Review: Dark Screams: Volume Three

Volume three of the Dark Screams anthologies
Edited by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar
Stories by Peter Straub, Jack Ketchum, Darynda Jones, Jacquelyn Frank, and Brian Hodge
Available now from Hydra (Penguin Random House)
Review copy

I have to give this anthology props for size.  It fit perfectly into my thirty-minute lunch break.  Sometimes these shorter works aren't quite long enough or are just a bit too long, which can be slightly unsatisfying.  Unfortunately, everyone's reading speed differs so that aspect might not work quite as well for other people.

"The Collected Short Stories of Freddie Prothero" by Peter Straub

The biggest name in DARK SCREAMS: VOLUME THREE leads off the anthology.  I mostly skimmed this story.  I love pseudo academia, so I liked the introduction to the stories of Freddie, analyzing what certain terms might mean and such.  But the barely literate or coherent style of the stories themselves just isn't my thing.  I gave it a quick shot, but nothing drew me in so I didn't force it. 

"Group of Thirty" by Jack Ketchum

"Group of Thirty" was my favorite story in the anthology.  A local horror writer goes to speak to a writer's group, who start getting aggressive and interrogating him about the heinous acts he writes about.  The story felt timely and I enjoyed the unexpected turn the climax took.  The narrator's weariness not only set the tone but also worked well with the plot.

"Nancy" by Darynda Jones

This is the story that drew me to the anthology.  I really enjoy Jones' grim reaper novels, which are laugh-out-loud funny paranormal romance/fantasy.  I was quite curious about how she would approach horror.  "Nancy" isn't edge-of-your-seat scary, but it does explore some of the worst aspects of human nature.  It also has a refreshingly nice popular girl character, which isn't something I expect to find in a horror anthology.

"I Love You, Charlie Pearson" by Jacquelyn Frank

Frank is another author not known for horror, so it is interesting that she wrote the most typical horror story in DARK SCREAMS: VOLUME THREE.  Charlie Pearson, the narrator, is a twisted stalker, and the story contrasts human and supernatural monstrousness.  It isn't a revelatory theme, but the final paragraph is creepy enough to carry it.

"The Lone and Level Strands Stretch Far Away" by Brian Hodge

The anthology closes with the uneven "The Lone and Level Strands Stretch Far Away."  The descriptions of urban exploration, exploring abandoned buildings, are top notch, especially when the parkour group disturbs a building perhaps left best alone.  Meanwhile, narrator Aiden's boredom with his wife Tara and growing attraction to new next door neighbor Marni (of course growing because of Tara's unfounded suspicions of an affair hounding him) is so boring and predictable.  I wanted more horror and less lame-o relationship drama featuring an unsympathetic dude.

I mostly enjoyed the stories in DARK SCREAMS: VOLUME THREE, but don't go in expecting intense horror.  These stories are rather gentle and tame.  You'll be able to sleep with no problem after reading them.

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Review: Death and the Girl Next Door

By Darynda Jones
Available now from St. Martin's Griffin
Review copy

I wanted to read Darynda Jones' first foray into young adult fiction because of its awesome title.  DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR sounds like a morbid screwball comedy, doesn't it?  That's not a description of the book, just so you know, although the title is fitting.

Lorelei can see visions when she touches people, sometimes.  She just got the strangest one yet from Jared Kovach, the new boy in school.  But while he's arrived suddenly, loner Cameron Lusk already seems to know and hate him.  Both boys keep running into Lorelei on the tenth anniversary of her parents' disappearance and something quite remarkable is about to happen.

Are you fleeing in terror from the dreaded love triangle?  Fear not!  Lorelei and Jared are very into each other, but Cameron's got a different romance going on.  In fact, there is a bit of a love triangle, but it's centered around Lorelei's best female friend Brooklyn.  Their other best friend, Glitch, is clearly into Brooklyn and dislikes her budding flirtation with Cameron.  Plus, Glitch and Cameron had a mysterious run-in with each other on a second-grade camping trip that's left lingering bad feelings.

I took awhile to get into DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR.  For the first couple of chapters, I had trouble parsing Jones' sentences.  I think it was more because I was distracted by the Olympics than a fault in prose.  I was also turned off by Lorelei's repeated descriptions of her looks.  Jones didn't seem to be going for a secretly beautiful thing - Lorelei is short and pixie-looking, just as she complains.  Okay, she's clearly pretty, but not beautiful.  Anyway, she must goes on and on about how she hates her looks far too many times.

Things really get going once Lorelei gets hit by a car.  She, Brooklyn, and Glitch determine that they must get to the bottom of Cameron and Jared's damage.  (And, y'know, figure out how Lorelei survived.)  Brooklyn and Glitch are both awesome characters, so I'm glad they don't disappear once paranormal things start happening.  Brooklyn is five-feet-nothing of attitude and Glitch (AKA Casey Niyol Blue-Spider) stands by his friends even though he's not as big or strong as the things their facing.

I felt like the plot of DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR hopped around a lot.  There's figuring out just who and what everyone is, two girls at school who are acting strange and need help, and a sinister news crew to escape.  I liked that Jones didn't labor herself to withhold answers from the audience or suddenly stop in the middle of the climax to create anticipation for the next book.  I'm not saying she should change that.  But there could've been more shape to the story.

DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is a good choice for readers who like YA urban fantasy and paranormal romance but are tired of love triangles.  It's one of the better angel books I've read too.  Angels are tricky to work with.  But DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR avoids my major gripe with angel books, which is a refusal to acknowledge any sort of metaphysics.  There's a Heaven, there's a Hell, and the prayers of believers have power.  Jones draws on Judeo-Christian mythology, but doesn't attach a religion to the angels.  On the whole, DEATH AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is uneven, but I'm looking forward to whatever happens next.