Tales of a Security Guard

Nosleep Scary Stories #3

by Boris Bacic

Ignore the tapping on the window. Don't leave the guardhouse after 3 AM. If you hear your shift partner calling out for help - run. These are only some of the rules the security guards that work for The Company need to follow in order to survive their shifts. A veteran guard recounts the grim experiences on his job that he narrowly survived - and those of the other guards who weren't as lucky. Is it ghosts? Monsters? Something entirely different? The guards know only the one thing that The Company tells them - if you want to survive until morning, follow the rules

Genres: Horror, Audiobook, Short Stories, Mystery, Fiction

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2020

About the author

"Boris is my favorite author on Nosleep, he's always killing it with his stories!"
"The security guard series is the best one ever!!"
"I love the subtle connection between each story."
"Like R.L. Stine, but better."
"I want to see this book as a Netflix mini-series!"
"No one can scare me like Boris."

Both traditionally and self-published, Boris is a prolific writer whose horror novels often find themselves on the #1 bestselling ranks. With the books he has published, he is quickly becoming a big name in the horror community.

His stories have been narrated by famous YouTube and podcast narrators, including MrCreepypasta, CreepsMcPasta, DrCreepen, etc. His book, Tales of a Security Guard, is currently in the works to become a short film.

Reviews

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: "The Rules Are There for a Reason… and So Is My Resignation Letter"

Finished this book in one day—partly because it was that good, and partly because stopping felt like inviting whatever lurks in its pages to come get me. Solid 4 stars!

From page one, it's all action, all tension, all why-would-anyone-take-this-job energy. The security guards in this story are paid handsomely, but no paycheck is worth dealing with that. Creepy encounters? Check. Unsettling rules? Check. The constant feeling that something is watching from the shadows? Double check. It’s the kind of horror I enjoy—more eerie atmosphere than splatter-fest. I like to keep my clothes clean while reading, thank you very much. There is one part that gets a bit too bloody and, honestly, kind of gross. That cost it a star because ew.

But overall? Fantastic read. Suspenseful, eerie, and just enough “NOPE” moments to remind me that I would absolutely run if anyone offered me this job. Highly recommend—just maybe don’t read it on your night shift… alone… in a dark room.

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book which made it a lot more fun to read. I didnt enjoy how all over the place the book was.

(not QUITE spoilers ahead. discussing the book layout)

The first few chapters were the person's experience learning about the place, and then like 50 chapters are just him telling other guards stories. We never really get to fully experience the story because its being told to us like someone telling a story to another person secondhand.
I do think it was interesting, and the universe and creatures they made are fascinating. But I dont think I would have picked this up if it wasn't an audiobook.

[Jakob Shingler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a strong 4.5 stars for this one!

“The guards know only the one thing that The Company tells them - if you want to survive until morning, follow the rules”

Following the rules do prove to benefit the narrator when he recounts his own, and other coworkers, encounters when servicing the sites they work at. They’re all security guards and are paid handsomely for the job they do, but what they are told to do is to make sure gets in or out. The best way to describe all the horrors from his tales are to think of those visual illustrations from the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” books. Yeah, that’s how disturbing and bone chilling they were.

The “Fertility Project” chapters and any of the stories involving creepy children were my favorite parts of the book. This was my first experience with Bacic’s work and can’t wait to run into more of his stuff. His writing style reminds of how R. L. Stine wrote the Goosebumps books, childhood favorites of mine. He’s able to grip you in with what’s going on in the background, what the character(s) are feeling, and then reel you in with creatures/ghouls they’re seeing. Very similar between the two and very enjoyable. Would highly recommend reading this, though it was better as any audiobook as you could feel the narrator’s emotions during his tales.

Also the reason it didn’t get the full 5 stars is because the author started telling stories from other employees’ perspectives for the last couple chapters instead of sticking with the same narrator. I thought that was a little inconsistent on his part, but it wasn’t enough to take me away from the story.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way this book was laid out was interesting. It starts with the security guards first night on the job which is a pretty good sized story and then it moves on to just short little stories, tales he has heard from other guards. The last portion is another good sized story and then a couple more stories that expand a bit on some of the tales from earlier.
The book was a good read and somewhat spooky.

