Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this author before and I was excited to get a collection of short stories, horror related at this time of year that many critics were harping over. With that being said, I was kind of disappointed with these stories as they are just not to my liking, being drawn out and too wordy, seemingly half of each story could have been edited out with no loss. I generally read before bed and if the storyline doesn't hold me awake, or I find myself skimming, we have a problem, which we did here. If you like stories more about human monsters than "monster" monsters, certainly give this book a read.

3 Stars

Many thanks to Inkshares Press, Scott Thomas and Netgalley for early access to this title in exchange for and honest review. The title and the cover hooked me on this. I was delighted to see this was a book of spooky, short stories. As a Hoosier (lol), I can acknowledge that aspects of our culture are horrifying: So frankly, this was this is top tier horror with some intensive creativity sprinkled in. I did really enjoy this; however, gore isn’t really my thing. Future readers be advised that this is pretty graphic.

These stories give serious Stephen King vibes. I did enjoy it and would recommend it, but it was a bit hard for me to read personally due to the gore. I also found some of the paragraphs to be a bit long-winded and my ADHD brain struggled to get through those bits.

This collection of stories checks all of the boxes on my horror checklist! Gothic, cosmic, slasher, there is something for everyone here. And to tie all of the stories back to authors found in his Kill Creek novel was a stroke of genius. This was a fun read and had me constantly wanting to keep reading late into the night. With the lights on of course!

I wish I would’ve read kill creek before this, I imagine the references were fun to catch. I liked the little ties connecting the stories.
Midwestern gothic is well done, but drawn out. Scott Thomas is a talented gore writer for sure and I was definitely squeamish at times. I just wish the stories had been edited down a bit. 3.5 stars.

A grimdark collection. As a Missourian I was drawn in by the title and cover, but I was lost in the references to the author's other works which I have not read.

Thanks to Inkshares and NetGalley for the eARC!

I really enjoyed this collection of horror/supernatural novellas! Each story is subtly linked, forming a fascinating web of haunts that doesn't indeed reveal itself until the final page. I gave each novella its own rating, averaging 4.25 ⭐️s.

The Door in the Field - 3/5 ⭐️s
(Unfortunately, the first novella was my least favorite. However, it is perhaps the most important part of the book's overarching message, so don't skip it.)
Wear Your Secret Like a Stone - 5/5 ⭐️s
The Boy in the Woods - 5/5 ⭐️s
One Half of a Child's Face - 4/5 ⭐️s

This was my second Scott Thomas book. While I enjoyed Kill Creek, I found it a bit overwritten and drawn out. His writing in Midwestern Gothic was vastly different (in the best way!). Thomas packed so much into these 100-page tales, and I know the characters and their eerie stories will stick with me for a long, long time.

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Reader Note: There are references to Thomas' novel Kill Creek in the novellas. I wouldn't say reading Kill Creek before Midwestern Gothic is necessary, but you may encounter a few minor spoilers.

4.5/5 stars

Midwestern Gothic was gucci. Chef's kiss.

The first story was titled: The Door in the Field. Five stars. This one played out like a movie in my head. Quite honestly, all of the stories in this collection did, but this one especially. I want a spinoff novel exclusively about the serial killer in this book stat!

Novella number 2 was Wear Your Secret Like a Stone. I loved the character relations in this one. Thomas really sold the dialogue and the humor for me. The best part about this was the meaningful conversations about censorship that I know this story will spark. 4.5 stars.

Story number 3 was my favorite in the collection and that was The Boy in the Woods. This felt like an origin story for Jason Voorhees, only cooler and creepier. I LOVED the setting and the urban legend style ending. A banger! Five stars!

The final story in this collection was One Half of a Child's Face. This was my least favorite in the collection, but I still really enjoyed it. It really makes you realize how little you really know what's going on in others lives even when you think you've got the full picture. 4 stars.

This is a terrific novella collection by the author of Kill Creek, one of my favorite horror novels ever! "Midwestern Gothic" includes references to the novel, which is a good thing if you've read the book (many easter eggs to enjoy!), but totally harmless if you have not. The tales range over cosmic horror and folk horror, contain some gore, but they're mostly examples of incredibly good writing (on several levels), four imaginative stories set over the Midwest (Kansas), many times starring the land itself, the element that provides the unifying factor throughout the stories. There's no need to pick favorites, all four novellas are spectacular and none of them disappoints. One of them, however, deserves special mention: "One Half of a Child's Face", deserves to be a novel; it's chock-full of deep insights on the Gothic, on the book itself, and on what makes horror so attractive in general; it should be allowed space to breathe and it should be given the chance to stand on its own, especially as an extended meditation on the theme of obsession. In sum, the collection is a must-read for all horror fans and I cannot praise it enough!

I absolutely loved each of these novellas! All scary and unique in their own way, this is the perfect book for fall. I liked how this touches on different aspects of horror that are all equally scary.

