Our Greatest Enemy: Five Horror Stories on Fatherhood

Title: Our Greatest Enemy: Five Horror Stories on Fatherhood
Author: Jordan Thiery
First Published: June 22, 2024
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 173
Genre: Horror, Psychological, Short Stories, Supernatural, Thriller
Format: Ebook
Source: Review Request
Rating:


Synopsis:

A father's scarred heart cuts deep the roots of the family tree. Included in this collection:

BELT
William's father is speeding down a gravel road late at night. William can't remember anything from earlier that day, and he's worried for his mother...

WRAPPED IN SILK
Erik finds a spider in his apartment. Everything is fine... until the spider begins consuming everything he loves.

INSIDE A CONCRETE BOX
At the lake with his son, Arthur finds a mysterious concrete box in the trees. There’s something inside... and it's coming for them.

THE TRANSFIGURATION
Sam’s lost everything: his family, his wife, his daughter. As he copes with his new life, he finds himself becoming... something else.

OUR GREATEST ENEMY
As the world around him comes to an end, Adam contemplates space, life, and humanity with his father one last time.

Buy the Book: Amazon

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Review

Our Greatest Enemy is a wonderful debut short story collection and a real hidden gem. This humble little collection of stories reminds me why I love taking a chance on new authors, especially in the indie space. I really enjoyed the variety of horror subgenres in the collection, with the central theme of fatherhood and masculinity explored in each story. I felt a full range of emotions while reading, and one story in particular genuinely spooked me! It was hard to pick favorites because there was a lot to like. Inside a Concrete Box and The Transfiguration particularly are stand out stories.

Mild editing gripe which was really not a big deal, but I found a few repeated phrases in different stories, and the déjà vu distracted me briefly. Beyond that Thiery has a distinct narrative voice and his prose is wonderful. I can see Thiery going far and I’d be interested to see where his writing career takes him in the future.

Individual Story Notes:

♥ Belt: Wow, this story really kicks the collection off with a heavy story about the cyclical nature of abuse and a broken marriage. My heart absolutely bled for the main character, William, and the intense situation he finds himself in. I found the final pages of this story utterly heartbreaking. My only gripe is that it is a little heavy handed with the messaging.

♥ Wrapped in Silk: This one is a great allegory for the monstrous effects of depression. I thought I knew what I was in for with this story, but it far exceeded my expectations. As with the first story, this one also centers on a strong message about abuse, and I appreciated the underlying theme that parenthood is not for everyone.

♥ Inside a Concrete Box: A father and son go camping in the lonely woods, too lonely, too isolated. This one really, truly scared me! I really enjoy camping stories and encountering a loving father in this story was heartwarming and totally refreshing compared to the previous two stories. I read this story in bed in the dark and I was so creeped out and focused on the story, one of my children turned on a hall light outside of my door and it made me leap out of bed!

♥ The Transfiguration: This story was a strong contender for favorite. Sam is a broken man that loses his family despite trying to do everything right, and I rooted for him to the very end. The story was thrilling even when I knew what was coming, and it left me with an image that I won’t forget for a very long time.

♥ Our Greatest Enemy: Unfortunately my least favorite of the collection. I liked the conversation about the universe and man’s insignificance within the greater cosmos, which is a kind of horror on it’s own. It just didn’t land quite right for me. I did really appreciate that this story made references to what happened in two earlier stories, Belt and Wrapped in Silk, that added nicely to those endings.

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