Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror edited by Lee Murray

Adrenaline Press, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-940095-94-3

Availability: Paperback, Kindle edition

Hellhole is a well-put-together anthology of horror stories, where the one common thread is that some of the action takes place underground.  Similarities end there, as the stories use mines, ocean volcanoes, underground city tunnels, river caves, and even the Moon as their settings.   What all the stories do well is two things: they deliver fast excitement, and they manage to take common settings and creatures and breathe new life into them, by throwing in enough twists to keep the reader interested.  There isn’t a bad story in the mix: the worst could still be rated at least as “fair.”  The rest all make the grade, from good to very good, with some being truly excellent.

The writing for all of them is solid, although the reader will have to adjust to different perspectives.  The majority are written in the third person, but there are some that use the first person, and even a couple written in the present tense, which some readers may find annoying.  In all of them, the action flows fast and hooks the reader within the first few pages: there’s no waiting around for unnecessary buildup of the plot.  One of the best examples is “Pit of Ghosts” by Kirsten Cross.  Tourists in an underground mine get a quick bit of background on the mine’s ugly history, then they are quickly stalked by creatures that somewhat resemble the Crawlers from the movie The Descent.  This might have only been an okay story if it continued on that path, but the story takes a major turn when the mine’s history plays into why the tourists were unwittingly chosen to be part of the group.  It’s a twist the reader likely won’t see coming, and it greatly elevates the quality of the story.

All of the stories do this to some degree: it’s what makes the book good.  In Jonathan Maberry’s “All the Devils are Here”, someone is trying to open an underground door to another dimension to unleash Old Gods. Seen it before.  But throw in a team of Special Forces soldiers with almost unlimited ammo trying to blast them apart, and you have something fun.  Michael McBrides’s “A Plague of Locusts” recycles the old “victims of biological experimentation gone wrong” plot and breathes new life into it with a fungus that does ugly things to its victims, allowing them to survive underground for decades.  Of course, someone has to go down there… and complete mayhem results.  For pure, over-the-top insanity, Jake Bible’s “Ginourmous Hell Snake” may be the winner.  Start with a big snake, add in an Amazon river cave, and a cult worshipping the snake.  Throw in two of the most entertaining characters in the book: trained mercenaries with futuristic weapons who act more like stoned California surfers, and are simply too laid back to be scared of anything.  When dudes meet snake, the craziness starts.  These aren’t the kind of stories you can read a little at a time– the excitement demands that the reader finish them right away.

The overall quality of the material in this anthology is high. The action and excitement is delivered in droves, and there are enough firefights and characters either torn apart or blown apart to keep gorehound readers satiated.  Factor in the originality shown to bring  tried and true plot devices roaring back to life, and you’ve got something the reader will not want to miss.  Recommended.

Contains: violence, gore

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Editor’s note: Hellhole: An Anthology of Subterranean Terror is a nominee on the final ballot for the 2018 Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievment in an Anthology.