[BOOK REVIEW] BLURRED BY PETER FUGAZZOTTO

a good story with a large degree of character development and complex themes. Yes the main characters are arse holes, some stories are like that, there is a satisfaction from watching them learn from their experiences.

A novella of great human and supernatural monstrosities.


Blurred follows a photographer called Phil whose work once won a Pulitzer prize. Now Phil is reduced to taking cheap paparazzi shots to pay the bills whilst unable to face his own demons. Whilst driving to some red carpet event in California, Phil witnesses the serious car wreck of a minor celebrity. Instead of pulling the celebrity from the about to explode wreck, Phil agonizes about getting a quick photo to sell. In the end he takes the photo then the car explodes, killing the celebrity. From this moment on, Phil is haunted by blurred dots and disturbing images. Worst of all whatever photo he takes is unusable, a true tragedy for a man whose mission in life is to create the next big iconic shot. After this tragedy, Phil joins a prize winning writer Xavier on his quest to meet and interview the mysterious El Dorado in a war torn imploding country. The haunting visions only get worse for Phil in there journey through poverty, war and visions, all in per suite of the perfect story and the perfect photograph to go with it.


A number of themes seem to be present within Blurred’s narrative. Such themes include paralysis by fear, watching or documenting instead of helping people in crisis and that hell, monsters, evil and past mistakes are inescapable. On a more positive note, towards the end of the narrative there is also the theme of making better choices in the present and future. Just remember that just because you can’t see the evil, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.


Now one of the big things about Blurred is just how unlikeable both Phil and Xavier are. It’s not just Phil’s inaction at the start of the story, as you find out more about him you like him even less. On their trip through the war zone, both men come across as annoyingly pathetic, whining and even spoilt at times.


I also didn’t like the beginning much, I just found Phil and his self pity and self absorption annoying. But the story got better once Phil and Xavier left California. I also liked the descriptions, especially the descriptions of the decay Phil sees as he fails to shake the visions that haunt him.


This is a good story with a large degree of character development and complex themes. Yes the main characters are arse holes, some stories are like that, there is a satisfaction from watching them learn from their experiences.

Review by Astrid Addams 

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Blurred
by Peter Fugazzotto  

Horror is in the eye of the beholder.

Beneath the veneer of our world, darkness roils, kept at bay by a thin veil. Murderers, evil, and tentacled beings loom in the shadows. Every once in a while that veil tears…

Phil Waterston, former Pulitzer Prize winner, has not taken a great photo in years. Unless you count shots of drunk celebrities and car crashes. So when he’s asked to shoot an elusive Latin American drug lord, he jumps at the chance to capture the first ever photo of El Diablo.

But capturing that photo will come with a price. And his quest will become a living nightmare as his crippling guilt about his dead wife and visions of a tentacled monster erode his sanity.

Will Phil shoot the elusive drug lord, or will his demons consume him? Buy Blurred today and be dragged into a terrifying vortex of cosmic horror.

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