I don't want to say the
novella is the future of horror fiction, but Kealan
Patrick Burke makes it difficult not to say it after the whirlwind ride that is
Sour Candy.
It's a neat, little
bundle of bizarre with not one wasted word and as a life-long worshiper of The Twilight Zone and Rod Serling's teleplays and short fiction,
it was right up my alley.
Could it have been
beefed up and turned into a full-length novel? Nope. Not this baby. I suspect
in order to keep it hard-hitting, Burke made the conscious choice to winnow
this one down, omit even the slightest extraneous folderol, and let it stand on
its own as what it is: creepy, quick, and concise.
Having written that, I
should also caution readers not to let the novella-length fool you. At least
every 20 pages I caught myself letting out a held breath followed by,
"Whew... I didn't see that coming..."
The story is so tight
it's difficult to review without spoilers, so I'll stop now. But read this.
Do it.