The Rack II: More Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks, edited by Tom Deady, introduction by Sadie Hartmann

Greymore Publishing, 2025

ISBN: 9788998958915

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com | Bookshop.org

With 23 stories packed into 450 pages, The Rack II certainly delivers enough quantity for the dollar. But what about quality, you say? This installment in the series is actually better than the last one. As with the previous volume, the stories are of mixed quality,  The difference is, the good stories are better than last time, and there are more of them, while before, most were just ok. This time, the majority are good, so it’s easier to justify the purchase.

First off, note that the book says “stories INSPIRED by vintage horror paperbacks,” not “stories written in the style of vintage horror paperbacks.” These stories bear very little resemblance to any of the “thrash-n-trash” style pulp thrillers that ruled the 1980’s. That certainly doesn’t make the stories bad, but don’t buy this and expect reruns of Guy N. Smith or Graham Masterton. The authors of the short stories in this volume may have been inspired by that time period, but they certainly don’t write in that style. That’s perfectly fine, but readers should know what they are getting with a purchase of the book.

As for the stories…again, the overall quality level is better this time, with most of the stories grading in at about a solid B, and a lot of stylistic variety. A number of the middle-of-the-road stories are ones you could even go back and read again. We’ll look at the real bangers.

“Beepbeepbeep”: a tale of virtual pets, with a path into reality. This story makes good use of kids’ obsession with electronics, and does a great job of twisting it into real-world consequences with human life. Great fun!

“We Have (Never) Been Here Before”: even if this wasn’t entertaining as hell, it would get mentioned for the excellent writing. It’s just someone watching a horror film and calling out the standard tropes, but eventually it crosses over, and you don’t know what is film and what is real in the story. I felt this must have been a difficult one to write, but Jonathan Lees does an outstanding job on this one.

“Midnight Rider”: no, this isn’t about the Allman Brothers Band, but it sure has some of the melancholy they built into the lyrics of that song. It involves a Ferris Wheel and a grieving husband whose wife passed away too soon, and his attempts to see her again. It’s actually a pretty sad and dramatic story. I would not call it a horror story at all, but it is a damn good story. It was enough to (almost) give me a case of the sniffles. If author Mike Deady chose to write a drama novel, I would definitely read it.

“The Comeback Kid”: this is as close to a vintage 1980’s blast as you will get in the book, and it’s a disgusting mess of fun. It takes the idea of excellence in gymnastics at any cost to a whole new level, with plenty of body parts involved. Gross, and impossible not to enjoy.

“The Cartographer”: a thrilling tale of revenge, with four kids managing to track down a serial killer, and deciding to take justice into their own hands. The problem is, how to do it when you are kids, and don’t have access to guns? Credit to the kids for their solution: it’s a clever one. The story does take a bend into the realm of the otherworldly at one point, which adds a new dimension to the story. It might be the longest story in the book, but it sure holds its own against the quicker thrillers.

Bottom line is:  this is better than the original, and you can’t say that about sequels very often. Recommended.

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson