A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm, or surprise a human or other animal, triggered by the presence or actions of the victim.
Here they are stories; small, sturdy and surprising in their levels of camouflage and damage.
-A grieving man grapples with a double whammy of loss by fishing and finds that sometimes you catch more than you expect, if you use the right bait.
-The world splinters in many different ways and scenes in a kaleidoscopic series of prose snapshots
-The young product of a lifetime of abuse grows to find her true course and embrace the trail of smoke it leaves.
-A small coastal village finds something unusual washed upon their shore.
-An abandoned amusement park has strange truths to share with a trio of teenagers.
-A woman mentally spars with the creature that haunts her property.
-Loneliness leads to wanting--and wanting has a voracious appetite, so discovers an introverted fellow in a far from typical morning at the office.
The stories are short and scattered in theme and setting but mind where you step, for they have sharp edges and hair triggers and a few of them bite hard.
The raw emotions and wretched circumstances in these stories did not make for a restful sleep.
My favorites, or more accurately the ones that hurt the most and kept me awake, were at the beginning and end of the book. The first story, Come Tomorrow and the last story, Tinsel are both heavy with grief. In the former, a man mourns the death of a life cut too short. In the latter, the pain is not negated by having had more time. Another favorite, if that is the right word to use in this case, was Halfway Wrong Don't Make it Alright, which was a story full of abuse, neglect, revenge, and retribution.
Slightly less painful, but no less powerful stories that I can't shake off involve a monstrous tax collector, fish swimming through the air, and a simple glass of water.
The introduction warns that this book is unsafe, but I plowed full steam ahead and devoured it before bedtime. I have to agree. This is a book that will stick with you, and stick to you.
My thanks to Cemetery Dance Publications.
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