Grady Hendrix returns with The Blanks, a short but deeply unsettling tale that proves once again why he is one of the most distinctive voices in modern horror. Part of The Shivers Collection Amazon’s exclusive anthology of spine-tingling short stories this entry transforms the serenity of summer vacation into a nightmare you’ll never forget.
The story takes place on Jeckle Island, a seemingly idyllic getaway where families like Rachel’s come each summer to unwind. The rules are simple: ignore the strange and unnatural things that roam the island, and they’ll ignore you in return. It’s an unspoken pact that has kept generations safe. But when Rachel’s young son, Cal, breaks the rule and acknowledges what should not be seen, their peaceful world collapses into chaos.
From the very first pages, Hendrix builds an atmosphere of eerie calm that slowly curdles into terror. As reviewer LTJ perfectly describes, “The Blanks” starts off with “summer vibes and activities” before plunging into pure nightmare around the halfway mark. Once the horror strikes, it does so with shocking intensity. The “blanks” themselves disturbing, shapeless entities that defy logic feel like something pulled straight from a fever dream or an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Hendrix excels at taking familiar suburban settings and twisting them into something deeply uncanny. Here, he explores the fragility of denial and the human instinct to pretend that danger doesn’t exist if we simply refuse to look at it. Rachel’s terror as a mother, her desperation to protect her children once the pact is broken, feels visceral and real. As Natalie from All Books Great and Small points out, this story “filled me with terror” and reads like a perfect prequel to a longer novel. You can’t help but crave more once it ends.
Despite its brevity, The Blanks delivers everything a horror reader could want: tension, atmosphere, emotional stakes, and a jaw-dropping finale. The ending lingers long after the last page, raising haunting questions about what it really means to “look away.”
Fans of Bird Box, The Mist, or The Haunting of Hill House will find themselves right at home with this story. Hendrix’s mastery of pacing and psychological dread shines in every paragraph. What begins as a simple beach trip transforms into a terrifying exploration of what happens when curiosity and love collide with the supernatural.
The Blanks is a reminder that some things are better left unseen, and that even paradise can hide something monstrous just beyond the horizon. Short, sharp, and unforgettable, this story proves that Hendrix doesn’t need hundreds of pages to terrify his readers just a few well-placed shadows.
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