Review: Psychological Thriller
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2011
Tim Kizer recently contacted me and asked me to review his novella,Intoxication (a psycho thriller) (As the Darkness Falls), which is a psychological thriller. Some have compared it to "horror" stories by Stephen King, which I have to say I am not a huge fan of, but I found this to be more suspenseful than horror filled. Yes, it is based on murder and does contain some strong language, but the story is more about the psychological state of mind of the main character than the events that are taking place.Positive: This story has a very unique plot that has twists and turns that are not predictable. I have to say that I did read the reviews of this novella before I started reading the story, and I knew that there was a surprise ending, and I STILL didn't guess what it was. Typically when I know that a story has a surprise ending, I am always on the lookout for what it will be, and usually have it figured out. That was not the case in this instance.Constructive Criticism: I hesitate to point out that this book has grammatical errors because I believe that it is self-published and did not have the benefit of professional editing services, but I would be remiss not to mention them because they are present. I also feel like the story could be just a tad bit longer to develop the characters and embellish the theories of why the main character believes what she does. It quickly becomes obvious that she has some psychological issues, and developing those thoughts more thoroughly would help the reader comprehend why she believes her theories.Finally, if you enjoy suspenseful stories, especially short novellas, and don't mind a touch of strong language, you would probably enjoy this. There is a bonus novella, Hitchhiker, and a 1,000 word short story, The Bike, included. I enjoyed each of these as well. Both of these also have unique plot twists and surprises that you won't see coming. I think that Tim Kizer is an up and coming author with a ton of great potential.