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The title of the book “Strange Highways” comes from the very first story in the book. It is one of the longer short stories in this collection. Joey Shannon, a forty year old alcoholic, goes back to his hometown to make arrangements for his father’s funeral. He thinks back to all the times he disappointed his father, and his mother, and drinks some more. He thinks about his amazingly successful older brother, P.J., who has become a famous writer, traveling the globe, and sending money back to his father. Much is said about the funeral, about how the other people in the town also disapprove of Joey, and how badly his drinking has affected him. I found the first part of this story so dark and depressing that I seriously considered giving up and moving on to the next story.
The story got better, (but remained dark). Joey starts “seeing” a dead woman, who is reaching out to him. No one else can see this woman, and so, Joey assumes he is hallucinating. On the way out of town, Joey sees a road that should not exist, because the town removed it years ago. The houses located beyond the road were located on a fault line, of sorts, and ended up being torn down as well. He thinks back to a fateful night when he was back in high school, and something P.J. convinced him to keep secret. This road that should not be, this “strange highway” turns out to be Joey’s salvation. He gets transported back in time, to that very important night, and given the chance to make things right. The rest of the story is a combination of an incredibly suspenseful chase between the two brothers, and a whole lot of Christian symbols and iconography. Not my favorite story in the book, by far, but, a good read nonetheless.
There are a total of fourteen stories in this collection, all of which are dark, scary, and creepy in a number of ways. My overall impression after reading all the stories is that there was an underlying theme of “you get what you deserve”. The evil are punished, or, at least stopped in some way. Bad actions reap bad consequences. The innocent are saved, rescued, or rewarded in some way. If you happen to be angry at someone, this book will serve as a virtual way to exact revenge on that person, as you harmlessly substitute them for one of the evil characters.
My absolute favorite story is the second one, called “The Black Pumpkin”. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and so, this story caught my attention right away. Tommy, an eleven year old, visits one of those places selling pumpkins under a tent around Halloween. He goes with his father, and his slightly older brother, Frank. An old, extremely creepy man sits towards the back, surrounded by the pumpkins he has hand carved and decorated. Frank becomes enamored with a large, black pumpkin that is misshapen, has wart like growths, and sharp teeth. The old man says that people are to pay for his pumpkins the same as the not yet carved ones, and “only give me what you wish, you get what you give”. Ominous! Frank, being the nasty kid he is, gives the old many only a nickel. Tommy goes home terrified about what will happen that night, what the pumpkin will do. The old man gives him a warning, of sorts, but that doesn’t make things easier. Freaky story, with an element of Grimm’s fairy tales in it. My favorite, by far!
“Miss Attila the Hun” is a story about alien abduction (in a particularly gruesome way), and a tough teacher who tries to save the town.
“Down in the Darkness” made me cringe the entire time I was reading it! Recent immigrant finally saves up enough to buy his family a big house. The house comes with a door to a basement that only he can see, and the basement contains something horrible, that wants to be fed. There are some real world elements in this story that just make me sick to my stomach, because Koonts references some horrible things that really did happen to some people.
“We Three” and “Kittens” involve children, who are attempting (in very different ways), to punish the adults in charge of them for the perceived mistreatment they children believe they have received from said adults. These are some of the shortest stories in the book, and both gave me chills, which continue as I write this and think about each story. If you are going to read only one story in this collection, it should be one of these two. You won’t be disappointed.
There is one story that gives the reader some comic relief, but still manages to be scary. “Bruno” is about a detective, who finds a man-bear that appears in his living room. Bruno is from some other dimension, tracking a bad guy, and the main character, who happens to be a detective, decides to help him. All sorts of interesting information spills out about the differences between Bruno’s world, and ours. Wait until you read who made Bruno’s gun! Fans of Simon Green will like this story best.
There are a few more stories in this collection that I didn’t even mention, for you to discover on your own.
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