“No one wanted black balloons,”
This was a short story by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King. I’ve read another story by Joe Hill in the past and while I wasn’t enthralled by him previously, this one was definitely my favourite so far.
The premise was interesting and the themes were thought provoking, contending with society and how it treats missing children. The narrative style is really haunting, and I was astounded by each twist and turn. The way that the murderer’s past victims were involved in Finney’s story was interesting too. That’s sometimes the trouble with an interesting or well written short story – you don’t want it to end.
Dark and bleak, this story definitely hits the mark. I always thought it deserved the full length novel treatment, or maybe even an adaptation until I found out that it was adapted into film so I’m definitely going to watch that at some point.
MY RATING: **** / *****
Every Book Is Beautiful 