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A review by thekarpuk
Unaccustomed Mercy by D.B. Cox
4.0
This isn't a long book, but it took me many sittings to get through. There's an intensity to the emotions contained within that doesn't allow you to just curl up with this on a lazy Sunday and work through the whole thing.
For starters many of the stories concern war veterans, and even the ones that don't tend to involve deeply damaged men of one sort or another.
Cox has a knack for pulling the reader in to these closed off enclaves of human life where psychologically damaged men retreat to. The prose is fluid with an effortless grace.
The story Obtaining Mercy made me genuinely wish a DB Cox novel was floating out there waiting for purchase. The longer form stories have a knack for establishing characters at a fast pace.
If there's one issue with the book, it comes more from the collection than any particular work. I felt like it could have used some variance in the emotions on display, something to break up a rhythm that borders on a dirge. I know that was probably his intent, but a few stories with a slightly different mood might have made the darkness hit even harder.
It's a small book, but there's a lot trapped in there.
For starters many of the stories concern war veterans, and even the ones that don't tend to involve deeply damaged men of one sort or another.
Cox has a knack for pulling the reader in to these closed off enclaves of human life where psychologically damaged men retreat to. The prose is fluid with an effortless grace.
The story Obtaining Mercy made me genuinely wish a DB Cox novel was floating out there waiting for purchase. The longer form stories have a knack for establishing characters at a fast pace.
If there's one issue with the book, it comes more from the collection than any particular work. I felt like it could have used some variance in the emotions on display, something to break up a rhythm that borders on a dirge. I know that was probably his intent, but a few stories with a slightly different mood might have made the darkness hit even harder.
It's a small book, but there's a lot trapped in there.