Review: An Excellent side look at the Solitary Tales
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 6, 2012
Back in the day (or so Travis tell me) there used to be things called B-sides to albums, a song or two that didn't quite fit in with the theme or story of the rest of the album. That's what Travis is branding this short novella Something I Can Never Have, written as a quick aside to Solitary Tales.The novella is a compilation of letters written by Jeremiah Marsh, pastor of Solitary and villain of the story. Thrasher takes into the past, giving us an inside look at Marsh's conflicted and tormented soul. Be ye warned: this isn't happiness and rainbows or puppies and sunshine but a very dark and twisted look into the life of a dark and twisted individual and the dark and twisted city of Solitary.In many ways, the novella reads like a character sketch that's been modified into more of a story form. Or maybe Travis just received all these letters in the mail one day and decided to publish them. Who knows, really? And since Something I Can Never Have is written from Marsh's perspective, it's difficult to tell what's truth and what's not and whether any of this will come to play in either Temptation or Hurt.I'll admit, I would have liked more substance - because I simply want to know more - but Thrasher knows his limits in throwing out satisfying answers without giving everything away. It was the perfect morsel to remind me of the characters in and world of Solitary, North Carolina, and get me properly salivating over the last half of Solitary Tales, due to release in 2012.For those of you who have read Solitary and Gravestone, or have heard of the series, and yet have never heard of this one, it's because Thrasher has released it as an ebook only release for $2.99.