Lies and Ugliness, by Brian Hodge **7/8

This was a worthy collection of horror stories that maintained a consistent quality throughout; no real masterpieces, but not many duds either. The only two stories I wasn't particularly fond of were Hodge's take on the Hellboy comic book character and another story that was a bizarre comedy in play format. But these were the only such dips in a nearly 400 pages, with something like 20 stories. Most of his tales have small goals with a minimal number of characters, and this works to his advantage, as Hodge is able to really connect with the emotion of these characters, even when they're engaged in strange or unsettling activity. In fact, I would point to the emotion in these stories more than anything, as Hodge adeptly weaves his characters through life experiences. I wasn't simply attracted to the odd and unusual places Hodge took me - I was much more interested in the emotional reaction of his characters to those situations and places, and I felt I learned a little bit about myself along the way. Some of the locations and images I remember now include a strange and alluring statue, a fascinating relationship between an old man and a young boy, a mis-matched couple falling apart while touring England, and a few odd sexual pieces that featured some S&M. In fact, the first couple of stories both contained elements of severe S&M, and I wondered if I had somehow picked up a collection of erotic horror. That turned out not to be the case, which worked out well, though I wonder why the stories with erotic content had to be placed back to back at the beginning of the book.

My only real complaint about the book, though, is that it's a bit too much of the same kind of thing. I would have been happier with just the best ten stories, and in fact I started reading other books in the middle of reading this, partially just to break up what had started to become a series of quite similar experiences. But overall, this was a good book, and I'll be curious to read at some point what Hodge does with longer works, as I think he could be successful in a larger format.
(Spring-Summer 2006)

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