Jackknife by Joe Hill:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not my favorite by Joe Hill, but still really interesting. If I didn’t know any better I would’ve thought this was a Chuck Wendig story. The tone of it reminded be a lot of Black River Orchard. I didn’t really like any of the characters, but I thought the ending was great. Talk about Karma. Definitely Chuck Wendig meets Saw (just not nearly as bloody).

The Indigo Room by Stephen Graham Jones
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Leave it to SGJ to have such a fantastic first line! I loved the tone of this one despite how odd it was. It made me think of another short story I read about discarded office furniture that rose up against the sexist males in the office to defend the women in the company. (It sounds cheesy but it was really good!) This one was very different from everything else I’ve read from SGJ, but still interesting. I liked the main character but not the others. Cole wasn’t in the story enough for me to really form an opinion. What I really liked about this story is that it kind of took advantage of all the weird things our minds wander to when we are in those boring meetings. Coworker without a head? Sure. There’s a story for that!

The Blanks by Grady Hendrix
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This story started off so normal and then took a wild left turn that I did not expect! I loved it. I would love to see this one extended into a full length novel some day.

Night and Day in Miseries by Catriona Ward
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I want to preface this one by saying I haven’t been a huge fan of her books previously. I was starting to wonder if it’s just her writing that I don’t get on with, but this story tells me that’s not the case. I really did love this story. It was so odd and so incredibly sad! I figured out what was going on pretty quickly, but watching it play out was rough. I had *feelings* about her ex. For those of you who have trouble with child deaths, you should stay far away from this one. But if not, and you want a spooky story that smacks you right in the feels, this one is the epitome of excellence.

Letter Slot by Owen King
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved the idea of a modern Faustian bargain and the story was well-written. But FFS, the political potshots killed it for me. Honestly, it was gross. I don’t care what your politics are. It was tacky. Not a fan at all.


Huge thanks to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

The Shivers collection contains five stories from your favorite horror writers. But you will not find any light relief here. While all the stories are great, they are incredibly bleak.

Jackknife, by Joe Hill

I’ve loved Joe Hill since his first short story collection, and his short fiction always impresses. Jackknife is about a shamed, young college professor, whose text affair with a student ruins his career and his marriage. He has several encounters with a weird tree; is he losing his marbles? A really entertaining, bonkers story.

The Indigo Room, by Stephen Graham Jones

Oh my word, this story was so bleak! A struggling, newly divorced mother has to bring her kid to the office. Under the pressure of being a mother and an employee, she sees strange things in the shadows of the Indigo conference room. Absolutely harrowing.

The Blanks, by Grady Hendrix

I loved how this story unfolded. It starts on a sunny note, with a family starting their vacation in an idyllic cove on the East Coast. But why are they shunning their neighbor? We learn that this apparent paradise of this location has an unimaginable cost.

Night and Day in Misery, by Catriona Ward

These stories are so harrowing! A woman visits a hotel that holds significance for her. As we learn why she has returned, the horrors unfold. I love Ward’s writing, and this story is no exception.

Letter Slot, by Owen King

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as this story reminded me of Stephen King at his best. A boy makes a deal with an unseen penpal to get a better life for him and his single mom. It obviously goes awry, as we learn who exactly this penpal is.

SUPREMELY CREEPY!

This is a great collection of horror shorts. It isn't my usual genre but I did like these stories. They're each so creepy, scary and descriptively written.

Some of these had twists I loved. I liked Night and Day in Misery and Letter Slot best, these surprised me!
Some of them had ambiguous endings which I think lots of readers will love and others will hate, lol.

Giving 4 out of 5 stars as most of these I wouldn't reread but still enjoyed.

Several short stories that were fun to read. I liked that I got to read some authors that I have not read before. I have not read a lot of short stories in the past so this always puts a different spin on it, but leaves me wanting more. These stories got me interested in the authors and I will be looking for more books by them.

Love these stand alone short stories presented in sets of five by Amazon. These are just five scary ones, not limited to a specific topic with five great authors.

As always with a collection, these were a mixed bag. The stories by Hendrix and Ward were my favorites. The story by King was OK and I did not really enjoy the stories by Hill or Ward, which surprised me, because in the past, Joe Hill’s stories for this have been great. Everyone’s allowed an off day, though! Three stars for the five overall.

I've split my review into each story.

