Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung review – sinister stories from the graveyard shift

Horror tropes meet modern nightmares as the South Korean author takes us deep inside a research facility called The Institute

Our fears turn feral when they have nowhere to go. South Korean author Bora Chung’s new short story collection plays with old horror tropes: endless corridors and looped staircases, exits that only lead you deeper, a phone that& rings and rings (don’t pick up). The kind of stories dare-drunk children trade in the dark.

Set in a research facility known& only& as “the Institute”, a repository of& cursed and haunted objects, Chung’s tales come from the building’s skeleton staff – warnings and gossip from the night shift. It’s a& nod, perhaps, to Stephen King’s debut collection, 1978’s still brilliant& Night& Shift.