Something Followed Us Home

Cynthia Pelayo

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½

Genre: Horror + Short Stories

Something Followed Us Home is a collection of horror stories written by many authors. One of the aspects I appreciate a lot about this collection is the variety it offers. Having not read many Latin American stories in the past made reading this collection an interesting experience. It focuses on Latin American folklore, mythology, and traditions with a horror wrap-up. The stories in this book offer different perspectives on horror. All depends on what an author interprets as scary, and because there are many authors, it means you will see the difference to varying degrees. 

I’m a big fan of literary fiction, so I found myself drawn to some stories more than others, mainly because of the writing style. Some authors successfully made their stories more engaging in one way or another, whether it is the plot, characters, or the atmosphere. Others were less successful, at least in my view. With an anthology like this, I suppose some unevenness is to be expected.

A word of caution, though: don't go into this expecting every story to be horror in the conventional sense. Fans of conventional horror might not dig every single story in the collection, as some of them, I feel, were more like fantasy or folklore or literary fiction without the horror. 

Another thing you need to remember is that these are short stories, so your expectations about character development should be grounded. There is hardly enough room for substantial character development, and some of the ideas might have benefited from a longer format. Still, I appreciate the collection for its cultural variety and the different approaches its authors take. Not every story worked for me, but there was enough here to make it a worthwhile read. 3.5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.

Key Themes:

• Latin American
• Mythology
• Folklore
• Immigration
• Faith
• Identity
• Family
• Memory