Shipshape Home by Richard Matheson

Beware of the creepy janitor.

Continuing with "The Best of Richard Matheson" (Penguin Classics), Shipshape Home is another story in the collection that starts off strong before stumbling towards an obvious and lackluster ending. The premise is intriguing enough: a couple has moved into a large apartment in New York city and the wife thinks there is something odd about their whole living situation since the rent is so cheap. The janitor also gives her the heebie-jeebies and she believes he might hiding something sinister in the basement. Queue up the horror clichés. 

On a more positive note, the narrative is driven mostly through dialogue and the story clips along at a steady pace. The ending? Well, the big reveal is silly and doesn't justify all the pages of lead-up. I had high hopes for this collection and it has proven to be mostly hit and miss--the latter being more common. Moreover, it has become apparent that the author is quite fond of using puns in the title for his stories, which I suppose is slightly amusing.