Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.

When I got this book, I mistakenly thought it was only the novella "Ghost Camera." But no! This collection has a number of short stories--of varying length--bookended between two novellas (the last being "A Box of Tapes").

I really enjoyed this. I'm not usually a short story reader (when pleasure reading) but this one hit the spot in a number of ways. Some of the shorts work better than others--"Death Birds" didn't do it for me, but I got a huge kick out of "House on Boxwood Lane." As for the longer entries, I thought "Ghost Camera" started out great--sooo creepy and unsettling--though it got away from me a bit as the story progressed.

My favorite was the last: "A Box of Tapes." With some freaky allusions to The Ring (or Ringu), this story is about a single mom who, with her young daughter, moves into a new house and finds a box of VHS tapes. There's a note attached that says (I'm paraphrasing here) to NOT WATCH! So of course, like I would as well, she watches. And things get super creepy from that point on.

I think this collection is worthwhile just for the last story. Horror collections are tough because many of us have really narrow ideas of what a scary story should be like and what kind of ending we like the best. But overall this a fun collection of spooky tales, especially for the fall season.

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection.
The last story, Box of Tapes, was a standout and it made the biggest impression on me. It was the longest one besides the title story which was just okay. Other ones that stick out were Run to Broken Ridge Lighthouse and Remains which both had twists that were well done. The rest of the stories didn't get below a 3 star which is pretty rare in my case. I don't read short story collections often so this one was surprisingly easy to pick up and finish which is where I struggle the most.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with this ARC.

WOW well now I will now have nightmares about this book!
Darcey Coates always hits the nail on the head for the perfect creepy story especially right here at Halloween!

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this advanced copy!

I can always count on a creepy read from Coates, and I especially enjoy them at this time of year. As with most short story collections, I liked some more than others. Ghost Camera was my favorite. Not long after reading it, I was at a book festival where one of the vendors used a similar camera to take pictures of attendees. I immediately thought of that story, and it nearly sent a shiver down my spine. Death Birds is an unusual story, but I think that’s what I enjoyed about it. It takes a different path and is unlike anything I’ve read by this author.

If you enjoy relish reading spine-tingling stories while curled up on the sofa with your favorite pumpkin spiced beverage, you can’t go wrong with this collection.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

3 stars even though I enjoyed the ghost camera story, I did not like how there were several other short stories behind that. It was very confusing and took me by surprise. Wasn’t what I thought at all!!

Honestly, why did it have to be so scary 😭 the first story and last bonus story creeped me out so badly that I made this a strictly daytime read ONLY

It was absolutely perfect for this spooky month.

Holy moly this book freaked me out. I loved the first story Ghost Camera, that was the story that scared me the most. I will admit I didn't read the author's note at the beginning so I was surprised when the story ended with so many pages left but I love short stories so I'm not complaining. Some of the stories were hit or miss for me but for the most part I really enjoyed all of them. Darcy Coates writing has a great way of immersing me in a story with the details and the horror that I mainly base my review off of how much I enjoyed the book and not so much the plot. This book took me less than 8 hours to fly through, I was enjoying myself so much.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for the gifted copy for my honest review!

I've enjoyed other works by Darcy Coates in the past so I was excited to get the chance to pick this one up and I was not disappointed. There was a really good mix of stories in this collection, ranging from pretty short and sweet to similar to a novella length. They were not all ghost stories but had a great range of different types of supernatural events and creatures, which I found I really enjoyed. It's a toss up what my favorite story was, between the first and last stories, but there weren't any that I disliked. Coates' writing is easy to consume and definitely at points of high tension does a really good job of holding the attention and keeping the pages turning. They are an auto buy author for me already and each book I read just further cements that.

3.5 rounded up
I’m a big fan of Darcy Coates and hadn’t read this story before so was interested to read the revised version. Also included here are a number of other short stories to flesh this out into a full book. The premise story reminded me of Japanese horror stories which I love. I really like this author and while I didn't love this book, I will certainly read more by them in the future. I liked the idea of this one more than the execution and found that even with the revised and updated story, it just didnt quite excel to the level that I thought it would based on my previous experiences with this author. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review.

The second time reading this was just as great as the first. I have been wanting a physical copy of this since I first read it years ago and I finally get it. And it's even better because there's even more stories included in it.

I originally read "Ghost Camera" years ago and loved the quick and terrifying story. Years later it still holds up. The story gets right to the point, the characters are lovable, and there are many spooky scenes throughout. Some short stories don't feel complete and may have an open ending but the ending of this story feels perfect.

Each of the additional short stories are intriguing and have those horror themes that Darcy Coates is known for. Some of the stories are super short and some are more of a traditional novella length but no matter the length all of the stories left me with a creepy feeling. The topics range from finding a church in the middle of nowhere with statues in them to finding some creepy VHS tapes in a kid's closet (I'm a sucker for a found footage story). There's something for everyone.

This book is quick to get through and perfect for those looking for short and haunting stories.

When I started reading this I was quite disappointed to learn that it was a short story collection as there was no hint of that and I was looking forward to a full length ghost camera story. It's stated at the beginning of the book that this was one of Coates' first books and she made some slight adjustments and re-released it (you can kind of tell that it was one of her first as the quality definitely improved with the later stories).

