What would Hallow's Eve be without a chilling read? Not everyone has time for one of Stephen King's 1200 page titans. John B. Rosenman's speculative short stories are literary, thought-provoking and satisfying. This Halloween consider his psychological horror story Daniel, My Son.
Synopsis
Suppose you went out trick-or-treating with your seven-year-old son on Halloween and something terrible happened? He ran up a walk to a house and just disappeared, and you could never find him. Suppose a year later on Halloween your grief-stricken wife demands that you take the plastic, candy-filled pumpkin container which is all you could find of your only child and retrace the route you went with Danny? She tells you that unless you find him and bring him back to her, you should never return.
What would you do?
And what—if anything—will you find when you go out into the night on this mad, hopeless quest and visit the same sympathetic neighbors as the year before?
My thoughts
Daniel, My Son is an exploitation piece in some way. It exploits a very common parental fear, that of losing your child under mysterious circumstances. It is horrifying enough to lose your child to an illness or an accident, but when your child goes missing, there is no body, no autopsy report, no closure. In John B. Rosenman's story, a bereaved father delves into grief and self-loathing after his only son Daniel goes missing on Halloween. Is there any way for this family to be reunited? What deal must the father make with the dark forces to bring back his son? This is a potent story to be enjoyed on Halloween - or any other day.
Thanks so much for the fine review, Marina!
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