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Before the Clock Strikes Six: A Short Story
"For fans of Alfred Hitchcock and The Twilight Zone"
PLOT: A kitchen-confined housewife has frightening revelations while preparing dinner for her husband.
GENRE: Creepy Short Story
READING TIME: 30-45 minutes
PLOT: A kitchen-confined housewife has frightening revelations while preparing dinner for her husband.
GENRE: Creepy Short Story
READING TIME: 30-45 minutes
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
ebook
Published April 18, 2016
11 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Justin Tate
7 books1,463 followersHi, Goodreads! I'm an archivist, literary historian and biographer with specialty in Gothic Studies and paperback fiction. Let's be friends :)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 5, 2018
A woman, robot -like, prepares dinner for her husband. She compares herself to a utensil used to serve somebody. "After years of redundancy, some tasks can be completed without thought", for example, boiling water on the stove or placing a blackberry pie to cool on the window sill. She knows that bad things will happen when the clock strikes six!
I don't read horror stories. That said, I still decided to check out Justin Tate's horror short story. In a mere nineteen pages, remarkable imagery and palpable emotions were conveyed. I was pleasantly surprised.
I don't read horror stories. That said, I still decided to check out Justin Tate's horror short story. In a mere nineteen pages, remarkable imagery and palpable emotions were conveyed. I was pleasantly surprised.
March 25, 2019
Short read about a wife who must get dinner done right on time (and make sure it's perfect) for when her husband gets home. I found the story captivating but I was a bit confused over the ending. But after thinking about it, I think I got it right.
January 5, 2018
....3.5 Stars.
....FEAR of what to fix for dinner....FEAR of his arrival home....FEAR for BEFORE THE CLOCK STRIKES SIX....day after day.
Super short story....Cool book cover....Twisty end.
January 5, 2018
Nice twist
So Hitchcock-ian! It has a bland start that becomes mysterious and then the tension starts to build. Just as you think you know the predictable end, the story shifts slightly and you know something’s off.
Short but truly entertaining story. 3.5 stars
So Hitchcock-ian! It has a bland start that becomes mysterious and then the tension starts to build. Just as you think you know the predictable end, the story shifts slightly and you know something’s off.
Short but truly entertaining story. 3.5 stars
February 16, 2018
I couldn't stop thinking about this story, so I upped my rating. Don't read the rest of the review if you haven't read the story, it's a complete spoiler.
February 5, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It starts out with a tired housewife making dinner for her impossible-to-please husband. But she can't remember what she was making. Or how the pie got baked and placed on the window. And not just any pie - the blackberry pie that he is allergic too. But there is a lovely knife in the pie...
Can't say too much more without giving it away, but I loved the twisty end.
Can't say too much more without giving it away, but I loved the twisty end.
January 25, 2018
Justin Tate's short horror story tells the tale of a woman preparing a meal. As she cooks she thinks of her abusive husband & of a way she may be able to finally free herself from his grip. Tate writes in a nicely offbeat style & the ending is very well handled.
June 1, 2020
Very ominous but didn't end how I was expecting. Well written short story.
April 17, 2017
Love this short story - no comment on it as it is so short anything I say will give something away!
April 17, 2018
Reading with my breath held up, seconds passing like one stranger after another on the street: mesmerized is probably the word I'm looking for when describing how this story affected me.
Domestic abuse reminds me of a short film on TV where a woman, a few bruises marking her face, is walking home with grocery and reflecting on her life, her routine shown in a surreal loop as she keeps striding along the same road day after day, the bruises increasing every time the loop repeats, her gait increasingly difficult and lurching. And what is she thinking – that no matter how much she is roughed up, there is a bobbing light at the end of the tunnel which proves that deep down her monster of a husband loves her.
The above film is one of the most painful examples of rationalization that I know. Painful and ugly. Slicing through the illusion of humanity like the protagonist’s knife that is heated in water and sprinkled with salt in order to stab, or imagine to stab the bane of her existence with extreme prejudice.
