“The Wishnik”, by Kurt Newton – Review

The Wishnik relates a story of a man, Kenny, who inadvertently activates an evil entity by wishing his abusive comatose father dead, and offering up to the universe whatever it takes to get the job done. The response is the Wishnik, who after Kenny’s dad dies now wants to be fed more and more by Kenny. The music from “Little Shop of Horrors” played in the background of my mind as I read it, “Feed Me! Seymour!” All-in-all this kind of story has a somewhat predictable arc, deals struck with forces they don’t understand and the prices necessarily paid to extricate their sorry backside. Personally I have trouble identifying with people who make such bad decisions, but it is a pleasant enough read and told well. Definitely worth a purchase!

The only small beef I had with the book is the characterization of a Marine brother, which wasn’t up to the standards of the rest of the book. There are some popular tropes used there which are dead wrong, if one knew something about the topic. But suspending disbelief and accepting alternate universes where tropes are reality, alrighty then.