Review: A writer to watch
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 9, 2012
This is another short story collection I picked up free for the Kindle, and, for the most part, I enjoyed it. Watson writes well, and she is a keen observer of people, especially people who are troubled. The interior monologues in this book are impressive and convincing. What is less convincing are the twist endings of most of the stories. She is a good enough writer to leave things a little more open ended in some cases rather than ending everything with some sort of emotional jolt. I was also impressed by the variety of stories here. The one about a girl observing the demolition of a building that played a large part in her youth is fascinating, but marred by Watson's tendency to try to make the ending memorable.One complaint however, not just to Watson, but to every writer of mystery and suspense stories. Please stop writing stories where the big surprise at the end is that the child the woman is talking about for the whole story is either dead or never existed at all. It seems like there has been a story like this in about half the collections I have read over the past few weeks, and in each one of these stories, the ending is obvious from the start. It doesn't matter how much pathos or misdirection you insert, it still fails.  Please, please, STOP!Don't let that keep you away from this interesting collection, however. As I said, Watson writes well, and I think there may be some very good things to come if she lets her talent for characterization and telling the stories of ordinary people overcome her desire to be melodramatic. Her story telling is good enough that she doesn't need the twist at the end to make the reader's experience worthwhile.