Before the clock strikes six is a nutshell packed with the sum total of anguish simmering inside all abused wives. It's horror, it's noir, it's an affair with pitch-dark fantasy that has a juicy, surrealistic charm, one that leaves a question mark instead of jaded rock-solid conclusion, melting the already thin line between dream and reality.
A wronged wife who reads it would be vicariously satisfied; a wrong-doing husband who does so might find himself a changed man (with a new fear for all cutlery items in the kitchen). I'm neither, but still reeling from its impact. Enough said.
Domestic abuse reminds me of a short film on TV where a woman, a few bruises marking her face, is walking home with grocery and reflecting on her life, her routine shown in a surreal loop as she keeps striding along the same road day after day, the bruises increasing every time the loop repeats, her gait increasingly difficult and lurching. And what is she thinking – that no matter how much she is roughed up, there is a bobbing light at the end of the tunnel which proves that deep down her monster of a husband loves her.
The above film is one of the most painful examples of rationalization that I know. Painful and ugly. Slicing through the illusion of humanity like the protagonist’s knife that is heated in water and sprinkled with salt in order to stab, or imagine to stab the bane of her existence with extreme prejudice.
Before the clock strikes six is a nutshell packed with the sum total of anguish simmering inside all abused wives. It's horror, it's noir, it's an affair with pitch-dark fantasy that has a juicy, surrealistic charm, one that leaves a question mark instead of jaded rock-solid conclusion, melting the already thin line between dream and reality.
A wronged wife who reads it would be vicariously satisfied; a wrong-doing husband who does so might find himself a changed man (with a new fear for all cutlery items in the kitchen). I'm neither, but still reeling from its impact. Enough said.
January 19, 2017
Before the Clock Strikes Six: A Horror Short Story is a startling story about a young wife, (judging by the cover of the book) taking place in the 1950's- or early 60's. It is hard to believe at first, that such a sweet innocent looking young homemaker could have murderous intent in her heart for her unsuspecting husband-- due home from work sometime before the grandfather clock strikes 6:00 pm.
With a pot of boiling water on the stove, a blackberry pie on the counter that the husband is allergic too-- the homemaker has no memory of making the pie, or for that matter what she is cooking on the stove.. soup? Who knows. Apparently traumatized, she also has reasons to be. What happens in the story and its conclusion will shock, the reader won't begin to understand what has actually happened until it occurs. A great horror thriller from author Justin Tate, I'm looking forward to more stories from this talented author.
With a pot of boiling water on the stove, a blackberry pie on the counter that the husband is allergic too-- the homemaker has no memory of making the pie, or for that matter what she is cooking on the stove.. soup? Who knows. Apparently traumatized, she also has reasons to be. What happens in the story and its conclusion will shock, the reader won't begin to understand what has actually happened until it occurs. A great horror thriller from author Justin Tate, I'm looking forward to more stories from this talented author.
November 7, 2021
The blurb wasn't kidding when it likened this tale to the Twilight Zone. It's a little bit retro, a little bit timeless, and a whole lot fascinating - with a few twists and turns in completely unexpected directions. I don't want to say too much about this one, lest I spoil the fun for someone else. At only a dollar to buy - and free for those with Kindle Unlimited - I think it's worth taking a chance and reading for yourself, if you're into horror and don't have any serious triggers regarding domestic abuse. Personally, I enjoyed this a lot, even if I do wish the ending had been slightly less ambiguous.
October 21, 2018
Love the writing style. Not at all the ending I was expecting. Quite the twist. So good!
January 19, 2021
Spooky! Terrific story Justin!
March 20, 2017
This takes about 15 minutes to read. I downloaded it free to my Kindle. I had never heard of the author. I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. It's quite the respectable horror story which would make for a great episode on 'The Twilight Zone.' I was expecting a twist at the end but it didn't play out as I was expecting...lol. Well done, Justin Tate!
November 26, 2018
I enjoyed this short, creepy tale about an abused wife, a mean husband, blackberry pie, and the magic of the six o’clock hour. Nicely written.
October 24, 2016
Even though it was short, a total waste of time.
