Tales Of Mystery And Madness by Gris Grimly Book Review

     Tales Of Mystery And Madness by Edgar Allen Poe is a horror short story collection with illustrations by Gris Grimly. It was published in 2004 by Simon & Schuster. It has 4.3 stars on Goodreads. Here are my thoughts.

    Tales of Mystery And Madness includes the stories of The Black Cat, The Masque Of The Red Death, Hop-Frog, and The Fall Of The House Of Usher. The Black Cat is about a house cat who annoys its owner to the point of murder. The Masque Of The Red Death is about a frivolous party gone horribly wrong. Hop-Frog is about the revenge a dwarf exacts on his captors. The Fall Of The House Of Usher is about two dying twins who are the last of their family line.

    The plots of Tales Of Mystery And Madness are all equally chilling. Violence comes from the characters that seem the most unsuspecting. Each story is completely different, but they all have a similar tone and mood.

    The main characters of Tales Of Mystery And Madness are Hop-Frog, Roderick Usher, and Prince Prospero. Hop-Frog is an enslaved dwarf who is both sweet and vengeful at the same time. Roderick Usher is a formerly affluent man who is deteriorating and anxious. Prince Prospero is a rich prince who is cowardly and ignorant. These characters all showcase some form of wickedness, which, as horrible as it is, is not unrealistic.

    The writing of Tales Of Mystery And Madness is richly descriptive and cunningly scary. In certain stories, the reader is taken along as the narrator, word by word, delves deeper into insanity.

    In conclusion, I would give Tales Of Mystery And Madness by Edgar Allen Poe 4 stars. I liked the haunting illustrations and prose. I would have liked for even more stories included in the collection. I would recommend this book to readers looking for horror, paranormal, and mystery.