Review: beautiful, as always --
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 10, 2012
As always, I love Fox's prose. One random example:"I tried to speak. Something was wrong with my throat, as if the rain had got in. Rain and rust and shame, enough to drown me."This isn't my favorite Fox tale. For the best of Fox, try (in ascending order of length) Life After Joe, Driftwood, or Scrap Metal. But even though this doesn't rank at the top of her work, it's still plenty good. For one thing, it has plenty of that trademark Fox sense of place -- I swear, you'll have to search long and hard to find anyone who creates as much feeling of locale as Fox does. And, of course, there's that Fox prose. Gotta love it. Fox seems to specialize in MCs that have been emotionally devastated in some way, and her bold....meaty?...strong?....emphatic?....vital?...prose always does a wonderful job of bringing that devastation to life without becoming maudlin or sappy.So what didn't I like about this story? Well, I'm not a big fan of paranormal -- and that is a definite element here. Also, I generally prefer longer stories -- there just isn't enough time to establish either character or plot in a short story. Third, both the MC and the "bad guy" undergo significant changes that, IMHO, happen too quickly to be easily swallowed -- another side effect of the short story form.Overall, though, this is still a fine tale. Everyone should read more Harper Fox!