Mundanger: All of the stories have at least elements of the supernatural and/or monsters that are dangerous, but it's often much more mundane dangers that are less focused upon that are actually the biggest threats to the protagonists. A Lady's Hands Are Cold": A woman enters into an arranged marriage with a wealthy man, but his fine manor holds a secret, one which may be very dangerous if discovered. Signature Headgear: The strange man who haunts the three girls is frequently described as having a wide-brimmed hat, but little else, adding to the overall mystery of his presence. It's used to imply that the man is something else, as once it's described by others or shows up on-screen, someone is going to die. At the end, Beth accepts the strange man planting his hat on her head, symbolizing her acceptance that she is dead and is able to reunite with her dead family. Discover a terrifying world in the woods in this collection of five hauntingly beautiful graphic stories that includes the online webcomic sensation "His Face All Red," in print for the first time.

Discover a terrifying world in the woods in this collection of five hauntingly beautiful graphic stories that includes the online webcomic sensation “His Face All Red,” in print for the first time. While their father is gone, the girls play games on the first day, do chores on the second, and spend the entire third day in a state of lethargy ( implied to be due to hypothermia). Unfortunately, that's when things start going bad for the girls, starting with the realization that their father died hunting. My Friend Janna": Yvonne and Janna are two close friends who have spent years pretending that they can talk to the spirits of the dead. But Yvonne actually can see what might be a ghost, and it appears to be haunting Janna. The Nesting Place –This is my favorite story of the bunch. It is the story of Bell, a young girl home visiting her brother and his new fiance. The horror part of this story is that Rebecca, the fiance, is not at all what she seems. There are worms, I will leave it at that.

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In "A Lady's Hands Are Cold", one of the first wife's dismembered body parts is her desiccated hands/fingers, which later reach out to the second wife with intention to kill her after she's fully reassembled. A bloody handprint later appears on a window, which is left there by the husband as he is brutally murdered by his dead first wife, whom he murdered to inherit her wealth and mansion. Parental Abandonment: Justified. The three girls' mother died before the story started, and their father soon follows by going out hunting in the woods during a snowstorm. During "In Conclusion", the young girl confidently ignores the dangers of the woods and makes it to her mother's house without incident. Actually seeing just how dangerous the woods can be, however, seems to deeply traumatize and terrify her. Phony Psychic: Yvonne and Janna have played at being able to talk to the dead for years. (Janna is the person who acts like a psychic, Yvonne makes sound effects and voices from an unseen location.) It started as a joke when they were kids and was a fun game, but they found they couldn't stop people from coming to them even if they tried. Yvonne, however, can actually see what might be a ghost (or might be... something else) apparently haunting Janna that nobody else can. Beautiful, beguiling, and thrillingly eerie."--Michael Faber, author of THE CRIMSON PETAL AND THE WHITE

A Lady’s Hands are Cold, my second favorite of the five stories, is a Bluebeard type of retelling, with the ghost of a murdered woman wailing for vengeance from within the walls of her home. The most effective thing about this story, severed body parts aside, is the fact that the eponymous lady with the cold hands is neither fair nor understanding of her husband’s new wife and her plight. Rather, this ghost is cruel, filled with rage, and will have her revenge. (For Gaiman fans, of all the collected stories in the book, this is easily the most Gaiman-esque.) He Who Must Not Be Seen: The man with the wide-brimmed hat never appears in-person, only showing his hat, arms, and hands, to create an aura of foreboding and build up tension as to what his true intentions for the girls are. Fortunately, he's actually a very nice man who is implied to be The Grim Reaper ushering the girls' souls to the afterlife. Only Sane Man: The middle sister, Beth. The older sister, Mary, is in denial about their father when he fails to return and refuses to leave their house, only to subsequently fall under the spell of the man with the wide hat and the big smile. The little sister, Hannah, is just a poor kid who doesn't know what's going on. Beth wears red, her dress being dark red and her cloak being bright red. Of the sisters, it is she who later takes charge of looking after the family, considering Hannah is a young girl who can't fully grasp the situation and Mary is in denial over their father's death/disappearance. And when Mary goes missing after meeting the man with the wide-brimmed hat, Beth immediately searches all over the house for her. She also tries to brave the snowstorm while traveling to the neighbor's house alone, though by the time she reaches her destination, both she and the neighbor are already dead. Creepy Long Fingers: Having been dead for some time now, the first wife possesses extremely boney, shriveled fingers as a consequence of her advanced decay.

