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\u00a0Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales<\/i><\/a> by Cameron Trost<\/p>\nCameron Trost, 2012(Second Edition 2013)<\/p>\n
ISBN:\u00a0 9781468073331<\/p>\n
Available:\u00a0 Paperback, eBook(Smashwords, Kindle edition)<\/p>\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales<\/i> is an interesting collection of short stories that focus on seemingly ordinary people doing seemingly ordinary things.\u00a0 “Ordinary” does not last long, though, as evil twists out of them.\u00a0 The first story, “Not To Be Read”, \u00a0takes place on a vacation in Scotland.\u00a0Lightning<\/i> and The Ritual <\/i>both examine the lives of youngsters. \u00a0<\/i>Groups of friends gather in “Hardwicke’s Fair Share”, “Party Trick” and \u00a0“Cockatoo Cabin”,\u00a0discovering the nasties in their world.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The collection culminates with “Hoffman’s Creeper”,\u00a0the story of a botanist, his rare creeping ivy and what it needs to thrive.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i>This was a good collection.\u00a0 The author covered a lot of variety in his subject matter with varying degrees of success.\u00a0 Generally the language was descriptive, and the author did a good job at establishing the story worlds.\u00a0 The characters had distinctive voices, and the plot lines were solid.\u00a0 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\u00a0suspense effectively; and “Patrick O’Malley” was\u00a0too short to pull me in. \u00a0The progression of the stories started with the weaker ones at the start, and built to the best ones at the end. \u00a0Strong stories included “Beneath the Flowers”, which \u00a0made 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.\u00a0 The author brought it together on this one.\u00a0 Overall this was a strong collection and worth reading.\u00a0 I have not read any of Cameron Trost’s work previously.\u00a0\u00a0Recommended for adult readers.<\/p>\n
Contains:\u00a0 Sexual situations, incest<\/p>\n
Reviewed by:\u00a0 Aaron Fletcher<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales by Cameron Trost Cameron Trost, 2012(Second Edition 2013) ISBN:\u00a0 9781468073331 Available:\u00a0 Paperback, eBook(Smashwords, Kindle edition) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hoffman’s Creeper and Other Disturbing Tales is an interesting collection of short stories that focus on seemingly ordinary people doing seemingly ordinary things.\u00a0 “Ordinary” does not last long, though, as evil<\/p>\n