Title: Nothing Will Hurt You
Author: David Morrell
In: Hauntings (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Family, Horror
Dates read: 30th June 2021
Pace: Slow, Medium, Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tachyon
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Parents are supposed to be able to protect their children. But what happens when they fail?
To start with I had some pretty amazing Edward Scissorhand vibes. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe there’s a reference I picked up subconsciously from my long ago watching of the movie. And honestly, I thought that reference was dark enough…
It got darker. It got more disturbing and I felt quite uncomfortable by the time I’d finished this short story. Which, I suppose makes sense for the fact that it’s in the Hauntings collection. It also left you with a but of a “haunting” feeling when you turned that final page…
I love the idea that a father will do anything to protect his daughter. I also loved how this story took that protective instinct WAY too far. Combined with the haunting by the daughter, a quest for revenge and just the general creepiness of this story… well, I’m still tingling.
Earth and Skye 
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