Book Review: All Kinds of Things Kill by Robert R. Best

With his anthology, All Kinds of Things Kill, Robert R. Best has crafted nine nefarious tales that’ll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end!! Remember the Goosebumps books by R.L. Stein that we all devoured as kids? The ones you used to read late at night while buried under the safety of sheets and blankets? All Kinds of Things Kill is like Goosebumps for grownups…and you’ll definitely be diving under your blankets after reading the spooky stories in this book!

The anthology is broken down into nine different stories, starting with “The Hooker” that features a serial killer that’s surprised by a prostitute that’s much more than she seems. The other stories include “The Wife’s Confession,” “Nipping it in the Bud,” “Charity and the Vampire,” “The Family Tree,” “Everything That’s Damaged,” “Get Together,” “All Kinds of Things Kill,” and “Boil Order.” The short stories feature witches, evil plants, vampires, werewolves, mad science, murderous spouses and some truly tainted water, and they are all dark tales with plenty of bleak twists.

Robert R. Best’s straightforward writing draws you quickly into each macabre story and his characters have plenty of personality. Each one is well-developed and acts just like your next door neighbor would…if your neighbor kept rabid plants in his basement and buried bodies in his backyard under a blood-red moon!

My favorite stories included “Nipping it in the Bud,” about a father who keeps killer plants in his basement, “The Family Tree,” about an old and evil tree that devours souls and the slightly sci-fi, Cronenberg-esque body horror tale that is “Everything That’s Damaged.” All of the stories are a delight to read, though, and you just can’t go wrong with any of them!

Perfect for a quick and entertaining summer read, All Kinds of Things Kill is a thrilling anthology that shouldn’t go overlooked. Just be warned…you’ll probably be tempted to read it under cover of night beneath the covers with only a flashlight…at least for nostalgia’s sake!

Available from Amazon!