Strange Weather: Four Short Novels

I have a new favorite author. Oddly enough, he’s the son of my former favorite author. Joe Hill, son of Stephen King, has surpassed his father in the brilliant writer department. Make no mistake, Hill’s genre is also horror/thriller/suspense. He attacks his stories with fresh eyes and contemporary views, drawing on the present-day world to engage his readers. Strange Weather: Four Short Novels, his latest offering displays his skill as a shorter story author. These are not short stories, not because of their word count, but, because of their substance. It’s interesting that he chose four short weather-related stories; after all, there are four seasons. In the first story in this collection, Snapshot, Hill creates characters that evoke sympathy as well as terror. Told in the first person by thirteen-year-old Michael Figlione, Hill captures the tone and curiosity of a soon-to-be high schooler who is a little nerdy and something of a loner. It’s with great insight that Hill utilizes the theme of the isolated outsider to move Michael forward in the tale. When the boy is confronted by the sight of his barefoot former babysitter, elderly Shelly Beukes, standing at the end of his driveway he is less horrified by the sight of her shoeless feet than curious and concerned for her well-being. What ensues is creepy, from the Polaroid Man, to his Polaroid knock-off Solarid camera. What follows is every elderly person’s worst nightmare; a nightmare Michael is quick to understand. His…

Mostly excellent! Both Rain and Loaded I felt deserved a 5 rating, but Snapshot and Aloft not so much; so the average for the collection was a solid 4. In Aloft, though, I found Chapter 15 to be an excellent piece of writing; I just wish the surrounding chapters had been half as enjoyable. Even though I've read a good bit of Mr. Hill's other writing, this collection revealed something I had not noticed before. The voice of the narrative (not the narrator) changes dramatically to suit the locale and culture of the story. I will have to read more of his to see if he does this a lot. Maybe other authors do this as well, but it hasn't caught my attention before being impressed by it here.