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Твърде често днес хорърът деградира до кървища и простотии, които на мен поне ми звучат като неуважение към големите творци от миналото като Хауърд Лъвкрафт и Алджърнън Блекууд, а за опитите по посока на тъй наречената политкоректност дори не ми се коментира. Но ето, че творци като Бачич показват, че ужасът отново може да бъде свеж и смразяващ, да плаши, да вдига адреналина. Затова и препоръчвам книгата на всички, които искат да си спомнят защо всъщност хората се боим от тъмното.
Цялото ми ревю може да се прочете в Цитаделата:
https://citadelata.com/tales-of-a-sec...

[Uptown Horror Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book features a collection of short stories, some that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and will have you looking over your shoulder. Unfortunately though, the subject matter gets pretty repetitive after a while and the book features a mini-novella that I didn't really care for.

All in all it was an enjoyable read, but a good amount of the stories featured in this book could've (and maybe should've) been scrapped.

[Northern Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I start! Right up my street. Read it in one sitting and left me wanting more. Fans of creepy pastas and the magnificent, im a search and rescue officer for the US forest service reddit thread will love this book. Read it twice within a week!!!

[Ian Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unexpectedly awesome collection of short stories. Never before have I been so interested in hearing about security guards and what goes on during their rounds. Plus, Mr. Bacic’s writing is very well done. I felt like I was on my first night on the job while the grizzled old vet regaled me of his career thus far.

This was my first from Mr. Bacic but it certainly won’t be the last.

[Aiden ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

the writing was clunky at times but i liked the concept, 3.5 rounded up

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummm. I really wasn’t all that spooked by it. I was listening to the audiobook on spotify, but I feel like the narrator sounded more like the AI voice than a real person. I also think I needed a little more variety. Felt very repetitive at points and the point of the story was all the same. I like the concept though.

[Elitsa Dimitrova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of a Security Guard - Boris Bacic

Това ми е третата книга, която чета от сръбския хорър автор – Борис Бачич.
Имаше някои много добри попадения.
Мистериозни, мрачни, кратки разкази (в стила на NoSleep), без ненужни детайли.
Някои от разказите са по-скоро обобщения на други негови книги (разказани през очите на охранителя). Предстои да ги прочета и нямам търпение, защото изобщо не става напълно ясно какво точно се случва. Нито как ще завърши. Но пък успя да събуди любопитството ми.

Не обръщайте внимание на почукването по прозореца…
Не напускайте охранителният пост след 3 часа сутринта, каквото и да става…
Ако чуете вашия партньор да вика за помощ – игнорирайте… или бягайте…
Ако чуете деца, които викат за помощ – не отивайте – в сградата няма деца…
Не говорете с мъжа с бялата престилка…

Това са само част от правилата на охранителите, които работят за „Компанията“, а те трябва да се спазват стриктно, ако искат да оцелеят на смяната си.
Охранител ще разкаже мрачните си преживявания по време на работа, при които е оцелял на косъм, както и историите на негови колеги, някои от които не са имали този късмет…
Призраци? Чудовища? Или нещо съвсем различно?
Пазачите знаят само едно нещо (което Компанията им е казала): Ако искате да оцелеете до сутринта, спазвайте правилата…

--->
Заповядайте в група My Books/Моите книги:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/my.bo...

[Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Boris's stories on Reddit's /r/nosleep back in 2020 and rereading my favorite collection of stories by Boris was a joy. Boris starts by establishing the universe with a short story following a new security guard going through an on-the-job "interview." He then follows up with short stories within the universe, introducing different recurring characters from time to time and weaving in mentions of other stories as well. I highly recommend this book to everyone who want some nice and quick scares!

[Kathryn Grace Loves Horror · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creepy collection of solid horror stories with some legitimate chills to be found. The writing is very simple, but I don’t mean that in a bad way-it adds to the “supposedly true” vibe these stories have going, and makes many of the tales perfect for reading aloud on a dark night.

