A review by pranavroh
Daddy by Victor LaValle

2.0

I have always wanted to read Victor LaValle and listening to this story felt like a good introduction to his work. Daddy deals with parental anxiety, trying to mine this very real life situation for horror. LaValle manages to do this, to some extent, in the opening scenes but the horror itself is too vague and depends too much on the point of view of the father for it to offer any meaningful impact in a short piece. I failed to connect with the father or feel any sense of anxiety about the setup. Another grouse I have is with the ending, it felt pasted on to horrify, and felt as though LaValle was trying to follow in the horror tradition of twist endings rather than let his story end organically.