Story 1: Jackknife by Joe Hill - I REALLY disliked the main character in this one, I enjoyed the story, it was creepy and stuck with me, but I probably would have been more invested if I cared of the main character made it out alive.

Story 2: The Indigo Room by Stephen Graham Jones - This one was short, but definitely shiver-y to read as a mom. I'll leave it at that.

Story 3: The Blanks by Grady Hendrix - oof. This was great! Feels slightly unhinged but normal until suddenly it doesn't. The turn is quick and unexpected and very good.

Story 4: Night and Day in Misery by Catriona Ward - This one was really hard to read. I figured out what had happened week before it was explained, but that didn't really change the horror of the story.

Story 5: Letter Slot by Owen King - I liked the premise of this one, but something fell flat. The end felt very abrupt.

Overall, great collection! I love short stories and these were excellent. 4.5 ⭐

Are these horror? Am I desensitized? Is this physiological horror? I gave most of these 3 stars one got two and one got four. Averaging them to 3 stars for the collections. These are not scary, maybe the point was that some of stories could actually “happen”.

Thank you to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for this amazing arc!

I was so excited to get approved for the shivers collection because it contains short stories from several of my favorite authors including Grady Hendrix and Catriona Ward. It has five short stories that are part horror part paranormal and I enjoyed them all!!!

This was a great short story collection from some of the juggernauts in modern horror writing. I think The Blanks by Grady Hendrix was the star of the show but each and every one stands out for different reasons.

Jackknife: ★★★★☆
This 2025 story feels like it could have been written decades earlier. Very classic Stephen King feel, I wonder if Joe Hill knows the guy?

Scandalized professor Dennis is left trying to figure out what's next after losing his wife and teaching job after his text messages with a student come to light. While staying at a cheap AirBnB in the woods he comes across a strange knife embedded in a sycamore tree with an ominous message saying not to remove it. As any good horror short story protagonist would do he removes it and the consequences follow.

I enjoyed the ending, definitely left me with chills.

The Indigo Room: ★★★☆☆
In this short story an office manager has uncanny hallucinations involving her coworkers suddenly losing a head and arm during a slideshow presentation. What does it mean? Why did her ex have to drop her son off at work at the same time? And why is the boss suddenly unexpectedly on site?

I wanted to like this one, but the protagonist just was so unlikable and self centered that it made it hard for me to really care about her. It left me feeling like I missed the point. (And maybe I did) Was a interesting concept but it didn't seems fully fleshed out.

The Blanks: ★★★★★
A family makes a return to their island vacation home after staying away for several years. But there's an uncanny sense of something being off on the island, something the island's summer residents don't care to address. When Rachel's son Callum comes face to face with it their family is forced to address it.

This was my first time reading a Grady Hendrix story and certainly won't be the last. The story seems allegorical to a number of modern issues where people love to stick their head in the sand: COVID, climate change, gun violence, and a million more. People are happy to keep up the status quo and accept consequences for others, but when the consequences come for you and yours the realties of the issue sink in.

Night and Day in Misery: ★★★★☆
A grieving mother sets out to retrace the last night and day of her deceased husband and son. While staying at the same exact hotel room that they had, she begins to learn more about their final hours.

I liked the twists and turns of this one, it went a very different direction that I was expecting after the first few pages.

Letter Slot: ★★★★☆
A haunting story of a magical pen-pal, letters deposited in an abandoned house and addressed to his "pal" keep getting responses addressed to him as "buddy". Soon the mysterious pen-pal extends a Faustian offer: fortune in exchange for the name of someone hated. Our protagonist will have to see what the true cost is.

This was a good collection of stories. If you follow any of these authors, you'll definitely want to read these.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy of The Shivers Collection.

This collection contains five short stories from Joe Hill, Stephen Graham Jones, Grady Hendrix, Catriona Ward, and Owen King.

Each story is horror with a hint of the paranormal. All five stories are incredibly strong in my opinion, but my favorites-the ones that will likely stick with me-are Stephen Graham Jones’ “The Indigo Room” (mainly for its imagery) and “The Letter Slot” by Owen King, which was oddly touching and emotional. I also liked “The Blanks” by Grady Hendrix quite a lot, but I’d like too see it fleshed out a bit more into a novella and expand on the concept more.

All in all, this was a very strong collection and I highly recommend it!

I normally enjoy all these authors' work but none of these stories really captured me and I did not enjoy this collection.

