Just sit back and relax, now. Try to enjoy this; it’s going to be the last story you ever read, or nearly the last.”

These words welcome the reader in Frederic Brown’s short story “Don’t Look Behind You.” It is also the last story in “Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories Not for the Nervous.” The work collects 13 short stories that are designed to haunt the reader and bring to light one’s worst fears. The stories in this book take a variety of approaches.

Ray Bradbury’s “To the Future” follows a couple from the year 2155 as they try to escape into the past. Mr. and Mrs. Travis have traveled back to 1938 hoping to find a calmer and safer way of life.

However, the future is about to catch up with them.

Bradbury’s tale is one that paints the future as dark and on the verge of destruction. This was a popular story line in the 1950s with the scare of nuclear war.

How close are you and your best friend? In Raymond E. Banks’ “The Twenty Friends of William Shaw,” Shaw’s friends are asked to help cover up a murder.

In this twisted tale of deception, one man struggles to uncover the deadly truth. But how far will he go to help a friend?

Margot Bennet’s “No Bath for the Browns” starts off innocently enough. A young couple has purchased a new house. Everything is fine until they try to move the bathroom from the first floor to the second. What they find gives them a whole new perspective on buying a house.

Murders, affairs and cover-ups run rampant through Bruno Fischer’s “The Dog Died First.” Bernard Hall has blood on his mind. His wife has just come home saying she hit a dog with the car and couldn’t get all the blood off. But Hall receives a different story from the police. They say his wife killed a man and it was his blood in the car.

Torn between what his wife says and what the evidence says, Hall must search for evidence that will either clear or condemn his wife.

Then there is Brown’s story “Don’t Look Behind You.” This work is one of the most imaginative in the collection. Without giving away too much, the main character in this story is writing directly to the reader.

He wants to prove a point. A friend told him that he would be unable to kill a person if that person knew he was coming. So he tells the readers that he will kill them before they can finish another story.

These works were chosen by Hitchcock and were first published in 1965. Hitchcock a master of suspense is best known for his movies.

As my two-year run as book reviewer for the Daily ends, I wanted to pick out a book that was different from all the rest. This book is not one you can find at many bookstores, and the challenge is to find books that appeal to you.

I am sure that everyone can find a book he or she likes. After 41 reviews and over 15,000 pages read, I found that there really is something for everyone.

Matthew Carlson is a senior in journalism and mass communications from De Witt.