Saturday, February 25, 2012

Sorcerer

Sorcerer
Author: Greg F. Gifune
Genre: Horror
Release Date: October 7th 2010
GoodReads

The plot of Sorcerer is like that serpent that consumes its own tail. Unlike Ouroboros though, the story isn't eternal, it just loops back on itself where the ending is the beginning. The ending of the story is done in a way that gives a whole new perspective to the early bits of the story, even though it's exactly the same, just with a whole new light shone on it due to revelations throughout the book.


Greg F. Gifune is master at storytelling. Even though Sorcerer was relatively short (I finished it in an hour), it caught my attention from the get go. It is a story about a middle-aged guy, Jeff, and his wife Eden, who are in tough times due to the economy which isn't doing quite so well. He's jobless and is struggling to find a new job that pays well or at least as well as his old gig working as a manager cum salesperson.

One day while reading through the classifieds section of the newspaper, he comes across a startlingly beautiful woman, Jessica, who offers him a job at an obscure company owned by a guy called, Foster Hope. Yeah, you read that right. Foster, Hope. It's kinda funny in a way since the real guy, is in no way able to give you hope and instead causes despair in everyone he meets. This is when Jeff's life really goes downhill. Along the way to the interview, he somehow manages to cheat on his wife due to the "mysterious" sexual attraction he feels for Jessica. Even though he wants to skip the interview, he never somehow manages to muster the will to do that. Instead he goes along with it until the very end, where Foster Hope offers him a position as a "negotiator" which somehow involves convincing people to pay the debts they owe to Foster. During the interview (This is the really important bit that sets the pace for the horrible ending where Jeff is screwed, big time.) Foster asks him this very question;

"Remember the old tale about the man that discovers a genie in a bottle, frees him, and is granted three wishes? If you could have only one wish, Jeff, what would it be?" 

I won't spoil the story, but that quote there is the reason behind it all. If you can wrap your mind around the consequences of that one quote, it'll help you unravel the connection between the beginning and the ending of the story...

Now where was I? Oh right, he got the job. The aftereffect of the sole negotiation we see going on in the book leads to the suicide of the "debtor". Scary how that turned out. What's even more unsettling is Foster's reaction to the whole thing. Jeff decides he doesn't want to be involved anymore, he wants out. The Sorcerer then ends within the next few paragraphs. What happens directly after that, but right before the loop (which I mentioned earlier in the review) is a secret though. You're gonna have to read it yourself =P


Scores:
Cover: 7
Characters: 8
Story: 8

Overall: 8/10
Comment: It could have been a bit longer. It was so short that I was kind of surprised to see that the book had ended. It's very well written so it won't disappoint!

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