Title: The Thing Down the Road
Author: Terry L Smith
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Buy Link: Buy The Thing Down The Road Here!
Rating: 
You Want/Need To Read
Reviewed By: Nicole
Blurb:
Beware of road-side freak shows! You never know what you’ll discover, or do, on the other side of the glass. You might go too far to ever return home.
Del detested these roadside displays of hapless creatures, mangled by fate or bad DNA, but it’s the only way to quiet his restless children. They stop to see “The Thing”, but what he discovers in this cage exceeds his expectations as a Xeno-biologist. Del rescues the creature and is taken on a harrowing tale of the lengths a man could go to, out of love, compassion, and insanity. He befriends this strangely charismatic captive, and sympathizes with the captive’s motives, fears, and final act of humanity.
Review:
The Thing Down the Roadby Terry L. Smith is a short novel at 44 pages but it packs a good story. I believe you call these types of books novelettes. So I am going to call this a novelette.
The story’s main character is a man on vacation with his family. It’s also a covert mission to observe and determine what to do with an extra-terrestrial.
As he finds out in his examination behind those eyes of Robert’s alien exterior beats the heart of a once human man.
What’s interesting is as stories go it follow your typical science fiction fare. But at the end it says,”
Del waited for the officer to rejoin him. “You won’t find him here.
He wouldn’t risk his body washing up near children, families.” He gestured down to where the rocks jutted out into the ocean, separating the resort’s beach. “He’d walk along the shore and over the rocks, to swim out into unguarded sea. Call off the rescue and take your recover teams past the perimeter. If there’s a body to recover, that’s where you’ll find it.”
It says that he left and went outside the protected area; the assumption I and they make is he went to die. He committed suicide. Add to that a rape or possible rape and you have a big story in 44 pages. For those with a short attention span like some, they will finish this novel in a quick amount of time because of its length. And that added to its charm. I think they will have one of two reactions: it’s a surprise ending or there is a twist at the end.
It is a read that makes you re-read the book to make sure you got it.
Thank you Nicole, for the great review. Every writer holds their breath as their stories leave their hands, and it makes us giddy to be received so well. Thank you for that giddy feeling.