Review: A strangely twisted read
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 22, 2011
Paranoia and jealousy are the backdrops of this story, where we travel a detailed and slightly crazy path of Leslie as she slowly seems to sink into madness.In Intoxication by Tim Kizer, we begin with a scene in the office where Leslie's boyfriend drinks her coffee while she has left the room. He immediately takes ill, and the stage is set. Leslie is now convinced that one of the other workers is trying to poison her. When she confronts the other worker, Leslie is quite sure that even with her denial, that Helen must be guilty. After all, she is the one who delivered the coffee.Sharing her fears with her boss, he is already aware of her thought process. Helen as gotten to him first and now Leslie is convinced that he thinks she is paranoid. As her decent into this dark void continues, she begins with how she can get back at Helen.When she finds that Helen actually did not get her coffee but it was another worker, who was on her way to the break room instead, Leslie further descends into that world where strange and maddening things begin to take on perfect sense.Can she find out who is responsible, or will she begin to realize her thought process has led her into some strangely odd behavior. Is the other worker guilty of trying to poison her, or has Leslie just gone off the deep end?Kizer has written a creepy piece of work that has some strange and yet just a bit compelling characters. He has done a good job of following the decent into madness evinced by Leslie. The ending is a surprise, and it would have made a bit more sense had I known just a tweak of what caused her to have such a terrifying fall.I did wonder how Leslie jumped to the conclusion of someone trying to poison her, it seemed a bit over the top, and while I understand the surprise element, it would have been easier to follow what was happening if just a hint had been weaved in earlier. The story is intriguing and it is a great rendition of how guilt and association go hand in hand.This is a short novella and yet it is full of strangely creepy and compelling voices of the characters that are willing to go to such lengths to make a wrong right in their own mind. Without giving away the story with the author was at pains to protect, I will not spoil the surprise.If you enjoy suspense, the strange, and just a bit of creepy behavior, you will find this an interesting read. His perception of that decent is well thought out, and at the end, we see that Leslie has finally realized her madness.This book was received as a free download from the author. All opinions are my own based off my reading and understanding of the material.