CW: physical abuse, revenge murders

2.5 Stars ( )

In thirteen tales of horror, Lubar dwells on sweet revenge against a sadistic gym teacher, an albino shape-shifter, and more.

As is so often the case with these types of books, some of the stories are more miss than hits, but overall, nearly all of them were solidly enjoyable. The stories that were misses were more forgettable than bad, and only one or two of the batch could even claim that. The rest were good, if not excellent in any way.

Lubar's gift is for the twist; most of the stories had one, in some form or another, which clearly was the driving force behind the story. Less attention was paid to characterization, which is fair in this sort of book. It was clear that some of the stories were less developed than others, and had hints of juvenile writing, where a "twist" isn't really one at all, but the ones that nailed it were great.

An overall enjoyable read, though ultimately not one to leave a lasting impression. ( )

Very good, spooky short stories ( )

Pretty solid short stories, definitely for the preteen set - they remind me of urban legends, taken up maybe half a step in realism and narrative. Creepy, designed to give a chill, but for the most part not terrifying. ( )

Although recommended for grades 9 & up, mature middle schoolers will devour this book. As a librarian in a middle school, my #1 request is for scary stories, and the scarier the better.

Extremities consists of 13 short stories which reminded me of the old Twilight Zone series, as each story has a catch, or a twist, or something unexplainable. My favorite story was "A Cart Full of Junk," where thug teens who harassed an old man pushing a shopping cart ended up matching up (in the goriest sense) with the items the old man threw at them. "Patterns of Fear," where contestants spend the night in a haunted house, and then are offered more money based upon different challenges, was another favorite.

All the stories in "Extremities" are very original and cleverly written. Fans of R. L. Stine and Anthony Horowitz will enjoy upping the fear factor with this latest by David Lubar. ( )