This is a spooky little book. It is pleasantly creepy, but creepy indeed!
I first read Tales of Terror when I was around twelve and, upon finding it on my bookshelf nine years later, and remembering the fright one particular story had given me at the time, I decided to read it again, this time from an adults perspective.
The story that had scared me so much all those years ago was, in fact, the first: CLIMB NOT. The old fashioned, carefully worded style of Priestley's work had led me into a false sense of security. This is too simple to be scary, I said to myself. This is too fast paced to be scary. And even, somewhat grotesquely, this is too 'creepy cute' to be scary. Boy was I wrong. Whatever the thing in that story turned out to be, it scared adult me even more than it had scared child me.
The rest of the stories were not quite as effective, though I do think that had something to do with my decision no longer to read them at night.
On the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the polarity of the book: the consistent style, how the stories tied together, and David Roberts excellent illustrations.