The poorly made and other things A story collection

Rebelein (Edenville) takes a novel approach to the small-town horror story in this collection whose 12 entries interlock to form a dark diorama of Renfield County, a Hudson River Valley community cursed by a historical episode of violent bloodshed. In "The Stain," a frame narrative whose events are also interwoven between the individual stories, Rachel Durwood emails her estranged brother, Tom, a report cobbled together from "anecdotes and articles and newspaper clippings" about a local father's inexplicable slaughter of his family in 1927. Blood and debris from the man's blighted homestead have since been dispersed around the county, spreading the madness that fuels each tale's horrors. "Red X" follows a young woman whose paranoid belief that she endured an alien abduction culminates in her horrific attempt at self-salvation. "Detour" is a Twilight Zone--esque tale of a motorist diverted down back roads to a destination whose signposts appear increasingly ominous. In "So My Cousin Knew This Guy," a harried worker's search for tranquility through meditation opens a window on a world of demons. Rebelein deploys gruesome physical horrors, including cannibalism and self-mutilation, in service to his elaboration of the haunting setting. There's enough fear and mystery on offer here that horror fans will hope to return to Renfield county in future installments. (Feb.)

Before publishing his acclaimed debut novel, Edenville, set in the fictional Renfield County, NY, Rebelein wrote a series of stories framed around the place, tales that not only elevate the novel but also establish their author as a must-read voice in horror. The Renfield stories, collected here, begin with a distraught Rachel emailing her brother Tom to explain that she has been researching the notorious history of their hometown in Renfield and has learned that the land itself may be responsible for innumerable deaths, including that of the siblings' own mother. Rachel's emails keep coming, in between terrifying, unnerving stories steeped in madness, evil, and violence, featuring other characters who are all connected to the Renfield universe. Taken on its own, each tale is horror perfection, as dread seeps in slowly until it explodes, and readers are left in breathlessly horrifying awe. Framed by Rachel's urgent revelations and a final story starring Tom, Rebelein's book ratchets up the terror and brings it straight into readers' homes. VERDICT A stellar collection for fans of horror that creates connected mythos centered around the horror of a place (see the work of Josh Malerman), as well as for readers who appreciate illicitly alluring, biting short stories that smack them over the head, of the kind written by Sarah Read and Cassandra Khaw.