It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories (2023) by Nick Roberts

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of Nick Robert’s newest book, a collection of short stories entitled, It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories, published by Crystal Lake Publishing. I also recently conducted an interview with Nick which can be found here. Having read his previous novel, The Exorcist’s House, which I enjoyed (review forthcoming), I was eager to sample his short stories. In my experience some authors excel at longer prose forms and some excel at short tales. I’m happy to report that Nick Roberts deftly handles both.

It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories features a total of 15 stories that run the gamut from in-your-face grisly horror to genuine chill-inducing subtle innuendo; from weird fiction to hard-boiled noir; and even a touch of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, all culminating with a possession tale set in the world of The Exorcist’s House. 

In truth, all of the stories in this collection connect to each other to a certain degree on two different fronts. The first is that they are almost all set in the area of West Virginia from which the author himself hails. The other connection point is the continual references to addiction and alcohol and substance abuse recovery—a very personal subject to Roberts that is featured prominently on his website. That personal connection provides an insight that really brings the characters to life as fallible believable people and not empty ciphers simply manipulated to carry out plot machinations.

I’m not going to check off each story with an individual review, but I will highlight the ones that really resonated with me. As a caveat, there’s not a dud in the mix; they all achieve an effective level of engagement with the reader in part due to their reliance on relationship, with often heart-breaking resolutions. Roberts really excels at connecting the reader to both his flawed protagonists and equally flawed antagonists.

Things kick off in fine form with Sally Under the Bed, a wickedly dark riff on childhood occult party games that are supposed to conjure some form of evil entity (think Bloody Mary or an ill-advised Ouija Board session). The sense of inevitability of outcome doesn’t in any way diminish the impact of the shock ending.

The Paperboy is a punchy blend of nostalgia and escalating terror. It very effectively captures many aspects of youth within a coming of age framework. This one kept subverting my expectations, twisting and turning into surprising areas that undermined my ability to guess where things were heading. The end result was a powerful resolution that tied up the story threads quite nicely.

Hunting Season was simply a devastating bit of character study that left me emotionally gutted. Expertly done and featuring perhaps my personal favorite bit of exemplary prose in the whole collection. Another one that is genuinely heart-breaking.

And that brings us to Grandma Ruth, which is probably the darkest and most visceral story of the bunch. This one is truly mean-spirited and nasty, with some gruesome imagery and a genuinely unsettling conclusion that pulls no punches, perhaps all the more so due to its evil being directed toward members of the same family. Absolutely not one to be read immediately before bedtime!

The Bitter End is a bit of bloody crime noir that reminded me of the hard-edged Parker series from Richard Stark (Donald Westlake). Its protagonist is a down on his luck homeless man lured into a situation that quickly devolves into a worst-case scenario of hardcore violence and possible redemption.

The Noose is a real change of pace in that it is a western—a really, really dark western. It focuses on a gun slinging killer on the run from a sheriff’s posse after killing the lawman’s son. There’s a heart-rending twist that takes place toward the end that completely subverts expectation and adds new layers to everything, changing character motivations and plot trajectory in a really satisfying way.

Finally, in It Haunts the Mind we get a story that sits chronologically between the prologue and first chapter of Roberts’ novel, The Exorcist’s House. It’s a straight up demonic possession story, which would be fitting given its origin. Teens looking for a place to party end up at the burned ruins of the house of backwoods exorcist Merle Blatty and things go spectacularly bad. I got a strong Evil Dead vibe out of this one with its emphasis on demonic body horror.

As stated earlier, though I haven’t singled out each story, they all are effective and well-written. Roberts has a clear and easy to follow prose style and can effortlessly create unease and tension. It Haunts the Mind and Other Stories is an easy recommendation for horror fans or for anyone who simply enjoys good stories told well. I also appreciate that Roberts has included an addendum wherein he talks about each of the stories in the collection, providing personal context for his inspiration and reasoning behind what he’s written. I wish more authors would provide this insight into their process.

Review by Steve Carroll