Review: "Strange Weather" by Joe Hill

After giving us what is easily his weakest book, Joe Hill comes back a little over a year later to give us something shorter and immensely better than The Fireman in his collection of four novellas titled Strange Weather. It is fitting because what made me such a fan of his were his short stories. His debut collection, 20^th Century Ghosts might be the best short story collection I have ever come across, filled with masterpiece after masterpiece of the short form, with stories that still rattle around in my heart even years after reading them. Thankfully, this collection offers more of the same, and is a good bridge between two different forms he has mastered over the years. At 428 pages, each of the four stories here are about 100 pages each, give or a take a page or two. They are not short, but they can be read in a sitting. And the themes he tackles in each one also presents a good bridge between his past work and what I might see for him in the future if The Fireman is any indication as to where Hill’s career is going. With this book’s quality only hanging by four different threads, it is important that every story can hold the readers attention over the 100-page length, and they do. Since there are only four, I will talk in depth about each of them and where they might fit together. The first novella is “Snapshot”, which tells of a lonely teenaged fat kid named Michael Figlione living in 1980’s Cupertino (its location will play a role in the novella’s ending), who witnesses his neighbor, the kindly Shelly Beukes roaming around her front yard in a wild array of cloths. It is obvious that she is suffering from what we would call Alzheimer’s disease, but when she warns him about “the Polaroid Man”, a man who snaps pictures and takes away people’s memories and who he later meets him in a tense scene of cruelty in a minimart, Michael must deal with the evil and nefarious man and face his own fears and insecurities. This one was a bit weird, but still good, even though it didn’t go in a certain direction I wish it had. It evokes the time period and the loneliness some kids face pretty will. And it is damn scary too. The second story “Loaded”, maybe the most mean-spirited story Hill has ever written, tackles America’s gun issue in a way that is preachy but still riveting, giving us the despicable bully of character in Randall Kellaway, a mall security guard who seemingly stops a mass shooting, only to be hiding a horrifying secret about the day’s events. This story has many themes that threatened to turn me off: it’s pessimistic view of people in general and our mistrust of our fellow man, but it is begrudgingly near perfect, with an absolutely brutal and brave ending. My palate was cleansed with “Aloft” where Aubrey Griffin unwillingly jumps out of an airplane only to find that he is stuck on a solid cloud that grants him his most passionate wish, which involves his obsession of Harriet Cornell. This novella brings new meaning to “head in the clouds” by using a brilliant metaphor for the prison and escape of unrequited love. The book ends with “Rain”, where Honeysuckle, after losing her girlfriend to a freak weather event where razor sharp crystals fall from the sky, travels to find her girlfriend’s father. It meanders a bit, but comes back strong, and ends the collection on a hopeful note. It is no secret how great Joe Hill is at genre tales. They can be bloody, heartfelt, mean or transcendent, but with Joe Hill, every one of those emotions is well earned by the end.

Rating: 5/5