[Mahira · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this is the second book I've read from this author so far, there isn't really a way to compare them, since they differ greatly in style. To be precise, this book is very specific – it is a collection of tales (I would probably use some different words but more about that later) that share a common theme, mostly also a common narrator but do not form one cohesive story.
Now, there are various types of short stories here that can be divided into three categories: A) snippets that are shorter than 2 pages, B) shorts that range from 2 to 3 & ½ pages, and C) short stories that are 4+ pages long. The B group then being represented the most (at ~20), followed by the A group (at ~14) and finally by the C group (at ~8). And... this is probably the biggest problem I have with this book. That is, there is a variety of stories, some better and some worse but almost always too short and too shallow to actually get the reader hooked and leave a memorable impression. So for me personally, it for the most part didn't feel like a collection of stories, it felt like an idea dump. And some of the ideas are really good, just... not followed through on for long enough. Still, however, there are some that spiked my interest and that I liked despite the abovementioned issue I have with the book.


Snippets
The gate, Hive mind, It's all in your head
Shorts
Singing guard, Mrs. Rogers, Missing partner, Looping stairs, Invisible people, Don't close the doors, The hole, The Giggler, Morgue, Black-eyed people
Short stories
House of rules, The morgue, The hotel, The residential building


Content-wise, the stories are fairly similar to those of SCP Foundation which the author acknowledges when the narrator – a guard at the security company – explicitly states that the company is not SCP, which is fair. Still, in every story here, something paranormal happens and it's either the narrator or his colleagues or colleagues of his colleagues that have encountered it or on rarer occasions had to deal with it. Since there is also a heavy emphasis on rules being set out for each location, it sometimes gets a little repetitive. There are also some... I decided to call them follow-ups that bring up the same paranormal activity again but from a different perspective. Once, there is also an elaborated and slightly modified retelling of a previous story (The residential building is basically the same as Dead man walking but longer and better). Overall, I would say the longer stories are usually better for reasons stated above but it is not the case always.

In addition to those short stories, there is a longer (~22-page) story, a follow-up to Return of the black-eyed people written from the perspective of a guard nicknamed "Survivor" that went to check up on the facility from The Fertility Project another (~16-page) story here now written from the perspective of a research assistant. Bacic also has a book called The Fertility Project but I am not sure whether this is a brief showcase of it or a separate maybe early-idea version of it (probably the latter given the year of publication) as there are other short stories after it. Still, both of these were enjoyable and quite readable but I have similar problems here as I had with the first book, i.e. the characters are a bit 2D, there are very few inner monologues and some big decisions then seem to be taken without much contemplation and issue, and the text could use a thesaurus. I am sorry for pointing this out but some of the words, especially less common adjectives are repeating way too often for it not to be noticeable and mildly annoying.

So, do I recommend this book? Actually yes. As much as many of the stories indeed aren't memorable and I can say I genuinely liked about one third of them, there are some interesting concepts and ideas which are memorable (even if they have been already used and recycled by SCP or whatever other story community) and the only reason they haven't made it to the list provided above is because they were too shallow, too short for their own good. That kind of ruined them for me but it might not ruin them for you.

[Izzy Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tales of a Security Guard was the first book I read by Boris Bacic, and as soon as I finished the book I asked my parents if they could download any more of his books for me, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was gripping, and kept me on edge with each chapter. After I had gotten my second book, 'It came from the ice', I was pleasantly surprised that the book format was completely different to Tales of a Security Guard. I had expected it to be little short stories, but it was an entire book. Overall, I loved Tales of a Security Guard, I would read again, and I will continue to read more of Bacic's books. I have now read over 7 of his books.

[Clout Syder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled with the rating for this one. Sure, it's a predictable book with some VERY cheesy parts... but it's a book that never lies to the reader. It gets straight to the point and delivers many short, fun horror stories.

Vibe wise, it's a blend of the SCP foundation, FNAF (kinda), and Lethal Company. If your favourite part of those games was the monster lore, then you'll probably enjoy this one.

As previously stated, nothing here will suprise you if you're familiar with horror, but it's oddly charming despite some eye rollingly cringe sections.

