The Cage by Brian KeeneMy rating: 6 of 10 stars
Brian Keene is one of my favourite writers. His Mythos is also one that I know more of. Most of his stories are interconneted in some point. Some reference or character.
The title story "The Cage" is one of the weakest stories by him, in my humble opinion by one of the masters of horrors. I didn't felt connected with the characters (neither the captor and the captives).
This story is connected with the Labyrinth Mythos (the Shtar, on the Thirteen) and the reference to the television show "Castaways".
The workers of a store are going to close when a madman (Simon) busts in and take them hostages. After two of the workers are killed in cold blood he take the rest into a place in the store that's called "The Cage". There, the main story takes place where the characters try to work out what's going on and what can be done. From this moment on a psychological terror takes place.
The ending of the book was what to expect by Brian Keene and other horror writers giving a glimpse about the connectivity to the Mythos but closing a door of a follow up. It was a good tale but at the same time I didn't felt connected to most of the story until the very end.
In the end we get a glimpse of how this tale came to be (the same happens to the other three short stories collected within).
"Marriage Causes Cancer in Rats" - This tale is about a murder and the link between the killer and it's victims. It's a gothic ghost tale.
"Lest Ye Become" - As Keene says it's dedicate of the Body Snatchers book and it was a good tale (even if Keene doesn't say it's one of the first and weakest).
"Waiting for Darkness" - This tale has only a page. Nothing much to say.
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