{Book Review} The Cranes That Build The Cranes: Jeremy Dyson

The Cranes That Build The Cranes: Jeremy Dyson

Reviewed By Fiona Dodwell

I was introduced to Dyson’s work when I read his collection called The Haunted Book several years ago, which I absolutely loved. His work often has a touch of the macabre – his short stories are eerie, unsettling and at times truly scary, so it’s easy to see why I’m so intrigued by his creative output.

I am someone addicted to reading, and I’ve been making my way through horror novel after horror novel since I was a kid, yet I’ve never truly been in love with the art of the short story. I’ve read plenty of them, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never connected to short stories in the same way I have to full-length novels. Jeremy Dyson changed all of that for me – not only through The Haunted Book, but also through another collection of his, which I read recently, called The Cranes That Build The Cranes.

The Cranes That Build The Cranes contains nine short stories, each of them solid little gems in their own right. Many collections – quite naturally – vary in how much they hit the target for the reader, but this book contains so many solid tales that I have to say, it’s one of my personal favourite reads of 2019 (though the book itself was published several years ago – I am late to the game, I’m afraid!)

Although I genuinely enjoyed each of the stories, my personal three favourite tales in the book include:

The Coue, a creepy tale in which a young man purchases a collectable but frightening occult item and soon finds that it brings darkness and ruin into his life.

Isle of the Wolf where we see one wealthy man’s search for security leading him into a hellish trap

The Challenge Club, where a man wants to belong to an exclusive club – but at what cost to himself?

Jeremy Dyson writes beautifully. He has a way of making words come to life from the page, his stories are so engaging and easy to get into, yet they are always so dark and foreboding. He has a way of capturing the fears of our everyday lives and making it all seem so scarily plausible.

The Cranes That Build The Cranes is a book that I recommend to anyone who enjoys a creepy read – they don’t come much better than this.

The Cranes That Build The Cranes

Jeremy Dyson is a master of the macabre, of stories brimming with black humour and the promise of something sinister just around the corner. In his new collection, he explores the dark depths of the human condition, offering tales of death, disaster and – just occasionally – redemption.

An unhappy, near-autistic bookseller acquires miraculous powers over life and death and exacts his revenge on the world – in a cruel and unexpected way.

Alone in their isolated boarding school, three boys explore the mysterious cellar that is officially off-limits, only to discover something far worse than they expected about the building and themselves.

A pathological fear of violent crime drives a wealthy property developer to purchase a private island and build himself a home of absolute security. Unfortunately, he succeeds in attracting the very thing he fears the most.

In these and other tales of suspense and horror, Jeremy Dyson introduces the reader to a world that is at once mysterious and strangely familiar…

You can buy The Cranes That Build The Cranes from Amazon UK & Amazon US

Fiona Dodwell

Fiona Dodwell has been writing fiction for almost 10 years, with several horror/paranormal titles released under various publishers. Alongside this, she is a freelance writer for various websites and magazines. She has written features for Warner Music, Made In Shoreditch Magazine, Music-news.com and Tremr.

Fiona has studied Psychology, Film Studies, Theology and Health & Social Care.

Her biggest passion is reading dark fiction, as well as creating new stories of her own – the creepier the better!

To find out more about Fiona:

Twitter: @Angel_devil982

Books: Amazon Store