Title: A Pair in Horror: Two Short Horror Stories
Author: Robert M. de la Torre
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781453643884
Pages: 98, Paperback
Genre: Horror
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
Robert M. de la Torre has showcased two of his short stories within his book titled, A Pair in Horror. As a prolific writer of short stories, Robert M. de la Torre has submitted other books to Pacific Book Review and each has his distinct flavor of originality.
The first short story titled Trechula is told by narration of the captain of a ship called the Seeker. The crew set forth on a mission to find sunken treasure when they discovered an underwater wreck of an old Spanish galleon. Upon investigating the history of the sunken vessel, named the Poison Gull, they learn it was sunk intentionally to put at rest the threat of a cursed sarcophagus containing a vampire-ish creature called Trechula. It was believed that Trechula was a hideous creature about the size of a midget, half human, half spider – with the face of a human and body of a spider, having four legs and four hands, it would paralyze its prey while sucking out the victim’s brain through the ears. It does this disgusting act while the victim is still alive, causing the person to become a “living-dead” zombie. Creepy, huh? Absolutely! Believing the creature is already dead for hundreds of years and poses no threat, they pry open the coffin only to awaken the curse. The beast was created by a curse set upon a maiden refusing to marry a vampire in the fifteenth century. Becoming reincarnated by the captain and crew, they again need to battle the evil force of Trechula in the twentieth century.
In the second of two stories titled, The Green Shutters, Robert M. de la Torre changes from supernatural storytelling to psychological suspense of the “hillbilly” type. Nestled by a river, set out of town is the old house of the Fetchersons. The outside shutters are on a house a hundred years old, that has gone without any exterior maintenance. The rickety wood slats of the floor creak, ivy covered its outer walls and the moss growing on the shutters gave it the intense color green, noticeable from a distance. Local kids believed the house was haunted and would keep their distance. The town folk tell stories of the Fetchersons, as their recluse behavior and secretive lifestyle are an anomaly in that part of Alabama. Once when a local boy went missing, never to be found, everyone suspected one of the Fetcherson boys, but no evidence nor the body was ever uncovered to prove murder — yet the theories prevailed. Oddly, the old man Fetcherson was known for his good quality moonshine, although the local sheriff could never find the still. The law enforcement were kept off the property by unwelcoming threats by the shotgun carrying boys, accustomed to hunting rabbits as much as shooting at people jeopardizing their secrets. What happens in the town, when others come up dead, unravels a whirlwind of suspicion, fruitless investigations, and secrets.
Aside from a bit of grammatical and punctuation proof reading that Robert M. de la Torre should correct, the stories carry his signature style of being quick moving, to the point with character development, and interestingly embellished with creative details pertaining to each story. His writing is ideal for young adults looking for some “Goosebumps” reading, and others seeking a story one can start and finish in an evening.