Wow! Five star, completely loved this collection review! While all the stories were fantastic, My faves were written by Grady Hendrix, Owen King and Joe Hill.
Jackknife by Joe Hill is the story of a man whose poor choices and bad decisions just keep coming despite his ability to stop them. Self destruction at its finest. *slight trigger warning for animal death. Throwing this out there as it’s my only trigger. Still a great story!*
The Blanks by Grady Hendrix. Grady never fails to deliver the creep factor. And this one packs quite the punch. This story starts out all summery, sunshiney and fantastic. But just below all that sand, surf and sun lurks something dark, rotting and moldering. Will be thinking about this one for quite some time.
Letter Slot by Owen King brought me a new phrase - soul consequences. Maybe we should all be thinking a little bit more about “soul consequences” before we make decisions and choices. This one had an ending I certainly didn’t see coming.

The Shivers collection is a combination of 5 great short stories that range from eco-horror, office horror, urban legends, midwestern horror, and just plain creepy. There is sure to be something for everyone and a great way to sample horror for anyone looking to check it out. As an avid fan I enjoyed each and every word.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this collection in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is a really solid short story collection! They all have horrifyingly intriguing concepts, great writing, and they’re the perfect length for the story being told.

The author’s names are what drew me in and I love the variety of subjects covered—from a malevolent tree to a Faustian bargain. Usually there’s at least a couple of misses in a short story collection, but most of the stories were 4 or 5 stars for me (with only one coming it at 3 stars—which is still pretty decent!). I think Grady Hendrix's "The Blanks" was my favourite of the bunch—I've been thinking about it for days!

The Shivers Collection features an all star cast of writers writing some of their best in the genre they love. Joe Hill crafts a chilling tale of a disgraced man looking to bounce back. Stephen Graham Jones delights us with another mind trip of a genius story while Cartriona Ward spooks us with the haunted past of the protagonist. Grady Hendrix thrills us with a ghastly story that will leave you reeling and Owen King ends it with a heartfelt story of a boys want to better his mother’s life. Each story whets the appetite but leaves you wanting more! This collection is highly recommended especially if you don’t have a ton of time but just enough to get a story or two in.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for allowing me to read this horrifyingly amazing ARC!

Once again, bravo to Amazon Publishing for getting popular authors to do original short stories. I understand the marketing strategy, but I’m still thankful for getting more works from a lot of my favorite authors and sampling other authors that I’ve heard about. This short story collection will probably be available for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription, and I’m glad I have one. After Christmas romances and unsettling mysteries, “The Shivers Collection” is a feast of horror tales. Not my usual genre, but I was drawn to the inclusion of Grady Hendrix, one of my auto-buy authors. We also have two contributions from Stephen King’s offspring, brothers Joe Hill and Owen King

“Jackknife” by Joe Hill
Man vs nature (disgraced professor and a walking cypress). 3 stars

“The Indigo Room” by Stephen Graham Jones
Usually Graham Jones writes about Indigenous horror and adolescents, but this time it’s a white woman business executive and a PowerPoint gone wrong. 3 stars.

“Night and Day in Misery” by Catriona Ward
The only author I’m unfamiliar with — more a mental health and nightmare tale that struggled to finish. 2 stars.

“The Blanks” by Grady Hendrix
The author that attracted me to the series. Terrifying supernatural creatures and parents willing to sacrifice children for an exclusive vacation home location. Hated the subject matter, but the best written story. 4 stars.

“Letter Slot” by Owen King
A “be careful what you wish for” story. 3 stars.

Overall rating, 3 stars.
Thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

WOW!!!!! There are some fantastic authors in this collection!! I already love almost all these authors, and I love that they made a collection together 🩷🩷 Owen King and Joe Hill in the same collection… super cool!
I really enjoy novellas because you get a great story without too much commitment or unnecessary details to stretch the story out.
There was a lot of child death and animal death in these stories; that was the only thing I didn’t love. This is a HORROR collection and the stories are DARK.
The stories were very entertaining and made you want to keep on reading. Thank you so much to these authors and Amazon Original Stories for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review 💕

This collection was pretty good. I liked Catriona Ward and Grady Hendrix stories the most but they were all above a three star. These collections that Amazon does are usually interesting and I really enjoy reading them.

Mostly great book of short horror stories. The Blanks by Grady Hendrix was easily the best short horror story I've ever read. Despite being 3o pages. It felt fully complete and I'd love to see that expanded into a longer story.