A review by mikekaz
The Forsaken: Stories of Abandoned Places by Harvey Jacobs, D.L. Snell, Wally Runnels, J.W. Schnarr, Nick Cato, Michael Arruda, L.L. Soares, Norman Prentiss, Deborah Leblanc, Piers Anthony, Joe McKinney, Michael M. Hughes, James Whelan, Tobey Crockett, Peter Dudar, Colleen Wanglund, Rena Mason, Gene O'Neill, Michael C. Lea, Dennis Copelan, Mark Onspaugh, Lisa Morton
4.0
This collection of short stories focuses on abandoned places, like closed down factories or abandoned amusement parks in the middle of nowhere or old diners. Places that have a natural creepy factor since they were once alive and active locations but now are dead or dying, ignored. The ghosts that are hiding behind the flipped table or the noises that you can't figure out while standing in a pitch dark room. The potential seems massive. Unfortunately I don't think the collection lived up to it. By no means were the stories or the collection bad; I just wasn't scared or creeped out or given chills like I hoped that I would be. Most of the stories had good concepts. And only a few had flat characters that made bad decisions solely to move the story forward. It might have been me. Lately I've been craving stories with length and depth and characters that change. All of those are hard to provide in 20-30 pages. It meant instead that I had to find that elusive "something" to connect to the story. Anyway I've listed my favorites below and why I liked them. You should be able to find some that you connect to also.
"The Storybook Forest" by Norman Prentiss - The first of two abandoned amusement park stories. I could easily see the events happening. And the ending of not quite knowing if something or nothing happened was great.
"And Then There Were None" by Deborah LeBlanc - A woman helps senior citizens abandoned in a hospital during the middle of Hurricane Katrina. The twist comes with the introduction of the other group of people.
"The Privy" by Piers Anthony - A hilarious story about a young man who inherits from his uncle an outhouse in the middle of nowhere.
"The Pressboard Factory" by Peter N. Dudar - This story was one of the scarier ones from the perspective of what a person might do to himself. It also had characters that I identified with but also disliked. It was a weird dichotomy to accept while reading a story about someone who can't accept who he is. There were more levels to it than I expected.
"Ghost Town" by Joe McKinney - This story benefits from being the longest in the book. It centers on two detectives who must deal with the results of a third detective being drunk at the wrong time. The story involves guilt, responsibility, and examining yourself. A nice way to end the book.
"The Storybook Forest" by Norman Prentiss - The first of two abandoned amusement park stories. I could easily see the events happening. And the ending of not quite knowing if something or nothing happened was great.
"And Then There Were None" by Deborah LeBlanc - A woman helps senior citizens abandoned in a hospital during the middle of Hurricane Katrina. The twist comes with the introduction of the other group of people.
"The Privy" by Piers Anthony - A hilarious story about a young man who inherits from his uncle an outhouse in the middle of nowhere.
"The Pressboard Factory" by Peter N. Dudar - This story was one of the scarier ones from the perspective of what a person might do to himself. It also had characters that I identified with but also disliked. It was a weird dichotomy to accept while reading a story about someone who can't accept who he is. There were more levels to it than I expected.
"Ghost Town" by Joe McKinney - This story benefits from being the longest in the book. It centers on two detectives who must deal with the results of a third detective being drunk at the wrong time. The story involves guilt, responsibility, and examining yourself. A nice way to end the book.