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A review by lauriereadslohf
Bones: A Collection of Monsters by Andrew Cull
5.0
This lovely author sent me two copies of his newest work (all the way from Australia!) so that I could release them in the Little Free Libraries in my care. I'm going to release this one asap when I visit the mall tonight and read the other asap before setting it free at the other park location because I can't NOT read it!
Here are my thoughts now that I'm finished:
Bones is author Andrew Cull’s debut collection of short fiction and it is pretty fantastic if you like a story where the creep factor is high and quickly settles under your skin and festers.
Did You Forget About Me?
A man returns to his childhood home. He, his mother and sister fled from it 23 years earlier leaving behind an abusive man to simmer in his ugliness. The trip back home brings back all of his deeply buried memories to terrify and to haunt him because some things just don’t want to stay buried.
This is some immersive storytelling that is eerie and atmospheric and steeped in childhood fears, abuse and a terribly tragedy. There was no way I was putting this down once I started it because I HAD to know how it ended.
Hope and Walker
“We were both 10. But he was dead. And I sat drawing him”
This was my favorite story in the collection. It tells the story of a young girl who grows up in the family mortuary. Is it weird that she finds it calming to say goodbye to the dead by drawing a final picture of them in her notebook? I vote no, I loved her. Some might think it’s a little morbid but it's also very sweet until one day one of the dead begins talking back to her . . .
The characters are well written characters and there are some pitch dark images in this story that will linger around in my brain for a long while to come.
The Trade
“I was seven and that was the summer death stalked our home.”
All of these stories are haunting and grounded in realism but this one hit me a little harder than the others. It’s set in the sweltering heat as a young child watches his family disintegrate knowing there’s nothing he can do about it. The feelings of helplessness and the fear of an unknown future will knock you down with its accuracy. Then the author throws a monster in the mix! A monster that is leaving dead carcasses on the doorstep and wants something in return . . .
Knock And You Will See Me
“We buried dad in the winter. It wasn’t until Spring that we heard from him again.”
A woman’s elderly father passes away and soon after she begins to smell the stench of decay that is followed up with a note written by her dad demanding to know the reason she left him behind. Soon the notes take on an ominous tone. Is she going mad from grief or is it something far more sinister?
You’ll have to read it yourownself to find out and it’s worth the read. Like all of the stories found here it is unsettling and it may rob you of sleep.
The Rambling Man
This story is only four pages long but it is a disturbing little gem about sacrifice and betrayal and I loved it.
This is an excellent debut and I am looking forward to whatever the author puts out next.
Here are my thoughts now that I'm finished:
Bones is author Andrew Cull’s debut collection of short fiction and it is pretty fantastic if you like a story where the creep factor is high and quickly settles under your skin and festers.
Did You Forget About Me?
A man returns to his childhood home. He, his mother and sister fled from it 23 years earlier leaving behind an abusive man to simmer in his ugliness. The trip back home brings back all of his deeply buried memories to terrify and to haunt him because some things just don’t want to stay buried.
This is some immersive storytelling that is eerie and atmospheric and steeped in childhood fears, abuse and a terribly tragedy. There was no way I was putting this down once I started it because I HAD to know how it ended.
Hope and Walker
“We were both 10. But he was dead. And I sat drawing him”
This was my favorite story in the collection. It tells the story of a young girl who grows up in the family mortuary. Is it weird that she finds it calming to say goodbye to the dead by drawing a final picture of them in her notebook? I vote no, I loved her. Some might think it’s a little morbid but it's also very sweet until one day one of the dead begins talking back to her . . .
The characters are well written characters and there are some pitch dark images in this story that will linger around in my brain for a long while to come.
The Trade
“I was seven and that was the summer death stalked our home.”
All of these stories are haunting and grounded in realism but this one hit me a little harder than the others. It’s set in the sweltering heat as a young child watches his family disintegrate knowing there’s nothing he can do about it. The feelings of helplessness and the fear of an unknown future will knock you down with its accuracy. Then the author throws a monster in the mix! A monster that is leaving dead carcasses on the doorstep and wants something in return . . .
Knock And You Will See Me
“We buried dad in the winter. It wasn’t until Spring that we heard from him again.”
A woman’s elderly father passes away and soon after she begins to smell the stench of decay that is followed up with a note written by her dad demanding to know the reason she left him behind. Soon the notes take on an ominous tone. Is she going mad from grief or is it something far more sinister?
You’ll have to read it yourownself to find out and it’s worth the read. Like all of the stories found here it is unsettling and it may rob you of sleep.
The Rambling Man
This story is only four pages long but it is a disturbing little gem about sacrifice and betrayal and I loved it.
This is an excellent debut and I am looking forward to whatever the author puts out next.