Bones by Andrew Cull Review

This is an excellent collection of creepy little stories.

Bones by Andrew Cull
Horror Fiction, 212 pages
Released June 2018
Goodreads | Buy A Copy Here 

Bones brings together four chilling ghost stories by award winning writer-director Andrew Cull. Four monsters collected in paperback for the first time. 

Bones Four Stories. Four Monsters.

These Are My Thoughts:

This lovely author sent me two copies of his newest work (all the way from Australia!) so that I could release them in the Little Free Libraries in my care.

I had to wrestle it from this beast first though!

Here are my thoughts now that I'm finished:

Bones is author Andrew Cull’s debut collection of short fiction and it is pretty fantastic if you like a story where the creep factor is high and quickly settles under your skin and festers.

Did You Forget About Me?

A man returns to his childhood home. He, his mother and sister fled from it 23 years earlier leaving behind an abusive man to simmer in his ugliness. The trip back home brings back all of his deeply buried memories to terrify and to haunt him because some things just don’t want to stay buried.

This is some immersive storytelling that is eerie and atmospheric and steeped in childhood fears, abuse and a terribly tragedy. There was no way I was putting this down once I started it because I HAD to know how it ended.

Hope and Walker

“We were both 10. But he was dead. And I sat drawing him”

This was my favorite story in the collection. It tells the story of a young girl who grows up in the family mortuary. Is it weird that she finds it calming to say goodbye to the dead by drawing a final picture of them in her notebook? I vote no, I loved her. Some might think it’s a little morbid but it's also very sweet until one day one of the dead begins talking back to her . . .

The characters are well written characters and there are some pitch dark images in this story that will linger around in my brain for a long while to come.

The Trade

“I was seven and that was the summer death stalked our home.”

All of these stories are haunting and grounded in realism but this one hit me a little harder than the others. It’s set in the sweltering heat as a young child watches his family disintegrate knowing there’s nothing he can do about it. The feelings of helplessness and the fear of an unknown future will knock you down with its accuracy. Then the author throws a monster in the mix! A monster that is leaving dead carcasses on the doorstep and wants something in return . . .

Knock And You Will See Me

“We buried dad in the winter. It wasn’t until Spring that we heard from him again.”

A woman’s elderly father passes away and soon after she begins to smell the stench of decay that is followed up with a note written by her dad demanding to know the reason she left him behind. Soon the notes take on an ominous tone. Is she going mad from grief or is it something far more sinister?

You’ll have to read it yourownself to find out and it’s worth the read. Like all of the stories found here it is unsettling and it may rob you of sleep.

The Rambling Man

This story is only four pages long but it is a disturbing little gem about sacrifice and betrayal and I loved it.

This is an excellent debut and I am looking forward to whatever the author puts out next.

5 Stars out of 5

About Author Andrew Cull

'A director who understands what it takes to genuinely scare and disturb'  Frightfest

Upon graduating, Andrew's first screenplay attracted the attention of BAFTA award-winning director, Philip Saville.  He went on to develop film projects with Hammer Films and Paul W.S Anderson's Impact Pictures and was invited to devise storylines and write for cult smash TV hit, 'Urban Gothic'. Alongside this, Andy ran a video rental store in South London, which boasted the largest horror collection in the UK.

In 2007 he created, wrote and directed YouTube sensation, 'In the Dark'. Ground-breaking and terrifying, it was the first YouTube real time horror and was released to fantastic critical and popular acclaim.

This was swiftly followed by his first feature, 'The Possession of David O'Reilly' (UK title - 'The Torment') cited by Bob Keen as 'The best horror script I have read since Hellraiser'. Written and directed by Andrew, starring Giles Alderson and Francesca Fowler and edited by Kant Pan, it quickly garnered much praise and enjoyed a UK theatrical and DVD release in August 2010 courtesy of Momentum Pictures. In the U.S, it was instantly picked up in May 2010 by IFC Films for its IFC Midnight On Demand, and DVD release in November 2010. It is currently showing at festivals around the world including most recently Cinefantasy International Film Festival, Sao Paulo and Sitges Film Festival, Spain, the world's No.1 horror and fantasy film festival.

'The Torment oozes creepiness' Rough Cut Reviews  The Torment is a triumph' Subba Cultcha

'A quality British horror film and well worth a watch. In the Dark. With the sound cranked up to eleven' Gorepress

Andy recently completed his first novel, 'Remains' and is in pre-production for his next horror feature.

Learn more at his website:  http://www.andrewcull.com/index.html