Review: Gripping story, vivid characters
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 25, 2013
Karen Black's short story MOUNTAIN JUSTICE is vivid and immediate. Despite the compact story, characters are fully realized and complex. (Including the horse, whom I loved!) There are tantalizing questions left unanswered, though.Why did Annie marry George, rather than Rob? Why does Rob not marry her once she's divorced? Why do they seem to have settled into mere companionship when it is clear they feel mutual passion? While the reader believes Annie's and Rob's love for one another, it's perplexing that they are apart. But MOUNTAIN JUSTICE isn't concerned with those questions, and surprisingly, the story works very well without answering them. In any case, the reader has little time to catch a breath as events rush on, gathering momentum.This story is no more and no less than exactly what it is - a glimpse of desperate people at two desperate moments in their lives. The reader is plunged into actions and emotions that are already raging. Annie's peril is extreme; George is vengeful and vicious. Will Rob reach Annie in time? Or will George's vengeance finally destroy her?The ending packs a very satisfying surprise, and the reader will believe, after all, that MOUNTAIN JUSTICE was done.