My first thought about this book is that cover blows me away. I'm not going to lie and say it definitely pulled me in. Smart choice.

Aside from the cover the short stories are entertaining, and can be spooky. I am a fan of short stories so it worked for me. I also like how the author uses comedy in his writing because we all need a few laughs amongst the chaos.

I wasn't a big fan on the nonfiction aspect of the book but if you're someone who enjoys the details of author's lives, you'll be satisfied.

"Night and Day" by John Connolly had the potential to be interesting, and I was really looking forward to working my way through his short stories, as Halloween, horror, and creep are my favorite things to read in short story format. But alas, the tone that Connolly is able to strike so easily with his long lasting Charlie Parker series just wasn't quite there with this collection. In those books the connected-ness of the characters and plot lend itself to a similar short story collection, and Connolly excels at making the hair on your arms stand up with Parkers ins and outs...but this collection didn't quite have that same spark. Interesting, and a must-read for any die-hard John Connolly fan but if you're new to his work, pick up the first Parker book...it will serve as a better example of what you can expect and enjoy from this prolific and gifted author.

As always, I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to have an early read by netgalley and Atria Books. The opinions in this review are expressly those of ButIDigressBookClub and are intended for use by my followers and friends when choosing their next book. #butidigress #butidigressbookclub #nightandday #johnconnolly #netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #arc #arcs

In "Night and Day," John Connolly crafts a mesmerizing collection of short stories that masterfully blur the lines between reality and the supernatural. The anthology spans diverse settings - from an otherworldly library where fictional characters come alive to the haunting English marshlands - each tale woven with Connolly's signature blend of psychological tension and supernatural elements.
What sets this collection apart is Connolly's ability to infuse profound emotional depth into his horror narratives. The stories aren't merely meant to frighten; they explore themes of loss, revenge, and healing through a darkly fantastic lens. The personal touch in the final piece, where Connolly connects horror cinema to his relationship with his late father, adds a poignant layer of authenticity to the collection.
While some readers might find the tonal shifts between stories jarring, the underlying threads of nostalgia and human connection bind these tales into a cohesive whole. For fans of literary horror and those who appreciate stories that linger in the mind long after reading, "Night and Day" offers a compelling journey through the shadows of imagination

This was pretty hit and miss for me. Some of the stories were really enjoyable, some of them were kinda boring. My favourite was the one about the ghost who keeps the old man company both while he's alive and after he dies. It was just such a wholesome tale. Contrasted with the one about revenge-killing Nazis, that one was one of my least favourites because of the disjointed narration and how long it felt because of that. Over all, I'm glad I read this, but I wouldn't read it again.

I love John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series and have read several of his other books as well so I was happy to get his newest short story collection on NetGalley (my thanks to the author and publisher). Most of the stories are great spooky tales reminiscent of the ghost stories of Susan Hill. My favorites were The Mire at Fox Tor, An Evening with an Evan’s, and The Flaw.

I was personally less thrilled with the Caxton Library stories and even less thrilled then that with the non-fiction essay about the movie Horror Express. My recommendation (unless you love that movie or have to read the essay) is to go watch the episode of Creepshow on Shudder with Justin Long where he puts himself into the movie. I personally read 50% of the essay and skimmed the rest but I at least have (mostly) seen the movie. Honestly if I had paid money for the book and the last 50% of it was a non-fiction essay about a remote horror movie that I’m going to guess most people have never seen, I’d be very peeved.

Overall there are a handful of excellent stories in this but I’m glad I did not buy it.

I really enjoyed the first part of the book. The short stories were a well-varied collection but also felt cohesive. I loved the ones about the Caxton library. Then I got to the second half of the book - I am not entirely sure what to say about this, as I read some, not all of it. I’ll be frank and say that it felt a bit self-indulgent. To go on a bit of a meandering diatribe about an obscure film that most people reading this will likely not have seen was an odd choice, in my opinion. Although, I think that those who are huge fans of Connolly may find it an interesting jaunt into the author’s personal world. I can’t say I’m enough of a Connolly fan-girl for it, but there may be those who are. The first half of the book gets 4 stars, the second is kind of hard to rate, as I just did not really have any interest in it, though Connolly’s writing there was fine.

