Book Review: MADELINE’S CANE

by | Oct 24, 2024 | Book Reviews, Reviews, The Horror Review News | 0 comments

Madeline’s Cane
Todd Zack
Unveiling Nightmares Press (August 18, 2024)
Reviewed by Nora B. Peevy

I met Todd Zack through the publishing house Unveiling Nightmares. At the time, I hadn’t read any of his work. He’s been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and published in a bunch of anthologies, and also had his first novella come out this year. I’m stunned I hadn’t found his work earlier. Todd Zack wrote this beautiful story about a twenty-five-year-old man who hits a seventeen-year-old girl one night on his way home. Wracked with guilt, he goes to visit her in the hospital to apologize and the relationship blooms from there. Yes, it has a Lolita flavor, but the love story is such a beautiful one, the reader tends to forget the age difference, unless it is mentioned.

His prose is tight and his imagery is striking. He does not waste a single word on the page. By the first few chapters of the book, I felt I had known these two characters all of my life and I cared deeply about both of them, which is the sign of a great writer. The ending is a shocker and almost made me cry. I don’t cry easily anymore at the end of books, so kudos to Todd Zack. If this is his debut novel, I can’t wait to see where his career is going.

About Nora B. Peevy

Nora B. Peevy is a cat trapped in a human’s body. Please send help or tuna. She toils away for JournalStone and Trepidatio Publishing as a submissions reader, is a co-editor for Alien Sun Press, the newest reviewer for Hellnotes, and has been published by Eighth Tower Press, Weird Fiction Quarterly, and other places. Usually, you can find her on Facebook asking for help escaping from her human body or to get tuna. Tuna is nice. Cats like tuna.

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