SFF

The Doll Collection

by Ellen Datlow
Tor. Mar. 2015. 352p. ed. by . ISBN 9780765376800. $27.99; ebk. ISBN 9781466851948. HORROR
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In this collection of all-new stories from various luminaries of fantasy and horror we see a huge array of tales tied together only by their inclusion of dolls of some kind. Joyce Carol Oates's great story "Doll-Master" features a serial killer with a doll obsession. Gemma Files goes off on a tangent with her creepy "Gaze," about a set of antique eye miniatures. A young woman sentenced to community service at a hospital ER encounters a patient who carries a lifelike doll in Pat Cadigan's "In Case of Zebras." Even Kewpies get a story in Carrie Vaughn's "Goodness and Kindness."
VERDICT Dolls, like clowns, are one of the totems of childhood that somehow seem sinister in adulthood. Award-winning editor Datlow has arranged a strong, themed anthology without ever resorting to the "evil doll" cliché of horror movies. There isn't a bad story in the bunch, making this a great addition to horror collections.
Reviewed by Megan M. McArdle , Mar 15, 2015
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