 Admittedly, I’m probably not the target audience for these stories, and many were indeed published by mainstream titles aimed at the more mature ladies of decades past. For those wanting some whimsical tales with a hint of spookiness, this collection will deliver. On my twice-yearly visit to the dentist, I am amazed at the depth of entertainment on offer for waiting patients. There’s a large screen showing news, film trailers and weather reports, all interspersed with adverts for cosmetic dental procedures, a play area, and a selection of glossy magazines. The latter include Vogue, Cosmo and similar upmarket fashion titles, sport magazines ranging from golf to running with everything in between, aspirational home design mags, travel supplements and a vast array of titles aimed at the more mature market. When I was a youth, the waiting room offering consisted of little more than a few dog-eared copies of Women’s Weekly or Women’s Realm, one copy of National Geographic with any photos of naked indigenous people torn out (whether by other patients or the dentists themselves I was never sure), and a copy of Readers’ Digest which was well past its cover date. In a time when dentists and similar professionals were excused from any attempt at punctuality, the reason I remember these titles was because boredom had to be countered, and the magazines included fiction of a certain type. It wasn’t challenging or confrontational. It had a safe mass appeal, but more importantly, it had a feel of an earlier time designed to comfort the sensibilities of its readers. (well, those who were outside of dentists’ waiting rooms). Talking with Strangers is a collection of short stories by Tina Rath. The tales are ‘of a time’. Some might call them old fashioned, others will point to their ‘folksy’ credentials, but I was left with the feeling I was reading stories woven with a distinct flavour of those offered up for mainstream consumption during my rather distant youth, both in terms of settings and delivery. Some are historical, but even the modern ones have a sense of nostalgia from a time passed. The stories tend to cover a variety of subjects ranging from vampires and werewolves, through hauntings, dalliances with death and madness, to whimsical flights of fancy. Some might describe them as horror, but they sit outside of what many horror fans would expect from the genre. They’re more like spooky tales told by an elderly family member around a fire on a winter night than journeys into hell. Rath’s work doesn’t creep up on you and pounce in an attack of shock and awe, nor do the words drip with gore or bile. There are no assaults on your sensibilities. Instead, the stories build an image before slipping towards a feeling that something is not as it should be. For me, the book isn’t horror, but instead dips a toe into the mystical and mythological. Think more a shadow in the dark rather than an impaled virgin being torn apart by demented crab-men. First off, it must be said Tina Rath can write. Her prose is simple and easy to read, yet it is rich with imagery and references which lift the stories in a promising way. As such, Talking to Strangers should be a welcome break from the world of jump-scares and splatter. Rath’s storytelling is somewhat formulaic. There tends to be a fairly lengthy build-up which draws the reader away from the truth before a subtle twist turns them to face the conclusion. This can – and does - work well ... at times. Examples I enjoyed included Barefoot Without Shoon, Ilona, The Man Who Loved his Luscious Ladies, Christmas with the Family, the Co-Walker, Banks of the Roses, and my personal favourite, It’s White and it Follows me. While these stories worked for me, many of the others (the collection includes 29 tales) fell flat, not because they weren’t well written, but because the storytelling lacked something critical. In a few cases, the ending was too predictable, while in others the build-up wasn’t rewarded by the pay-off. There was even an example of the ‘was it all a dream?’ ending which will nearly made me give up. For me, I would have much rather had fewer stories to achieve a concise but vastly more entertaining read. I found the good stories started to drown in those which weren’t to my taste. The issue many will face with Rath’s style is if you read one story on its own, it works, but if you read the collection, one after another, you find yourself anticipating the twist at the end, guessing ahead, and too often you know what it’ll be before you get there. That said, when they work, they work. The stories which shine are the ones with a slow burn, a build-up which is relevant and leads to the conclusion, although you don’t always see it coming. However, these are too often contrasted with stories such as a tale of a normal, slightly dowdy suburban housewife preparing for her night out while ensuring the casserole is served for the family. After a lengthy scene-setting, she pops to the shed and rides off on a broomstick. Admittedly, I’m probably not the target audience for these stories, and many were indeed published by mainstream titles aimed at the more mature ladies of decades past. For those wanting some whimsical tales with a hint of spookiness, this collection will deliver. By Peter Caffrey TALKING TO STRANGERS AND OTHER WARNINGS BY TINA RATH Tina Rath’s twenty-plus tales exhibit an innate sense of structure that allows for a satisfying conclusion – and often a sting in the tail. These are unashamedly entertaining stories, dark fantasy with a touch of humour, that display a deftness of touch inviting us to enjoy the words on the page. They don’t outstay their welcome or labour their points because they don’t need to – Tina Rath knows how a story works. And they work well. Very well indeed.  Peter Caffrey is a writer of tales with an absurdist bent. A born and bred Londoner, he currently lives in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the North Sea and fog for company. Introduced to horror as a small child by a Mother who was too scared to watch films on her own, he has a fondness for demonic possession, crucifixion and impalements. His novels, The Devil’s Hairball and Whores Versus Sex Robots are available from Amazon. He drinks too much, exercise too little and is unlikely to change. http://petercaffrey.com   THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FICTION REVIEW WEBSITESComments are closed.
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