Tales of the Unexpected [vol 1] by Roald Dahl

(Amazon UK link)

The late Roald Dahl is, of course, best known as a children's writer. His stories tend to be a little bizarre, even dark, but they usually end happily. It's less well known that he also wrote some books for adults, including a large number of short stories.

I don't know quite where I picked up the two volumes of Dahl's 'Tales of the Unexpected'.  Perhaps they were in a charity shop, or a church fair.  They have sat on my shelves for some time but I finally decided to read them.

This collection, 'Tales of the Unexpected [vol 1]' consists entirely in 'twist in the tail' stories. They are all well written, sometimes with very clever plotting.  There's even a little dark humour now and again.  And some of the stories, weird though they are, are quite thought-provoking.

The style is quite racy, and I enjoyed them as a quick light read. Having said that, my taste isn't usually for the dark or bizarre and I'm not sure I'll want to read them again.

Apparently these two volumes are usually published in one 'Tales of the Unexpected' containing all the short stories.