Review: One of Scribner's better short stories
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 6, 2011
Broken Rule is the kind of scary short story that gave me a feeling of assurance that everything was going to be all right in the end.  That is not to say that it isn't creepy and that there isn't an evil aspect to it, though, and that some bad things don't happen along the way.Mary needed to get away from the house, kids and working as a nurse, so her husband, Mark, decided to give her a break and took her to a concert in Atlanta with Mary's sister, Tina and her husband, Robert.  On the way home, with Robert driving, they are on the interstate one minute and the next minute they're suddenly in the middle of nowhere in the dark of night with no moon to provide light.  The car won't start and their cell phones won't work. Their only source of refuge is an old, dark house with a light on over a sign that says, "This house is protected by a good spirit.  No evil may enter here."Or so the sign says.I really liked this story.  Joshua Scribner's writing has improved since I began to read his short stories over the past couple of months, and this one in particular seems to flow along in a logical sequence of events, and there is material that makes the reader think in this one.  It isn't just a story for the sake of scaring readers at midnight.  But beware, because it does induce the creeps no matter how nicely it's written.