Based on the title, “Nailbiters,” and the cover art, I was expecting some great stories in this collection, full of horror and fright. Unfortunately, the title and cover were misleading. None of these stories were “nail-biting,” or scary.

There are eight short stories (some very long) and one screenplay. None were engaging or interesting. In almost every story, someone throws up. By the end of the book I was beginning to think everyone must throw up on a regular basis. There were lots of POV changes within the same paragraph (head hopping) which was confusing.

Here is a brief synopsis of the stories:

“Benched” tells the story of a woman who gets revenge for her husband’s serial dating.
“The PI’s Tale” is about a nurse who kidnaps a kid and keeps him locked in a cage in her basement. This story was mildly amusing, but WAY too long and drawn out.
“The Shadow of Death” is just a plain dumb story about a man who dies.
“Confessions” is another story that is way too long and just insipid. There are some grammar issues in this story as well. Example: “Rusty was frowning again, as bewildered as she’d been till she figured it out.” Rusty is a male. There are some pronoun antecedent issues here.
“The Case of The Lost Soul” is a Sherlock Holmes type story which started out interesting but became boring and absolutely ridiculous by the end.
“Strands” is a story of a woman who keeps a girl locked up in her attic.
“Corpsing” is another too long story with a forced ending in which the author never explained how the police officer learned who the murderer is.
“The Scarred” tells a story of cult worship and sacrifice.
“Nightmare on 34th Street” is a story of a shooting in a department store by Santa Claus.

I can only give this collection one star (as there is no option for zero stars) as the stories were just plain boring for the most part and a couple were too long and should have been edited down.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

Nailbiters Hard Bitten by Paul Kane is a collection of some weird short stories. The stories have a good start but eventually they become unnecessary long. The climax was a bit boring. Also, the book has a Sherlock Holmes story which was interesting. But, still I hoped the book to be a more thrilling one. Still the book is worth a one time read.

I would like to give the book 3 stars. Thanks to Book Sirens for providing me with an opportunity to read and review the book. ( )