Want to know how to do sci-fi/horror right? Something that takes you back to great cinematic offerings from the hey day of 1980s? Look no further than Tim Curran’s Blackout. Claustrophobic, eerie, familiar surroundings and people, and like a master magician, Curran only shows you what he wants you to see when he wants you to see it.
Blackout is told from the point of view of Jon. Jon lives in your average middle-American neighborhood in your average middle-American town with his average middle-American neighbors. They all feel like people you know in a place you’re familair with. After a neighborhood barbecue with a few too many beers, Jon crawls in bed with his wife Kathy only to be woke up later by weird strobe lights. He’s fighting off a hangover and his wife is missing with the front door wide open. And here we discover that all is not right in ordinary, average middle-America. The power goes out all over and it is pitch black as far as the eye can see, which is only a few feet in front of your face. Strange black hose-looking cables descend and hang from the sky with no explanation. With all of the neighbors trying to figure out what is going on, Jon and their world is turned upside down.
Such a great, great story. Curran’s tale evokes memories of Twilight Zone with Invasion of the Body Snatchers in a delicously retro story that is, at the same time, all original and unique. How he isn’t more of a mainstream name commanding his place on the NY Times Best Seller list, while dreck like Nicholas Sparks and Sandra Brown are, is beyond me. Almost a third of the way into 2015 and Blackout is now my current favorite read of this year.
5 out of 5 stars
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Into The Macabre 