Review: Bar fly and bird, friend or foe?
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 7, 2011
Author David Gaughran's surprise twist horror ending is found in two completely unrelated very short stories.***"If You Go Into The Woods" reads like an old fairytale. Irresistible chirping draws a young but troubled boy into the woods day after day, until the lure of the unknown draws him off the trail and literally up a tree. You will need to read the very short five page story to find out if he survives fear and panic to reveal what is really hidden in the branches.Everybody in the television sitcom "Cheers" knew Norm, so why after years of week after week at the same bar, the same bakery, nobody remembers Linus or his name? His friends forgot him after the divorce and his ex-wife wishes their son would forget him. Is it Linus' or everybody else's problem? The twisted ending or the ending twist in "The Reset Button" will leave the reader wondering how so much could happen to one man in less than six pages.None of the characters in either story are fully developed. Subplots are left dangling and unresolved at the end. Yet, both tales are a quick read with intriguing finales. Either story would make a promising first chapter in a horror novella or novel. Character motivation, conflict situations, and troubled relationships could be further developed to deliver a more powerful suspense tale.