman who used to play the hero known as the Green Falcon. One day, after witnessing a crime perpetrated by a known serial killer, the "Green Falcon" decides to don his old costume and play vigilante.
This story was both suspenseful and quite funny. One of my favorites from this book.
The Red House: 3.25⭐
This is a strange story, that appears to be a slice of life/drama type story, but incorporates some supernatural stuff near the end. I enjoyed it.
Something Passed By: 2.25⭐
I'm already forgetting what this one is even about. Meh.
Blue World: 1.75⭐
This one is a 200 page novella about a priest that becomes obsessed with a p*rn star and stalks her... and eventually they fall in love. Need I say more?
There's also this weird subplot where a serial killer is stalking women in the adult film industry, and makes the priest's object of desire his next target - but this subplot takes up maybe 10-15 pages of this novella and feels almost entirely inconsequential to the story.
This one kind of sucked. It was also too sleazy and explicit for my tastes. I thought this was a horror book, not romance/erotica???
Overall, I can't say I'm too impressed with my first Robert McCammon outing. I'd give this book like a 2.75/5 overall, with only 3 stories in here being ones I actually cared for.
Eventually I'll try some of McCammon's novels but I fail to see the masterpiece of this short story collection that some people claim it to be.