Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales by Cameron Trost

Cameron Trost, 2012(Second Edition 2013)

ISBN:  9781468073331

Available:  Paperback, eBook(Smashwords, Kindle edition)

     Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales is an interesting collection of short stories that focus on seemingly ordinary people doing seemingly ordinary things.  “Ordinary” does not last long, though, as evil twists out of them.  The first story, “Not To Be Read”,  takes place on a vacation in Scotland. Lightning and The Ritual both examine the lives of youngsters.  Groups of friends gather in “Hardwicke’s Fair Share”, “Party Trick” and  “Cockatoo Cabin”, discovering the nasties in their world.  An office worker pursues a rare LP in “Cathedral Man and The Rare Twelve Inch” as he haggles with a homeless man during rush hour.  The collection culminates with “Hoffman’s Creeper”, the story of a botanist, his rare creeping ivy and what it needs to thrive.

 This was a good collection.  The author covered a lot of variety in his subject matter with varying degrees of success.  Generally the language was descriptive, and the author did a good job at establishing the story worlds.  The characters had distinctive voices, and the plot lines were solid.  My criticisms would be more on specific stories as some of them left me flat. “Not To Be Read” had an anticlimactic ending; “The Butcher’s Window” failed to build suspense effectively; and “Patrick O’Malley” was too short to pull me in.  The progression of the stories started with the weaker ones at the start, and built to the best ones at the end.  Strong stories included “Beneath the Flowers”, which  made me think;”Cathedral Man and The Rare Twelve Inch”, which kept my attention– the environment felt real; and “Hoffman’s Creeper”, the strongest of the lot, nicely evil.  The author brought it together on this one.  Overall this was a strong collection and worth reading.  I have not read any of Cameron Trost’s work previously.  Recommended for adult readers.

Contains:  Sexual situations, incest

Reviewed by:  Aaron Fletcher