A Dead Space: A Distorted View of Hollywood
Dead Space by Dennis Etchison
I am in between books right now, and I am indecisive about to read next. But I have a whole bunch of anthologies to choose from. So why not read some short stories? Because of this I picked up the anthology collection called The Cutting room, and read a story called Dead Space by Dennis Etchison. Here is my review of the story.
The story follows a producer name Witner and he has made it. Since watching the silver screen for the first time as a child, he dreamed of working in Hollywood. He worked his way up. Now he was in Beverly Hills, is a producer, and will be set for life as soon as he signs a deal with the infamous actor Joe Files. He’s planned to meet him at a private club. When entering, he’s in awe. He had made it and is so proud of himself. But then Giles doesn’t show. So he waits, and then he waits. The longer he waits, the stranger things become. Then it becomes clear things are not right.
The good? I like the way this world is painted. It is a dream come true for this man and that sense of fascination is portrayed well through his eyes.
The bad? Toward the end, it’s hard to follow. The author seems to dance around what is happening versus stating it clearly. I finally understood it by the very end, but I didn’t know what was going on for a chunk of the story. That is a real shame and that shouldn’t be happening in stories.
Overall, this is interesting but not great. It’s not a must read, but if you stumble upon it, it is worth the read. It’s mediocre.
2 smoothies out of four.
Overall Rating: A Distorted View of Hollywood.
