Mike Finn’s Reviews > Birds, Strangers and Psychos: New Stories Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock > Status Update

ARLENE by William Boyle ★★★★

I admire the way this started so firmly grounded in an almost mundane reality and then slowly slid first into grief and pain, then into transgression an finally into something almost supernaturally strange. The control of pace and tone was excellent.

THE FALCON HOTEL by Nadine Matheson ★★★

This story captures the sense of dislocation that I often experienced in airport hotels; of being in a bubble that sealed off from the world. It builds on this to create a sense of threat and finally fear that arises partly from the situation and partly from the slowly dawning realisation that the main character may have lost her grip on reality.

CHEST by Ragnar Jónasson ★★★

Short but suprisingly tense. An homage to Hitchcock where the suspense came in part from knowing Hitchcock's films.

RUSSIAN HILL Jerome Charyn ★★

A hard-boiled tale with a complex plot with a couple of clever twists. A strong sense of place (San Francisco in a time when men stll wore Fedora's) but the I'm-too-cool-to show-any-emotion movie voice-over style of storytelling meant I didn't connect with any of the people in the story.

EMPIRE BUILDER by James Grady ★

An experiment with form.

With comedic intent.

That went on...

...far too long.

CAMEO by Donna Moore ★★★

Nicely crafted for this anthology, this story is about a filandering film director, who is carefull NOT called Hitchcock. I liked the tough-cookie character of the vengeful wife, mixed with humorous Hitchcock-related crossword clues, a demonstration of the difference between thriller and suspense and clever ending that I didn't see coming.

THE MIGRATORY PATTERN OF BIRDS by M W Craven ★★★

This had the feeling of a Washington Poe Christmas special with a nod to 'Frenzy'. I haven't read the Washington Poe books (I've been put off by people being burned alive in the first one) but that didn't stop m enjoying this story. It was light, fast, ingenious and amusing.

THE NEST by Jeff Noon ★★★

This was original and creepy but a little too long and, for me, too far-fetched to be engaging.

HITCHCOCK PRESENTS by Kim Newman ★★★

This was fun. I loved the dual meaning of the title, the way the main character's job as a lecturer in film provided me with an education in Hitchcock movies while also ratcheting up the tension with each parcel that arrived. It was told with a light touch and at just the right pace.

THE MARK by Anne Bilson ★★★★★

Great first line: "On the whole, he preferred not to have to kill them, but sometimes it was necessary." Dark, clever, orignal and surprising, it was everything Hitchcock was at his best. The surface glittered but everything beneath was corrupt. I loved the calm, quiet cruelty of the ending.