Royal Bengal Horror

Royal Bengal Horror, Nafee Muhammad Anam, 2017

This is a group of spooky/macabre stories set in South Asia.

A newspaper editor visits his top writer, who seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth. He has not been into work in a long time. The writer has physically changed a lot, and not for the better. He says that he was forced to let go his driver, his cook and his housekeeper. The editor is drawn to the basement, where he finds four coffins, three of which are occupied. The door to the main level suddenly closes.

A new family moves in next door. The only child, named Christina, has not been outside at all for several days. Urmi, a young woman of the same age, goes next door to say Hi. In the sitting room are hundreds of drawings of snakes, all done by Christina. Urmi reluctantly enters Christina's room, which is filled with glass showcases holding thousands of snakes. Urmi turns around to get out, and Christina is gone, along with the door to the room. As if on cue, all the glass cages open, and all the snakes head straight for a panicked Urmi.

On the positive side, this is a very good group of stories from a different part of the world. They will certainly keep the reader entertained. On the negative side, this book needs a trip, or another trip, to a proofreader whose first language is English.