By Josh Black
While it’s nowhere near as scary as most of the horror novels reviewed on this site, this updated version of Justin Berg’s 2013 novel Sand Castles and Other Stories still has the potential to scare you. Imagine a Shirley Jackson or Joyce Carol Oates story, and you’ll be on the right track. I’ll leave some of it as a surprise and won’t go into every story in detail, but this should give you an idea of what to expect.
In Sand Castles, a relaxing day at the beach takes a sinister turn when a neglectful parent leaves her child alone and a parent-to-be decides to take matters into his own hands. It’s a chilling summer beach story.
Twin Mother is a bittersweet story of a heartbroken woman who runs a support group for mothers of twins. She has two daughters of her own, and as the story progresses her real reasons for starting the group (which are certainly not altruistic) are revealed.
In the bizarre “When the Ship Goes Down,” what should have been a fun and relaxing singles cruise turns into chaos, but nearly everyone seems to turn the other cheek and take it in stride in the worst possible way.
In a delightfully surreal style, The Eye of Poseidon tells the life of a woman who sees humans as various sea creatures. The strange events that led to her having the “Eye of Poseidon” and its effects form the framework for this character study of this woman, as she gradually comes to accept all aspects of herself.
The Cat in the Tree is a short story about a young woman who wants nothing more than to be a tree. Despite its seeming simplicity, it is a touching little tale that speaks both to the twisted yet powerful roots of a family and to an unusual premise.
Another short story, “The Apple,” is brief but powerful. It is a beautifully drawn sketch of a moment in time that casts a shadow on someone’s seemingly less-than-idyllic old age.
Telling some of the defining moments in the lives of the residents of an apartment building from the perspective of one resident (and a few flashbacks), “Under the Third Floor Window” exemplifies Borg’s tendency to explore specific aspects of everyday tragedy and give them the attention they don’t often receive.
Train Crash is about a group of people who go their separate ways, whose paths often cross, but who are all stuck in a cycle of preconceived notions and unable to begin to communicate without reservation.
That might not sound like the most gripping subject matter, but all of the stories here (including those not mentioned here, which are just as wonderful) are deceptively simple. Borg has a keen eye for people’s motivations, especially when their clockwork is clearly rusty and the impulses it drives are less than ideal. These stories take a microscopic look at ordinary things and, in turn, shape them into something incredible. The darkness behind each story emerges in a different form, but it never fades or feels anything less than completely natural, even in the stories that stray far from realism. As for genre labels, psychological suspense is as good as anything else, but horror fans who are open-minded about what constitutes horror will find “Sandcastles” to be an engrossing collection of dark stories. Recommended.
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score:4/5
