Ryan’s Reviews > Traps and Specters > Status Update

Red Leather is a ghost story about a anniversary dinner at a diner in a red leather booth. This story is great Fracassi takes a sweet story and flips it turning it into nightmare fuel. The imagery is very good and vivid. I like the setup and the twist was set up so well. This on wasn't the strongest but there is imagery that will stick with me for a while. 4.6

I Think My Treehouse is Haunted is a great story. It has coming of age vibes. The horror is very effected one of the best endings. The story is very tense. It develops the creeping dread very well. I love how the treehouse was described, it gave me all kinds of nostalgia. 4.8

The Resident is about a pair of brothers who break into a house and find there is more going on than they thought. This story was creepy. Great imagery with a quick pace. The story is a little predictable but still fun. The ending was good. 3.8

Dream of Me is the scariest story. Very creepy dreams described very visually. It follows Jenna who gets a dream journal from her Nana who hates her mother and blames her for killing Jenna dad who took his own life. The story was a little too long and I don't know if everything made since on the story. It was just an okay story that had good scares but I wanted more from the narrative. 3.2

The Black Rider is a super short story about an unloving grandmother who takes guardianship over two kids. She uses a figure called the Black Rider to keep the kids in line. Saying, he will ride on a dragon a pluck your sould with a scythe. The story reminded me of a fairy tale that went bad. An okay story that you could easily read in to where it is going. 3

My Love, Do Not Wake is a bizarro horror, about a married woman who has an affair. The who is the interesting part. I enjoyed this story. It says a lot about insta love and relationships. The story has a couple of twists. I only saw the last one coming but Fracassi takes the twist and keeps going.further with it. I laughed out loud at the absurdity. 3.8

Betrothed is about an older couple who have been together for 30 years, and get a burial plot together so they can be side by side forever. But what if one dies first and it gets to be an issue. I loved this short story. Very atmospheric and deals with a real conversation, that can be a little morbid. The story is very short, but I was hooked at the begining. 4.4

Point Oh One is a story about Charlie who is a gambler down on his luck. He sees an opportunity to settle somethings and takes it. This story is messy in the best ways. The story relies on a trope you've read about or scene and saw it work out smoothly, this story makes things go messy. I liked all the character reveals and the ending. 4.1

The Hunter I fast paced super short story, with great descriptions. I loved the twist and did not predict it. It is about an abused son that finds help in the darkness. 4

King Mob is a story that has great descriptions, but I could not connect with the story. The story involved the poet William Blake, which I have a passing knowledge of. I guessed the twist which Fracassi has fun with the imagery. If you know Blake's poems you will get more out of the story than I did. I thought more could have been done to show his poetic mind. 2