I have a confession to make…. I am a notorious judger of books by their covers. There, I said it. I do the thing they always tell you not to do.

Just look at the amazing cover on Fifteen Eyes by Tyler Downs and tell me that it doesn’t make you want to put it right at the top of your TBR as well!

When I started seeing this particular cover pop up in a couple of the horror reading groups I frequent, I was intrigued. When I grabbed it up on KU and started reading it, I was smitten.

This is the author’s debut collection, and I will be surprised if you don’t see the name Tyler Downs going big places in the horror community.

On Amazon, the description of this collection is this:

Solomon Northcutt enjoys the simple things in life: a nice sweater vest, trivia night with co-workers, and using the eyeballs of the deceased to transcribe horrific deaths for his bosses’ reading pleasure.

Tag along with our happy-go-lucky tour guide, Solomon, as he cracks open a fresh batch of 15 sordid tales. There’ll be all sorts of fun stuff inside…Astrology cults. Bodily theft. Cowboys. A whole ton of ants. Cosmic gods the size of skyscrapers. Religious pilgrimages. Arsonists. A traveling guitarist who grants wishes. Desert cannibals. People floating away on balloons. Addiction. A trip to Heaven. Mental hellscapes. The end of the world. A puppet made from decaying body parts and household appliances. Oh, and maybe a werewolf.

“Maybe a werewolf” he says. Oh, yes, there is a werewolf, but before that there is Solomon, who bookends this collection. There is Fallon and Ed and and a whole eclectic cast of supporting characters in Solomon’s office who all deserve their own tales.

There is a method actress preparing for the role of -this- lifetime.
There is a lonely woman willing to risk it all to maybe not be so lonely anymore.
There is a little girl, some bad guys, and a lot of ants just like the description promised.
Also as promised, there is the end of the world, but also a heated revenge story, an intermission to check in on our host Solomon, a screwed up idea of what happiness is, a man on a religious pilgrimage, proof that lies are not the best way to start a relationship, a hellish peek at heaven, wishes with no strings attached, and somebody who just wants to reunite with their old man.

My descriptions can’t do justice to how each of these stories made me feel, and how I kept not picking the book up to read because I didn’t want to reach the end of it.

After all the tales were told, it was mentioned that Downs is hoping for a couple of novel released in 2026, and I’m looking forward to them.

Fifteen Eyes gets 5 stars.