MILK KISSES & OTHER STORIES BY ROSS JEFFERY [BOOK REVIEW]

12/12/2021

‘Milk Kisses & Other Stories’ is a challenging read and Jefferys latest won’t be to everyone’s taste. His stories are odd, perfectly crafted pieces of unpleasantness and I, for one, can wait to read more. What impressed me most is how distinct the authors voice is.

Milk Kisses & Other Stories (Short Sharp Shocks! Book 68) by Ross Jeffery

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B097394MW8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Demain Publishing; 2nd edition (2 July 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1297 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled

A Book review by Richard Martin

Book 68 in Demain Publishing’s consistently excellent Short Sharp Shocks! Imprint collects three short stories from Bram Stoker Award nominated horror author Ross Jeffery. Anyone who has read his surreal and nightmarish ‘Juniper’ series will have some idea of what they are in for with ‘Milk Kisses & Other Stories’, which serves as an excellent introduction to the work of a unique new voice in the indie horror community.

Jefferys fiction has a tendency to present its reader with a slightly warped reality, managing to feel truthfully gritty while simultaneously adding subtly outlandish elements that give things an air of uncomfortable unpredictability. The opening story (Pareidolia) is an excellent example, telling the story of an unnamed visitor to a town with a sordid history. Much of the story is set in a single location (a tavern). The action is sparse but the tension is palpable as it’s made clear from the opening sentence that there is something not quite right about the town, the tavern, the locals, even the narrator himself and the final reveal is equal parts horrifying and bizarre.

The title story is perhaps the most grounded, and easily the most disturbing of the collection, seemingly documenting a new mothers experience with her newborn child. As with everything I have read of Jefferys work to date, everything is not quite as it seems and what starts as a realistic look at postnatal depression gradually pulls back the curtain on something far more macabre. Both the build up and the end reveal work incredibly well and it’s a story that will stay with you just as much for the unspoken implications as it will for what’s on the page.

The collection also closes strongly with an absolutely grotesque body-horror short (Hemangioma) that is much a character piece as it is a showcase for some truly strange and unpleasant visuals. Without spoiling the reveal, I’ll just say that the short follows a young boy with a somewhat unique birth defect, and follows him as he grows up and comes to terms with it. You won’t know whether to laugh, cry, or vomit, but one thing you won’t do is forget it.

‘Milk Kisses & Other Stories’ is a challenging read and Jefferys latest won’t be to everyone’s taste. His stories are odd, perfectly crafted pieces of unpleasantness and I, for one, can wait to read more. What impressed me most is how distinct the authors voice is. I read a lot of horror and am hard pressed to pinpoint another author who works as a suitable comparison. ‘Twin Peaks, with the horror dialled up to eleven’ is as close as I can describe the experience of reading Ross Jeffery. If that sounds like a book you’d be interested in, then I can’t recommend this one highly enough. 5 Stars

Milk Kisses & Other Stories (Short Sharp Shocks! Book 68)
by Ross Jeffery

MILK KISSES & OTHER STORIES – three creepy offerings from Bram Stoker nominated author, Ross Jeffery.

In PAREIDOLIA a writer desperately searching for inspiration travels to a small town to investigate local lore and soon finds himself embroiled at the centre of an unfolding nightmare.

MILK KISSES: A single mother must come to terms with the cruel hand that she's been dealt and soon realises that you don't have to be a house to be haunted.

And finally, HEMANGIOMA, where a young boy discovers the thing lurking beneath his flesh is far more than what it first seems.

(with a cover by Adrian Baldwin)

THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FICTION REVIEWS

Comments are closed.