This collection includes Ghost Camera, Payment for the Dead, Death Birds, The House of Boxwood Lane, The Run to Broken Ridge Lighthouse, Remains, Untamed Things, Cathedral and Box of Tapes.

I loved the premise of each story and, although some were a little repetitive and had some errors, they were genuinely creepy. I'm don't think I have a favourite but Death Birds and The Run to Broken Ridge Lighthouse did stand out for me.

This was my first book by Coates but I will be reading some of her other work.

3.5 stars - Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy.

This one is going to fall In the middle for me. Somehow I missed that this was short stories and I was so invested in the first super creepy story that when it came to an abrupt halt I was disappointed, my own fault for not reading that it was a collection. However the next couple stories were not so good and I set this book aside for awhile. I rarely DNF so I picked it back up. Thankfully the last bit had some great ones. I’m not a huge fan of short stories so I found it hard to be really invested in this one but if you are a lover of short creepy stories this would be for you!

Have you ever owned a Polaroid camera? I did. I thought they were great! You didn’t have to take the film in to a store and wait for the pictures to be developed and return. In this book, Ghost camera will make you think twice about owning a Polaroid camera. In the story “Ghost Camera”
It tells you to beware of Polaroid cameras you find while circling more and more widely around your buddy’s wedding reception. Jenine imprudently starts snapping pictures of the wedding party and soon notices spectral presences in the background. Her best friend, Breanna, who owns a flower shop, encourages her to get in touch with respected ghost researcher Richard Holt, whose advice is terse— crush and burn that camera posthaste. By this time, Jenine has already snapped more pictures that reveal more ghosts. In a follow-up consultation with Holt, she learns that he had tried to help two other people who found ghost cameras that snapped photos breaking the boundary between the living and the dead, exposing them to deadly peril, which makes Jenine and Bree fear that it’s too late for them. Will they survive? In the other long story, “A Box of Tapes,” a concerned mother Tess finds a sealed box of VHS tapes nestled in the closet of her 4-year-old daughter, Kayla. “DON’T WATCH. YOU’LL REGRET IT,” advises an attached note, but Tess, like Jenine, ignores this advice, and the consequences are equally dire. The briefer stories are as spooky as the earlier two stories. The stories may be shorter they are just as spooky and creepy.

Coates revised “Ghost Camera” —so those who read the first time this story was published may noticed changes in the story.The author has written an excellent horror collection of stories from the spirit world. The ghost stories are menacing and powerful. I loved reading this whole book. She has a new fan — me! Coates make us see unhappy ghosts in these stories. If you like creepy, spooky horror stories, don’t miss this book.

the premise of this one was good in theory but I feel like the spook level never quite got there for me. There were times that were well written but everything in between was kinda dull

Jenine found a camera abandoned on the ground at a wedding she was attending. She picks it up and discovers it’s a Polaroid, so she snaps a few pictures. Every time they develop, there is a ghost in the image. The ghosts are getting closer and more hostile, and Jenine realises she may have made the biggest mistake of her life picking it up.

This collection of horror short stories by Coates was extremely well written. There wasn’t a single one that I didn’t like. The concepts were interesting and some of them, extremely creepy. While Ghost Camera took up the majority of the anthology, there were some others that stood out. There is one about a woman who finds a set of old VHS tapes in her house that gave me flashbacks to the movie called The Ring, which terrified me as a teenager. Overall, big hit for me! Thanks to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for my review copies.

A collection of ghost stories that range from a story about a "death camera" that takes pictures of ghosts that become hostile, an urban legend of a girl that was murdered on a beach, and a set of video tapes that shouldn't be watched, and more! For the most part I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection, Ghost Camera was probably my favorite and the main reason I requested this book because it reminded me of the Playstation game Fatal Frame. There were some stories that I felt were too short, even for a short story, and others that I just skipped over completely because the content was triggering or not something I enjoy reading about personally. The ones I did enjoy I found myself wanting more about the backstory or for the story to continue on. Overall I think it is a good collection but I just have a hard time reading short story collections because they are all hit or miss. 3.5 stars

I’m not generally a fan of short stories, I like characters and stories that are more fleshed out. I felt meh about all the stories save the last one, A Box of Tapes. I absolutely loved it. Reading it in bed at night, I was spooked enough to have to put it down. Honestly, I can see it as a movie, one that I would enjoy.

I loved the concept of this. There are special cameras that are able to take pictures of ghosts. Poor Jennie doesn’t know this. She finds a camera and sees images, but assumes they are a glitch. Then she starts to get hunted. There were a lot of twists and turns, and I loved it!

I usually love Darcey Coates but just could not get into this book for the life of me. It felt like the story was written in a hurry and was forced. I did not finish reading this book.

This is now one of my favorite Darcy Coates books. It's the first one that I've read that had novellas and short stories. Though I didn't love all the stories in the book there are a few really stand out ones. Box of Tapes is literally one of the scariest stories I've read in a long time and I loved the concept behind Ghost Camera and The Death Birds.

Overall I really recommend this to anyone that wants to start reading Darcy Coates because it has so many of her different style of stories all in one.