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Ghost, Horror, Reading, Review, Review week, River Dixon, short stories, stories, Terror, The Stories Inbetween
Just for a change (and in support of a few authors whose work I have been enjoying) I thought that I’d post a review a day for a week. Hopefully something might take your fancy!
The Stories Inbetween by River Dixon
I will preface this review by saying that I read a lot of short stories.
Having got that out of the way I have to say that I have never read a collection so original, so cleverly written or so affecting as ‘The Stories Inbetween’. Whether it is the dark humour of stories like ‘The Example’, the superb literary idea behind ‘The Diner’ or the unsettling nature of ‘Conversations in the Mirror’, River Dixon has managed to craft a collection of stories which will stay long in the memory. His style is very much that of a writer’s writer, using prose effectively and succinctly and knowing exactly what to include and where to leave spaces for the reader to fill themselves.
Many of the stories contained here are darkly horrific, but benefit from River understanding precisely how much ‘gore’ is needed to maintain the effectiveness of the story – yet I would not lump this collection in with a horror genre. It is far more than that. So many of the stories are both insightful of human nature and indeed, thought-provoking, and this is, without doubt, a collection that I will read many times.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
chrisnelson61 