Review | Book review: Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman - that sinking feeling
The master of the first-person macabre seems to be channelling Shirley Jackson one minute, Arthur Conan Doyle the next and Edgar Allan Poe overall in Trigger Warning.
by Neil Gaiman
William Morrow
Neil Gaiman's writing is so present, so engaging, that it can send spasms of bone-chilling terror through your body - and your reaction will still be, "Please sir, I want some more."
Most of his "short fictions and disturbances" in have previously been published; several are award winners. Pop culture references are fitting for a mostly sinister gathering that includes Sherlock Holmes ( ), Dr Who ( ) and .
The master of the first-person macabre seems to be channelling Shirley Jackson one minute, Arthur Conan Doyle the next and Edgar Allan Poe overall. A piece that puts me in thematic mind of Poe, ("last" being the operative word) was written with dark intent for a publication of the World Horror Convention. I know this because Gaiman told me so, or so it seemed, in his chatty introduction that offers his personal spin on each of the "disturbances" that follow.
He writes that one of the shorter pieces, , could be seen as a companion piece to his most recent novel, , but it seems to owe more to the David Wallace novel .
Gaiman's characters are often ordinary people who encounter extraordinary - or lethal - situations and his stories take ominous turns. If anyone is seemingly innocent - a child asking to be told a bedtime story, for instance - that should trigger a warning. is told from one point of view, a young woman being interrogated by police in light of an event. Best not to give spoilers here. Gaiman loses his voice in hers. They become one. It's an exercise and a feat all at once.
is the longest and most gripping piece: it won the 2010 Shirley Jackson and the 2012 Locus Poll awards as best novelette and was released as a book illustrated by Eddie Campbell and a CD, with Gaiman reading and music by the FourPlay String Quartet at the Sydney Opera House.
It builds from an unrelentingly cold, dreary place to a shattering "aha" moment that exemplifies the theatricality of Gaiman's writing. He is nothing if not a presence, in public life and in his writing, which owns a unique corner of the bestsellers' shelf. The new offering in this collection, , revisits the world of , a fan-favourite novel that is being adapted for cable TV.
The author signs the introduction to with his name, followed by "In a cabin in the dark woods" - "dark" being one clue to the contents, "Neil Gaiman" being the other.
