Title: The Last ConversationAuthor: Paul Tremblay
Series: Forward Collection #5
First Published: September 17, 2019
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Pages: 67
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Short Stories
Format: Ebook
Source: Prime Reading
Rating:
Synopsis:
What’s more frightening: Not knowing who you are? Or finding out? A Bram Stoker Award–winning author explores the answer in a chilling story about identity and human consciousness.
Imagine you’ve woken up in an unfamiliar room with no memory of who you are, how you got there, or where you were before. All you have is the disconnected voice of an attentive caretaker. Dr. Kuhn is there to help you—physically, emotionally, and psychologically. She’ll help you remember everything. She’ll make sure you reclaim your lost identity. Now answer one question: Are you sure you want to?
Review
I really can’t stand second-person narration, but in this story, it suited the story really well and I enjoyed that aspect of it. I am also quite tired of amnesia plots, though it is used to great effect with information being withheld to great effect. Tension is kept tight even with the slow pace, there is an overwhelming feeling of being trapped was expertly written.
I wanted to like this story more, especially being the one that is closest to the horror genre in the entire Forward Collection, but I felt pretty lukewarm about it overall. It is paced slow in the beginning and then suddenly rushes to a hasty conclusion that I found to be just fine. The conclusion was mildly predictable, but the ending did deliver an interesting concept. This is a story that I would have enjoyed more as a longer-form novel rather than a short story. It seems hit or miss with readers, and I can understand the aspects that make it a smash hit for the right kind of reader. It just didn’t quite hit the mark for me.
Quote
“How many of us said yes?”
Content Warnings
View Spoiler »About the Author
About Paul Tremblay
Paul Tremblay has won the Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and Massachusetts Book awards and is the author of The Cabin at the End of the World, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock, A Head Full of Ghosts, the crime novels The Little Sleep and No Sleep Till Wonderland, and the short story collection, Growing Things and Other Stories.
He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Shirley Jackson Awards, and his essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly online, and numerous year’s-best anthologies. He has a master’s degree in mathematics and lives outside Boston with his family.
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