The first third of The Conveyance was about ordinary people leading mostly ordinary lives. Before you know it, Brian W. Matthews lulls the reader into a comfort zone brought on by his easy-going writing style.
Matthews has a gift for developing strong characters who interact with one another in the most genuine of ways. Therapist/patient, husband/wife, best friends Every one of those relationships was one-hundred-percent believable. It's a good thing too, because a lot of what happens in The Conveyance requires readers to check their disbelief at the door.
A visit to Emersville and a quaint little shop called Lost Desires and it's like Brad and Toni have suddenly found themselves in The Twilight Zone. It's at this shop where they purchase a Raggedy Ann type doll which will only be a a small part of the terror that's coming.
Mixed with the terror were a number of of nice similes. Things like, "This part of Michigan was farm country, wide open and flatter than the Lions' defense." And, "I turned to face my house, a sagging, post-war rambler that was one-part charm and three-parts home maintenance nightmare." I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff.
The Conveyance was one of my most enjoyable reads in recent memory. It does stray into some strange territory, yet manages to convey a good bit of terror along the way. Plenty of twists and turns, a dollop of violence, and periods of immense sorrow.
If you like a gritty story, with great characters, and a bit of the fantastic. You can't get much better than The Conveyance. I found it to be a hoot and a half.
Highly recommended.
The Conveyance is published by JournalStone and is available in both paperback and e-book formats.
By day, Brian W. Matthews works as a financial planner, but after the sun goes down he scribes stories meant to entertain and, perhaps, terrify. When he isn't developing investment portfolios or crafting tales of monsters and madmen, he tries valiantly to knock a little white ball over the rolling green hills of a golf course without hitting traps or trees. His previous works include two short stories, both of which appeared in the anthology, Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero. His novels include Forever Man and its sequel, Revelation. I've read them both and can highly recommend them. Brian lives in southeast Michigan with his wife, daughter, and two step-daughters.
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