Friday, January 11, 2019

OLD GHOSTS by Nik Korpon

I feel like you can always depend on Nik Korpon for a solid tale of modern noir with dark and evocative language, and Old Ghosts doesn't disappoint. Not totally. This early novella follows Cole, a man trying to make ends meet with his wife Amy, while trying to make a baby with her as well. But things get complicated when old friends come back into his life and bring the old ghosts with them.

I liked the book fine superficially and the writing made it compulsively readable, but I wish that more time was spent on detailing the complicated past relationship that Cole had with Delilah and Chance. It seems like something was compelling him to work with them again even though he knew it would lead to tragedy, but I never fully understood what that something was, so I couldn't get fully invested in his decisions. He seems like he hates them and wants to stab them both in the face all the time, so why does he feel like he has to help them? I'm sure it's something along the lines of feeling some sort of familial loyalty that is hard to break, which I understand on a surface level, but not on an emotional one. We really need to get a sense of their past relationship more. An example of where this is done well in the novella format are in several of Tom Piccirilli's novellas, which deal with similar themes. This one was alright but for a stunning look at what Korpon can do, read By The Nails of the Warpriest.

Also, the editing in this edition left much to be desired too as there were many typos that were pretty dam distracting.

GRADE: B-

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