Jonathan Maberry

There was a point where I'd thought this was going to be the best of the three Limbus collections. Most of the stories didn't really break any new ground, and much of them tended to still centre heavily on the Limbus, Inc. method of recruitment which, by the third book, isn't truly necessary anymore, though I feel like only Maberry seems to get that.

Regardless, the first four stories were very good with, as per usual, Maberry's Sam Hunter stealing the damn show for the third time running. He just...gets it.

But I have to talk about Laird Barron's entry. I know he took pride of place to close off the collection, as he's possibly the biggest name in the novel (though I'd argue that point), or maybe because the editor didn't really know what else to do with it. Not sure, but...it was...not good. It was mostly nonsensical. It often felt like a random collection of sentences that really didn't fit together all that well. It was virtually unreadable, though I did get through it, mostly skimming and really not picking anything much up after the first third.

Without that story, this book would be an easy five stars. But it was bad enough to tear two of them away.… (mere)