Richard Burgin's previous story collection "Shadow Traffic" was one of my favorite collections from 2011, and "Hide Island" makes for a worthy successor. The dark dread-filled tone that carried itself through many of the stories in "Shadow Traffic" reappears in "Hide Island," but is tempered by hope and a sense of magic in the creation of these stories.
In "The Reunion" an ageing Paul feels like his life is shrinking away, and the burden of memory begins to take its toll. He even notes that his signature is becoming smaller and smaller, just like his recollection of important events in his life. A deft hand at dialogue, Burgin creates some wonderful tension in this story when Paul meets with Irene, a supposed one-time acquaintance who confesses to taking advantage of Paul in the past, though the forgetful Paul cannot place their relationship or recall her offense. Irene is a sly con artist, but Paul refuses to pay her emotional price and she erupts in a vengeful monologue: "You've obviously measured out how much you could give and found that you've hit your limit. You're just like my ex that way and my father too, who ration out kisses like a bill he had to pay. One on the forehead for my birthday and nothing more."
Language is a weapon in several of these stories, most notable in "The Endless Visit," where Barbara abuses her friendship with Carla by making her endure rage-filled monologues about the mundane frustrations faced in day to day life, but Burgin also uses language as a source of healing, even salvation. "Atlantis," my favorite story in the collection, is a noir tale set in Atlantic city. An already damaged couple, Stacy and Rina, decide to visit one of Stacy's old friends, but instead wind up in a brutal encounter with Dom, an Angle Dust freak who would make some of the seedier characters on Breaking Bad look like teddy bears in comparison. At the end of their ordeal, Stacy and Rina talk about the horror they endured in their apartment, which they compare to a tomb that they both share. And in these last few pages of dialogue there is tenderness and growth and the reader senses their relationship strengthening from the ordeal, instead of shattering and falling apart.
Not all of the stories within the collection are dark. "Diary of an Invalid" is a touching story about a father's love for his son, and more broadly the joy we must not only discover but actively create in the present to endure the pain of memory and the suffering in our lives. The story is told in fragments of beautifully rendered imagery that echo the narrator's philosophy: "My 'belief' that memory, dreams and the story with Andy (his son), can somehow provide a replacement world or at least a shelter from reality of my invalid world may be a form of magical thinking, too." This book is five stars, highly recommended.
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A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of I Am Watching You. The perfect family? Or the perfect lie? | Learn more
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