Author Todd Russell sent me a novella consisting of multiple short stories. Avoiding spoilers, I’ll say my first thought after reading this was that Mr. Russell was playing a trick on me; to see if I would review a completely outrageous piece. Fortunately for me, he kindly included an epilogue describing his writing journey into the bizarre pushing it as far as I’ve seen (at least, on the short list). The stories are for adults, and each give a different take on issues that typically disturb the human mind. While at first I was appalled, I wanted to think about his writing skills; what I was feeling was a reflection of his writing talent, combined with my own personal preference. The stories are horrifying, disturbing, and nauseating at times, suggesting he has exemplary writing skills. I recommend “Mental Shrillness” to adult readers to challenge themselves on how strange a story they can handle. If this is your type of writing, Mr. Russell has accomplished the task. It moves fast, and is confusing at times. The ending provided an essential explanation for the reader to understand the message; therefore I give it three and a half stars out of five.
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