The Parasite and Other Tales of Terror

January 4, 2021
The fifth release in the Horror Writer Association’s Haunted Library of Horror Classics series collects nine chilling shorts from Sherlock Holmes creator Doyle and serves as a remarkable reminder of the author’s dark imagination and influence on the horror genre. In the mystical title novelette, professor Austin Gilroy, a young skeptic, is swayed by the strange powers of a mesmerist. “The Mystery of Sasassa Valley” follows two Englishmen as they investigate rumors of a demon living in a South African valley. An injured soldier is protected by a mysterious black stone on a perilous sea voyage in “J. Habakuk Jephson’s Statement,” and in “The Ring of Thoth” an Egyptologist gets trapped in the Louvre where he encounters a strange man who tells him an ancient story. Questionable depictions of African characters and a strain of Orientalism date the collection, but there’s no denying Doyle’s powerful storytelling abilities. Horror enthusiasts will delight in these classic tales of the macabre, and those primarily familiar with Doyle from his detective fiction will be fascinated to explore his darker side.