NO SWIMMING IN DARK POND And Other Chilling Tales

by Judith Gorog ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 6, 1987

Fans of A Taste for Quiet will appreciate another opportunity to shiver as Gorog again reveals a storyteller's ear for the trick ending and the eerie effect. Suitably enough, there are 13 stories here, and in some Gorog rises to interesting heights. ""Flawless Beauty"" is as simple and perfect as its title character; ""Will,"" based on themes best realized in a poem by Yeats, is an honorably told and haunting story. Other times, Gorog dissipates sure-fire thriller ingredients, as in her version of the Hookman story, which does not build enough. Most of the stories in this uneven collection are on themes easily recognizable to those familiar with the genre; although Gorog does not directly allude to her sources, Caroline Bauer in her ""Afterward"" gives more concrete evidence of the origins of many of the story ideas. The value of the book, as in its predecessor, is not so much in originality as in the vividness of the interpretations, a description which holds true enough here to give any storyteller ample ammunition for a dark and stormy night.

Pub Date: April 6, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Philomel/Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1987

Categories: CHILDREN'S