Review: A Good Clean, A Harsh Clean
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 6, 2011
This story is told to us in first-person by a man who is paid to get rid of problems and clean up the bloody mess afterward. So what would such a man do when that problem is a personal one, when he feels he has been wronged in some way? That's just more incentive to make that problem go away quickly and permanently.This man doesn't mind the smell of bleach as 'it's the smell of a clean slate, a clear conscience.' For this man, there are no second guesses or regret. As he wipes away blood with bleach, he also wipes his conscience free of remorse. He is coldly methodical and effecient in what he does. Even when fate capriciously sets a coincidence beside him at a bar, this character turns it into opportunity.This short story is around 240 locations, but it's full of this nice, dark mood. It does evoke that feeling of grim finality and of dark character and motive, with the writing being succinct but deep, concise but layered. With this calm and unaffected storytelling, the author allowed me a disturbing look into a cold mind clean of useless emotion and guilt.