Serving Up The Hard Questions: A Review of Vicki Beautiful

In case you haven't noticed, I've been trying to catch up on my "To Read" pile in the last few weeks, and there's just been so much good stuff in there I've felt compelled to share it with anyone who cares to listen (or read, as the case may be). To that end, here's my review of Somer Canon's debut novella, Vicki Beautiful.

We’ve all had friends we claimed we’d help hide a body before. It’s one of those clichés that never seems to go away, no matter what else changes from generation to generation. But when the chips are down, how far are we really willing to go for those friends? Maybe we really would help them move a body, but what if the request is of a more… personal nature?

This is the question at the center of Somer Canon’s debut novella Vicki Beautiful, and it’s one that I found myself thinking about long after I’d finished it. It’s the eponymous Vicki’s fortieth birthday, and her two lifelong friends have arrived for dinner and drinks and a night of celebration. But there’s a dark cloud hanging over the night: the cancer everyone thought Vicki had beaten has returned, so this is a celebration of her final birthday, not just the big 4-0. By morning, Vicki is gone, and her last request sends her friends on a slow spiral into pure, unadulterated madness.

More than that, I don’t want to say. That would be giving it away, and this is definitely something you want to experience for yourself to get the full impact. Suffice it to say, Vicki asks something of her friends that I don’t know if I could comply with, were I in their shoes. It’s been nearly two weeks since I finished Vicki Beautiful, and I still don’t know what I would do with that request.

And that, to me, is the core of what elevates something above its genre and turns it into unquestionable art: I left the book, but it didn’t leave me. That question’s the story poses has been gnawing at me ever since it was first revealed. More telling, it’s a question I found myself seriously considering. I’m a person who’s impatiently patient; if a question comes up, I want the answer as soon as possible, and will allocate a lot of brain power to coming up with that answer. That it’s taken this long and I don’t have one says that what on the surface seems to be a simple—if twisted—premise ended up being much, much more than that.

Beyond the lingering effect, the story is well-crafted. The relationship between the three friends leaps off the pages, and is instantly believable. Their reactions are likewise authentic, and uncertain, just as I’m sure mine would be in that same situation. Make no mistake, though: this is not some fluffy bunny story here. It is dark, and disturbing, and quite uncomfortable to see unfold. You’ll want to put it down, to try and escape, but you won’t be able to. You’ll have to know what happens next, how far things will go.

The only real complaint I found with the story was the ease in which the main characters were able to get the outside help they needed to pull off Vicki’s final wish. Granted, the given motivation of lots of money does, unfortunately, seem all to possible in this day and age, but considering the distaste one notable supporting character shows to what they’ve been asked to do, it still seems just a bit implausible. That said, it’s only one relatively small and minor part of the much bigger and exceptional whole that makes up this strange morality play.

After reading some of Somer Canon’s tweets, I knew she was my kind of twisted. After reading this, I know it without a doubt. Vicki Beautiful is… well, beautifully done. I cannot wait to see what this “mini-van revving soccer mom” serves up next; I just hope she’s not offended if I think twice before I eat it.

4.5/5 Stars

You can grab a copy of Vicki Beautiful from Amazon here.

Officially Underway!

I'm sure you noticed the wonderful graphic provided by my publicist, Erin Al-Mehairi from Hook of a Book, on the previous post. Well, now there's an official tour page posted as well. You can check it out over at the Hook of a Book website. Also, feel free to check out the Publicity page above for the confirmed dates as well.

If you want to follow along on Facebook and Twitter, just watch for and use the hashtags #Consequences or #SummerofConsequences. If you'd like to be a part of the tour, offering a review or hosting a guest article, or whatever you think would help, make sure to email Erin at hookofabook@hotmail.com and put "Consequences Publicity Request" in the subject line.

Up next, I'll have a guest article up at Shane D. Keene's Shotgun Logic (Tuesday, 7/12), followed by a review from Angela over at Horror Maiden's Reviews on the 29th, so be sure to check them out, and watch for more awesomeness to come as the Summer of Consequences tour continues!

