Lee Foust’s Reviews > Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper: Tales of Horror > Status Update

"Beetles" Again with the mummies! I imagine another early tale: quite Lovecraftian. Doesn't play to Bloch's strong points--although certainly a gesture toward the psychological horror for which he's famous.

"The Cloak" Perfect Bloch. the narrator here is Bloch's best cynical, hard-boiled voice who keeps on slipping into the forced purple prose of the romantic Gothic. And that is also what happens in the story. Excellent wedding of form and content.

"The House of the Hatchet" A perfectly crafted gruesome little tale. It plays perfectly to Bloch's strengths--a hard boiled narrator, his ironic humor, and a grisly, ghostly, and reasonably unexpected ending. Nicely done.

"The Eyes of the Mummy" Not a whole lot you can do with mummies except bring them back to life. VERY perfunctory set up without much atmosphere, but the denouement wasn't horrible although narratively-speaking a real stretch. Seems like younger, unseasoned Bloch.

"Yours Truly, Jack the Riper." Apparently Bloch's breakthrough, his first great success outside of his youthful Lovecraftian tales. It's a good one & features what will become his trademark: a melding of the macabre & the hard-boiled detective fiction of the era. The beatnik scene here is funny too. The eternal ripper trope became a staple in later years through Bloch reusing it & others ripping it off mostly for TV.

"The Dream-Makers" A lovely 5-part hard-boiled tale about the magical beauty of silent films and possibility that free will is an illusion. The very best of the pulps: outcast, common man philosophy.

"Sweets for the Sweet." Classic pithy Bloch. Economical to a tee, just on the creepy edge of gross. Perfect for the pre-1970s weird tale.