Review: Hidden treasure buried in Matt Shaw's collection
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2014
Okay, I loved this novella. It is short but I don’t think the length is an issue. It’s perfect for the story.Todd is a guy in his early twenties that awakens inside a box. His sister, Kayla was kidnapped a few years ago and Todd fears the same has happened to him. His parents are rich but will they pay? Todd doesn’t think he was the favorite child like Kayla was.Matt Shaw did something quite unique with his storytelling. I’m quite used to seeing him use flashbacks in his novels but in Buried, the flashbacks are in the form of hallucinations. The air in the box is running out. Is Todd seeing his life flash before his eyes? Todd will think about an event in the past but at the same time, feel enclosed and hard to breathe. He envisions his family eating at the dinner table with him still being in the box. Todd thinks his sister, Kayla has the answers. She was kidnapped before. How did she survive? As he creates her as a character in his head, she helps him in trying to remember how he got into the box. Characters appear and disappear as he tries to put the pieces together.One would think this story would have such a simple plot: A man buried alive. It, however, is not the case. There are many twists and turns. By the end of the story, you’ll have all the answers but they are not at all what you may have expected in the beginning.It should be noted that this story also appears in Matt Shaw’s collection, “Tastes of Horror.” You can’t go wrong with either.