Review: mixed bag
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 29, 2012
I gave this a try on a whim as it was an amazon deal of the day a little while back.  Even though I have tons to read by people I've already downloaded or have been reading for a long time I'm always on the lookout for new authors.  I pulled the trigger on this self published collection of dark horror.  I found it to be a mixed bag.Some of the stories range from pretty to really good, my favorites being PCA, Old Dog, Angel Charlie and Adrift.The others didn't do much for me with maybe the exception of The Exploding Man.  I was really enjoying that story..right up until the over the top ending that ruined it for me.The others were just ok.  Pale Man, the longest in the bunch I found to be a little too slow for my liking.This is really a collection of monster stories with some supernatural tossed in there.Midnight Paths is just one of those books that I didn't find myself liking too much for a reason I can't quite put my finger on.  Although I will say that the author uses MANY similes.  And I do mean many.  'The night descended like a...'...'the car's tires screeched, sounding like a....'....'the ocean reflected the noonday sun like a....'...it's constant and it felt forced, as if he were trying to be a little too sophisticated and 'literary'.  That's the best I can describe it (and here I am, unable to put my thoughts into words and I'm complaining about HIS writing style? Oh the irony!  But I am a customer and I do have an opinion..so there it is).I will say that when it's good it's pretty good.  Maybe it's just a style thing.  I think the ideas are there but maybe I didn't like the way they were told.  Hard to say.  My hat's off to him for self publishing this and getting some notice.  I respect anybody that can do that.  In addition, the inclusion of where his ideas for each story actually came from which he put in at the end of the collection was actually very cool.  I liked that insight into where the stories and ideas came from.All in all not bad.  I believe he's actually working on a novel now so I may have to see what that's all about in the future.