Review: Usefull more as a writing exercise than as entertainment
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 17, 2011
"They" (2010) is a short story by Vincent Hobbes, one of the free ones I have picked up for the Kindle - which may someday be meaningful if I ever get a Kindle - and read on the computer.  There is not much too it, but that is not to say that it is bad.  It is lacking any sense of overall purpose; horror should mean something, I think, and "They" just sort of is.Taking up approximately thirteen pages, "They" is long enough to have been more fully developed than it is.  Hobbes fills it instead with suggestions of conversations and the structures of personal relationships (in this regard, I do like his brand of short hand).  The monsters of "They" - it is that kind of horror - go unnamed, but it is relatively clear as to what they are.  What is not clear is any broader context for them to exist or have motivations beyond being rapacious monsters.Hobbes clearly has a decent sense of character and tone.  He comes close to making his undefined characters into people, but for some reason stops short.  Surprisingly, he doesn't give the kind of attention to the gore and violence that one would expect, given that these should be the ultimate payoffs to the story.  That is why "They" ends up feeling a little incomplete or somehow rushed.I don't know that I would make much of a recommendation of "They" to the general reader.  It is free, so there is no real risk involved.  It takes a very short time to read, so there isn't a lengthy investment if one finds they do not like it.  And it is readable.  But I think the real benefits of "They" are to look upon it as a writing exercise.As someone who is not accustomed to reading much in the way of horror fiction - it took me a decade to realize that I like horror films - I cannot offer ultimate judgment to it.  It is not the first thing I would recommend to a friend, but it may satisfy those who are much more familiar with the genre.