I would call this one of Oliver’s weaker outings, but still entertaining. The stories were better in the second half and ended on a real winner. I left my reviews in the Literary Horror group discussion for this read so I’m not going to reproduce them here. I left a lot of highlights and notes too, as if anyone would be even remotely interested. ( )

Similar to an M.R. James tale, the heart of an Oliver story frequently is captured in a single scene, often as not distilled to a striking visual. Alongside this, Oliver more than once adds a secondary character who is idiosyncratic and odd, somewhat distracting the reader from whatever thread will lead to that central scene. In "Meeting with Mike" for example, the King is eccentric, but the central scene has little to do with him. In James stories, there's usually just the one thing going on. Oliver typically does well in crafting a story to get to that scene, then takes his tale somewhere else. Consequently his stories end at a remove from that beating heart. The endings are not poor, and they fit the story, but can seem detached when reflecting how distant from that central scene, as though it didn't happen. I find this contributes a distinct oddness to the reading experience, one which fits well alongside the story itself.

In this collection, Oliver set five stories among his baker's dozen in the context of the theatre or stage actors --so, somewhat less than half. As the milieu is uncommon for tales of the supernatural, however, the choice is memorable and I continue to appreciate Oliver's insights and effect here.

Oliver contributes a pen-and-ink headpiece to each story, each quite accomplished in its own way and several adding another layer of grotesque to the story. ( )

A collection of seriously uneasy short stories in a beautifully produced volume by Tartarus Press. The little vignettes by the author at the beginning of each story are beautifully done and do much to augment their troubled atmosphere. My one gripe was that all the narrators sound the same, even though they come from a variety of backgrounds. But you can't expect miracles of characterisation from short stories, and these are indeed little black diamonds. One of the stories, 'The Giacometti crucificxion', contains a story-within-a story which is an absolutely spot-on homage to M.R. James. Come to think of it, James's ghost stories give me exactly the same sense of unease. Which is, I suppose, a considerable recommendation. ( )