If short horror stories are your cup of tea, Comedy And Tragedy will eat you up. Er, you’ll eat Comedy And Tragedy up. Mr. Calkins-Treworgy has crafted a tight, divine piece of terror. I found the main character, a spindly boy named Jake, to be wise and compassionate beyond his years. That’s no easy feat. The author showed a deft hand in keeping the boy fully grounded in his tween years, and gave him intelligence and maturity that didn’t wander into adult-in-kid’s-body land.

This is the second book in a series but stands well on its own. The narrative moves from viewpoint to viewpoint so smoothly it contributed beautifully to the layering of suspense as the story progressed. The principal villain also has layers. He’s never wholly good or bad and, for me, that made him authentic.

A word of warning. There’s graphic violence in the book, perpetrated against children. Despite the fact it makes me sound ghoulish, the violence worked for me because we’re led into the terror slowly and gently. I’d invite Mr. Calkins-Treworgy to take my hand again and lead me down another road in Amelia anytime.

Eve Pelco

Book Description: It’s time to take another horrifying trip through the streets of Amelia. In this outing, Jake and Emily are pressured by a bully and his friends to spend one hour in Amelia’s abandoned theater. With the discovery of two unusual masks inside, Jake and Emily are about to show their abusers who the real victims are. This is Book 2 in the Roads Through Amelia short story series.

Buy at Untreed Reads

Source: Publisher

One Response to “Roads Through Amelia: Comedy and Tragedy
By Joshua Calkins-Treworgy
Reviewed by Eve”