I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street by Ben Farthing

Just when you thought finding the blown bulb was bad

I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street is an enjoyable yarn about a suburban neighborhood overrun by an invasive plantlike mega-organism (the titular Xmas lights) that threatens to destroy everything in its path.

Douglas really loves Christmas, but ever since his sister died last Christmas it is most definitely not the most wonderful time of year in his household. His parents have neglected him (they’re so caught up in mourning the loss of one child, they forget they have another) and given the timing of his sister’s death, Christmas has essentially been canceled.

So, he decides to decorate a nearby abandoned house to brighten their spirits and remind them of just how joyful the yuletide season can be. But then those pesky slithering lights show up and before you know it grandmothers are being ripped limb from limb and neighbors are being contorted into gaudy reindeer yard decorations.

And still the lights keep slithering on.

Naturally, none of the adults believe any of these bizarre horrors are real until it’s absolutely too late, so it’s up to Douglas and his friends to figure out how to put a stop to these merry maniacs and save not just Christmas, but the entire town/state/world!

Yes, this is a somewhat silly Christmas horror concept, but I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street is a fun read that has zero pretentions and is content to let the reader enjoy the horror nonsense at face value, all the while playing spot the influences (IT, Goosebumps, and Doctor Who are sure bets), guess what will happen next, and enjoy the inevitable warm feelings that must legally accompany the denouement of any Christmas tale.

The backstory with Douglas and his family adds much-needed dimension and weight to the conflict and the central character himself, making everything far more interesting than it would be without, as well as providing personal stakes above and beyond the obvious life-and-death matter of the fatal fairy lights.

I also need to give a shout out to my favorite aspect of the book: a band of mouthless carol singers. It’s such a deliciously offbeat yet vivid and sinister concept. They, more than any of the other elements of the story, both demonstrate that the unusual horrors of this tale are clearly not of our world, whilst simultaneously offering a bridge between our world and the ridiculous monsters that plague these pages.

I Found Christmas Lights Slithering Up My Street might be a disposable horror novella, but it's certainly an original concept that is a fun and undemanding read. The creepy quality of the story is telegraphed by its very title — this is not just an unusual Christmas horror tale; these lights are malicious, they’re slithering — and Farthing does a good job of maintaining this threatening yet slightly cheeky tone throughout.