OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Sleeping Truths, Waking Dreams" by Wesley Signer.]

Sleeping Truths, Waking Dreams: A Horror Collection written by Wesley Signer. This is his second book of short stories that fall into the horror genre.

In Sleeping Truths, Waking Dreams there are twelve short stories to read. These stories range from your typical haunted house to the more realistic scares that we may or may not worry about every day, to the monsters in our imaginations. The stories had decent variation ranging from vampires to ghosts to obsessive people.

Twelve short stories all unique from each other but still predictable. The uniqueness of the stories were what I liked best. This author brought enough variation to his book of short stories to keep the reader interested. Out of all the stories if I had to pick a favorite I would have to pick The Specimen. A lunatic doctor has a woman held captive, tied down to a surgical table. He is obsessive about creating the perfect person and seeing how the story played out and feeling sorry for the woman he was torturing kept me biting my nails.

The second story, A New Home, I enjoyed was of a more realistic scare. Hackers and how they manage to use even the most unexpected electronics to destroy a family’s lives. I liked this one because of the realistic nature of it and that it is something a lot of parents, depending on the gadgets used, worry about. In this story we see how a child can be easily manipulated when a device is hacked into and the criminal is given access to the child unbeknownst the the parents.

The third story I will say I liked is called Late. In this story, a woman is rushed to get to work. But she doesn’t realize that something is dreadfully wrong until she stops and studies her surroundings. I found this story intriguing because she was so wrapped up worrying about being late for work she didn’t realize what was going until an older woman explained to her the situation. This story acts as a good reminder to slow down, to take in our surroundings.

With that being said there wasn't much I liked about this book. I felt excited when I read the synopsis of the story. Mostly because I had been reminded of stories that many of us may have grown up reading, such as Short Stories to Tell in the Dark and Goosebumps. While each story was interesting, the writing seemed amateurish and horror didn't seem to be the proper genre for most of the stories. They seemed more Sci-fi and fantasy than anything.

Now social media is notorious for making things clique in my opinion and that comes to another issue I had. One of the stories in particular felt clique to me. The Letter, the story starts with a man writing a letter. Okay, fine. As the reader continues on the clique becomes obvious, you keep reading, something bad will happen. I had a hard time with this, mostly because it's something I have seen time and time again. My last and biggest problem is the errors found in the book. Usually I can overlook errors but these kinds of errors made this book difficult to read and I believe it detracted from the story greatly. Most of the errors I found were incorrect words used in the sentence, the other errors I found were more minor but still annoying.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this book of short stories because I enjoy a good horror book once in a while. This book just didn’t do it for me. I got none any of the edge of your seat, fear of what is going to happen feeling. There were things I liked, as I mentioned the two stories in particular, but as a whole I did not enjoy the book. With that being said I rate Sleeping Truths, Waking Dreams by Wesley Signer a 2 out of 4 stars. This is not a book I'd recommend.

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Sleeping Truths, Waking Dreams
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Nice descriptive review!

Yes, short stories should be able to go anywhere. Predictability is not a good quality. Thanks, TrishaAnn!

Nice review! Too bad the book didn't meet your expectations.

Nice, insightful review! It sounds like the horror didn't shine through. I can see how that would be disappointing in a book in the horror genre.

Very well-written review, TrishaAnn. It is not easy to gather short stories into a good collection. It seems to me that the author has some god stories written but not enough for a solid book. Late has caught my attention.

I don't like horror, but the summaries of the stories intrigued me, especially the one about making the perfect person. I am really into sci-fi so the fact that the book leans toward that genre is more appealing to me. But the errors and amateurish writing style as you describe it are disappointing. Seems like the book had potential but didn't live up to it, which happens. Great review! I appreciate the thorough insight.

Great review and insight into what worked and what did not. Your descriptions of the stories you enjoyed sound very interesting.

Thank you everybody!

Nice review! I always find myself inclined to this genre during this time of the year... Too nad it wasn't up to your expectations. But it sounds like the author has some nice ideas. All he needs would be to brush up the writing a bit and try to avoid the predictable. Or so I imagine, after reading your review. Best of luck to the author!

Btw, I loved Goosebumps when I was little. The TV series especially. I read some of the stories last year, and they were still nice, tho they didn't have the same effect on me

Yeah it just seemsled like it was a mix of genres in the book. I loveven a good horror story (not all the time but every once in a while) I share the same sentiment. I think if the author cones out with more works I would be inclined to read them to see if and how the author improves his writing.

I did too! I haven't read the books lately but that is a nice idea!

Great review! It sounds like the book had potential. Hope you enjoy the next book you do!

It really did and I was excited to read it. Thank you! I took another book review yesterday and haven't started it yet but I am really excited to start reading it!

Nice review! The three stories you mentioned did indeed sound interesting. Too bad the collection as a whole did not follow suit.

Thank you!