Extremities by David Lubar

Submitted by Stephen, teen reviewer:

Extremities is an anthology of short "dark" stories that tries to act like a junior fiction writer's attempt to be dark. The simplistic writing does not pair well with the inherent dark nature of the subjects the author is trying to write about. The thirteen short stories deal with subjects such as murder, revenge, voodoo and psychics. The subject matter of the stories are no doubt macabre, but the simple writing style and the juvenile themes make it seem like a young adult school story strapped with a murder at the end.

He mentions in the introduction that it is not meant to be a book for young readers, but if he did not preface the book with that note it is very likely that no one would have noticed. The settings, the characters and the themes are all very juvenile, just brushed with a bit of "horror."

The plots are great and the plot twist are even better. The stories are really short, between 5 to 7 pages. This does not give him enough time to develop any of the characters. This caused me to feel distant and apathetic to the problems the characters had. I had a difficult time connecting with the people in the stories. 

This book is great for young adults that are looking to experiment in the horror genre. The book is a quick and easy read that has dark subject material without being scary, great for people who have not yet tried dark material.