Status Updates From The Massacre at Mount Pitca...

This book is really bad. I’ll try to make it through one more story, there are four total. I will DNF after that.

This can't be a step father molestation story, it just can't.

You're considering whether a window is big enough to escape out of...okay...but you're concerned that it might be painted from the outside, impossible to open. Huh? This on a large ship where the window could be nowhere near the water line. And we're back to women alone with groups of men.

The repeat typos on unusual phrases are really unfortunate. Pretty important to distinguish between "fleet" and "feet."

Who would give their new spouse pajamas worn by their ex?

Weird inconsistency to repeatedly tell the reader that the girl is reading books about a cabin boy named Ezra and then after hearing the history, say "gee, that sounds similar to the same exact story I've been referencing for 20 pages"

Character development in this story is much more nuanced than the previous ones. There's still the distinct atmosphere of suspense, accessible archetypes, but it's not obvious who is victim or villain this time.

The redacted name convention is a little strange, and still hasn't established a purpose for me.

This one is so much easier to read than the preceding stories, hopefully the quality follows along with the form. Could end up being like King's If It Bleeds, saving the best for last.

Great authenticity here and the perfect companion read for the start of the Golden Globe Race, but how curious with all the focus on period-appropriate materials to have a water cannon on an 18th century ship. Also, not sure I get the logic behind humoring someone by telling them ghosts aren't believed to be the residual energy left by dead people.

"Strangle": 3/5 - you'd think you could pick up something about the plot with a title like that, but it's worse than you'd expect. A recurring theme is certainly developing, that of women alone with groups of men. Not sure if the commentary overlaps, but the last line of this one sure is puzzling. A girl's abusive father almost reveals a murder, but then she plays basketball pretty well? Huh.

"The Portal": 2/5 - figurative, being areas of wilderness adjacent to commercially developed land, video games, decisions to eschew adult authority. Ultimately, the freedom a sociopath might allow themselves when they feel victimized. To be generous, you could compare it to Apt Pupil, but it's pretty much "hurt people hurt people." Easier to read than Mount Pitcairn but still pretty weird syntax.

"The Massacre at Mount Pitcairn": 2/5 - no mystery as to why this story, published in 2025, got no attention at the time. Awkward syntax without any stylistic benefit pervades the prose. The mythology is so aimless as to be incoherent, slapping together Jacksonian hauntings with an underdeveloped Lord of the Flies microcosm. The ghost story-within-a-story at the end could be good if self contained and given an ending

The grounding plotline of a group of kids trying to impress each other with dangerous stunts is the anchor here, but once the protagonist gets inside the hospital, it becomes so abstract so fast. If Jackson was sometimes too restrained with Hill House, this one flips the switch way too early.