Book Review
Title: Dead Air
Author: Nino Cipri
Genre: Horror
Rating: ****
Review: This is the group book for the Demonathon, and I didn’t know anything about it, but it seems to be a dramatized story with audio published in a horror/dark fantasy magazine which means I will probably enjoy it. It is also written by a non-binary/trans author which was amazing, and I was happy to support them with their work. Dead Air is a short story at only 10284 words or roughly 23 pages, so I flew through it. We are introduced to Nita, who is interviewing people she has been sexually intimate with for an art project of sorts and her current subject is Maddie. Their first interview is awkward, which is expected as they don’t really know each other so Maddie refuses to answer some of the more personal question but they are arranged to meet up another time. While Maddie thinks it is a date, which it is but Nita also wants to complete the interview. Maddie does answer some more questions regarding where she grew up but still refuses to speak about her parents for some reasons. When Nita comes onto the topic of Maddie’s scars, she isn’t satisfied with her answer of a car accident for what caused them and when she tries to dig deeper Maddie storms out.
So far, Dead Air was intriguing and there are some creepy elements and atmosphere thrown in which I am hoping will be expanded on. As Maddie and Nita spend more time together, we can see there is something in Maddie’s past that is making Nita worried as she can’t find anything about her life before 2009 and can’t even find her home time. These come to us in the form of individual recordings rather than interviews. However, it is through Maddie we learn that something did happen in her hometown, but she physically can’t speak about it without doubling over in a coughing fit. There also seems to be some supernatural force that is drawing her back to that place and her time is running out but since she can’t talk to Nita about these things, all she can do is give her hints that point her in the right general direction but the disembodied voice on the recordings is creepy and I suspect it is responsible for the garbled portions of the recording.
As time passes Maddie and Nita return to Maddie’s hometown but things get really weird. While I didn’t completely understand what happened it reminded me a little of The Thing, like there is an entity living inside of Maddie and the only way she can get rid of it is passing it onto someone else, but she dies in the process. The creepy atmosphere and the recorded style work perfectly especially for that ending. It was quick and creepy read that would be perfect around the Halloween season and was a remarkably interesting choice for the group read. However, we don’t get much context on what is happening and why, that is left to the reader to interpret which isn’t something I really like in books and short stories, I prefer a concrete ending, but it was very enjoyable overall.
Buy it here:
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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