Incubus by Rick R. Reed

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I need to take a decision: or stopping reading any fiction by Rick R. Reed involving the El Train in Chicago or having my heart at peace that when the characters enter the subway anything of normal will happen. In this short story Oliver is coping with the loss of his partner, and husband of only few days, Ryan and he is not doing it well. Ryan was killed on the day they were coming back from their honeymoon, at night, just out of the subway.

In the months after the event, Oliver has replayed every moment of that ride on the El Train and the few steps they took before Ryan's killing. That is probably the strength of the story, the author plays with the reader's mind as he is playing with Oliver's: is it all real, or is it only an illusion? The events Oliver is replaying are really happened, or he is slowly descending into craziness. Oliver has even given an hint towards this second option, saying that craziness runs in his family even before all went to hell.

There is a big love story but this is not a romance. It's clear that Oliver and Ryan were perfect together, and probably if nothing happened to Ryan, Oliver would have never shown any mental issue. But the reader has only few chance to enjoy that love, few brief moments before the tragedy. They are not enough for a romantic reader. After that, it's all an horror tale, and even when the incubus comes back to haunt Oliver, it's not love, and Oliver is well aware of it.

So no, if you are a committed romance reader and what your are searching is a fairy tale love story, Incubus is not probably your choice. But if you consider that this is only a short story, and that often short stories lack in originality to be only a sex scene, maybe well written, but nothing more, than Incubus is surely something more than that, and it's worth a try.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Incubus.html

Amazon Kindle: Incubus

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