[E Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audiobook on my way to and from work. It's a nice read/listen if you enjoy media like the SCP stuff, Archive 81, or the Magnus Archives. it's kind of told through micro chapters. a cool thing about this book is that the last couple chapters go back to places we've briefly heard about in earlier chapters. I remember thinking DUDE DONT DO THAT because there was a character that didn't read the rules for his position. the first few chapters are slow, but it picks up after that. nothing is really explained in depth, which really adds to the uneasy feeling.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of a Security Guard - 4/5
By Boris Bacic

This was a really good short story anthology. My only criticism is that it didn’t feel like it had been proof-read or edited, but it didn’t really detract from the story telling so it’s all good.

These stories creeped me out and did make me think that things were going to come out of the shadows to get me, again making me turn all the lights on in the house!

Overall a very good read!

[Trevor Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Security Company that you never want to work for

The best horror stories that I have read in quite some time ,very well written by Boris Bacic , some are from the first person point of view and also some from the third person but always chilling .
Shivers are complementary and they can be found everywhere in the collection. I think that I can recommend this book to anyone and I certainly will read some of the others by the Author .

[Globalt38 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting - not bad but little scattered

Interesting collection of "stories" but kinda scattered all over the place. Couple large plot holes in several (large bottomless hole in basement that people have fallen into but no one thinks to put a covering over it?). Also a lot of simplistic conspiracy theory type plots (professor at non-descript school somehow runs a top secret program with secret plans to "weaponize" the results).

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ rounded up. Some of these were very creepy, others kinda funny. I could absolutely feel the NoSleep vibe in the writing, which makes me feel both nostalgic and appreciative of these stories finding their way to publishing. With that though, it sounded like it was pulled straight from Reddit without any edits to polish it up. I’d like to see this a little more cohesive and I think we’d have a hell of a book!

[cre8tive_reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

📖

Tales of a Security Guard by Boris Bacic

😐😐😐

This book wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I liked some of the stories more then other. There were a couple stories of like to read a full book about.
I did see he has a couple more books that are more detailed stories from this book. So I'll give those a try.
For a short story book it's good. Format is kind of weird though to in my opinion.
Good little book to have as a backup read.

[ABitterScreenwriter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun collection of shorts straight from Reddit.

Some of the writing isn't quite as polished as it is in Bacic's other books, and several of the stories repeat, with a nearly full retread of Fertility Project thrown in near the end, but overall it's exciting and a good way to spend a few hours.

[Jenna Auburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. The opening section was particularly powerful. Some of the following tales were better than others, but overall I'd say Boris Bacic has a nice writing style. His words flow easily off the page in a way that holds the interest, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of the author's work.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not find this book in the least bit scary. A little creepy at times but I found myself yawning and skipping pages here and there hoping it would get scarier, it never did. I really wanted to like this book too after the first story but it lacked a lot of description that could have been used to set the scene more.

[Joan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank You Boris Bacic, and
narrator J Kirk

Thank You
Tiffany Koplin (for the for the code)

This is a Collection of Short Stories of several bizzare days in the life of a Security Guard. Towards the middle of the collection, some stories sound to similar to ones already read/listen.
The author ending was a good twist.

Surrealism
Supernatural

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio book review - this was a ton of fun with a lot of short stories and a few longer ones about security guards encountering really weird stuff after being hired and tested by a mysterious employer. Some of it was supernatural, some was genetic experimentation, but it was all fun to listen to. Some really good scares here!

[Laurie C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm hooked

This was exactly what I was looking for and I'm going to be buying this series. I like getting scary story books and I've bought nothing but duds recently until this book. It was worth paying for. With all the .99 cents I've spent, I could've bought the whole Security Guard series. Lesson learned! ☠️ I'm

[Taz Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed listening to this book, binged it all in one day and it gave me the vibe of 'The back rooms' and 'lethal company'
the whole concept and tales has me on edge and some even made my skin crawl
for someone who loves horror and cryptic tales this was right up my alley and I went into this book completely blind

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Boris's books but this is not one. The first chapter was tantalizing, but the following 'security guard' stories became redundant.
I wouldn't waste my time reading unless you really REALY have a lot of time!