A review by paulmoore
Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke
fast-paced
4.0
Another excellent novella by Kealan Patrick Burke who is one of the most prolific horror authors out there today.
Sour Candy is a truly creepy tale about Phil Pendleton's life that is instantly changed by a chance meeting with a small, Amish-looking child and his mother. After he witnesses a strange scene in a grocery store while out buying food for himself and his girlfriend, a car accident sees the mother crash into the back of Phil's car. This leads to his life being taken over by the strange child as everyone but Phil seems to think, and know, that he is the father of the boy.
For such a short story (clocking in around 75 pages) it's full to the brim of paranoia. It made me feel constantly uneasy as Phil knows he is not this boy's father but everyone around him seems to disagree. All his social media posts have the boy with him and even the pictures in his house are of him and his son. What KPB does best is make you feel this shift in reality and have you thinking what would you do? You also can't help but want to get to the bottom of things as to what the hell is going on!
Sour Candy achieved something I thought would never happen as it made me enjoy a cosmic horror story which I normally find to be a load of nonsense. This is without doubt cosmic horror but I found it to be subtle and with enough questions left unanswered for it to still be otherworldly with a sense of greater beings pulling the strings.
I'm yet to read a KPB story I haven't enjoyed and this one is no exception. If you're looking for a place to start then this is a great novella to pick up.
Sour Candy is a truly creepy tale about Phil Pendleton's life that is instantly changed by a chance meeting with a small, Amish-looking child and his mother. After he witnesses a strange scene in a grocery store while out buying food for himself and his girlfriend, a car accident sees the mother crash into the back of Phil's car. This leads to his life being taken over by the strange child as everyone but Phil seems to think, and know, that he is the father of the boy.
For such a short story (clocking in around 75 pages) it's full to the brim of paranoia. It made me feel constantly uneasy as Phil knows he is not this boy's father but everyone around him seems to disagree. All his social media posts have the boy with him and even the pictures in his house are of him and his son. What KPB does best is make you feel this shift in reality and have you thinking what would you do? You also can't help but want to get to the bottom of things as to what the hell is going on!
Sour Candy achieved something I thought would never happen as it made me enjoy a cosmic horror story which I normally find to be a load of nonsense. This is without doubt cosmic horror but I found it to be subtle and with enough questions left unanswered for it to still be otherworldly with a sense of greater beings pulling the strings.
I'm yet to read a KPB story I haven't enjoyed and this one is no exception. If you're looking for a place to start then this is a great novella to pick up.