Review: Universal Harvester

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was thoroughly intrigued by the premise of this story, but the elements just didn't come together for me. It's the late 90s in small town Iowa, and Jeremy's job in the local video store is boring and predictable, just what he likes. Until in the span on a week's time, two patrons return videos and point out that there is "something on it" that doesn't belong. Jeremy decides to bring home the videos, and for a few minutes in the middle of the movies, there appears strange, poorly filmed, sometimes violent, disturbing home video.

The haunting stories of these video clips are intriguing, but Darnielle just doesn't manage to keep the reader hooked. Yes, you do find out (in a meandering way) what the videos are, and how the characters are loosely connected, but the stories are simply too disjointed for most to follow.

A fairly quick read, but not for everyone.

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