
Book Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 / 5 stars)
It’s a sleep over! No big deal, right?
Well, so the kids think…until they claim a giant trapdoor spider is under their bed. Now they have to escape giant trapdoor spider and all the terrors that come with it…while keeping their friendship in tack!
As with a lot of these “Dark Corner” tales, I don’t feel like this quite landed. While the premise is clearly interesting, it took a lot of backtracking and reading to really understand what was happening. The idea of venturing into a child playgroup and experiencing their trepidation and horrors while playing is one of great interest. It was, in a twisted way, like watching an episode of the Rugrats or another cartoon, transporting us to a realm of childhood imagination.
Overall though, I just thought the execution could have been a bit better to really hit the point home.
What’s it about?
The thrill of a sleepover becomes sheer terror as kids voice their greatest fears into existence in this cheeky, vividly cinematic tale by New York Times bestselling author Edgar Cantero. Lights out.
It’s bad enough that its venom-dripping chelicerae can slice through flesh like warm butter. Worse? It’s right there under the bunk. It’s a fact now. To make it through the night, the children must obey the rules: don’t get out of bed, stay out of the shadows, and don’t wake the beast. But as the threats multiply, so do the rules of survival. And with the safety of dawn still hours away, the fun is just beginning.
Edgar Cantero’s There’s a Giant Trapdoor Spider under Your Bed is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.