Review: Fast Paced Real Horror
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 24, 2012
My Lover, My Garden by Erik GustafsonReview by David A. CleinmanWhen this short story began, and I understood it to be about a garden going crazy, I thought it would be tongue in cheek, dark humor, and maybe a bit silly. I can now happily admit I was wrong on all three counts.In this dark short, the author weaves a tale of unadulterated horror that is eerie at the getgo, and gets darker and scarier as time goes on. And, to my happy surprise, it never lets up. It drags you in from the first words and keeps you engaged until the end, where there is room for a new beginning should the author choose to write a sequel.Horror shorts generally have one flaw. They often do not give much time for character development. The clever use of only two characters for much of the story eliminates this problem, and the references to the other characters are brief and well placed. The vast majority of this story is spooky action, narrow escapes from deadly forces, and a real film noir quality that keeps that eerie feeling going throughout.Perhaps a bit on the simple side, without much depth or deep thought, this story is still a thriller in every way. In fact, the simplicity of the story is really what adds to its impact. It's much less scary when characters sit down to coffee and read the newspaper. We don't have any of that here.My Lover, My Garden is a great story and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror and suspense. I happily give it Four stars.