Through a Mirror, Darkly is a quartet of dark tales set inside the story of Arcane Delights, a used book store preparing to reopen in Clifton Heights, NY, nestled somewhere in the Adirondacks. If you've read any of Keven Lucia's prior works, you may already be familiar with this town. I think it's somewhere between Derry, Maine, and The Twight Zone.
The proprietor of the bookstore discovers a box he's not seen before and inside there is one, leather-bound, volume of stories about the town he lives in...
The first story within the larger tale is called, "Suffer the Children." Father Ward saw something during his tour in Afghanistan, something that continues to haunt his dreams now that he's a teacher at All Saints Elementary, as well as a local Parish Priest. The result is a delightfully dark and twisted tale of demons and the lost city of Corcosa. If you saw the first season of HBO's True Detective you know that can't be good.
"Yellow Cab" is about a young man who did everything right to get into a good school and ends up throwing it all away and is now driving for Yellow Cab in Clifton Heights. How did he get there? A chilling tale that gave me the creeps more than once. Very effective the way the stories bleed over into one another.
"Admit One" takes place over the years at the Mr. Jingo's, the annual fair that always visits Clifton Heights every August. A bit of fantasy mixed in with the horror in this tale.
And then there's "And I Watered It With Tears," where something as simple as standing in line to pay your electric bill can lead to death, particularly when you live in Clifton Heights.
Kevin Lucas, once again, does an excellent job of weaving all of the stories in this collection into a cohesive volume. Unsettling and entertaining, Through a Mirror, Darkly will leave you wanting to visit Clifton Heights again and again. I just don't want to live there.
Available now in paperback and e-book formats from Crystal Lake Publishing. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read this one at no additional charge.
Definitely recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment