[A] collection of eight contemporary ghost stories, with the horror stemming from the irresistible power that technology has over us. In real life we are obsessed, distracted, impolite, floating through a world of unravelling human bonds and never-ending notifications. Could fiction be worse? ... The stories are uneasy rather than frightening ... He is also socially alert; the tensions and disconnections of modern families are nicely illuminated. Lanchester conjures a sad shadow world all the more scary for being a mirror image of our own. These entertainments are brisk, vinegar-sharp satires that horrify and amuse in equal measure; an alarming reality check. Like a lesson in etiquette, it’s good medicine.

The eight tales in Lanchester's Reality and Other Stories are meant to entertain, to take you out of yourself for a space — and that they deftly do. Be forewarned, though: One of the most disturbing stories here touches on our own fearsome times.

The short fictions in Reality and Other Stories explore the scary sides of the internet, social media platforms, automation and artificial intelligence from a more playful perspective, treating digital lives and afterlives with dark comedy and a good dose of the supernatural ... Well-known for his powers of social observation, Lanchester alternates in this collection between the real, hyperreal and surreal ... The collection reimagines the known material world as immanently supernatural. An everyday object donated to a charity shop proves to possess malign powers; an unnamed labour-saving device turns out to be – well, that would be telling ... steeped in metaphysics, as the title itself makes clear. Our understanding of reality is toyed with from a classic epistemological perspective, but the author seems to enjoy himself more by applying it to electronic-age scenarios ... Not all of Lanchester’s narrative voices ring true, and there are one or two clunky devices and corny endings. But this is nevertheless a mind-bending collection about the multifaceted scariness of the way we live now.

Although not all eight tales feature ghosts, they do share a general sense of spooked unease at the effects of digital technology, for which the supernatural provides both narrative structure and metaphor ... 'Charity,' like 'Signal,' suffers from a final scene whose playfulness undermines rather than accompanies what the story elsewhere implies is a weightier purpose. A more satisfying marriage of narrative and meaning comes in the title story ... The best story of all is the one that most completely encapsulates the book’s concerns, influences, and techniques. 'Coffin Liquor' features the journal of an academic at an economics conference in Romania ... might taking a lofty view of digital technology have...dangers? It’s a question that the story tellingly entitled 'We Happy Few' confronts head-on.

John Lanchester meets his reader at the point at which the spectral intersects with the digital, all the while dissecting the seemingly simple notion of reality and its contents. The fusion makes for a compelling series of tales ... Lanchester’s protagonists are often erudite, logical and attractive ... In nearly all of the stories, the soft power of technology takes over the lives of the hard-headed. These characters’ inbred processing powers fall down when they meet with ghostly apparitions and phones that ring from nowhere. The point, clearly, is that we don’t know what 'reality' is in the technological age – even the success stories of our society can’t make it out ... But these tales are plot-driven, and don't attempt to do clever things with language or grammar. Occasionally, one might hope for a little more linguistic flair, or expect the form to be more closely aligned with the techno-ghost content. But ultimately, the stories hold their own through engaging first-person narration and strong, unsettling plots. The endings are deceptively neat, but often introduce a twist, encouraging us to evaluate the preceding tale in a new light. Added to that is a liberal sprinkling of recognisable product and place names, which give a contemporary feel to otherwise traditional stories. Lanchester has struck just the right balance.

[Lanchester] is a versatile writer with a gift for making sense of the modern world ... The best story here is Signal...It’s a masterfully crafted traditional ghost story ... The other stories feel more like uncanny morality tales than horror ... the overall impression is that Lanchester had fun with this collection, liberated from the constraints of writing a whole novel and free to do what he does best: to get inside people’s heads and explore what makes us tick.

Lanchester uses gothic tropes and settings to explore contemporary concerns ... Across these immensely enjoyable and varied tales, Lanchester embraces the camp silliness of the gothic sensibility, while also making astute observations about our ever-developing digital reality.

Unfortunately this book may have delivered on the cover but it didn’t on the scares, or the uncanny or anything chill worthy… I could have read this book sopping wet and in a draft, and still not have got any chills, just a case of mild annoyance ... Some writers are born to write horror, John Lanchester in my opinion was born to write great literary works – and on this offering I hope he returns to the latter ... I did enjoy his writing in this collection, his skill and deft touch is evident in every story and is present on every page. Lanchester’s prose is beautiful ... I had high hopes for this collection having read some of Lanchester’s other works, his skill as a writer is undeniable, but I feel that Reality, and Other Stories falls way short of the mark.

This volume is not a long read, but it is a worthwhile and memorable one ... Reading his work is akin to taking a quiet drive down a two-lane road before suddenly being t-boned by another vehicle without any warning at all. One might classify these tales as literary horror for no other reason than he liberally uses a number of horror archetypes. That doesn’t mean that Lanchester breaks new ground in the genre. It would be more accurate to say that he tills the same field but finds something unexpected and interesting ... will provide readers unfamiliar with Lanchester’s style eight excellent examples of his storytelling approach and undoubtedly will cause them to seek out examples of his extended work. Those already acquainted with him also will find much to love here if they can overcome any genre hesitancy they might possess.

If 2020 has sometimes felt like living in an alternate universe, in which its exhausted inhabitants have grown inured to shocks and surprises, then it is a relief — of sorts — to turn to John Lanchester’s uncanny tales and find plenty there to disquiet ... a sequence of very clever, very modern 'entertainments'.

Lanchester returns with a modest collection of supernatural or vaguely dystopian tales that are constructed with cool precision, but fail to produce chills ... Lanchester is too good a writer—ironic, observant, worldly—not to imbue these tales with some degree of charm and pathos. Still, they feel more like exercises than genuine experiences of terror.