Review: Off Its Mark
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 06 9, 2013
I admit I like free stuff. I also admit I'm not entirely rational in my thought process. For example, I happily hand over my Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime Conference fees and feel like I've won the lottery when I receive a bag filled with books. Seriously, this ends up being one of the major highlights of these conferences. So in my continued pursuit of this high, minus the conference fees, I have decided to scour Amazon for the best free short stories and books available. With that being said, let's get to the review.THE DOLL wasn't scary or creepy like I had hoped it would be. At best it was a bit weird and slightly disturbing. None of the characters really resonated with me, and the pace of the story seemed slow and off its mark, not so good when it's only 30 pages long.I never felt like I was completely involved in this saga, more like an outsider hovering above this tale, with my grip on reality still held firmly in place.Somehow one of the dolls migrates off the island, the details of which are never fully explained, and that's when the situation escalates. But that's where this tale lost its grip on the edge of the cliff. Short stories can end rather abruptly, as this one did, but the end still felt unsatisfying.Robert DownsAuthor of Falling Immortality: Casey Holden, Private Investigator