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.
