Review of "The Secret of Aniceto Cuevas," a short story by Jack Hughes and Peter Lewis



Summary:
In 1939, an English businessman is sent to San Juan, Puerto Rico to complete a deal for his firm. While there, he meets the fascinating and charismatic Aniceto Cuevas, a man who seems to truly have it all. He soon learns, however, that there is much more beneath the surface of Aniceto, and when the facade begins to unravel, a shocking discovery is made.

Review:
A gripping tale with a writing style that seems to ooze with the same charisma of Aniceto Cuevas himself.  Aniceto is rich, cultured, well-spoken and seems to know everything about everything.  You can't help but feel caught up with the protagonist as he strives to impress the type of man that everyone wants to be.

Without revealing too much, the story naturally leads to the reveal that not all is as it seems with Aniceto.  A tragedy in his past seems to have permanently twisted his mind to the point where he can't enjoy his present accomplishments.

While the story and its ending are good, I can't help but feel that the "shock" factor was built up to be more than it really was.  Had this been an Edgar Allen Poe plot, such a twist would have been considered cutting edge horror.  Since it is a post-Poe story, I would classify Aniceto as "messed up" rather than shocking (which implies a level of horror never before imagined).

Still, this story is certainly worth a read.  It has that classic horror vibe to it that short story lovers usually adore.

4/5 stars
Reviewed by Alain Gomez

Buy this story on Amazon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Hundred Eyes

There is a "Netflix Original" tv series called Marco Polo.  I'm a sucker for historical shows, especially if they feature martial arts.  Since this show had both I couldn't resist! As a short story writer, I really love this day and age we live in with TV series.  I love  how so many of them now tell sprawling tales with complex character development serial style.  This style of storytelling is something that short story readers have known about since forever but only now does it seem to really be hitting the mainstream media. Marco Polo took that serial style one step further by creating a spin off short film (about 30 minutes long) that told the backstory of one of the reoccurring side characters, One Hundred Eyes.  In the series, One Hundred Eyes is the kick butt martial arts master.  What makes him even more hard core is that he's blind.  Nothing is cooler than a blind kung fu master who can hear the enemy coming from a mile awhile.  The short spin off fil
Read more

Review of "Ferryman" by Nigel Edwards

Summary: "A mythology grew up around the Ferrymen, fostered by a mystique which they wrapped around themselves. Some thought them amoral servants of a ruling elite, sanctioned to undertake work beyond legitimate resolution; others with more fanciful imaginations – or who were more devout, depending on your point of view – believed them emissaries of Evil, with a capital E." Could the Ferrymen become real in your lifetime? Should they? Read this thoughtful and disturbing near-future science fiction story and decide for yourself. Review: This was a fantastic short story.  "Well-written" doesn't even begin to describe Ferryman ; it's engrossing.  The simple, clean style perfectly highlights our precise  protagonist.  If this future Edwards presents to us does in fact become a reality, the character he describes is exactly the type of person who would become a Ferryman: highly competent with the hint of a god complex. What's  especially clever abou
Read more

Interview with Author Hugh Howey

Welcome to Book Brouhaha! Why don't you start out by introducing yourself and telling us a little about "Wool." Thanks for having me, Alain! I suppose I'm just this normal guy who just wrote a little story called Wool. It's about a group of people who live underground. When their society turns on itself, it threatens all of mankind. In a way, it poses the conundrum of every revolution: How do you destroy an unjust social structure without the collateral damage being worse than the injustices were? I suppose the most interesting thing about me, personally, is that I lived on a sailboat while I was in college. This led to a career as a yacht captain, which sent me all over the Caribbean and the East Coast. I didn't start writing in earnest until my wife dragged me away from the sea and into the mountains. I've always loved the short form. I've been told that it isn't as marketable, even though science fiction has a long and glorious history of c
Read more