The Beast You Are: Stories - book cover
  • Publisher : William Morrow
  • Published : 11 Jul 2023
  • Pages : 368
  • ISBN-10 : 0063069962
  • ISBN-13 : 9780063069961
  • Language : English

The Beast You Are: Stories



A haunting collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club, A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Cabin at the End of the World.





Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push the boundaries of storytelling itself. The fifteen pieces in this brilliant collection, The Beast You Are, are all monsters of a kind, ready to loudly (and lovingly) smash through your head and into your heart.

In "The Dead Thing," a middle-schooler struggles to deal with the aftermath of her parents' substance addictions and split. One day, her little brother claims he found a shoebox with "the dead thing" inside. He won't show it to her and he won't let the box out of his sight. In "The Last Conversation," a person wakes in a sterile, white room and begins to receive instructions via intercom from a woman named Anne. When they are finally allowed to leave the room to complete a task, what they find is as shocking as it is heartbreaking.

The title novella, "The Beast You Are," is a mini epic in which the destinies and secrets of a village, a dog, and a cat are intertwined with a giant monster that returns to wreak havoc every thirty years.

A masterpiece of literary horror and psychological suspense, The Beast You Are is a fearlessly imagined collection from one of the most electrifying and innovative writers working today.




Editorial Reviews

"A brilliant, creepy and wildly entertaining collection. By turns surreal, playful, and frightening, with a wondrously nightmarish Orwellian fable to boot, Paul Tremblay is a master storyteller who vividly conjures the monstrous in all its shivery forms." - Mona Awad, author of Bunny and Rouge

"Inventive, entertaining, and guaranteed to trouble your sleep. I savored this collection – and I'm still thinking about the show-stopping tour-de-force novella in verse, ‘The Beast You Are.' I've never read anything like it, but now I want more, more, more."
- Kelly Link, bestselling author of White Cat, Black Dog: Stories

"A wonderful collection of short fiction. These 15 gems, polished to perfection, range from straight-up horror to speculative fiction to psychological terror . . . . This one's a must-have." - Booklist (starred review)

"Invigorating . . . Whether he's writing a subtly disarming tale in the manner of Shirley Jackson or a grisly monster story, Tremblay draws well-developed characters whose recognizable humanity makes it easy for readers to accept the weird events happening around them." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Uncertainty is Tremblay's stock-in-trade. Over the last decade, he has grown from hot new thing to horror icon without compromising on his uniquely inexplicable nightmares." - Esquire

"Paul Tremblay delivers another mind-bending horror novel . . . The Pallbearers Club is a welcome casket of chills to shoulder." - Washington Post

"Yet another not-to-miss release by the popular and critically acclaimed Tremblay, showcasing a discomfort that is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson but still new and thought-provoking." - Library Journal (starred review)

"A jaunty, character-driven exploration of a complicated friendship, [The Pallbearers Club] is more emotional than [Tremblay's] previous novels, and more innovative. . . . [T]his delightfully morbid and surprisi...

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