Lullabies For Suffering: Tales of Addiction Horror

Matthews, a recovering addict who works in the field of substance abuse treatment, has been vocal about how horror has helped him through his addiction struggles. As he states in the introduction, “Horror has the capacity to speak to trauma in a unique fashion...and what better way to capture the epidemic of addiction.” In this second collection of addiction horror (following Garden of Fiends), Matthews chose to broaden his scope, including fewer authors but asking each of them to provide longer, more emotionally immersive works. The result is a diverse group of voices, including Gabino Iglesias, Caroline Kepnes, Kealan Patrick Burke, John FD Raff, and Mercedes Yardley, with each story using different techniques and tropes from the genre, resulting in a volume that is chilling and thought provoking.