Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; on-line posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution…
Originally published under the title The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales, this is a much-praised collection of deeply unsettling, painfully dark tales.
The author cuts deep into your most impenetrable darkest thoughts, to those places you avoid, places where no one should venture. No topic is out of reach, there are no boundaries, and whatever feelings you’ve got, prepare to leave them buried in tattered disarray because you won’t forget these stories in a hurry. Not often I say this but I could have immediately read this again, it feels like you need the rerun to fully digest it and just remind yourself of the horrors within.
I’ll mention a few of the more memorable stories, which is an undertaking in itself as they all left a big impression.
I’ll be gone by then tells the story of a daughter forced into caring for her wheelchair bound Mother after her family in Italy can no longer cope.
Whether her eyes avoid me out of spite or merely out of the disorientation that seems to cloud the elderly, I can’t be certain.
The woman’s feelings towards a Mother where no relationship exists are severely conflicted and her darkest thoughts take over. Family isn’t always paramount and sometimes you might just want to wheel that chair off a cliff.
Bodies are for burning as the title gives it away is somewhat fire related but a little more complex. The mental strain of loss affects Hailey, our protagonist, deeply and we learn of her fire obsession come pyromaniac impulses through a therapist session and the trauma of babysitting. The obsession culminates in compulsion and its not sausages on the campfire.
You’re not supposed to be here is a disturbing game of truth or pain, where pain comes in the form of loss of limb if your truth or confession doesn’t satisfy the judges. Have you got a choice? not if you want to see your child again. Add in some newly discovered marital strife and seemingly annoying guests, and your lovely day at the park is about to turn into a fucking traumatic nightmare.
The trees grew because I bleed there is another worth mentioning, the bedrock of a ‘normal’ relationship is explored, exploited at the expense of the reader and manically abused leaving pure shock in its wake.
This shows the immense power a short story can portray, you don’t need three hundred pages when you can achieve sheer emotive horror so casually. These stories are fascinating in that the depth of amoral depravity points to serious mental illness, but the descriptive ease of thought and action draws serious contemplation. You know that every single person is capable of something similar under the right circumstances and that’s the terrifying thing.
Describe this in one sentence.
There’s no fluffy clouds and happy endings here, just sheer emotionally charged terror.
A 4.5 out of 5 stars.
My thanks to netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to review this collection.