To say no two stories are the same would be a complete understatement, given that all of Morrell’s vast talents are on display here, from the creator of Rambo and father of the modern action novel as displayed in “The Abelard Sanction,” to one of America’s greatest novelists, period, in “The Architecture of Snow.” Something for everyone, in other words, including a few tales that would make great fodder for the original "Twilight Zone."ĭavid Morrell isn’t just a writer. That is unless the author is David Morrell, as witnessed in his superb collection "Before I Wake" (Subterranean Press, $40, 376 pages). Normally, the thriller genre doesn’t translate all that well to the short story form. Judged purely on its own, this is a solid tale that only occasionally realizes the potential Harris is known for fulfilling. The book itself, though, is hostage to our own expectations and disappointment over not getting what we’ve gotten in the past. The title character, an illegal immigrant, more than holds her own and grows on you in her stubborn nobility when cast as prisoner, both metaphysical and otherwise. "Cari Mora" feels like an odd counterreaction to all that, an effective but thin tale about the hunt for riches standing in for Harris’ more typically alluring descent into human depravity. Indeed, this is a whole new world for Harris, and one that seems oddly vapid for a writer known for his relentless intensity and blisteringly original set pieces.
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