Short Story Review: Dark Warm Heart
Good Morning Readers!
I hope you’re having a great start to the week. My weekend was good and restful, so I have some good energy to tackle the week going.
Anyways, today I’m sharing a short story review. This time I read Dark Warm Heart by Rich Larson.
I decided to switch things up since I haven’t read many short stories lately. With grad school just weeks away, this may be what I have to do for a while since short stories don’t take a ton of time to get through.
Fun fact, this is a TOR freebie. You can read this story for free right here. What’s not to love about a free story, right?
Alright, on to the review!
Blurb
“Dark Warm Heart” by Rich Larson is a horror story about a woman whose husband returns from the frozen Canadian North Territories, obsessed with texts he discovered there.
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The Review
This was my first time reading something by this author.
I had a lot of fun with short story, but there were a few things that bugged me a bit.
In a nutshell, this story is about a wife, Kristine, whose husband comes home from an arctic expedition. From the crazy storm he’s been through and barely survived, she expects him to be a little off for a while, but as time runs on she begins to worry that something is seriously wrong with him.
I have to say, I really liked the premise of this story. It has the perfect setup to be really scary and weird. We don’t necessarily got a lot of scary, but plenty of weird that kept me happy.
Throughout the story we follow Kristine’s POV as she wakes up to find a bite on her arm after just reuniting with her husband the previous night. I liked her viewpoint and the tension that was ever present. Her husband’s behavior was interesting to experience, and I liked that Kristine didn’t back down and followed her gut instincts. She seemed very real to me.
The main issue I had with this story is that it felt incomplete. We get some great build up in the beginning and middle, only for the story to end abruptly. That kind of killed the whole thing for me because the rest of it was so great. I wanted to see the story have an absolute, final end and to really experience the horror element, but I just didn’t get that.
Don’t get me wrong, this story had plenty of mystery and tension to keep me happy, I just wish the end was done with a little more finality. Definitely worth a read if this sounds like your cup of tea!
That’s A Wrap!
Well that’s it for this short story review. I hope you enjoyed it!
Have you read this story? Are there other short stories you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!
Have a great day!
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It does sound like a good premise. Too bad about the ending, but overall it sounds good.
Yeah, I think the beginning and middle were great. If it had a better ending it would at least be a four or four and a half.
Still gonna keep my eye out for this author though!
Nice premise, but the more I read your review the more I thought, “Wait, that was almost the exact plot of an x-files episode.” Ah well, they do say there’s only so many stories to be told…
Oh wow, really? I never fully got into that show, so I wouldnt know. But I did watch so much Unsolved Mysteries as a kid!
I was a junkie from Day 1, so I unfortunately know way too much about that show. I don’t think I ever caught Unsolved Mysteries. But yeah, weird “disease” in the arctic. The “bad thing” never made it home, but almost exactly what you describe was what was happening in a confined research station. It was super tense and a great episode!
Hey, to each their own. I will say I did like Fringe, which was kinda similar.
Oh wow, that’s sounds fabulously creepy! I may have to check that episode out.
OMG I loooovvveeeddd Fringe!
Me too! The whole parallel universe thing really got me obsessed.