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Incubus (eBook VI)

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Incubus
Incubus eBook Cover, written by Rick R. Reed
Incubus eBook Cover, written by Rick R. Reed
Author(s) Rick R. Reed
Publisher Amber Quill Press, LLC
Publication date August 19, 2009
Media type eBook
Length 30 Pages
ISBN 978-1-60272-561-4
ASIN B002NOGDW0

For other uses of the word Incubus, see Incubus (disambiguation).


Incubus is an eBook written by Rick R. Reed. Within this work, the love of the main character is killed in a brutal way. Soon after they return, but they are not exactly what they seem to be. This novel has adult themes that include scenes of male/male sexual situations. There are also scenes that are dark in tone and aspects.


Overview

  • Title: Incubus
  • Author: Rick R. Reed
  • Published By: Amber Quill Press, LLC
  • Length: 30 Pages
  • Format: eBook
  • ASIN: B002NOGDW0
  • IBSN: 978-1-60272-561-4
  • Publishing Date: August 19, 2009


Plot Summary

What if...a stranger with a knife ripped away the love of your life?

What if...that love came back to you?

What if...that love looked the same, but you knew it couldn’t really be him?

Incubus is the haunting—and haunted—tale of Oliver and Ryan, a young couple who have traveled to Montreal from Chicago to get married. It’s late and they’re on their way home from their honeymoon, and their trip on Chicago’s el trains and subways is fraught with strange characters, one a biker-jacket-clad man who urges them to “Get close to Lucifer!” But the oddest stranger they encounter is a man in a zippered leather mask who waits for them in an underground parking garage with a knife. Only one of the men will emerge from this encounter alive.

Oliver’s depression overwhelms him, having seen his hope for a new life with his new husband squashed in an instant. He feels so alone. Or is he? When Ryan begins to appear to him again in the dark, and to make love to him, Oliver is happy...and in denial. He ignores this new Ryan’s cold touch, his strange eyes, and the odd burns Ryan’s touch leaves on his skin.

Has Oliver’s despair and desire for his lost love opened a door to something dark and terrifying? Is the Ryan who returns to him really the Ryan he loves, or a demonic imposter? And when love is brutally ripped away, will Oliver decide it doesn’t matter?

With Incubus, Rick R. Reed merges his talent for horror with a tragic love story and the result is...chilling...


Book Review

The following book review is from the Amazon.com link in the External Links below:

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Incubus by Rick R. Reed
  • Reviewed On: March 9, 2010
  • Reviewed By: Emily Moore


Oliver and Ryan are returning from their marriage and honeymoon in Montreal to their home in Chicago. Unfortunately after spending every last penny they'd saved on the wedding, the guys must rely on cheap, public transportation to get them home. While on their long ride on the el, the men encounter a few truly strange individuals, but it is the one at the end of the trip that rips apart their lives. Barely a block from home, Oliver and Ryan pass a dark stranger, a mysterious man in a leather hood with a zipper across the mouth. Although Ryan wants to avoid the man, Oliver simply wants to get home and they continue on their path...into disaster. The hooded man grabs Oliver and pulls him into the nearby parking garage, and when Ryan makes a move to save his husband, he pays the ultimate price. One push of a switchblade into Ryan's neck, and the next thing Oliver knows he's on the ground watching his husband die. Oliver's life is ripped apart, and he's barely living due to his overwhelming grief, and when Ryan appears to him, Oliver is willing to overlook the small details that prove this isn't his lover.

This is not your typical story, and it's one that has left me quite a bit confused. I have to admit that I've only read through the story once, and I have a feeling that this is one of the stories that needs multiple readings to grasp what the author is intending. At the same time, I never put it past Reed to provide a story that leaves the majority of questions open for the reader to answer, and this could easily fall into that category.

Reed sets up Oliver's grief quite well, starting with the descriptions of their closeness and happiness from their time away from vacation. The beginning of the story is filled with questions, as Oliver is haunted by the decisions he made, wishing he had done things differently that night. However, as much as he might try to change things, the end result is always the same. The depth of despair and anguish at the loss of his husband comes through clearly on the pages, and Oliver is left as a shell of a man. This part of the story worked for me, and my heart was breaking for Oliver.


Oliver was surrounded by people: people in high-rises, people in cars rushing by, people coming in and out of bars and discount stores less than a block away on Granville. People everywhere...and not one of them heard him screaming.


Unfortunately it was the second half of the story that took a tight turn into the strange and decidedly paranormal that left me unsure of the tale. The title suggests that an incubus is involved, a male demon who sexually preys upon human beings, and the description of Oliver's "sharp cry of pain at the ice of [Ryan's] penis as it rammed into him" seems to make it quite clear who is the incubus. Unfortunately there is really no explanation given as to how Ryan returns, or why. Is this being really Ryan or is it a demon using the image of Ryan to prey upon Oliver? I can't answer that question, and it is most definitely left to the reader to decide.

Still, that's not the part of the story that confused me the most. It was the ending, as Oliver seeks out the man in the leather biker jacket from the tunnel between el lines who was shouting "Get close to Lucifer!" when Oliver and Ryan passed by on that fateful night. Oliver encounters a woman with a baby on the way to find the biker, and what that means I really don't know, but Oliver does find who he's looking for, which drives to the conclusion of the story. What that conclusion means I'm still not clear on, and I think it's up to each reader to interpret.

The writing is solid, and as Oliver is the focus of the story he is given more development than Ryan. His emotional turmoil was clear to me as a reader, but it was the descent into the paranormal aspects of the story that left me unsure where the story was trying to go. This may not be my favorite story of Reed's, but I am still thinking about it well after I finished reading. This is the kind of story I would love to talk about with other readers, as I wonder if they saw things that I missed with my reading. This is a dark, cruel tale that will definitely leave you wondering when you finish reading.


External Links