Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark and Delightful,
This review is from: Walk in Shadows (Paperback)
If short stories are one of your favorite guilty pleasures you owe it to yourself to check out the first collection by Nicholas Kaufmann. And ignore the phrase "first collection" if it suggests a lack of depth and maturity, Kaufmann's work spans several countries expertly using setting to reflect themes and his writing touches on topics from McCarthyism to modern urban angst in a way that reflects each era he selects. He entertains Baby Boomers and their children with equal ease."The Jew of Prague" alone makes this book worth reading. Like all the stories in this collection, it's complexity and depth are the subtext of a compelling tale. The reader constantly wants to know what happens next. Most of these stories have (unfortunately) appeared previously in small niche markets cheating Kaufmann out of the wide readership his works deserve.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific debut collection,
By
This review is from: Walk in Shadows (Paperback)
Despite what some reviewers would have you think, it's really not very often that a debut fiction collection comes along that trumpets an exciting new talent (at least new to me). I've probably only read three so far in my life. The first was Soft and Others by F. Paul Wilson, then more recently there was Douglas Clegg's The Nightmare Chronicles. Now, add Nicholas Kaufmann to that list. With Walk in Shadows, he shows a sure hand at horror, from the psychological profile ("Not That Kind of Story") to the kinetic escape (aptly titled "Go!").
There are several highlights in Kaufmann's debut collection (culled from several magazines and anthologies of which mainstream readers have likely never heard), beginning with "The Jew of Prague." This story starts out as a simple jewel heist and turns into something else. The atmosphere is the strongest point of this story and Kaufmann layers it on with gusto. Similarly, "VIP Room" is the most disturbingly sexy story I've read since Dan Simmons' "Dying in Bangkok" (as published in Lovedeath) and that is mostly due to Kaufmann's skill at setting the scene properly. Unlike many authors, who seem to tread similar ground over and over, Kaufmann doesn't write the same kind of story (although many of them take place in his Quick City); each has a different tone -- and, surprisingly often, a different voice -- from the preceding one. This allows him to excel as the first-person narrator, since his "author's voice" is completely absorbed into the character (one prime example is with "Better Off with the Blues"). The only story in Walk in Shadows that shows its obvious origins in a themed anthology (a tribute to Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers), "With Its Sleeves Rolled," is a weaker entry, although it does manage to achieve the unthinkable: making Senator Joseph McCarthy a sympathetic character and causing the reader to think of Communism in a new way. Kaufmann's characters aren't always the nicest people (like the assassin in "The Dead Stay Dead"), but he manages to make them easy to identify with. Even the gang members in "Street Cred" -- which takes hazing to a new low, adding zombies to the equation, with complete believability -- are somehow familiar enough to elicit empathy. "Voir Dire" is original to this collection and is another highlight. I read it prior to my own jury duty and it gets the details right, but it's really about fear: the universal fear of being found out, because everyone has a secret they wouldn't like discovered, however small. I've also ridden in a taxi in New York, but luckily it was nothing like "Hail" (a double entendre dealing with taxis and the weather). I must admit I didn't care for the ending, but I was willingly carried along up until then. Only "La Bete est Morte" was what I would call mediocre, and that only because the "surprise" was entirely predictable (in fact, I hadn't realized it was a surprise until it was revealed) and, without that, there was little remaining. This is a small complaint because the story reads so well that it almost doesn't matter. But all of the stories in Walk in Shadows are great reading. The only piece I actually regret reading is not even Kaufmann's doing; that honor goes to Brian A. Hopkins' rambling introduction, in which he talks about himself for several pages, saving only a few paragraphs for praising Kaufmann. Aficionados of new voices in horror would do well to pick up a copy. It is filled with imagination and natural storytelling ability.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New Star on the Horror Horizon,
By A Customer
This review is from: Walk in Shadows (Paperback)
Nicholas Kaufmann's book of eleven stories is the best kind of horror short fiction. Kaufmann doesn't stint on violence of the realistic or supernatural kind: "Street Cred" is about brutal gang members and their involvement with "dirtwalkers," while "The Dead Stay Dead" is about a hit man's encounter with a female victim. But his stories are frightening in the best way -- through the unexpected, yet completely realistic turns his characters take. That it's Kaufmann's first collection is surprising: confident in his use of genres, locations and character types, he's a skillful entertainer.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
