Whenever someone contacts me and asks if I would read their book and provide a fair and honest review, I always worry just a bit. What if I don't like it, I'll have to give an opinion in writing anyway, it's what they signed on for. It's for that reason, I prefer to pick my own reading material, that way, if I have to give it a negative review, I don't feel so bad.
Well, Alexander S. Brown, was confident enough in his work to provide me with a review copy of his horror collection, Tramatized, and I am happy to report that, not only did it not disappoint, it was by far, the best collection I've read this year.
Usually, in a collection of this size, you'll find one or two stories that just don't measure up to the rest, but not the case here. Every one of the 15 tales inside the covers lives up to the title. I would so not want to be the protagonist in one of these stories, as every last one of them is traumatized to the full extent of that word. As a matter of fact, the first online definition I came accross for the word Traumatized was to "Subject to lasting shock as a result of an emotionally disturbing experience or physical injury". Yep, that pretty much sums up the stories in this brilliant collection.
Ghost stories, a teenager pushed to the brink of insanity, witches, a cultish church, a paranormal investigator going it alone, and for me, the best of the bunch, "Zoe's Swan Song", the story of Zoe Michelle Byrnes, a model/singer turned actress hungry for more. I dare you not to cringe several times as you read this one.
Tramatized is more than 300 pages of first-rate writing and provided hours of enjoyment for this horror enthusiast. The work is published by Xlibris Corporation and is available in hardcover, paperback and e-book formats. Traumatized is intended for mature adults only and certainly not for the easily offended. BTW, according to the author's website, it was once banned in 2009. That right there should sell a few copies. I cannot recommend this one enough. Enjoy.
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