Review: Nocturnes by John Connolly, pt. 7: A Coda

Covering "The Bridal Bed," "The Man from the Second Fifteen," "The Inn at Shillingford," "Mr. Gray's Folly," and "The Cycle"

Seriously.... SERIOUSLY creepy.
Most of these stories are much shorter and so they really pack a punch when they're bunched together like this. "The Bridal Bed" wasn't so bad until you consider that he's going to have sex with his dead bride in a second. Ew. Not so creepy as gross. "The Man From the Second Fifteen" has a strange race of bat-like creatures taunting a man, baiting him and capturing him. But a lot of animals do things like that so that's only kind of creepy.

Enter, "The Inn at Shillingford." The similarities with Sweeney Todd were bad enough. But then there's a strange goop on the ground...and then the goopy half-burned woman is in his bed? Oh sweet Jesus. Did not like that one. I kept looking around my room during this one to make sure nothing was out of place and no doors were ajar when they shouldn't be.

The final two stories contain a certain fear and reverence towards women, and yet completely villainize them as well. I had no idea that a folly could be a visible piece of architecture. I felt a little misled by the story's title at first. "The Cycle" had to be my favorite of all of these. You kind of see the end coming but you kind of don't. It's the one time where I felt like the "monster" was entirely justified in its behavior. I just hope that, when I hit that time of month in a couple of days, my skull doesn't change shape and I don't grow so much hair...