I had a great time with this horror-ish/fantasy/sci-fiction short story collection, but, like some other readers, I bounced off the Horror Express essay. It took me a minute to catch that this was a nonfiction piece and I expected a zombie train or something for longer than I would like to admit. (I suggest reading the proper short stories separately, taking a day or two off, and then reading the Horror Express essay like you would a long-form piece in the New Yorker or similar.)

I dug most, if not all, of the remainder of the book. Mr. Connolly is exceptional at creating an eerie, gaslamp-y, Arthur Conan Doyle-like atmosphere. This is a great volume for reading on a comfy bed with a hot toddy or a cup of cocoa. I'll give an extra thumbs up to Abelman's Line, an intriguing time-travel-based sci-fi story that explores culpability, punishment, and the necessity of justice.

I really liked some of the stories in this book, especially the ones about characters from books showing up in real life, and a magical library. This really could be the basis for a whole series of fun, quick fantasy novels, which I would happily read. Out of the 9 stories only 2 didn't really click with me, which is not at all bad, and the story about punishing Nazi war criminals using time travel was a close third for my favorite story in the book. The genre range in these stories is pretty wide, spanning quite a lot of speculative fiction. I didn't enjoy the essay included at the end, and am really not its ideal audience. I suppose for readers who do want to read this essay, it is a nice bonus, but for me it would be like those tedious appendices or literary commentary essays tacked on at the end of books that most readers just skip over. Overall, I found this to be an excellent short story collection and will be recommending it to my friends and family who like short fiction.

John Connolly’s latest story collection is literally a mixed bag. Half the book is made up of nine short stories while the second half of the book contains his Phd thesis written on a film, The Horror Express, that was important to him as a young boy and, perhaps, in his development as writer. Among the stories are two more involving the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository which I enjoy. There is also Abelman’s Line, a sci fi tale that reminded me of Stanislaw Lem’s writing. I enjoyed all of the stories, most featuring gothic or ghostly subjects.

Then on reaching the halfway point, the nature of the writing changes to what Connolly calls his monograph titled The Horror Express. Some of Connolly’s readers will find this an interesting read but others, expecting more of his stories, are apt to be disappointed. Some may well be enthralled. I found myself somewhere in the middle. This section deals with the horror movie which Connolly saw when he was young, with the genre of horror filmmaking especially in Europe in the mid to late 20th century, and some of his favorite actors and personalities involved. There does seem to be a strong relationship between his obvious interest in this movie genre and his chosen subjects for his novels. Personally, I do read and enjoy his Charlie Parker novels but I’m not as fascinated by the details of filmmaking. I did watch my share of creature double features when I was young, so I did appreciate learning how one of these films was actually made.

Rating 3.5* rounded to 3.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for access to an eARC on this book.

I really liked the first half of the book, especially the Bear and the Caxton library. It went downhill in the second half of the book, where the author switches from short supernatural stories to a non-fictional look at a movie that he saw with his dad, Horror Movie. This could have been split as two books, and I would have appreciated more of Connolly's short stories. The second half of the book was a slog.

Not for me. I requested this to read in October, as I always like to stock up on "spooky stories" to get me in the Halloween mood. This wasn't quite what I expected, and not my favorite.

After reading John Connolly’s “The Land of Lost Things”, I was excited to read the collection of short stories in “Night and Day”. The first half of the book includes several magical or spooky tales. My favorite of these were the two describing activities at the Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository, a building where book characters go to retire after their author dies. I also enjoyed the science fiction story where scientists have developed a means to extract Nazi war criminals from past timelines to deliver justice.

The book lost me in the second half when the author wrote about an obscure horror movie in a dissertation-like style. Lots of references to psychology papers, introspective stories about the author’s experiences, etc. It was good writing for what it was, but it was such an abrupt change from the first half of the book and not what I was expecting that it really threw me off. I think this part would be better as a stand-alone read.

I think the author has a particularly great idea going with the Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository. There could be a whole book with adventures at the library – new characters coming to live there, the legacy of the caretakers, how the building adapts to its ever-growing population. Lots of positives for the first half of the book, but the second half was so jarringly different that I could not get into it.

There’s some good stuff here, but this isn’t Connolly’s finest work.

About half of this is actually short stories, and the entire second half of the book is Connolly’s love letter to a little-known horror film. He makes a valiant effort to make this matter, but ultimately it’s hard to stay engaged with and felt a bit self-indulgent.

