School Library Journal Review
Gr 7-10-Bathtubs dripping with blood, a monkey's ear instead of a monkey's paw, a cannibalistic chef looking for new ingredients, and a camera that kills the subject of its photographs are some of the elements in these selections. While the stories probably won't make most readers want to sleep with the lights on, they have their own brand of creepiness. As with most short-story collections, this one is uneven, and the book will appeal mainly because of the author. However, it lacks the sophistication of truly horrifying horror.-Lynn Evarts, Sauk Prairie High School, Prairie du Sac, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Not to be read before bedtime, Horowitz Horror: Stories You'll Wish You Never Read, nine terrifying tales from Alex Rider creator Anthony Horowitz, are mostly set against the all-too-real horror of familial tension. From a cursed bathtub, to a seemingly possessed computer belonging to a dead man and given to a girl by her father, and a more exotic tale of a monkey's ear that grants dangerous wishes, this paper-over-board collection will keep kids up all night... wishing for daylight. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In these nine amusing (if not that scary) tales written by the author of the Alex Rider books, wicked children are punished and good children are (generally) let be. Supernatural elements include a cursed camera and a haunted computer. The translations from British English into American are inconsistent and can be confusing. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
In this collection of nine macabre tales, Horowitz proves himself as adept at spooky psychological horror as he is at creating breakneck adventure-suspense. Although he consistently draws on familiar themes (bad kids get their due; nice ones are caught up in something out of their control), he always manages to stretch them into his own peculiar version of reality gone mad, which will make readers feel they're simply one step away from horrible chaos themselves. Isabel, 12, doesn't like the new antique bathtub her parents bought, and when bath time approaches, her fears are more than justified; Matthew's birthday gift to his father, an old camera, has a devastating quirk; and city-boy bully Gary finds out everything is different in the country, just as his mother says. Other stories are equally suspenseful; horror fans will like them all. --Stephanie Zvirin Copyright 2006 Booklist