Strange Weather

Strange Weather - Joe Hill

'Strange Weather' is a collection of four short novels. Joe Hill shows off his diverse style in writing and continues to show improvement. I loved 'Locke & Key', but hadn't been impressed by his first novel. This makes me want to check out some of the books I skipped in the last few years.

"Snapshot": 4 Stars. A man thinks back to one summer in the late 80s where he found his family's old housekeeper lost and confused by their driveway. This was a strong story, about care-giving and love and had a great premise. It unfortunately went on a little too long after the 'flash'. It could have ended five or six chapters before it did and made a better tale.

"Loaded": 5 Stars. Seemingly disconnected narratives involving a young black girl and her cousin, a shop girl having an affair, and a security guard being served divorce papers come together in a chilling thriller about gun violence. It was hard to read, but I couldn't put it down.

"Aloft": 2 Stars. A skydiving trip goes bizarre, allowing a man to reflect on his relationship verging on obsession with a friend of his. The narrative meanders, the gimmick was too bizarre, and the narrator was too full of self-pity for me to enjoy it.

"Rain": 3 Stars. I like a good apocalypse scenario, and this one throws in a mystery with some political commentary thrown in. The resolution came a little quickly and there were some exaggerations I found hard to believe. This could have been a much longer disaster story, but I'll take it as it is.

I'm not usually a fan of story/novella collections unless they have a clear connection to each other, but these were strong enough to stand on their own and well worth the time.