Official Review: Their Twisted Worlds: A Collection Of St...

[JGannaban]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Their Twisted Worlds: A Collection Of Stories" by Adam Scopp.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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These are the stories contained within: The tale of a sun-scorched apocalypse and a boy trying to hold out against the demons despite his long ago lost sanity (“Cyprian”); the recollections of a past life by ashes in the wind (“Ashes”); a truly remorseless assassin’s creation of beauty in the most terrible of things (“Roses and Thorns”); the mad, corrupted love for a woman who keeps returning no matter how many times he fails to bring her back (“Oh, Jenny”); and the story of how a single lie ruined a young life (“Paper Heart”). Their Twisted Worlds: A Collection of Stories by Adam Scopp is an anthology of psychological thriller short stories that plunge into the darker side of humanity, an exploration of the twisted things that lurk beneath, that which most would rather not look at.

The thriller genre is grounded in the creation of tension and suspense, keeping the readers on the edges of their seats, anxious, anticipating what comes next. A thriller story toys with our moods and expectations, sending our minds and hearts racing as it hurtles at breakneck speed towards its resolution. Psychological thrillers tone that down and focus, instead, on the fragile minds of its characters, grappling with their anxieties, moralities and realities in ways that catch us off-guard to deliver the same thrill.

Their Twisted Worlds manages to create interesting situations and characters ripe for psychological examination and does little with them, never delving too deep. Three of its stories deal with allegedly insane protagonists, yet, in the cases of two of them, we are never told, except very superficially, what makes them insane.

“Cyprian” tells us early on that its titular character is insane, and posits the question of whether people should still be considered humans even when they had stripped off their humanity in the name of survival. That, in itself, is an amazing premise for a psychological thriller, but it stops right there. Instead, we are given the story of Axe and purpose in an essentially purposeless world. That too could have been a very interesting story had it gone a little deeper into Axe’s mentality, but we are only shown shallow, secondhand glimpses through emotionless Cyprian’s own broken thoughts. It leaves me wondering if, perhaps, the story would have been stronger from Axe’s perspective.

“Roses and Thorns” gives us Grace Legend, a masterful assassin who cannot feel any happiness, sadness or anger (except we do see her experiencing glee within the story). We are told that this makes her different, special, a thorn among the roses, and that is it. It never goes any deeper than that and focuses instead on just how “awesome” she is at her job.

The only one that clearly explores the psychology of insanity is “Oh, Jenny”, telling the story of tainted romance from the first person point-of-view of its leading psycho. Even then, it does nothing new. Its use of the classic unreliable narrator device is not very effective when the words that the main character uses to describe his own actions already betray what he is trying to hide, unless that was the point, in which case, it would have been a brilliant move.

The remaining two stories are not exactly psychological thrillers, but are fair stories. “Ashes” is very straightforward tale. “Paper Heart”, while not a psychological thriller, has potential for social relevance. My only complaint is that it, again, never digs any deeper, never examines more closely. If it had, it could have been a very powerful tale in another genre.

I rate this anthology at 2 out of 4 stars. If you are looking for a thrilling, heart-pounding read, this is not that book. The stories are lackluster and the narration can be overwrought and discordant with the mood, but it does bring up some interesting themes.

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Their Twisted Worlds: A Collection Of Stories
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[LivreAmour217]

Excellent review! It's such a shame about the lack of depth in these stories, as they all seem to have so much potential.