Nightmare Asylum & Other Deadly Delights by Sonia Kilvington & Craig Douglas | Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Nightmare Asylum – Despised by day, tortured by night.A midwifery student’s life disintegrates into a terrifying nightmare, after a disturbing encounter with the notorious child killer, Evelyn Green. Dark secrets from Lydia’s past unleash a truth that conjures her fears into unspeakable horror. Other Deadly Delights – Tales from the psychotically unsound and deadly deluded.A stalker turns serial killer; a cleaning lady is imprisoned in the basement, there’s a prophetic warning for a woman in peril, and an android with love addiction, plus many more… a deliciously dangerous collection of short stories, ranging from psychological horror to paranormal, sci-fi and noir.Dare you enter the nightmare Asylum?

Anyone that has stuck around long enough knows that horror is my favourite genre, and I will lap up anything that is creepy, haunted, or plain dark.  I love a good horror short story collection and the opportunity to review this was an extremely exciting prospect.  There are eighteen stories in all, and they all fall within the realms of horror, thriller, and suspense.  I always think it’s especially hard to review a collection of stories because there is always going to be ones you love and ones that don’t mould particularly well with your tastes.  Nightmare Asylum was a good selection, and it was a fun ride!

Nightmare Asylum was a nice quick read, the stories were short and snappy, and I finished the book in one sitting.  The story highlighted everything that I adore about horror.  We have authentic characterisation, and it opened my mind to possibilities that I would only dare to dream of.  One thing I did love about this collection of stories was how I could imagine sitting around a campfire, everyone taking it in turns to tell a scary story on Halloween.  It had a strong voice, and I could listen to it for hours and hours. 

One of the stories that stood out for me was the opener, Nightmare Asylum.  It chilled me to the bone.  The first thing that came to my mind was thinking it reminded me hugely of Shutter Island.  The plot played with your mind, there was red herring aplenty and there was the killer twist.  The ending did emit a gasp of surprise and shock.  It was the strongest story out of the collection.  I could picture the darkness, the suspense and wouldn’t be out of place with some suspenseful music accompanying it. 

My other favourite was Cry Baby.  This was a dark story but one that had such a compelling storyline that it had me hooked, line and sinker.  The eerie edge to the stalking of a victim, the reasoning behind it and the final curtain call, brought me out in a sweat.  The words danced in front of me, but I happily consumed all the author was conveying.  It was a story that highlighted the curse of our upbringings.  A mother’s love is one of the most pure and untainted things…without it, where would we be? 

There was a few that I didn’t rate so highly but that’s ok because you are never going to have a collection that you love everything from.  Overall, it was exceptionally good collection and I look forward to hopefully reading more from the author.  Nightmare Asylum will probably give me at least a few nightmares in the nights to come!

ABOUT SONIA KILVINGTON

Journalist/Writer/ESL Teacher

Bio: Sonia Kilvington is a journalist, fiction writer and ESL teacher from the beautiful Mediterranean island of Cyprus. She has published many articles, travel features, short stories and interviews in glossy magazines. She loves to write dark and disturbing short stories in genres such as noir, crime, ghost and Sci-fi. Her online writing credits include Out of the Gutter Online, Spelk fiction, Pulp Metal Magazine & Near to the Knuckle.

Her new short story collection, Nightmare Asylum & Other Deadly Delights – published by Close To The Bone, is available on Amazon.

Nightmare Asylum – Despised by day, tortured by night.

A midwifery student’s life disintegrates into a terrifying nightmare, after a disturbing encounter with the notorious child killer, Evelyn Green. Dark secrets from Lydia’s past unleash a truth that conjures her fears into unspeakable horror.

Other Deadly Delights – Tales from the psychotically unsound and deadly deluded.

A stalker turns serial killer; a cleaning lady is imprisoned in the basement, there’s a prophetic warning for a woman in peril, and an android with love addiction, plus many more… a deliciously dangerous collection of short stories, ranging from psychological horror to paranormal, sci-fi and noir.

Dare you enter the Nightmare Asylum?

SONIA KILVINGTON