MIDWESTERN GOTHIC, is a collection of four novellas by author Scott Thomas. I loved the references to his novel KILL CREEK in these, but you do not have to have read anything else to enjoy these works on their own. The stories here range from mystical, to folklore, to just plain gory, and almost cosmic. The one common factor is that they all take place in the Midwest (Kansas), and the beginnings of early settlers who took over the land.

". . . Blood for blood."

In "The Door in the Field", a construction worker named Ray takes a trip with his supervisor and discovers some of the evils hiding in plain sight, that he is one of the very few aware of.

"Wear Your Secret Like a Stone", combines German Folklore and several Kill Creek references (a bonus "easter egg" for those who have read the novel). This was my second favorite of the tales. A clerk at a big market store has her pick for "Favorite Halloween Book" removed from the shelves, and goes about investigating who, and why this was so. The longest story here, I loved the Folklore, learning from the town's other residents, and the overall atmosphere. "There are shadows in the forest that cannot be trees. . . "

"The Boy in the Woods" addresses a particularly gory menace that just happens to be near a summer camp, and a scarred young man who is left dealing with the impossible.

"One Half of a Child's Face" was the last, and my personal favorite, story in this collection. Sienna, a divorced mother with one daughter, spends every other weekend on her balcony, overlooking an apartment complex down the hill, where her ex-husband and girlfriend reside. On those weekends where Maya, the daughter, is with her father, Sienna looks upon the windows of various tenants, making up "reality television" dramas out of the scenes she sees played out. When a mysterious antiquities van arrives one night, and a very peculiar painting is left in a previously empty apartment there, voices and images begin to haunt her. Is something truly after her daughter, or is she losing her mind? The cosmic-feel of this one really had me hooked into it, and the fact that Sienna is editing a manuscript about "The Midwestern Gothic" at the same time brings the images even more into focus.

Overall, this was a fantastic sampling of horror from author Scott Thomas. I enjoyed each story for its own merits, and loved the differences in each one while appreciating how they were linked by the land they resided on, alone.

Thank you to NetGalleyand the Publisher for an eARC of this book. All opinions expressed are uniquely my own.

I really wanted to love this but it just fell kinda flat for me but pls hold because you should prob still read it...

I'm a big fan of Scott Thomas, having read and enjoyed both Violet and Kill Creek, so when I learned he was writing some gothics (i.e. my fav subgenre) set in the midwest (i.e. where I grew up) I said sign me upppppp!

I did enjoy the opening exposition - what the gothic genre is and how a community relates to the history of the land they inhabit. I saw the threads throughout these stories and can appreciate Midwestern Gothic as an idea. But damn, I wish this was either four full-length novels or four short stories in a bigger collection. They somehow managed to feel padded with unnecessary information AND leave me underwhelmed by the ending. Every time I was just like, okay?? That's it??? (Actually, now that I'm on this train of thought I really like the idea of shortening these and including them in a larger short story collection that ends with One Half Of A Child's Face where all the vignettes come together as the neighbors that the main character has been watching instead of television)

Either way, Scott Thomas continues to impress me with his ability to write believable and unlikeable characters and weird ass gore. And for that I can't really fault him. This was worth the read and I will definitely be picking up his next release!

Individual ratings:
The Door In The Field - 3 stars
Construction site drama is SO midwest coded. Long toenails clacking on the floor. Foreign objects should not go in between your radius and ulna. Ew.

Wear Your Secret Like A Stone - 3 stars
(Not-)Walmart big box store drama, we love. Even more gore, WE LOVE!! Drowning is an underrated fear. Thanks for the reminder of my sleep paralysis demon.

The Boy In The Woods - 4 stars
Summer camp horror but like, not what you'd expect. Teenagers are GROSS and MEAN. This is the most disgusting and, obvi, my favorite of the collection.

One Half Of A Child's Face - 4 stars
Kids are creepy. Neighbors are nosey. It really doesn't get more midwestern than that.

AND THANK YOU NETGALLEY AND INKSHARES FOR MY FIRST EVER ARC I CRY 🥲

this book is a dnf.

i really tried to get into it, but every single time i was just not hooked.
i don’t mean it when i mark it a 1star book, but i don’t know how to mark a dnf any other way

This is probably one of the strongest companion pieces to a preexisting novel I have read in a very long time.

Midwestern Gothic exists in the liminal space between a sequel and spinoff.

While Kill Creek gives us a glimpse into the fictional authors (who are stand-ins for IRL authors and their respective types of horror), Midwestern Gothic is for their readers.

Thomas expertly weaves in the works of these authors into characters that really highlight the effects and manifestation of horror into the American midwest.

This was a really great book and I enjoyed each individual story!

They were all unique and scary - perfect horror reads.

The best thing about the four novellas in this collection are their uniqueness. Each one was interesting, engrossing, and devoid of the typical tropes that usually mar stories of this genre. I wasn't sure where the stories were going; I found myself genuinely curious as to how they would develop and what was coming around the bend. My favorite was the first story, which was odd because on paper it should been my least. But the author manages to make the reader care about the characters and the ordeals they are going through. Each character is unique and fully developed. The stories are roughly 100 pages each, but the backstory and development is rich and textured and immersive.

