The Beast You Are
Stories
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3.8 • 12 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A haunting collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club, A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Cabin at the End of the World.
Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push the boundaries of storytelling itself. The fifteen pieces in this brilliant collection, The Beast You Are, are all monsters of a kind, ready to loudly (and lovingly) smash through your head and into your heart.
In “The Dead Thing,” a middle-schooler struggles to deal with the aftermath of her parents’ substance addictions and split. One day, her little brother claims he found a shoebox with “the dead thing” inside. He won’t show it to her and he won’t let the box out of his sight. In “The Last Conversation,” a person wakes in a sterile, white room and begins to receive instructions via intercom from a woman named Anne. When they are finally allowed to leave the room to complete a task, what they find is as shocking as it is heartbreaking.
The title novella, “The Beast You Are,” is a mini epic in which the destinies and secrets of a village, a dog, and a cat are intertwined with a giant monster that returns to wreak havoc every thirty years.
A masterpiece of literary horror and psychological suspense, The Beast You Are is a fearlessly imagined collection from one of the most electrifying and innovative writers working today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
These 15 invigorating horror shorts from Tremblay (The Pallbearer's Club) showcase the author's imagination and versatility. Two are radically different ghost stories: in "Ice Cold Lemonade 25¢ Haunted House Tour: 1 Per Person," the narrator reflects on the youthful experiences that haunt his adult self, while "I Know You're There" explores the ways in which grief repeatedly reshapes a character's perceptions of reality. There are also two prescient pandemic stories, both originally published before the Covid-19 outbreak: "The Blog at the End of the World" works backward chronologically through online posts about a mysterious epidemic to form an incisive critique of the dissemination of disinformation on social media; "The Last Conversation" delivers a poignant sci-fi riff on the difficulty of letting a loved one go. The brilliant title novella takes the form of an animal fable, laced with references to fear-mongering authorities and cultish believers that resonate deeply with the contemporary zeitgeist. Whether he's writing a subtly disarming tale in the manner of Shirley Jackson ("The Party") or a grisly monster story ("The Large Man"), Tremblay draws well-developed characters whose recognizable humanity makes it easy for readers to accept the weird events happening around them. This will be a smash with horror fans.
