Does anyone know the word cliche in Gaelic? On the surface this sentence hooks, but when we stop and think about it, how can it? It is too broad, too general and could mean quite literally anything. It is cliche because it brings to mind every dark old house ever used by Hollywood from the 1930's on. That motif has been done to death and for good reason as it always seems to appeal to the next generation unaware the wheel has already been reinvented.
Ultimately, what we have here is a setting of sorts, and no conflict, as secrets aren't in themselves conflicts.
The rest of the first paragraph:
Dark secrets, old secrets.
And the next paragraph:
Bad secrets.
I hear my big brother's voice whispering underneath a bed sheet as he tries to figure out how best to scare me. I'm giggling.
First thing said:
"What you waitin' for?"
This author believes in the power of incomplete and incoherent sentence structure, which is really a hackneyed attempt at soliciting emotion via punctuation. Here are a few in no particular order:
Felt it, sensed it.
A solid shadow, deeper than black.
And that was where Cam came in.
Walked on.
Tried to get hold of himself.
And it was old.
Then the fence.
A horror film monster.
Stopped.
And beyond all that was the house itself.
Or nowhere.
Maybe this is about getting revenge on a mean grade one teacher.
Last line of the book:
The tightrope holding.
Verdict: Fail (yawn)
Sincerely,
Theodore Moracht
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