Angie has suffered a devastating loss. Her husband has been killed in a car accident in the snow and she was the driver. This is basically where we start with Loss.
Glen Krisch wants to tell a story with this novella, but I think he also wants to explore loss – in this case Angie’s loss – in detail. I’m no stranger to Krisch’s writing and one thing that I’ve admired is his writing of characters. There is an honesty about the Angie’s portrayal in her time of suffering. Instead of the romantic, swooning with loss but courageous and plucky to the end, we see a decidedly messier and more plausible heroine. By the end of the novella, I’m not even certain if Angie stages any real recovery (something I’ll let other readers decide).
If there weren’t some small details towards the start of the novella that had already given the story an air of mystery, one could be forgiven for thinking that the widow’s suffering is the only purpose – and even then that wouldn’t be a bad thing given Krisch’s deft handling of the character; but in the second half of the book uncomfortable discoveries are made and the story plummets from a study to a thriller. I’m not about to reveal where the story actually goes, but I can say that although some might regard certain elements as tropes, I liked the “how” of the revelations and I also liked the back stories told to make sense of the characters and actions involved.
I think an author like Krisch understands darkness because he understands reality and is not afraid to write about it. He keeps us on a non-sugar diet that I believe is good for our health in the long run. Even when writing fiction, he abstains from wish fulfilment and gives us characters who sometimes find redemption and sometimes don’t, who sometimes find justice and sometimes don’t and who are never one dimensional. I keep him on my short list of indie authors because he not only does all of those things, but he does them well. Loss is a solid novella that completes its own story at just the right pace allowing us a ringside seat to someone’s suffering and loss while intriguing us with a mystery finally revealed.
Rating: 4.5/5
Price at the time of review: $1.99 US
Available: Amazon
Author site: http://glenkrisch.wordpress.com/
GoodReads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13383123-loss
