Review: A Glass of Bittersweet Suspense
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 4, 2013
No one can build suspense just from emotional uncertainty better than Josh Lanyon. And hardly anyone is better than Irish balladeers at writing songs of bittersweet regret like the one that provides the title to this wonderful sequel to "In a Dark Wood."The suspense arises from a totally convincing psychological portrait of the protagonist Tim, a recovering alcoholic.  Tim re-encounters the boyfriend he had while going on and off the wagon a few years before. Although now sober, he still struggles with residual feelings of shame and inadequacy.  The whole thing is set up by the beautifully written chance initial re-encounter of Tim and his ex. As usual, Lanyon conveys everything mostly through entirely believable incident and laser sharp dialogue. And all this in a short story. You'll be missing something really good if you don't read it.