Title: The Menu
Author: David B. Bond
Description: “The Menu” is a horror anthology of 14 food-themed stories that blend terror with dining. From cursed takeout to sinister fine dining, these twisted tales explore the dark secrets behind meals and the people who serve them. Gruesome, grotesque, and not for the squeamish, this buffet of horror proves the real danger might be sitting right across the table.
Genre: Horror, Short Stories, and Food.
Book Review
Prepare yourself for a plateful of anthology stories that will send a chill down your spine. “The Menu” by David B. Bond serves up 14 of these short disturbing tales that will leave you questioning the safety of your next meal. From late night delivery bites gone wrong to sinister kitchen disasters, this collection delves deep into the darkest corners of the restaurant industry where the scariest thing might just be the person sitting across from you.
Positives:
• The ominous cover design sets the perfect tone for a horror experience, with bold imagery that is sure to grab your attention.
• The menu-style table of contents being a genius way to represent the book chapters. Looks like a real menu, and has different categories from entrees to desserts.
• The inclusion of a poem before the stories start. Gets you in the horror mood.
• The illustrations throughout the story bringing the horror such as the skulls, menus, blood, and food. Goes with the story very much.
• Each story having a descriptive food that goes with it, showing the author really thought about what food would represent the horror.
• The writing is very smooth, good storytelling.
• There are some quotes that relate to the chapter after some of the stories. Cool addition.
Neutrals:
• The decorative font with the bold capital and slashes in the font make it look more like a story about slashers or werewolves rather than the style of a food horror story.
• Some stories are predictable, but there were also some that I couldn’t have guessed at all. This makes sense with anthologies since every story is unlikely to be fully unpredictable.
Negatives:
• I know it’s a horror story, but some parts were gross in a not so horror way, but in a being taken advantage of way. Those parts seemed to just be tossed in, and didn’t feel needed. Didn’t happen often, but still a negative that should be pointed out.
How gory on a scale of 1 (meh, not even scary), to 5 (ugh, I can imagine the horror and gore, and I’m gonna throw up): Story can get a bit graphic with the gore, some aren’t as graphic, but some can be really graphic. It ranges. 1 – 5/5 depending on the story.
Should this be made into an anthology tv series? Some of them could be, but some would be too much to be seen on tv.
Which one is your favorite short story and why? The Emperor’s Noodles because it kept bringing the twist and turns.
Tip: Try not to get attached to any of the characters…
Overall Rating: 4.2/5 Knives!
