Book Review: Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

 

Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

74 pages, Paperback 

Independently published 2017

Every year my oldest horror fiction buddy Marc Rothenberg and I break down our reads of the year. Marc’s reads don’t read as current as mine but his taste is generally solid. This year he promised me several books and Sour Candy was the first he passed on. So we are going to eventually keep score on this he has a perfect record so far. Kealan Patrick Burke has been on my shelf for years.  Kin has almost been read many times but as my reading shifted more in the direction of Science Fiction I just didn’t do it. I needed a quick read because I was one day from picking up the new Cormac McCarthy at the library…so this novella was the pick.

Burke kicks off this creepy-as-hell horror novella with an opening sentence strong on the level of McCammon’s Gone South, although that will stay in the top spot.

“Four months to the day he first encountered the boy at Walmart, the last of Phil Pendleton's teeth fell out.”

I am going to keep this review a little short, and personally, I think you should just trust me that the set-up, the payoff, and the building dread are some of the best I have ever read. You should trust go buy it, read it, and come back.

Phil Pendleton is a single dude, I mean he has a girlfriend but no family.  He has an experience at Walmart experience is one all of us non-breeders can relate to.  He is watching a kid meltdown at Walmart. His girlfriend even points out- that boy has a pair of lungs on him. He has that thought. I am so glad I don’t have one of those. We have all watched suffering parents and thought that.

Sour Candy is a horrible parable about parenthood.  For those who have had troubled children, there is the devil on your shoulder who wants to give in to everyday thing the kid asks for.  This novella is also an about that in a sense.  

Because after Phil shook his head at the poor bastard trying to control the boy and we end up with a classic Twilight Zone-worthy set-up. When the boy is suddenly holding his hand.

“I’m Adam Daddy,”  the boy said, the normality of his voice only exacerbating the doubt. He returned to his picture, which from where Phil sat appeared to be a drawing of a fishing boat, much the same as the picture in the hall upstairs hall, the only major difference being that it was a cruder version drawn in Crayon.
“How old are you?” Phil asked.
“Don’t know.”
“And what are you?”
The boy did not look up from his picture. “I am a boy.”

The nightmare is just beginning for Phil and the novella continues subtle but creepy interactions throughout. Adam is a cosmic monster that feeds off his victims and the other parable is in the title.  How times have parents warned children they can’t just eat candy or ice cream alone? Yeah…

KPB delivers a simple but powerful horror tale that is both uncomfortable and page-turning. Well done.