I want to acknowledge, first off, that my interest in Conan Doyle's work stems from my love of the Sherlock Holmes stories and novellas. Conan Doyle always felt these were among the weakest of his works, so I find myself wondering what some of his other fiction is like. The Parasite and Other Stories is a result of a fairly recent project undertaken by Poisoned Pen Press. For quite a while, the press has been re-releasing classic mysteries, and the ones I've read have been almost uniformly excellent. Now the press is also re-releasing classic horror stories, and The Parasite is one of those volumes.

Having read The Parasite, I'm still a fan of Conan Doyle's Holmes fiction—and I'm further convinced that Conan Doyle wasn't the best judge of his own work. The stories included here range from creepy to humorous and make for fun—but not exciting—reading. Part of what makes the Holmes stories great is that, even when the plotting is formulaic, the reader always has Holmes at the center of the narrative, and he's an interesting enough character to carry almost any story. In the Parasite, readers don't get that recurring presence of a remarkable character, so each story stands on its own without the bulwark of a larger body of writing. And on their own, these stories are good, but not great.

My favorite stories were those that attempted humor. Even at his most terrifying, Conan Doyle isn't that terrifying for modern readers, but his ability to skewer the genre in which he's writing is a delight.

This is a book to pick up from time to time when one needs a distraction or entertainment of a particular length—these stories don't benefit from being read consecutively. Keep a copy of The Parasite at your bedside and use it as drifting-off reading. Read a bit now and again. If you do that, you'll find something of interest in each story, but the book as a whole doesn't accomplish the sense of horror one might hope for.

I received an electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via EdelweissPlus; the opinions are my own. ( )