#### SPOILER ALERT ####
Nocturnes - John Connolly
The first time I met this author was when I read The book of Lost Things. It was kind of a weird, slightly scary book about a boy who get lost in this alternate reality. It showed great imagination although I found it a bit slow going to start with. The stories in Nocturnes are similarly weird, strange and spooky but flowed more and get to the point quicker. I guess that is due mainly to the fact that they are mostly short stories and as a writer you have to get to the point and the main action quickly before you run out of pages to round of the story neatly. Connolly has no issues doing that here. By the way the "recommendation" from the Radio Times on the back of my edition is slightly misleading. It says "Twists the classic ghost story in a modern macabre way" - well... I did not really find a lot of ghosts in the tales but what it lack in ghouls it makes for in macabreness... in spades! Don't buy it if you want to read about ghosts but if you have a brain that likes weird stuff you'll love it.
There are two stories in this volume that are classed as novellas and I will start with these.
The Cancer Cowboy Rides
Blood and guts galore! The beginning of the story is: a man wakes up in the desert and does not know who he is or where... could be the start of a joke... a very dark and bad joke in this case. He decides to call himself Buddy Carson.. it will become clear why soon enough. I guess the story can be described in a few words. Man has an urge that drives him on to do bad things to good people. People die and he gets a temporary reprieve. But as usual with these things it just wants more and more and before you know it entire populations are at risk. Buddy has this thing inside him that needs to be fed and he has found the perfect little place to do this. Whoever he touches gets infected and had better start thinking of investing in a cemetery plot. At first the story seems a bit bitty and disjointed - people die in one place from unknown causes, we meet Buddy "settled" in a new place with new people. However, soon the dots are connected and Buddy's Master Plan is revealed. As usual there is the Defender of Men who arrives at the scene when it matters and manages to stop mayhem in it's tracks, but a quite few people and some chickens die before this is accomplished. This thing inside Buddy is an eerie presence in the story and what it stands for is even eerier.. the sheer insatiability of the thing and its lust for destruction give the story a very dark edge... and the fat lady has not sung either!
The Reflecting Eye
A deserted house that used to be owned by a child murderer is the scene of this mystery. A private detective is hired to find a child in a photograph and he is not sure what might happen to her, if anything. The man who hires him has lost his daughter several years ago - she was taken and killed and he thinks that something bad will happen to the girl in the picture it was left in the post box at the house). He bought the house where his daughter was killed; maybe to keep a connection to her as it was the last place she was alive. It carries with it many bad memories and the ghost of a crazed killer who took the life of his little girl. The killer is dead, he took his own life inside the house but it seems that some ghosts are more difficult to lay than others. I can honestly say I had no idea who the bad guy was going to be in this one. We meet a few candidates but you kind of dismiss them because they are handed to you.
Then there is the thing about the mirrors. You get the idea that the mirrors are important but not sure how. In the end it is the detective's heavily pregnant "lover" who gives us a hint about what might be going on. It turns out that the mirrors show a perceived reality to the one looking in. It shows things as they should be, not as they are. In the mirrors the house looks beautifully decorated and homely but the reality is very different. The mirrors have managed to bewitch someone once more and they are after the girl in the picture. They get her but fortunately for her our hero is at hand to make sure things and well.....well for some of the characters in the story at least.
I liked the pace of the story and the humour in the dialogue. The characters have bee through a lot in each of their lives and that seems to load them up with a certain kind of heaviness or perhaps even darkness yet the dialogue between most of the sparkles.
What annoyed me a little bit is that our private detective who tells us the story keeps commenting on things that have not yet come to pass, usually bad things. He seems to be looking back on what happened to him in the past and how his life now has changed because of it. You get little hints of things to come but they are not in the scope of the story at hand so they are not expanded upon.. well... if they are obviously not of any influence over the present story why are you telling me about them? Hoping I'll buy the next book too?
The rest of the stories in this one are shorter ones and all of them are really good. They have the right mix of "could be true"-ism and "you've got to be kidding me"-ism in them and they often left me needing to put the book down for a few minutes between stories to let my mind relax a bit before starting the next one. This is what Connolly seems to be good at. There is truth in the characters of the stories, the things that happen can be explained in a normal way but then he takes it one step beyond that whilst still making you believe that what he suggest could be true and you go with him on that journey.. that's clever!
The stories have a great pace and they all have great humour, cynicism and fun in them. They are also quite dark and eerie. They do not really go into full horror but they do nibble on the toes of it at times.
Some words of advice from Mr Connolly to the reader:
- Don't go digging at church foundations - something might dig back.
- Don't leave your windows open at night - those few leaves on your window sill could be hiding god knows what.
- Keep your real children close -you don't want them getting lost.
- Do not trust bullies - if they are nice to you without a reason they must want something.... it could be more than you are willing to part with.
- What goes around comes around - evil works the night shift too.
- Don't mess with women - especially not if they come in threes.
- Don't let a monkey suck your thumb - monkey see, monkey do
- Sand is not just for building sand castles - it moves in mysterous ways.
- Never let a clown lick your face..... 'nuff said
- Never dive in anything you cannot see the bottom of - however tempting the offer.
- Never trust a friendly Vampire - leopards and spots!
- If it's hard to get to maybe there's a reason for it - some things are better left undiscovered.
- There are other instruments to play than just the piano - never heard a bad thing about playing a recorder.
- Don't leave your wife alone with a folly she does not like - unless you have a cement truck ready.
- Not all women are affected in the same way by the moon cycle - some of us go only slightly mad.
- Never make a promise you cannot keep, provoke an enemy you cannot see and make sure you travel with the latest version of the hotel guide.
Title: Nocturnes
Author: John Connolly
486 pages
Hodder Headline
ISBN nr 978-0-340-93399-2
Books to be read: 70
Books bought: 0
No comments:
Post a Comment