 Recently republished by The Sinister Horror Company, The Unheimlich Manoeuvre is Fahey’s debut short story collection. Described by the author as tales of the ‘uncanny domestic’, there’s thematic residences throughout the book; motherhood is a theme that revisits more than once, alienation, dislocation, depression, and a sense of the world being askew in some definite yet intangible way. Across the fourteen tales in the collection, Fahey rheuminates powerfully on psychological trauma, the peculiar isolation of suburbia, the spaces between people, friends and lovers. It’s heavy stuff, and Fahey is fearless in her exploration of the territory; extraordinarily sure footed, the stories each find their own voice and rhythm, their own path through. Though this is a collection with recurring themes, there’s also a considerable variety across the piece, in both style and narrative type. Opener Coming Back has an ethereal, slightly disconnected quality, whereas A Lovely Place To Live has a more vivid, conversational style. That last offers a very different expression of some of the same themes in Ghost Estate, Phase II, regarding the peculiarities of suburbia; but both the narratives and prose are starkly different, each allowing the voice to form a crucial part of the story. Similarly, Two Faced and Something Nasty In The Woodshed encompass back-to-back tales highlighting the essential unknowability of the other, but while the former is a study of two people, of perspective and communication, the latter is an altogether more visceral affair that reveals, onion like, the emotional horror at the core of the physical one. Fahey also has considerable flair as a deliverer of twist endings. Whilst not every tale ends on a revelation, most do, and often one that is startling, occasionally revelatory. I Look Like You, I Speak Like You… was particularly impressive in this regard, with a final paragraph that was as narratively satisfying as it was emotionally shocking, and The Woman Next Door and A Lovely Place To Live landed similar punches in their final paragraphs. Fahey also isn’t afraid to go there. Whilst there’s nothing in the collection you could describe as gratuitous, much less prurient, there are occasional depictions of violence that are shocking; perhaps especially so given the domestic setting of most of the tales. This is a brilliantly written collection, with a compulsively readable prose style that also has a commendable eye for the telling detail that evokes a bigger picture - literary without falling into the pitfalls of being over verbose, or pretentious, in other words - but it is also not afraid to shock, if the story calls for it. Overall, The Unheimlich Manoeuvre is an absurdly accomplished debut collection, brimming with atmosphere, character, and an impressive balance of variety within key thematic concerns. Charming, moving, and disturbing, this is a superb collection - if any of the above sounds appealing to you, I can recommend it unreservedly. KP 10/2/19 THE UNHEIMLICH MANOEUVRE BY TRACY FAHEY The Unheimlich Manoeuvre explores the psychological horror that occurs when home is subverted as a place of safety, when it becomes surreal, changes and even disappears… In these stories, a coma patient wakes to find herself replaced by a doppelgänger, a ghost state reflects doubles of both houses and inhabitants, a suburban enclave takes control of its trespassers, and a beaten woman exacts revenge. Just as the Heimlich Manoeuvre restores order, health and well-being, The Unheimlich Manoeuvre does quite the opposite. This new edition contains revised versions of the original stories and a brand new tale, Something Nasty In The Woodpile. "A modern-day gothic whose Kafkaesque otherworldly stories are beautifully disturbing." - Lol Tolhurst    Comments are closed.
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