DEATH, MADNESS AND A MESS OF DOGS

Insanity runs through many of the tales in Grote’s (Fire in the Henhouse, 2011) second work of fiction.

The mind is fragile and unpredictable. What might distract one man, making him do unspeakable things, could be brushed harmlessly off the shoulders of another. Grote, a psychologist, offers a collection of 12 short stories in which madness—and the incidents that trigger it—runs like a silent undertow. In the title story, a woman is unhinged by a new baby and the loss of a mother; in the outstanding “Dancing With Stuart,” a woman’s anger and a boy’s rage tip a man over the edge. “Redemption Center” focuses on incidents that warped a woman’s thinking and attitude, making her act in certain ways. “The Five Senses,” “A Cup of Tea” and “Final Rest Stop” also have insanity down the middle but in more twisted ways. Grote’s compelling batch of stories contains hits and misses. When Grote veers away from depicting real people and events and tries fantasy, the stories falter, as with “Philly Folk” and “My Vampire Confession,” both of which try too hard to be clever. “Mass Pike” has potential, but its unoriginal robots-running-amok theme quickly becomes tedious. In several stories, the author unnecessarily tries to fashion surprise endings. Where she excels, however, is in her depictions of ordinary people dealing with the ordinary situations of life—no trick ending required. Two of the stories, “Triangle in the Square” and “Anne/Marie,” do just that, and even though the endings are telegraphed early on, the stories will hold the reader’s attention because of the honesty and familiarity of the characters and their interactions.

More hits than misses in this promising collection from a talented newcomer.