Review: A Risky Little Gem
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 11, 2012
Very well written novella that may fall between the cracks due to straddling genres in a slightly off-kilter way. Basically the issue many will have with this story is that it starts out as what appears to be a well-written thriller with only a hint of occult horror - something like the film "Seven" for example - then switches rather abruptly to an almost pure occult horror. A bit trying on the whole "suspension of disbelief" thing.In some ways the conventional side of me wishes Shannon would have picked either a thriller or an occult horror direction for this book, not both. It would have been more satisfying for most readers like me, I suppose. On the other hand, it was kind of interesting to find the lines blurred a bit. Would give this a 3.5 if it was possible but rounded up for the risks Shannon consciously took with this story. Some may accuse him of poor plot development but he is far too talented a writer to have botched it as far as I'm concerned. I'm guessing he just didn't want to write another slightly-above-average thriller. Will have to read more by him to find out for sure though...