February 14, 2016
Loop of Life
This story hit home. How many times have we went to do something and found out we already did it? How many people get stuck in a rut? We've all felt that feeling of life being repetitive. We've all asked ourselves "did that really happen?" This would've been a good Twilight Zone episode.
This story hit home. How many times have we went to do something and found out we already did it? How many people get stuck in a rut? We've all felt that feeling of life being repetitive. We've all asked ourselves "did that really happen?" This would've been a good Twilight Zone episode.
September 18, 2016
Fascinating story
I found a link on one of my Facebook pages to this story. I missed the free offer, but read it on Kindle Unlimited. Now, I may go back and buy a copy in case I ever quit that program, because I would hate to lose access to it.
I had no idea what to expect, but I absolutely loved this story. It was tightly written, and still had an air of mystery. I did not see the ending coming, and, to me, that is a sign of good horror. It IS horrific, without being blatant or gory. I look forward to reading more of this author's work!
I found a link on one of my Facebook pages to this story. I missed the free offer, but read it on Kindle Unlimited. Now, I may go back and buy a copy in case I ever quit that program, because I would hate to lose access to it.
I had no idea what to expect, but I absolutely loved this story. It was tightly written, and still had an air of mystery. I did not see the ending coming, and, to me, that is a sign of good horror. It IS horrific, without being blatant or gory. I look forward to reading more of this author's work!
October 9, 2023
Great short story. Really enjoyed it, feels almost other worldly in the way some writing does when it slips into somebody else's mind/viewpoint so completely. I've not read many Shirley Jackson short stories but this reminds me a lot of the few i have.
June 20, 2022
The metaphors that pull this story together are well written and lovely. The story and plot are creepy and sad, but it is well done and executes the goal of a short story very well: this section is over but the reader understands it's very far from that. It provokes questions about real life situations because of the subject matter, and from it I gained a perspective from entertainment and I appreciate it. I felt for the main character with every turn and I have read this story many times for the sheer joy of it.
August 22, 2016
Twisted story by a very talented friend from my Phoenix book club.
December 6, 2017
There's nothing like a good home-cooked meal. Unless, that is, the meal is being prepared by the housewife in Justin Tate's clever little horror story, "Before the Clock Strikes Six," because, as readers gradually find out, this housewife is preparing a meal for her husband that has for one of its key ingredients a very large butcher knife. And, just as this meal has quite a kicker to it at the end, readers will find that the author has added a delicious twist that makes this story of mounting horror even more clever.
"Before the Clock Strikes Six" is told from the perspective of a housewife preparing dinner for her husband, who regularly comes home at 6:00, and promptly sits down, expecting dinner to be ready. The story starts one hour earlier, with the housewife fixing the meal, but it soon becomes fairly obvious to the reader that something is amiss. For starters, the housewife doesn’t seem to actually be cooking anything, more like going through the motions of starting a recipe. As the clock winds inexorably towards six, this could be a big problem, since the husband, as readers gradually learn, is quite physically abusive towards his wife when she does something wrong, such as the time she baked him a blackberry pie, not realizing he was allergic. But this day, as she struggles with the rest of the meal, the only thing that appears to be ready is another fresh-baked blackberry pie, cooling on the windowsill, with a very large knife sticking straight out of the middle of the pie.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery in genre fiction, with many stories quite similar in plot and style. As a result, readers often are able to guess exactly what’s going to happen. Author Tate counts on that, so, in constructing the story, he drops plenty of hints about what is going to happen, so that readers are able to anticipate what awaits the husband upon his arrival. And since the author lets the readers in on the housewife’s thoughts, it’s easy to follow her as she gradually goes off the deep end during the course of the hour. What really makes “Clock” so effective, however, is the story’s ultimate twist, when the readers realize that things aren’t always what they’ve been led to expect in similar stories.
