NO ONE IS SAFE!
Philip Fracassi
April 5, 2024
Lethe Press
Reviewed by Brian “Skull” Lewis

Hello once again, you wonderful horror fiends, it’s your old pal Skull with an amazing short horror collection by Philip Fracassi. Not only that, but there is a fab introduction by Ronald Malfi that is an absolute treat to read. Just released this month by Lethe Press, No One Is Safe! Features fourteen stories giving readers over 300 pages of tales that both entertain and deliver that delicious fear we all crave to bust us out of our boring everyday lives. Let’s dig a little deeper, shall we?

Things start off with the innocent sounding title The Wish, but it quickly becomes clear that Jonathan’s birthday party isn’t going to run smoothly. His dad has a heart attack while trying to grill up some burgers mid-party and then has the audacity to die. What a party pooper! Everybody freaks out and boom, party over. Later that evening, a helpful neighbor tries to end the kid’s birthday on a happy note with the whole cake and candles thing. The still angry Jonathan makes a very specific and binding wish that will affect his entire life. Sometimes wishes do come true even if you wish they didn’t.

Another great story is Murder by Proxy which does a seamless job of marrying old school Humphrey Bogart detective fiction with what may be our AI controlled future. The detective on this case is Dixon “Dixie” Merriweather, who’s been a Los Angeles detective for over 20 years. He knows a few things, like how to talk to a homicide victim’s AI tabletop unit about what occurred in this unique case where it appears the guy just exploded. The unit, named “Beximo” seems cooperative, but there’s something about the whole situation that just isn’t adding up right. As Dixie digs deep, he realizes that the problem he’s trying to solve has frightening worldwide implications and that sometimes what you can’t see is the most lethal.

Sometimes a person makes a bad judgement call. We’re human, it happens. Most of the time we realize that there’s been a screw up and can fix at least some of the damage, apologize, maybe grovel if required. But when large sums of money enter the picture, many people toss good judgement out the window and will cheerfully dunk their head in a full toilet bowl again and again. Money talks and nobody walks. Overnight is a story about the treacherous road of deceit and the consequences. Pete is a night guard for a major movie company that’s shooting a flick in a remote area. He’s got his directions, knows what to do, but somehow when this dude shows up waving cash and asking for favors, he lets his guard down. Hell, Pete can make some big green from this guy if he just bends the rules a little. Then some bad shit goes down on his watch, putting him on the hot seat. Pete worries that he might end up behind bars, but soon finds out that there are far worse punishments than cooling your heels in prison.

“Marmalade” is your old pal Skull’s favorite story in No One Is Safe! It starts out with a young guy talking to a person who’s writing a book about exactly what happened in the neighborhood of Sabbath Corners. The main topic is an ancient old woman named Ms. Grimmel and her cat, Marmalade. As the interviewer goes about talking to multiple witnesses, more details fill in the picture, which is both wonderful and completely terrifying. Were miracles really happening in that little neighborhood or was it all the work of the devil? This approach is somewhat akin to Carrie by Stephen King with the kind of social revelations brought to us by Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone.

I don’t think it will surprise anyone who’s read this far that Damaged Skull Writer and Reviewer gives No One Is Safe! By Philip Fracassi a very hearty FIVE STARS! I love short stories and these stories are awesome! Every tale grabs you by the collar and thrusts you into a new adventure that’s very different than the one before it. From what I understand, this was Fracassi’s aim with this collection and he definitely achieved it. The movie poster cover by Jim & Ruth Keegan lures you in and then the master takes over, pulling you into the pages like a giant red space monster that wants to “communicate”. No one puts it better than Ronald Malfi who says, You’re in it now, riding the high that is the powerhouse fiction of Philip Fracassi. If this is your first time reading Philip’s work, be prepared to become that self-confessed Fracassi junkie that I, too, have become. Highly recommended.

No One Is Safe is available at your favorite booksellers, including Amazon.com which also features all this author’s work and a cool way to follow him. For more information check out: Philip Fracassi’s website: www.pfracassi.com You can also visit him on Facebook/Instagram at pfracassi and on Twitter/X at: @philipfracassi. Also be sure to check out Lethe Press at: www.lethepressbooks.com for more great titles. You can also find them on Twitter/X @lethepress and Facebook and Instagram. Tell them that your old pal Skull sent ya! Thanks for popping by the Skullcave for another cool review and remember to support independent horror!

Philip Fracassi

About my mortal:

Brian James Lewis is a disabled poet and writer with PTSD who finds writing to be vastly important to his recovery. Working class to the bone, he writes inclusive, real-world prose and poetry that hits home. Brian’s work has appeared in anthologies from Smoking Pen Press, No Bad Books, and HellBound Books. He’s also appeared in online publications like The Sunlight Press, the Hook of A Book Poetry Project, and The Sirens Call e-Zine. Besides writing, Brian enjoys bringing old typewriters back to life, including a Royal KMM formerly owned by Rod Serling. Visit him at: www.damagedskullwriterandreviewer.com for news and independent book reviews, or on X/twitter@skullsnflames76