Customer Reviews

The Lost District

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been reading Joel Lane's work for years in various horror anthologies and magazines, and this collection demonstrates why I never miss a book that he's in. Lane is one of the best, most grueling horror writers out there. Brutal, emotionally honest... sometimes erotic, and not for the weak.

Fans of M. John Harrison, or Ramsey Campbell are sure to love this master of the modern horror. From the Midlands of England to the finer cities of Europe, Lane's vision of urban horror and decay with stay with you for a long time.

In these stories Joel Lane gives us some wonderfully pitch-perfect dark urban fantasy/horror. While his prose isn't as poetic as M. John Harrison's and his characterization lacks the psychological plumb-bob of J. G. Ballard, Lane excels in settings, all of which are dark and dangerous and unreal, and the subtle, often grotesque plot twists.

If you have never tried dark fantasy, THE LOST DISTRICT may be a good place to start. I have never been a big fan of dark fantasy, but found Joel's Lane's writing distressingly compelling. Distressing because I really did not want to spend time with these people and in these places.

I have loved some works of urban fantasy (Charles De Lint, Emma Bull), but found this as dark or darker than De Lint at his darkest moments (his works as Samuel Key can be compared).

Despite my dislike of the world Lane creates, I found THE LOST DISTRICT a hard book to put down. It kept me up quite late one night. I would finish one story, glance at the next page, and find myself hooked again, in just a sentence or two, by the next story -- an unusual experience for me in reading short story collections. THE LOST DISTRICT is a grim but well-written, sometimes poetic book. Not for the faint of heart.

Joel Lane writes well and his descriptions are good. The stories themselves, however, are disturbing and leave one with unsettling thoughts.