The two stories about the Caxton Private Library and Book Depository are exceptional and make the collection worth reading on their own. But I wish we’d gotten more like these, or something akin to the tone of Connolly’s Book of Lost Things. Most of the rest of the short stories are okay, but they aren’t really anything new and vary wildly in terms of entertainment value. In addition to the Caxton stories, I thought The Flaw and Our Friend Carlton were quite good. The rest of this is very skippable.

I was excited to read this because I love all tbings by John Connolly but wasn’t super interested in the monograph portion. I was completely fascinated by it once I started! Loved learning more about Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, loved the lense of looking back at yourself at the time of the movie viewing. As a die hard movie person since my Nana would take me to the movies instead of to Girl Scout meetings, so much of that resonated. Highly recommend this book just for that alone.

I haven’t read a book by this author before, but the synopsis had me hooked. It’s a collection of short stories for the first half and then the latter is a look of reflection and nostalgia through filmmaking. Specifically a thorough examination of one movie… “Horror Express.” This part (the last 150 pages or so) definitely read a bit like a documentary. Fans of this author (and genre) will love the deep examination of the film and his thoughts. I wanted more of his short stories. Ones like “The Bear” “The Mire at the Fox Tor,” and “Our Friend Carlton” were excellent and shined. Spooky, atmospheric, and at times unnerving the short stories are a collection not to be missed and this author is one I will read again. 3.5/5 stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I've read all of the Charlie Parker series and many of John Connolly's other titles. He's an expert at making a short story sing. NIGHT AND DAY is a collection of 9 short stories, all of them great. The book also contains a nonfiction essay on a horror movie from Connolly's past. It was an interesting read but not on the level of his short stories. The essay did not detract from my enjoyment of the fictional pieces so this is still an easy 5 star read.

John Connolly’s writing is always great, and while most of this collection did not do much for me I can still appreciate the talent behind them. The best of the collection are the stories which focus on the Craxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository. A large part of the collection is about Horror Express. While I haven’t seen that film it’s still an interesting read.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars for Night and Day by John Connolly. The short stories in Night and Day are very good. As in between 4 and 5 stars good. Some have humor and some or spooky. They are always good. They're sometimes centering on the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository – loved these. The entire book is not a collection of short stories, however. The last installment is non-fiction. A memoir/nostalgia piece ostensibly about the horror film, Horror Express. But, I really do think it is all about nostalgia. We first get a recap on train travel and how it evolved and was formerly luxurious ala the Orient Express, but today first-class train travel although expensive is anything but luxurious. Then a full explanation of nostalgia including the etymology of the medical/psychological condition. I’m not kidding. If I’m making it sound dull, I’m failing. The train and nostalgia and the horror film are all beautifully explored by John Connolly and I loved it, too. That being said, it is a significant departure from the short fiction that precedes it. I’m still giving this 4.5 stars because I thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of this book. Thank you to #netgalley and Atria Books for my advance reader copy.

I always eagerly await anything and everything John Connolly writes.

Unlike most writers, he can adeptly switch between the extensive detail novels require and the lighter touch of a short story. I feel like his most brilliant stories hearken back to the mastery of the greats, including Edgar Allan Poe.

In this latest piece, he offers some beautiful stories, including two featuring the delightful Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository. One of those two stories shows us the start of the centuries-old Caxton Library,

In the remaining stories, he offers up the eerie, the creepy, the heartwarming, and the unsettling.

The second half of this book includes an extensive essay. In this piece, he delves deeply into a rather obscure film, detailing the film's lead actors and production team as a way of exploring his own relationship with his now-deceased father. I know some readers took issue with his including the essay. Personally, I felt it actually adds clarity into the fictional stories themselves and added to the beauty of this latest book.

I really enjoy the way John Connolly tells a story. Whether the Charlie Parker books or his younger fare from Samuel Johnson to the Lost Things novels, I find his writing style to pretty perfectly with my reading style. His books are character driven with strong and original plot lines that build on genre tropes in a way that is new and satisfying. I am not normally a reader of short stories, but Connolly is one of the few who manages to reliably provide the feel of a fully developed novel in a short story.

I loved that there were two Caxton Private Lending Library stories, and would really love to see either a full novel or a collection of tales to continue that story in the future.

I really wasn't able to get into the longest story in the book, as it referenced a movie I wasn't familiar with and I found it difficult to engage with / follow as a result. But I really enjoyed the rest of this collection and found it to offer a great blend of darker and lighter fare that felt representative of his work as a whole.