Which leads me to my one drawback to these stories. There was so much backstory and so much buildup that there were times I forgot I was even reading a horror story. In a couple of instances, it felt like 2/3 buildup and then a dash through the horror elements of the story. Like I said previously, the stories were excellent and well written, but there were times it felt as if a little bit of editing would have been beneficial. However, when the horror does come, it is effective and unlike anything I've read before. The reader thinks they know what is coming, but at least in my case, that's not what happens.

I would definitely look for more from this author. I know that his other works tie-in in some way and I would be curious to see how. I have not read his other work, and I was wasn't confused by missing information, so you can read this as a standalone.

These 4 novellas are excellent - 4 different genres of horror tied together by a common place. If you like Southern or Appalachian gothic type stories, you will love this. Highly recommended.

This story collection was fabulously chilling. If you're a horror fan, then you need it. I have yet to read Kill Creek but heard there are Easter Eggs (I love when authors do this) so I will have to be sure to get to reading that soon and see what I can catch. I loved the atmosphere of the stories and would definitely read this author again.

Being a Midwestern girl who loves horror, I took a chance on this author and decided to give these four novellas a try. I was not let down! The four stories are…

The Door In The Field: Set primarily in Wichita, Kansas, this is a beautifully written horror/fantasy story about a man who has a choice to make. I think it’s up to the reader to decide whether or not he made the right one. 4/5

Wear Your Secret Like A Stone: When a blatant act of extreme horror censorship hits a big box store in Blantonville, Kansas, it leads to a girl trying to learn more about the creepy past of the small town, with terrifying results… 3.5/5

The Boy In The Woods: This slasher story about a disfigured boy being bullied at summer camp was FANTASTIC! The creep (and the camp, pun intended) were strong with this one. 5/5

One Half Of A Child’s Face: A piece of artwork infiltrates an apartment building, but luckily one mother has been watching, and listening - listening very closely - and knows just what to do… 4.5/5

Overall, this is a great and unique collections of stories; everyone loves southern gothic, but what about the Midwest? Each novella had its own feel, but they were all tied geographically, with a little history mixed in the horror. Four stars.

(Thank you to Inkshares, Scott Thomas and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on September 17, 2024.)

In Midwestern Gothic you get four different novels in one single book: The Door in the Field, The Boy in the Woods, One Half of a Child’s Face and Wear Your Secret Like a Stone. Each individual story is about 110 pages long - optimum length for a short but sweet horror story without it being boring or dragging.

In The Door in the Field we follow Rayland Allen who, after a freakish accident, becomes a shadow of his former self - a very angry version. One day, after accompanying his boss, Don, for a drink after work, he discovers more than he bargained for.
This was definitely the weakest among the short stories which is not to say it was bad, on the contrary; i enjoyed the storytelling and the plot was unlike anything i’ve ever read. Nonetheless, it didn’t blow my mind like the other stories did and its ending is also open for interpretation - not my personal favorite type of ending. It’s a 3/5 for me.

In The Boy in the Woods we follow Eddie Reicher, a young child whose face has been transfigured in a vicious attack by a Rottweiler. Being apart of a camp - and being bullied by his fellow campers - Eddie is afraid that the councilors banquet will only propel him to feel more excluded by his peers. However, when the night turns into a blood-bath, his initial fears are soon forgotten.
This one gives very much slasher vibes. I was holding on to my kindle thought the whole length of the story and i genuinely could not put it down until i reached the last page. The suspense of it made my heart beat like crazy. It’s a 5/5 for me.

In One Half of a Child’s Face we follow Sienna Roh, a newly divorced mother that finds comfort in observing the lives of her neighbors through a toy telescope.
The writing of this short story created a very eery and unsettling atmosphere - especially when the tale started to take some very bizarre turns. It’s a 4.5/5 for me.

In Wear Your Secret Like a Stone we follow Tara Bright, a fellow bookworm. Since Halloween is very near, her boss decides that each employee shall recommend a horror book. Following a complaint about Tara’s choice, she tries to track down who had her book removed from the display, resulting in dark secrets being unveiled.
The storytelling in this one was very similar to One Half of a Child’s Face for me. Although starting off in a very jolly manner - different from the previous tale - it soon takes a very dark turn. It’s a 4/5 for me.

If you’d like to dip your toes in your very first horror book, i think Midwestern Gothic is a very good choice. Apart from having four different but absolutely enjoyable novels, you get to experience different subgenres of horror. Each narrative will keep you on the edge with these unsettling and haunting tales.

I was a huge fan of Kill Creek, so I was very excited for the chance to read the ARC for Midwestern Gothic. Overall, a great collection - and one I would recommend for fans of Kill Creek or Violet for sure (or anyone who enjoys this genre).