I got the chance to review this book through the r/nosleep (and the author's own) subreddit on Reddit. Short stories that leave the reader with an eerie feeling that there may be something more out there, and not necessarily (generally not) in a good way. I have started to enjoy short horror stories recently so I've been reading up on them. And I'm pleased to say this book provides!
General verdict: If you're into eerie and mysterious settings, with plenty of room to inject your imagination, and the feeling that there might be something more out there after reading, you're going to enjoy this book! My advice would be to take the book slow. You could read through all the stories at once, but you'll probably enjoy them more if you spread them out. A nice read in the evening before going to bed.
*Very light spoilers*
The centerpiece of this book is the House with One Hundred Doors, easily the longest story in the book at 51 pages (with the next longest clocking in at 12 pages), and still my favorite. The author manages to present a very mysterious and eerie vibe in the story without overly relying on descriptions. The environments are vivid enough to create an image in your mind, but don't bog down in details. You get the sense that a larger presence is around, messing with the protagonists in a way that you don't quite understand yet. No events feel unnecessarily shoved in, and there is only one instance where I thought that the description of events was there for shock value (looking at you Pillar Room). The story doesn't overstay it's welcome, keeps events nice, haunting and concise, and builds up well enough to where you do get a good grip on the personalities of the protagonists and the surroundings. There is no attempt to overly explain everything which I really like. It's an (admittedly horrifying) adventure and you're there for the ride, mystery and all. Really enjoyed reading it again.
The other stories are, as stated, much shorter, but that does not matter. Not every story worked for me to be honest, but obviously that heavily depends on what you're looking for and how you go into the stories themselves. The majority of the stories I truly enjoyed.
What the majority of the stories does really well is providing all the necessities for the short stories to work. Hooking you in with small, but not significant events, or simple hearsay provided by others in the book. They are eerie and well-written. I for one am definitely going to be checking the number of steps on stairs in houses. Events are portrayed through the eyes of the 'protagonists' giving them a more genuine feeling, feeling horrified and mystified right along with them. Many times no answers are given, giving you space to fill in your own ideas of what's going on.
One final thing that I liked about the stories is the fact that in most stories the events are not 'random'. What I mean is that events are generally justified, either because the protagonist forgot something important, tried some dumb stuff, or ignored some important gut feeling. There are stories where the character does not do anything like that, but in those cases it's usually just bad luck. I like the fact that there is no "evil for evil's sake", events feel like a part of the world, happening because that's simply how those events happen.
In short, I enjoyed the stories. And if you're into eerie atmosphere and mystery as well, then I think you might too.
(I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.)