brebeaumont

the first story in this book — the title story — was basically one big run on sentence that was somewhat painful to read. i was irritated by the grammar, the tiny mistakes (switching a wound from the left side of the body to the right, spelling the antagonist's name as steven instead if stephen,) and the overall atmosphere of the writing. it was dull, gray. considering the subject matter, that's really disappointing to have to admit. it ghosted over everything, and felt more like a summary of events than a narrative of them, like reading a police report or being told a story through word of mouth. I didn't expect to feel pleased - I expected to be horrified. I was not. I was bored. Some passages from the original story stuck out, but for the most part, this was a waste of time. And the fact that it is, apparently, based off of a true story with no mention or respect shown for the victims makes this whole thing feel exploitative and slightly gross.

The other two stories were, thankfully, short. Easy. I skimmed them. They had no relation whatsoever to the title story, other than Jack's apparent obsession with feline companionship, and they were both just sort of.. weird. Displaced. Decently written, just... nonsensical for me, personally. It is possible that I'm biased. That I was just disappointed. That I think we could have donated the punctuation and pages used for those pointless stories to Right to Life and made something decent out of this wonderful plot that got turned into a horribly executed, overpriced "book".

This is not worth $12. I would not recommend it.