A review by davemusson85
FEMINA: A Collection Of Dark Fiction by Caitlin Marceau

dark funny tense medium-paced

3.5

This shuffle of short stories, poems, and the previously released novella 23 McCormick Road underlines why the buzz around Caitlin Marceau is getting louder by the month; she’s the real deal.

The pieces gathered here give you a sense of exactly what skills the author has at her disposal, and there are plenty of them. Potential too - heck, there’s a lot of potential here.

When this collection hits, it absolutely slams. The body horror in both Splinter and the deliciously twisted climax of my personal standout from the whole thing Gastric (like a messed up distant cousin of Stephen King’s Thinner) is superbly done - gorey and shocking, but also serving the stories brilliantly.

These tales aren’t without their share of black comedy too; Llanwey Point and The Only Thing to Fear both made me chuckle, while the final line of Blood and Coffee made me do a real-life laugh out loud, as did the wonderful one-page micro piece In Utero, which my sick brain found hilarious and highly relatable.

Not everything hit for me, but collections rarely do. And anyway, let’s not dwell on that; this is solid throughout with some flashes of brilliance and I’m excited to read more from this talented writer.