There Goes Pretty: C.C. Adams
Reviewed By David Watkins
CC Adams is turning into a prolific writer, with a solid body of work behind him. Novellas like Forfeit Tissue and But Worse Will Come marked him out as someone to keep an eye on. This, his latest, from Dark Minds Press, is another good one.
Denny and Olivia seem to have a perfect life. The book opens with their idyllic wedding but it’s not long before cracks start to appear. A cold breeze here, something glimpsed in the corner of an eye there.
I won’t spoil what’s going on here, but the first out and out scary scene in the book comes about a third of the way in when Olivia goes to bed. It’s a really effective slice of writing: Adams knows how to make your skin crawl and he does that in spades here. He can change a scene from normality and mundanity of life to open-mouthed terror in seconds.
Things unravel further from there, and this is a short, extremely tight novella. Adams has a knack for creating believable, flawed characters that are just like people you know. He also grounds his work in London, although the location is not that important to this particular story. It could be set in any city.
Essentially, if you’re looking for a new read and you’ve not read CC Adams yet, this would be a great introduction to his work. If you’ve read his work before, you know what you’re getting yourself into and have probably already pre-ordered.
Recommended.
There Goes Pretty
For Denny and Olivia, life is good. In a lavish wedding, the couple have taken another step forward, with a beautiful honeymoon and bright future to look forward to. Like many relationships, theirs is one that needs love, trust and commitment – qualities that are slowly and surely tested, with insidious forces at work. And, gradually, the couple and their relationship will start to suffer, as the cracks begin to show. …as does something else.
You can buy There Goes Pretty from Amazon UK & Amazon US
David Watkins
David Watkins lives in Devon in the UK with his wife, two sons, dog, cat and two turtles. He is unsure of his place in the pecking order: probably somewhere between the cat and the turtles.
He has currently released three novels, (The Original’s Return, The Original’s Retribution and The Devil’s Inn) and has a short story in the werewolf anthology Leaders of The Pack.
Website: www.david-watkins.com
Twitter: @joshfishkins
Amazon: David-Watkins
Leave a Reply