GHOST CAMERA by Darcy Coates – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates
Published by Poisoned Pen Press on July 30 2024
Genres: Adult, Horror, Short stories
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Twilight Zone-esque stories make up this top-notch collection by veteran horror author Darcy Coates. Scary, unsettling and emotional, read this with the lights on.

I don’t read short story collections very often, but I’m so glad I picked up Ghost Camera, because it was excellent! Darcy Coates is one of my go-to authors and this collection perfectly exemplifies why I love her stories so much. The collection consists of two novellas and seven short stories full of creepy atmosphere, ghosts, and otherworldly creatures, and I’m going to highlight my favorites below.

Ghost Camera

The titular novella was actually written back in 2014, and Coates decided to redo parts of it for this new edition. The story follows a photographer named Jenine who discovers an unusual—and very dangerous—Polaroid camera. Jenine is taking photos at a wedding and decides to take a shot of the guests from the top of a nearby lighthouse. She discovers an old, abandoned Polaroid camera at the top and randomly aims it at the guests below, just to see if it works. Later she looks at the photo and sees something odd: vague white shapes appear amongst the guests, forms that weren’t there when she took the photo.

When she shows the photo to her friend Bree, they decide to take photos of themselves to see if these “ghosts” show up again. Not only are there unexplained figures in the photos, but the ghosts are staring right at Jenine—and they’re getting closer to her in each photo Bree takes. 

Ghost Camera is surprisingly scary and cinematic, and I could see this working well as a TV show, maybe in the vein of The Twilight Zone. There’s something about ghosts showing up in photos that makes my skin crawl, and this story has an eerie, goosebump-inducing feel to it.

Death Birds

Ryan is an ER nurse and has seen his fair share of death. He also sees death birds everywhere he goes. You see, about twenty years ago, large bird-like creatures started appearing whenever someone was about to die. Since then, they are a familiar sight, and they don’t actually kill you, they are simply harbingers of death.

One day at work, the ER staff is shocked when a huge number of death birds congregate in the hospital. It’s not uncommon to see three or four or five at a time, but a hundred? Ryan braces himself for something big, but it’s not what he was expecting.

Like many of Coates’ stories, Death Birds blurs the line between dimensions. I loved the ominous death birds, whose presence sets everyone on edge. It’s a great idea made even better because the author includes an emotional backstory for Ryan that adds an extra layer to the story. 

Untamed Things

This is probably my favorite story of the bunch. Ana is on a plane, traveling to her cousin’s wedding where she will be a bridesmaid. But something goes terribly wrong, and the plane crashes in a remote part of the Arctic, killing almost everyone on board. Everyone except for Ana and a mysterious woman named Chloe, who appears out of the rubble to help her.

Coates does an amazing job (maybe too amazing!) describing the horrors of a plane crash, so right away the reader is on edge and braced for the worst. Once Ana realizes she’s alive but has to trek through the snow to get to the plane’s cockpit, another threat appears. Chloe is such an interesting character. I had so many theories about who she was, but I was wrong on all accounts. This is an unsettling story with a gut punch emotional ending, and I loved it!

Cathedral

This is a short story about a husband and wife who are taking a drive one day and come upon a huge cathedral in the middle of nowhere. They decide to go inside to check it out, but that is a big mistake.

Coates set the tone by describing the old, dusty cars littering the parking lot of the cathedral, which gives the reader a clue about what’s to come, although I have to admit I was surprised by the sinister turn the story takes. This is one of those stories where the characters are about to do something stupid, but there’s no way to stop them since you’re just the observer.

The rest of the stories are just as good. Darcy Coates is a talented writer, and many of these stories involve characters who make the wrong choices, therefore getting themselves into awful situations. Most of them do not have happy endings, but they do linger after you’ve finished reading. I found her ideas to be unique and fresh, and I think this would be the perfect collection to read during spooky season. Once again I’m so impressed with Coates’ writing skills, and I cannot wait to see what she does next.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.