It would be very easy to spoil a story like this one, so I won’t go into any more detail about the way the author is able to fool readers, including this reader in particular. But it’s clear that Justin Tate chooses his words carefully and has constructed a very clever story here. As often happens, clever stories come across as a bit slick, and “Before the Clock Strikes Six” seems artificial in spots, but the story is so well put together that readers won’t mind, especially when they read the ending. This is one dinner invitation they won’t want to miss.
"Before the Clock Strikes Six" is told from the perspective of a housewife preparing dinner for her husband, who regularly comes home at 6:00, and promptly sits down, expecting dinner to be ready. The story starts one hour earlier, with the housewife fixing the meal, but it soon becomes fairly obvious to the reader that something is amiss. For starters, the housewife doesn’t seem to actually be cooking anything, more like going through the motions of starting a recipe. As the clock winds inexorably towards six, this could be a big problem, since the husband, as readers gradually learn, is quite physically abusive towards his wife when she does something wrong, such as the time she baked him a blackberry pie, not realizing he was allergic. But this day, as she struggles with the rest of the meal, the only thing that appears to be ready is another fresh-baked blackberry pie, cooling on the windowsill, with a very large knife sticking straight out of the middle of the pie.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery in genre fiction, with many stories quite similar in plot and style. As a result, readers often are able to guess exactly what’s going to happen. Author Tate counts on that, so, in constructing the story, he drops plenty of hints about what is going to happen, so that readers are able to anticipate what awaits the husband upon his arrival. And since the author lets the readers in on the housewife’s thoughts, it’s easy to follow her as she gradually goes off the deep end during the course of the hour. What really makes “Clock” so effective, however, is the story’s ultimate twist, when the readers realize that things aren’t always what they’ve been led to expect in similar stories.
It would be very easy to spoil a story like this one, so I won’t go into any more detail about the way the author is able to fool readers, including this reader in particular. But it’s clear that Justin Tate chooses his words carefully and has constructed a very clever story here. As often happens, clever stories come across as a bit slick, and “Before the Clock Strikes Six” seems artificial in spots, but the story is so well put together that readers won’t mind, especially when they read the ending. This is one dinner invitation they won’t want to miss.
November 15, 2016
Short Surprise
An ordinary house wife at home in her kitchen on an ordinary day preparing a new recipe for her husband who is on his way home from work. She thinks this is the recipe of all recipes. The one to finally end her marital suffering. Little does she know, she and her husband both are stuck in an endless circle of perpetual pain and suffering.
An ordinary house wife at home in her kitchen on an ordinary day preparing a new recipe for her husband who is on his way home from work. She thinks this is the recipe of all recipes. The one to finally end her marital suffering. Little does she know, she and her husband both are stuck in an endless circle of perpetual pain and suffering.
December 16, 2016
A short (took me about 15 minutes to read), creepy story about a housewife making dinner. The whole time I was picturing June Cleaver waiting for Ward to come home, like a weird alt-universe "Leave it to Beaver". Kudos on the twist at the end, made it both creepy and sad.
February 14, 2016
Interesting!
The story flowed well and was well written. I was expecting a totally different outcome, really enjoyed the twist! Great job!
The story flowed well and was well written. I was expecting a totally different outcome, really enjoyed the twist! Great job!
July 2, 2016
New recipe from the old book, to quote the author
This is new twist on the same old story about woman abuse. I like new twists. Its well written story and all in all I like it.
This is new twist on the same old story about woman abuse. I like new twists. Its well written story and all in all I like it.
October 9, 2017
Revenge
Before six o'clock while cooking dinner for her husband, an abused woman plots her revenge.
Will she succeed?
Read Before The Clock Strikes Six by Justin Tate!
Before six o'clock while cooking dinner for her husband, an abused woman plots her revenge.
Will she succeed?
Read Before The Clock Strikes Six by Justin Tate!
October 18, 2017
Loved this
This story was a trip. Wife had memory problems, among other problems. Husband was a jerk, got his in the end.
This story was a trip. Wife had memory problems, among other problems. Husband was a jerk, got his in the end.
June 17, 2020
Typical horror story about an abused wife. The story had a lot of twists and turns that left me with more questions than answers. Good short read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews