The Complete Short Stories of Roald Dahl in the first of two unsettling and sinister volumes.

''They are brutal, these stories, and yet you finish reading each one with a smile, or maybe even a hollow laugh, certainly a shiver of gratification, because the conclusion always seems so right'' Charlie Higson, from his introduction.

Roald Dahl is one of the most popular writers of the modern age, effortlessly writing for children and adults alike. In this, the first of two volumes chronologically collecting all his published adult short stories, we see how Dahl began by using his experiences in the war to write fiction but quickly turned to his powerful and dark imagination to pen some of the most unsettling and disquieting tales ever written.

In 27 stories, written between 1944 and 1953, we encounter such classic tales as ''Man from the South'', featuring a wager with appalling consequences; ''Lamb to the Slaughter'', in which a wife murders her husband yet has a novel idea for throwing the police off the scent; and in ''The Sound Machine'', the horrific truth about plants is revealed.

Enter the sinister, twisted world of Roald Dahl: whether you''re young or old, you''ll never want to leave.

''Roald Dahl is one of the few writers I know whose work can accurately be described as addictive'' Irish Times

''The great magician'' Spectator

Look out for Volume Two, introduced by Anthony Horowitz

Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl''s Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl''s stories continue to make readers shiver today.