“Surely, once a book is out in the world, and being read, the world is altered, for better or worse.”

John Connolly is one of my favorite authors, and because of this, I automatically snap up any book that appears with his name on it. But this one is unlike the others I’ve read, and that might be good news for some, but not for others. One way or the other, my thanks go to NetGalley and Atria Books for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Night and Day is an odd one. The first half is dedicated to nine outstanding short stories, all in the horror genre; the second half is a nonfiction discussion of a film titled Horror Express. This is such a strange thing that I don’t believe it at first, and I read the first half of the film critique expecting the characters to come bursting onto a busy freeway, or commence kidnapping and eating employees at the film studio. Once I discover that this is truly the world’s longest film review, and of a film I haven’t seen, I am annoyed. The author says that one needn’t necessarily have seen the film to find interest in his article, but I must respectfully disagree. On the other hand, I am not much of a film buff.

Now let’s talk about the first half, where I have much nicer things to say. When Connolly writes fiction, he is incomparable. All of these short stories are of stellar quality, and hugely memorable. The last, titled “Our Friend Carlton,” is my favorite; it’s about a friend that really, really overstays his welcome. The first story, “The Pilgrim’s Progress: A Tale of the Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository,” is about a most unusual library. Here’s an excerpt that describes it:

“On a basic level, the operation of the Caxton was easily explained. When a novel achieved a singular status with the reading public (generally after the death of its author), a first edition of the book in question, wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, would appear on the Caxton’s doorstep, soon to be followed by the fictional character or characters responsible for its popularity.”

As you might have guessed, characters from The Canterbury Tales are squabbling in the back yard, and that’s just the beginning. It’s hilarious, despite the fact that I barely remember the Chaucer I studied in high school. Trust me, you don’t need a lot of backstory to enjoy it.

The above two stories are my favorites, but all of them are excellent.

Now comes the question of how to rate the book as a whole. Obviously, if you love brilliant horror short stories and have seen the movie discussed in the book’s second half, this is a five star book. My own sense is that the short stories are so wonderful that even if you stop reading after the first half, the book is worth having. But that’s easy for me to say; I read it free. Had I paid full cover price plus tax, and done so believing I was getting an entire book of the usual Connolly fare, I might be churlish enough to crank it down to three stars. Some readers will obtain the book for free via other means, such as libraries, subscription services and the like. And so, I will split the difference and rate it four stars; as for you, now you know what you’re getting, and you can decide accordingly.