Wounds to Wishes: Tales of Mystery and Melancholy (Dark Tide Mysteries and Thrillers Book 1) anthology by Chad Lutzke, Robert Ford, and John Boden (Crystal Lake Publishing, August 26, 2022 release date) Kindle edition ASIN # B0B9165QFR
Crystal Lake Publishing debuts Dark Tide, their new series of themed anthologies of novellas, with a stellar collection of stories sharing the theme of the loss of a beloved or family member. Each writer handles the theme differently, as reflected by their characters, and manages to produce a compelling read. These stories are very evocative, and I experienced heartbreak, apprehension, and fear while reading them.
HEARTBREAK: Book One opens with the strongest story of the three, "The Strangest Twist Upon Her Lips" by Chad Lutzke. Lutzke is a powerful writer who has the ability to convey his character's point of view so clearly, which often results in readers experiencing the same emotions as the characters. This one is sorrowful and depressing, and it broke my heart.
After successfully kicking a drug habit and then assisting his live-in lover to do the same, a man returns home one day to discover her dead body (an unexpected suicide). She leaves a note that he's afraid to read. He puts it off, and instead works at crossing off items from a bucket list that they compiled together. Those items are not what you might typically find on a bucket list, which leads the main character on a journey of discovery. Will he find a way to carry on? Is there a kernel of hope in this tale? You need to read this, even though it could make you cry. FIVE STARS.
APPREHENSION: Is there anything more sorrowful and devastating than a mother losing her young child? The woman in Robert Ford's "My Only Sunshine" does a better job of coping with grief than the first story's protagonist. This death is even crueler, as her daughter was brutally murdered.
Not satisfied with police efforts to solve the case, she works to find the killer and utilizes a supernatural method to communicate with her daughter and obtain the information that will lead to the answers. The murderer became apparent to me before the story ended, but that did not interfere with my involvement in the story. This is particularly well-told and very suspenseful. Every scene builds on the feeling of apprehension for the grieving mother. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
FEAR: The main character in "Suet" by John Boden loses his beloved grandfather, and this leads to his questioning his middle-aged existence, and his place in the grand scheme of things. His disenchantment leads to his quitting his job as an orderly at a nursing home. When he receives an odd letter (in lieu of an actual will) from his deceased grandfather, he visits his Pap's farmhouse and finds a notebook with some disturbing family history and a weird legend about the surrounding valley. This story builds slowly before arriving at some extremely disturbing scenes and a very nasty twist of an ending. FOUR STARS.
In addition to the shared theme there is a secondary connection between these stories. The "easter egg" in the Lutzke and Ford stories is easier to find, as it relates to a similar scene in each story but presented from a different point of view. The connection in Boden's story is more challenging to spot.
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