The quotidian details serve to make the angels and monsters, the hexes and fairies and ghosts, acceptable. Although characters and settings recur, Big Dark Hole is never repetitive. When I read a single-author collection for review, I often find the individual stories blend together in my mind. Each and every story in Big Dark Hole stands distinct in my memory ... He’s an established master of fantastic stories ... If his previous collections are half as good as this one, and the many awards they’ve received suggest they are, I have some enjoyable catching up to do.
Exacting language and well-drawn characters give these stories enough depth to satisfy both sci-fi/fantasy fans and literary fiction readers. Seamlessly blending the surreal with the mundane, Ford gives readers an innocuous ride to places they never knew they wanted to go. Recommended for fans of Neil Gaiman and Ursula Le Guin.
Armed with the paranoia of Poe, the psychological terror of Shirley Jackson, and Stephen King’s empathy for everyday people, this latest collection is both subtle and nightmare-inducing, depending on the story ... A collection of wonderfully creepy gems in which each story goes its own way, to frightening effect.
... these 15 dark tales of evil, loss, and greed from Ford...are sure to send shivers up readers’ spines. Ford’s subtle stories peel away suburbia’s mask of mundanity to reveal sinister undertones ... Readers will enjoy these creepy, thoughtful stories—but should be warned not to read them in the dark.
