Graveyard Shift

Some books end with a recipe for a cake or cookie that was mentioned in the story along with nice characters in pleasant surroundings. Then there’s Graveyard Shift. No nice characters, definitely no twee surroundings, and the back matter has two lists: one of songs including “Nightmare” by the Rats and “Bury Me with It” by Modest Mouse (you’ll note the vermin theme) and recipes for cocktails including Corpse Reviver #1. The novella drops readers right into the horror, which brings together the kind of eclectic bunch gathered by a smoking habit. These insomniacs and late-shift workers meet nightly for a smoke in the graveyard of a college town’s dilapidated church, where they witness the dumping of something very unexpected and even more horrible than they would have imagined. Edie, the relentless journalist in the group, seeks answers, aided by bartender Theo, who’s witnessed one of the other weird goings on in the town. Called “Hostile Incidents,” these are instigated by so-called Belligerents, the several “weary, mild-mannered” people who have gone “suddenly berserk.” Readers will want to get their shaky hands on Rio’s previous work, If We Were Villains, after this deliciously bizarre, creepy tale.