Grade: B
Edward Lee's first "real" short-story collection is chock full of his usual style of writing: brutal, dark, violent, but yet he leaves the reader wanting more in the end. Though that's not the case for all of the stories, there are some that are pretty good, and on a rare occasion, actually scare you (Lee mostly succeeds at shocking you.)
The first story in the collection is "Death, She Said", a Christmas Carol-like shock fest. This one is sort of pointless in my opinion, just an extremely dark Christmas Carol. C-
"Hands" is a better one, but is more of a crime thriller, not really scary; plus the ending is to be expected. B-
The third offering, "Secret Service" is one of the best ones in the book, except for the ending. Lee keeps you guessing till the end, were the story falls apart for a gross-out shock that it didn't really need. A-
"The Wrong Guy" is good, but the ending works better in "Almost Never". Both stories are similar, but "Almost Never", the second (in my opinion) best story in the book works better on the chill factor. "The Wrong Guy": C, "Almost Never": A.
In "The Dectorian Technician" and "The Seeker" Lee chooses the sci-fi angle, but it sort of fails, and "The Seeker" is just yet another gross-out. But in "Grub Girl in the Prison of Dead Woman", the sci-fi angle works best, with Lee choosing zombies as main characters. "The Dectorian Technician: C, "The Seeker": D+, "Grub Girl": A-.
"Scriptures" is good, with a good plot, and hey, a happy(sorta) ending,a first with Edward Lee!B
"Please Let Me Out" is also a good one, but like "Secret Service", falls apart at the ending. B
"Xipe" is the best one in the collection, and combines the supernatural with crime to make a pleasing thriller. It's the shortest one in the book, but works the best. A+
"The Man who loved Clichés" is an early Lee story, and is just dumb; it gets annoying. D-
"Mr. Torso" was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, and it's easy to see why. It's not my favorite in this collection, but is a fan favorite and Lee's most widely-read short story, being in this book,Deadly After Dark (Pinnacle Horror), and the limited editin chapbook Mr. & Miss Torso. It has a twist you see coming, but that doesn't stop it from scaring you. A
The Last two stories in the book, "House", and "The Ushers" are O.K., just shock fests that are pretty pointless. "House": F, "The Ushers" C-.
Overall this collection varies in range and matter, there are some duds, but there are some winners.
No comments:
Post a Comment