Maurice Level was a French writer of supremely twisted and macabre fiction with demented plotting and gruesome violence reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe and admired by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft. But beyond the Grand Guignol set pieces and O' Henry-esque twist endings, Level was a humanist at heart, giving us truly empathic characters, full of sadness and regret, and showing us who these people really are at their core once all trace of society has been stripped away. Here presented are 26 of his tales of terror and madness, many of which were translated into English for the first time for this collection. (Summary by Ben Tucker)
