Marietta
Miles paints the pages of her new 2-for-1 novella, Route 12, with desperation,
despair, and a feeling of despondency that is so palpable it will leave you
choking. Both of these finely written stories will satisfy any reader, but the
fact that you get both to devour in one sitting should have lovers of noir
salivating.
The
lead story reads like an episode of America’s Most Wanted come to life. When
Percy loses his mother and is ushered from a home in which his mother is
deranged and he is sexually abused into a detention center, his life’s downward
spiral is quickened. Quickly learning the guards are sadistic and have little
concern over their charges, Percy is left at their mercy and he soon becomes as
sadistic and uncaring as the men left to govern his life.
The
story jumps ahead to when Percy leaves the center and begins his journey to
fulfill his desire to spread ruin to all those he comes into contact with. He
immediately commits a rape and a murder and sets his sights on Theresa White, a
young girl who is longing to feel accepted in a world that has been cold and
lonely since she lost her mother.
The
scariest thing about this story is the feeling that this is a 'ripped from the
headlines' tale of wretchedness that has happened countless times before and
will continue to happen until time ends.
This is a true masterpiece that serves as a cautionary tale of the
consequences of a ruined youth.
The
second tale, Blood and Sin, gives us a glimpse into a time in which unmarried
women who got pregnant had to go to extreme measures to ensure their entire
future was not ruined by their reckless actions. Naomi finds herself pregnant
and desperate for help. She turns to her church’s pastor and believes she has
found a savior. What she doesn’t realize is she is just a pawn in a much bigger
scheme that only cares about her unborn child and the money the baby will bring
on the open market.
Marietta
Miles writes some of the bleakest, grayest stories I have read in some time. These
stories have been marinated in hopelessness and served up to shine a mirror on
the atrocities man can commit against one another in the name of money and in
the name of self-gratification. There is so much to love about this addition to
the All Due Respect library and it fits into their catalog very nicely. Dig
deeply into these tales and you will find Miles has done more than just serve
up a noir story; she is making some statements about the world we live in and
how we are at the mercy of the animals that live along side of us, even if they
wear a mask that hides their evil intentions.
Highly
Recommended.
Reviewed
by Derrick Horodyski.
