Most of the stories in the collection “Not a Spec of Light“, by Laird Barron are, frankly, boring.

There are a couple of standouts. “Don’t Make Me Assume My Ultimate Form” was the one that held my attention—the conversation between the Danny Doll and the character with the brain tumor had a strange, unsettling edge that actually worked.

“An American Remake of a Japanese Ghost Story” is probably the most clever piece in the book. There’s a good idea at its core, something that feels like it should linger—but it’s buried in a collection that never quite finds its footing.

The rest aren’t necessarily bad. They’re just not interesting.

That ends up being the real issue here. Story after story drifts by without grabbing hold, and the whole thing starts to feel like a chore to get through.

And that’s the disappointment—you keep waiting for it to click, it just never really happens.