Route 13 : Highway to Hell - Various Authors - ★★★★

AUTHORS: Various

GENRE: Horror Anthology

PUBLICATION DATE: March 11, 2020

RATING: 4 stars.

Background first. I'm not a horror freak. I have watched exactly three horror movies in my life. The first was Urmila Matondkar's "Bhoot" in 2003. I still remember the scene depicting the twisted neck of the security guard. But I wasn't much scared during this movie.

The second movie was one you might not even remember, it was that big a flop: Sushmita Sen's "Vaastu Shastra" released in 2004. My then-fiance (currently husband, in spite of this torture he wreaked on me a month before our wedding!) suggested that we go see it in the theatre. I couldn't refuse. (Izzat ka sawaal, you know?) Biggest mistake of my life! There was one scene where a ghost was shown attacking the victim from the ceiling. Phir kya? For at least two months, I couldn't enter any room without checking the ceiling first! 🤦🏻‍♀️

The third was "Stree". No horrific tales here. It was a great movie, and not scary for me.

Why am I still scared of Vaastu Shastra while Bhoot & Stree didn't affect me at all? Simple reason. I like my ghosts to be logical. (Don't laugh!) If a ghost is shown to take revenge for something bad done to it earlier (as in Bhoot & Stree), I am very compassionate and forgiving towards the ghost. But if, like in Vaastu Shastra, there is no apparent reason for the ghostly attack, I lose my marbles. I need closure, you see?

When Srivalli approached me with Route 13: Highway to Hell written by the cohort known as The Hive, I was disappointed that it was a compilation of 13 horror stories. But curiosity always is an important factor, and thus, I ended up reading this book though it is much beyond my comfort zone.

Here is my review of the stories. (short reviews for each because every story has a different author!) Please note, my reviews depend highly on the "closure" factor I mentioned.

2. Welcome - Sarveshwari Sai Krishna

About an evil phone! What else do you want?

My favourite story from the book. Really really scary, no closure! I started looking at my smartphone differently after this. Brilliant piece of writing, this! I was hooked onto the story from the start to the end.

3. Pastel of the past - Priya Bajpai

About how friendship from the past can sometimes have long lasting effects.

Very nice story, written in an interesting manner. Good job! Complete closure.

4. Ill conceived - Meha Sharma

About how a known person could create the biggest troubles in your life.

I could guess the plot twist much in advance but the story is still quite good. Loved the end. Again, complete closure.

5. Killing Murakami - Venkataraman Ganesan

Literally, a man dreams of killing Murakami.

Not at all typical horror. A bit too gory for my liking, but imaginative enough. Those who like gore will love it.

6. The Silver Beast - Srivalli Rekha

I wish this had a more creative title. It is again literal, and had a silver beast. 🤷🏻‍♀️

But that is the only grudge I have. This was among the spookiest stories in the whole book. Typical monster story. No closure at all for poor me! Loved the end too. Very unexpected! I was grateful that the title prepared me mentally for the appearance of the beast in advance because I was a nervous wreck while reading this.

7. Old McDonald had a farm - Varadharajan Ramesh

Six men rape a woman. What happens as the outcome?

This story proves why you should NOT judge a book by its cover and a story by its title. What a story this was! I was gobsmacked! It had everything a horror story should have. And the icing on the cake was, it had closure. So no nightmares for me. 😁 Definitely top three of the best stories in the book!

8. The Haveli - Anshu B

An old haveli, and ghosts in the haveli,.... You know the drill.

Spooky, but not scary. This was too Bollywoody for me.

11. Macabre Melody - Sreeparna Sen

How music can save your life, even when there are ghosts around!

Loved it. Very interesting buildup and ending. Not at all scary, at least to me!

12. Memory of a Face - Kanika G

Again, smartphone related but unlike the earlier one, this goes more into the mental problems created by technology.

Nice enough story. I liked it, didn't love it, don't know why! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Special shoutout to the mini tales at the end of the book: Some of them are really horrific! One gave me a nightmare! Fabulous idea to include fan tales in the book.

You might notice that I have reviewed only 9 stories out of the 13. The remaining four were skipped on the trusted advice of my horror-loving bestie Sheerin, who warned me in advance about which stories would be too macabre for me. 🙈🙈

If you want a proper book review of this book, you might need to look up reviews by genuine horror aficionados. Through my amateur eyes, I am pretty impressed with the book. It gives me hopes for the future of Indian fiction.