Patrick Lacey's A Debt To Be Paid REVIEWED

The universe sent me Patrick Lacey. I prayed to the literature gods and they delivered me one of the finest up and coming horror authors I could want.

That's a bit exaggerated, but really, a few years back I asked a few authors to drop some new names I should be checking out. This dude got mentioned and the rest is history. Since reading his debut novel, Dream Woods, I have been quick to pick up everything he writes. I would suggest you do the same.

When he was first mentioned to me, the only book he had out was this, A Debt To Be Paid. Unfortunately, it was e-book only. I am yet to be able to "get into" reading on a device, perhaps to a fault, but hey...we like what we like. And I like pages, book glue and seeing a book shelf.

Beyond that, the original publisher was going under. I contacted the author and said "hey, man...when this thing is on paper, holla holla." He let me know that wasn't happening any time soon, but that Dream Woods would be out shortly. Once I read  THAT, I bothered him constantly with when I would get me greasy mits on a copy of his earlier work. The day came.

Here it is, looking fantastic and packaged with three other short stories, courtesy of Adam Cesare's new imprint Black T-shirt Books.

So how is it?

It's good. It's particularly good in the context of watching a writer grow. From this to his latest, We Came Back, it's easy to see that he has improved on his ability to flesh out story and characters.

DEBT tells the story of a schizophrenic mother-daughter being hunted by skeletal shadow creatures. Only they can see them or hear them. And so, it's attributed to their mental health. We wouldn't have a horror novella if that was the truth.

The best part of Lacey's writing for me has always been his ability to take characters who feel like I know them personally, in situations I know and throw them into ghastly situations. Here, the main character is a financially struggling recent college graduate. Her worries of when she will eat next, whether she should get a second job, and how she will make ends meet... let us just say that I know what that's like.

As such, it's so easy to engage with his characters. Easier than any other writer I read, really. Maybe it's because Patrick and I close in age? Maybe we are kindred spirits? Maybe we are telepathically linked?

I'll chalk it up being two early-thirty guys trying to make it on the Earth in 2017, that he writes scenarios I know very well.

Since he writes experiences that feel familiar, it's even more harrowing to see them get mixed up with other worldly villains. I find myself turning pages faster with Lacey than any other writer I currently read.

I finished this in two days. It could have been two hours if life didn't ask anything else of me.

It's not without flaw, however; the greatest of which may be it's format. The story suffers for it's brevity. There's a whole lot here that could be expounded upon, fleshed out, beefed up. An extra hundred pages here would really make a world of difference. You'll probably never hear me say that again, as I love succinct writing. I just want to know more about so many things by the time the story ends...

Here nor there.

Considering this was the author's debut novella, it's very good. It is worth your time, your money, your attention. The three shorts that follow the novella drive the value of the book up further. Included with DEBT are In On It, The Lynnwood Vampires and The Barry Effect.

Most interestingly, The Lynnwood Vampires is the short that was expanded to become this year's excellent We Came Back. My hope is that he gives DEBT a similar treatment later in his career.

If you haven't read Patrick Lacey, your missing out. Here is not a bad place to start.

4/5.