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More Teeth than the Osmond Family: As a girl, Bell's mother would tell her stories of such monsters. Bell never believed them. Braids of Action: Beth wears her hair in braids, and is seen braiding them herself twice. She's depicted as the most reasonable of her sisters, looking out for their well-being and trying to convince them it is better to go to the neighbor's house where they have better chances of surviving the snowstorm. Our Neighbor's House" has the hat-wearing man's long, almost bony hands and fingers, which heavily imply that he's actually The Grim Reaper in disguise. Death by Woman Scorned: The husband dies at the hands of his first wife, who is furious with him for murdering her and became violently possessive of him after her death. It also counts as a Karmic Death, since the husband murdered his first wife to possess her wealth and estate. Gone Horribly Wrong: Posing as a psychic was a fun game, even if the girls realized it was also a little cruel and childish. They figured people would stop coming soon... except they didn't stop coming to see Janna and wouldn't take no for an answer. The two soon found themselves trapped in their lie, with no way to stop the act, and afraid to admit they had been lying all along because of how people might turn on them afterwards.

Disappeared Dad: Justified. The father of the the three girls died from the extreme cold after going out hunting for food in the woods. Replacement Goldfish: The murdered first wife believes the second wife replaced her as lover of her husband and rightful owner of the mansion. She tries to murder the second wife in a rage, but fortunately the second wife manages to flee.Talking the Monster to Death: Bell saves herself from the monster by convincing it that its plan to use Bell as a host and move to the city, where there would be many more hosts available, would end terribly for its children. Rear Window" Witness: Yvonne goes to Janna's house in the night, and watches through Janna's window as the ghost apparently kills Janna. Afterwards Janna's room is empty and there's no sign of Janna, so people search for her in the hope that Janna merely ran away or something.

The whole book is magnificently executed... is all dextrous and varied and absolutely masterful... Carroll...lures us in only to do terrible, wonderful things to our heads and hearts."--Amal El-Mohtar "NPR " My Friend Janna" has a mysterious ghost (if it isn't something else entirely), but is primarily about Yvonne's best friend having a mental breakdown while Yvonne is unable to help in any way. Janna's behaviors and eventual death or disappearance has many of the hallmarks of someone becoming suicidal. Hidden Eyes: As she flees the wrath of the first wife's corpse, the second wife is now drawn with her eyes being replaced with creepy eyeshadows. This, combining with her previously immaculate hair coming undone, represents her trauma over her near-death experience and learning of the gruesome history between her husband and his first wife. Nameless Narrative: "A Lady's Hands Are Cold", "His Face All Red", and "In Conclusion" play this trope completely straight, as none of the characters get called by name. "In My Friend Janna", only Janna and the main character, Yvonne, get names. Other characters, such as Yvonne's sister or the people who come to see Janne the fake psychic go nameless. Only in "The Nesting Place" does every character who appears on screen get a name. The Nesting Place": Bell, who has been sullen and depressed since her mother's death, goes to stay with her brother Clarence and his fiancee Rebecca during a school break. But something seems slightly off about both Rebecca and the woods near the house...

In Conclusion": A story very much in the spirit of Little Red Riding Hood. A young girl confidently sets off through the woods to see her mother. She reaches her mother's house without any problems or meeting anyone, but perhaps the wolf was closer than she ever realized. Glamour Failure: It's implied something is off with Rebecca when their teeth seem to undulate while eating at dinner. We eventually learn this is because the worms wearing her skin have replaced all the flesh beneath it, and the teeth are suspended in place by individual worms. Bell learns that they got to her brother when his teeth do the same. Don't Fear the Reaper: The man with the wide-brimmed hat and a toothy smile is implied to be The Grim Reaper, but he's a completely non-malicious entity who only seeks to usher in the souls of those who died during an extreme snowstorm, including the three girls. Mary and Hannah are happy when they speak of him and even wait for him when he approaches, and in one panel Hannah is seen hugging the man like old friends. Beth is afraid of him at first. But once they meet at the neighbor's house, Beth comes to accept the man when he kindly plants his hat on her head and lets her enter the house, where she reunites with her dead parents and sisters. Stunning, magical. Hauntingly gothic...[ Through the Woods] made me feel like a child again, reading grim fairy tales."--Jane Harris, author of THE OBSERVATIONS