Customer Reviews

Still

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I wish she put out more stuff because she is brilliant. If you like Dean Koontz and the like then this would be too much for you, but if you like old Clive Barker, or Ed Lee's serious stuff then you'd like this as well. Her writing is literature, man.

If you've read anything by Jacobs, there is no point in outlining the wonders that lie in wait here. If you haven't, I have a hard time rapping words around the arcane magic of beauty and horror that this wonderful lady weaves. As usual for her, a simple synopsis is not easy to pull off, as we follow three apparently distinct tales. However, unlike some of her other works, this is one comes across a tad easier on unaccustomed readers since the stories stay pretty well to themselves until they are all tied in together. We've got a cop that has become too obsessed with answering the calls of victims of crimes to atrocious to be dealt whose sanity is crumbling under the weight of his inability to solve their cases. We've got a horror fan who, many years later, receives the first guy's scapbook of death and dishonor who begins displaying moving pictures of the victims final moments. Finally, we've got what could very well be the perfect assassin. Beneath it all is an exploration of human cruelty and degradation that manages to be even more shocking than what we saw in Dread in the Beast by grounding the violence in a more believable setting (until the final sequence, which goes totally for broke). Her writing style here is also more direct, almost Ketchum-like, taking away the shelter of the beauty of her words. This is a book that intends to wound, but she never leaves you bleeding. There is hope here, though it is found in paces few would bother to look. I also have to credit her with providing me with the best defense for a love of horror against those who think such things evil without resorting to psychobabble and excuses.

We're lucky to have a talent like this among us.