Review: OH, THE JOY!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 19, 2012
I received this as an evaluation copy from the author.I'm a fan of short stories; they're difficult to write and complex to develop, because you have to deliver in few pages a whole tale in a concise, yet reader-satisfying manner.And Mrs. Johnesee is a master at this.She brings you by the hand at the beginning of each story and never let you go, at first in a gentle and inviting way, but soon you can feel her grip tightening, and you'll find yourself unable to put down her book until you reach the end. You can compare her style to a sexual encounter (although this collection doesn't hold excessive use of adult content) teasing, rising tension, slowing down a bit, then frantically speeding up to a peaking crescendo, until it reach its final with a satisfying, unexpected twist.More, she places the right scares in all the right places, and her method works perfectly, with her sharp-witted and well-researched, concise writing.A fair warning, this is collection of psychological horror stories, so do not expect vampires, ghosts, and zombies to pop up in Mrs. Johnesee's book.There's a banker, a waitress, a psychotherapist, even a couple of lotto winners as the main, unfortunate protagonists of these stories.The author is so humble to not include an introduction to her collection, and that's the only fault, because I'd like to know more on the way she got the ideas for each tale. She doesn't like proclaims or putting herself at the center of her work, preferring instead to catapult you directly into the meat.I'll look forward to read more stories from this young, talented author, because I'm sure we will find her soon standing side by side with giants in the genre.Amazon doesn't allow for a sixth star, so I add it here: 6 Stars.