Summer of Consequences: Review at The Haunted Reading Room / Mallory Heart Reviews

The Summer of Consequences publicity tour continues! Thanks to Mallory Heart Reviews / The Haunted Reading Room for this awesome 5 star review for Consequences!

"A well-written, well-executed, well-played novel, a horror-thriller, coming-of-age, first-love-blossoming, rural redneck insanity, CONSEQUENCES is a biting, gory, thrill-a-minute roller coaster ride in which the suspense never lets up."

Check out the full review here, and be sure to keep checking back for more dates on the Summer of Consequences!

Also, thanks to Erin over at Hook of a Book for the awesome tour graphic!

A Horror / Western Masterpiece

I seem to be doing a lot of book reviews lately instead of making actual blog posts, but that's because there's not a lot to report and I've been doing a lot of reading in my spare time. Today's a treat, though!

Here is my review of Kristopher Rufty's latest, Seven Buried Hill.

Kristopher Rufty has managed to find a distinctive voice when he writes. In the same way I can listen to a song and recognize Eric Clapton or Slash or Keith Richards as the guitarist, I can read an excerpt of writing and just know it’s Rufty. That distinct voice means whatever he puts out will most likely be good, which is why I tend to snatch it up within the first week of its release.

His latest, Seven Buried Hill, is no exception. I will admit to being curious and slightly worried once I realized that it would be a western-themed horror novel, and wondered if the setting would prohibit the signature Rufty style from shining through. Once I finished it, I was pleased to discover my worries were completely unfounded.

Henry Hardin was an outlaw, once upon a time. The longer he did it, the more he realized how much he was risking his life, so he’s out of the business, trying to take honest jobs for a change to reform his ways. Catherine Dalton is heiress to one of the largest tobacco plantations in North Carolina. When her father goes missing and the law won’t help her, she turns to Hardin for help. With his “boys”, Red, Pete, Drippy, and Charlie, Catherine herself, and Catherine’s effeminate fiancé Everett, the posse heads out looking for Papa Dalton. Unfortunately, they find something else, something worse, something that not all of them will survive.

The story owes as much to The Hills Have Eyes as it does to The Unforgiven, or even established horror westerns like Bone Tomahawk. The tone actually feels like the old west, even though it was set in the east. Thankfully, Rufty avoids the stereotype of making Indians the bad guys, and even shows a bit of acceptance through some of the characters for the Native Americans and their way of life. And the moments of tension—of which there are many—are suitably gripping and kept me turning the pages.

Henry and his boys are well crafted, with distinct personalities that shine through on the page. Catherine seems at first like the cookie-cutter “girl trying to prove herself in a man’s world”, then you get to go a little deeper into her thoughts and realize that she’s considerably more faceted than you first assume. Hardin himself, who could easily fall into another tried and true stereotype, manages to show real depth of character as he tries to maintain his hardened exterior while falling under Catherine’s charms.

In fact, if there’s one character here who seemed a bit under-developed, it was Charlie. He tended to wear his motivations on his sleeve, meaning the reader could see what was coming with him long 

before it actually happened. His fate was exceptionally satisfying, so this one was easily overlooked.

Where the story shines, though, is in the villains of the tale. They’re sick and twisted, make no mistake about that, but one can actually see the reasoning and logic behind why they act the way they do, even if there’s no question they went much too far with it. The sympathy they manage to evoke even made me wonder by the end whether I was wrong to feel nothing but sympathy for how things ended for them.

Overall, this is a shining example of Rufty at his best, weaving a story that sucks you in and makes you feel like you’re actually living it. It’s no accident that he’s one of my favorite modern horror authors, and a major influence on my own writing as well. If you haven’t picked it up yet, don’t hold back. Just prepare yourself for a thrill ride of a horror western as it plays across the screen of your imagination.

5/5 Stars

You can find Seven Buried Hill on Amazon here.