Review: Breathes new life in to a tired formula
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 30, 2014
To me the mark of a great author is their ability to entertain without any gimmicks or high concept ideas. The example I always think of is A Flash of Green by John D. MacDonald; he made a story about shady land speculation riveting. Tim Curran has done the same with the old "haunted ship" trope. A guy has to spend the night on a haunted freighter? Let's say that I wasn't thrilled at the prospect, but I have read enough Tim Curran to know that I should give it a chance.Deadlock introduces a short cast of characters and then gets right to it, shoving our protagonist in to the fire (or water, I guess). Tim Curran creates a nightmare scenario where we are never sure what is actually happening and what is a hallucination, but we know enough to know that it isn't all in Charlie's head. Threats both psychological and physical abound, and as I reader I was squirming right along with Charlie.Flat out: I don't like haunted house/boat/car/motorhome/etc. stories. But I like this one. Tim Curran has done it again!