Placeholders, by John Little

John Little earned a lot of attention from his tragically aborted debut novel publication, The Memory Tree. I was fortunate to have read it a few years prior to its publication and I was riveted to the story from page one. Yet the publisher's handling of the novel prevented the success that it, and its author, truly deserved. But the less said about that, the better.

Better to concentrate on the present. Necessary Evil Press wisely published the second book by the talented John Little. It's a novelette called Placeholders. At the time of the writing of this review, Placeholders is already out of print, but those that missed out can possibly obtain a copy somewhere. Others might wish to movie it up to the top of their reading list. The very top.

Placeholders is one of those stories in which it is nearly impossible to tell a thing about the plot without spoiling its surprises, of which there are many. I will say that it deals intimately with death, a subject that all of us have a vested interest in.

Placeholders opens with a terrifying death scene and from there goes on to describe numerous others, in excruciating detail. John says in his Afterword that the core of the story was inspired by his own nightmares and that comes as no surprise to this reader. Several sections of the story made me think of some of the night terrors I have experienced after a particularly vivid nightmare. The kind that deal with facing my own imminent demise.

This novelette revels in death and the horrible situations in it came uncomfortably close to home for me. I consider myself a pretty jaded reader, but Placeholders disturbed me. Profoundly so, at some points in the book. Yet despite the grisly, horrifying and brutal scenes, this is not a completely nihilistic tale. John's own essential decency is the essence of Placeholders. It's a Hellish ride, but I felt uplifted by the end.

I wondered if it were possible for John Little to top The Memory Tree, and I'm not sure that Placeholders achieves that. But when you're talking about comparing stories as rich, emotional and so damned well-written as Placeholders and The Memory Tree, it's a moot point. Both are so rewarding and just plain entertaining. The simple truth is, John Little has quickly become one of the best in a field where mediocrity is all too often the norm.