Title: Dead Zoo
Author: Mike Harris
Pages: 66
Genre: Horror, short story
There’s something wrong with the animals.
Located a short drive off the highway, Highland Zoo entertained children and families for generations. Until one day, it didn’t. Now an unwitting group of fresh graduates on their last summer road trip are about to discover why the once beloved roadside attraction suddenly shut down and learn life’s harshest lesson.
Somethings should stay dead.
Hello brave bookworms!
Back with a short story review and this one is equal parts fun and gruesome.
This was a buddy read with some of my fellow Bookstagram friends (and if you’re not following along over there… what are you doing? 👀). I’ll be sharing their takes alongside mine too, which makes this one even more fun to dive into.
The premise immediately hooked me: a group of friends stumble across an abandoned zoo… except it’s not quite abandoned. Intriguing, right?
We follow Jenna, Ray, Troy, Abby, and Lee, a group with wildly different personalities and just enough underlying tension (especially between the girls) to keep things interesting. What starts as a spontaneous road trip detour quickly spirals into something much darker when they pull up to a zoo in the middle of nowhere; no cars, no families, no staff… just that heavy, wrong kind of silence.
And from there? Things unravel fast.
What they find lurking inside is far beyond anything they expected. As fear sets in and survival instincts take over, the story really leans into the question of who people become when pushed to their limits and it’s not always pretty.
The atmosphere is consistently eerie and unsettling, and the animal descriptions? Absolutely monstrous and grotesque in the best way, blending horror with something almost fantastical. I ate it up!
Bonus: it’s a super quick read, which makes it perfect for when you want something creepy without the full commitment.
If you’re in the mood for something spooky, fast-paced, and just a little bit brutal….this one’s definitely worth picking up!
Hope you enjoyed the review and as always…
Meet you after dark.
💀Your cozy-macabre book bestie
Beneath the Book Light 