The Barrens and Others | |||||||||
F. Paul Wilson | |||||||||
Forge Books, 379 pages | |||||||||
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A review by Lisa DuMond
Fans of the invincible Repairman Jack (The Tomb,
Legacies) should be delighted with his return in
"A Day In The Life." Jack is back doing what he does best:
killing and maiming the bad guys, all in the name of justice
and cash. It's got tension, elaborate scheming, and split-second
timing. You know, a Repairman Jack story.
The title story and several others have the added attraction of
being set in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. If you, too, went to
school in Florida, you have no idea of the geography of this or
any country; certainly, you never pictured an area like the
Barrens in New Jersey. Aside from being a fascinating and
horrifying tale of obsession and the unexplainable, it provides
one of the most fascinating locales in literature. Anyone want to
take a run out there, just to see if we make it back alive?
Comic aficionados will appreciate the forays into
Batman and Dick Tracy territories.
Two of the stories present a twist on the usual hero fodder.
In the just plain gross-out category, "Topsy" comes in an
unquestioned first. Let's just say it starts out with a man
hospitalized for morbid obesity and goes onto even greater
morbidity from there. A close second in the category is a
decidedly more touching tale of the shaping of a monster.
"Faces" takes a different angle on the serial killer story,
that actually coaxes pity for the killer out of the
reader. "Pelts," a sickening little jaunt into the fur trade,
is presented in short story and screenplay formats, proving
that not all fiction makes for good drama.
A better and bittersweet script finishes out The Barrens
and Others with an episode of Tales From The
Darkside. Some readers may have caught the original
airing of "Glim-Glim" in the last week of January 1989. What
appeared as the finished product was not the version Wilson
envisioned; the confines of television intervened. The script
included in this collection is the untouched, genuine
article. It's a twist of a tale that would have made Rod Serling
proud, and a fitting close to the anthology. Plus, it
will hit the stores at the most appropriate time of the year,
ushering in that holiday spirit.
Because the stories in The Barrens and Others cover such
a wide spectrum of material, it is quite possible that not
every story will be for every reader. On the other hand, not
a one wouldn't lessen the book's impact by its absence.
Lisa DuMond writes science fiction and humour. She co-authored the 45th anniversary issue cover of MAD Magazine. Previews of her latest, as yet unpublished, novel are available at Hades Online. |
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