Review: The kind of story that makes you check your peripheral vision when walking at night
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2011
In Chasing Spirits (Diary of the Displaced #2), Reg Weldon, a very old man in a nursing home, recounts his eventful and peculiar life story on a Dictaphone, beginning from an early orphaned childhood of foster homes (and worse), and continuing on to describe life as a street urchin, being illegally drafted onto the front lines of World War I, a vanishing, starting over in post-war London, being part of a landing party during World War II, and so on. During his adventures, he experiences several inexplicable moments involving monsters and madness, extreme cruelty and kindness; strange creatures and beings that cross his path at various times throughout his life. This is a novella that has ties to the world in Diary of the Displaced, but is not a straightforward continuation of that story. It also acts as a bridge to the next part, Last to Fall, utilising a sort of elliptical storytelling, as some of the questions from Diary of the Displaced gradually begin to get answered.Reg's world is basically our own (taking into account the passage of time) and his landscape is less alien than that of the dark realm in the preceding volume, making it easier to follow and relate to his story.  Reg is less confused and disoriented than the narrator in Diary which allows the author more freedom to improve his writing, and also allows for more character interaction. There are nice touches of historical details - the weather in 1908, or the likely items available to soldiers during World War I, for example (though I question the walk by the canal, given what I know of city waterways and plumbing.)On the downside, Reg presents himself as more willing to reveal things about people other than himself, which is peculiar in this autobiographical tale. Reg does say at the beginning it's meant to be about the weird things he'd seen/experienced, but it feels like a cop out. Unexplained weirdness (e.g., appearances of strange beings/creatures, Marie's mystery, importance of the knife) feel like tease events and are unresolved. While frustratingly vague on the points above, other things have a lot of space devoted to them (e.g., the game with the kids early on),that feels out of balance with the rest. Minor editing is needed to clarify the early villains - their names appear to be interchangeable in places. More development is needed to flesh out relationships, especially Marie (it would be good to know more about her - she has no voice in this) and Joe, who has a voice but feels very much a surface character (until the next installment.)Overall rating: 4 stars