Midnight Lullabies by Jonathan Maberry
WordFire Press LLC (September 2024)
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
The name Jonathan Maberry is known to horror and speculative readers far and wide. He is a New York Times bestselling author, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 3-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, anthology editor, writing teacher, and comic book writer. He writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His newest collection is Midnight Lullabies.
Midnight Lullabies is primarily a collection of short stories. While there are three or four poems scattered throughout, they are clearly an afterthought and don’t seem to serve the collection at all nor resonate with the other pieces in the collection. The stories themselves are not unique ideas, but Maberry’s skill as an author comes through. There are times when the plots seem cliche, such as in “Lullaby,” which is standard haunted house fare, but Maberry’s writing style and distinct voice salvages them. Furthermore, there is enough variety, from kind serial killers who adopt orphans to rednecks battling zombies, for any reader to find something of interest in this collection.
Jonathan Maberry’s list of previously published work in the back of this collection is almost as long as some of the stories, so horror readers will know what they’re getting into when they open this collection. While none of the stories stand out as exceptional or unique, Maberry’s voice and skill as a storyteller more than makes up for any deficency in this collection. Readers unfamiliar with Maberry will certainly find something interesting between these covers, and his legions of known fans should purchase immediately.
