Consistently eerie tales that readers aren’t likely to forget.
A debut collection mixes horror and sci-fi—short stories laden with bizarre creatures, life on other planets, and homicidal proclivities.
In the title story, a doctor gets lost on his way to visit a sickly girl residing in a small, unknown village. It sufficiently captures the ominous atmosphere prevalent in many of the book’s grim tales, which typically feature an intangible fear. For example, the protagonist of “In the Garden” takes a train ride home only to discover his town of destination isn’t one of the stops and the engineer hasn’t even heard of it. This gloomy mood carries over to the sci-fi stories as well, most of which occupy the book’s latter half. In “The Worms of Titan,” scientists of the late 22nd century discover wormlike organisms on the planet Titan. But what’s truly unsettling is that the creatures are inexplicably identical to worms that have been on Earth for millennia. Biswas’ writing is unassuming but arresting: “Bolts of lightning shot across the darkness and, out of the macabre silence that hung over the valley, I heard a horrible wail.” He often establishes his narratives with traditional genre settings: a lighthouse in “The Crystal”; a castle in “Tramp”; and an outpost on that familiar red planet in “2038: A Mars Odyssey.” The memorable tales, however, trek into dark, sometimes-surreal territory. The main character in “Sedgefield’s Diary,” for one, is a Boston accountant who obsessively chronicles his humdrum life on an hourly basis. After he misses an entire day of recording his activities, his diary fills the pages seemingly on its own. Likewise, “The Lake of Flies” is, at first glance, a conventional tale of murder. But the killer and victim are immediately revealed, with the story then centering on the anticipation of the forthcoming homicide and its aftermath (Will the murderer pay for his crime?). The collection ends with “Puff,” which, contrary to its title, generates an explosive conclusion.
Consistently eerie tales that readers aren’t likely to forget.Pub Date: May 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-945646-41-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Rogue Star Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
