Brothers
Ed Gorman and Richard Chizmar
SST Publications
May 2015
Reviewed by Wayne C. Rogers
Brothers by Ed Gorman and Richard Chizmar is a short novella (about 55 pages after the Introduction and Afterword are subtracted) that is as smooth as 25-year-old whiskey going down your parched throat. Here are two of the best writers working today in the United States, but few people seem to be aware of them. Ed Gorman has written several novels over the last two decades, while Rich Chizmar is the creator of Cemetery Dance magazine and publications, not to mention an excellent writer of short stories and novellas. The world needs to know about these two authors because writing doesn’t get much better than this.
The story of Brothers is about two brothers who are police officers in the same town. One is older and promised his father to watch out over the younger one, making sure he doesn’t turn out to be like the old man. The younger one, however, resents the intrusion of his older brother into his personal affairs, but doesn’t seem to mind when his brother gets him out of jams, helps him through college, and then gets him a job on the police force.
The younger brother, who is married with children, is now having an affair that threatens to destroy his family. The man cares, but doesn’t care. It seems as though all he can do is keep traveling down the path that leads to his own self-destruction. The older brother, disregarding the advice of everyone else, wants to save his sibling from doing to the wrong thing.
In a short period of time, however, this leads directly to a collision of tragedy for everyone involved, but especially the older brother.
I’ve never had a brother, though I have had friends over the years that appear to be very much like the younger brother in this story. They won’t change their habits or stop causing the destruction in their wake until someone finally leaves or dies. Then, they’re sorry. But being sorry is only a word and it doesn’t do much to quiet the pain and anguish that others are suffering through. This is what the bad boys fail to understand as they continue to do exactly what they want without consideration for the effect their actions will have on the people around them.
Both Gorman and Chizmar seem to clearly understand this in their creation of the two main characters. It’s certainly a no-win situation for the older brother. No matter what he does, others will blame him for his younger one’s actions.
That’s a tough situation to be in for anybody.
Another thing is that the younger brother’s character is one you want to punch right in the face and then tell him to get lost. Nothing but bad news will come of his actions and the people in front of him will be burned by his inability to care.
Now, if you’re wondering about the writing style here, let me tell you that it’s impossible to determine when one writer stops and another takes over. It reminded a good bit of The Talisman and The Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub. There was no way to determine which author was writing what because their styles merged into something new that was easy to read and had a fast momentum about it. The same is true with Brothers. I didn’t want the novella to end and wished it had been longer.
This is some of the best writing I’ve encountered during the past year, though there are other authors out there every bit as good like Mick Garris, Mike Miller, Tom Monteleone, Michael Marshall Smith, Brian James Freeman, and others who are striving to write the best fiction possible for their growing legion of fans.
Don’t wait on getting this. It can be purchased in both hardcover and paperback from Amazon or from Short, Scary Tales in England. If you would like a signed hardcover from both authors, go to Cemetery Dance Publications and entered it into their search engine. A great read for a small amount of money!
