[.ca] Trauma (ISBN 0451205553)

Truly brilliant:
Bonnie Winter cleans up crime scenes. It is her job to use whatever cleaners it takes to remove the blood and gore. In a sense, her own life needs to be cleaned up as well. Her bigoted, lazy husband, so full of complaints, refuses to find work while Bonnie struggles to hold down two jobs. Her son appears to be heading down the same path as his Dad. Meanwhile, her boss at a cosmetics company is enamored with her. There is an underlying hint of evil in that a rare caterpillar is found by Bonnie at several particularly gruesome suicide scenes. Can this be an omen for disaster? TRAUMA is a novella. Yet, it manages to pack more of an emotional whollop than novels three times it's size. By limiting the length of the work, Graham Masterton wastes no time in setting up this dark tale of the unraveling of Bonnie Winter's life. It is actually a character study of a woman in distress-- being boxed in by the world around her. There is a refreshingly stark simplicity in the way the story unfolds. The author is an experienced writer of the horror genre. It would not be incorrect to place this into that category, as well. Truly brilliant.

One of Masterton's best:
I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I was totally surprised by just how much I enjoyed it. It's got a completely different feel and atmosphere than his usual adventurous romps. It's moody, subtle, and very satisfying. Caution - by subtle, I mean it is not overtly scary or shocking. It is, however, pretty gross. Just FYI.

Interesting trauma story:
Bonnie Winters runs a crime scene clean-up service, meaning she goes in and clean up places where violent scenes have taken place. She also works as a cosmetics lady when she's not cleaning crime scenes, just to remind herself that she's something other than a mother/wife/cleaning lady. Bonnie works as the sole supporter of her family since her husband lost his job, which he blames on the Mexicans as a whole, and her son is just a teenager going through a difficult time. I really liked how they didn't clue you in much on Bonnie. Bits and pieces of her life is shown through her interactions. One minute you're reading about a particularly gruesome crime scene, and the next you're reading about what she's cooking for dinner. I like this because it seems that the author is trying to show you some kind of normalcy in Bonnie's life. This book turned out a lot different than I expected. I never saw that plot twist toward the end coming. Well, I did gradually, but in the beginning, it's not something you expect to happen. Everything so matter-of-fact in the book that I just didn't expect that at first. It could have been considered a deus ex machina if it hadn't been for the fact that there were subtle clues about what was happening. There are a few editing problems in the book, but overall, it's a really good read.

Inconsistant:
The premise here is very, very effective - a woman who cleans houses after trauma scenes and thus deals with horror on a daily basis; and whose own frustration will eventually and inevitably reach boiling point. Her personal life is difficult, with a lecherous boss, a selfish, belligerant oaf of a husband and a son who seems to be following in his father's footsteps - and herein lies one rather large error. In the beginning, we're told the son is 17, yet further into the story he is referred to as being only 15 years old - no explanation or reasoning, just a simple mistake, it seems. Remarkably enough, this is the second title I've read by the author that's contained such a glaring error. There are also grammatical and typographical errors, but these reflect more on the publishing house than the author, in all fairness. Having said that, Masterton does write a very good horror story, and "Trauma" is no exception. We're sympathetic with the downtrodden and frustrated protagonist, and we can completely empathise with her situation. The storyline is a very effective study on the horror we sometimes bring upon ourselves, and there's just enough gore to satisfy the demon in us all. 3 stars, as I would have actually liked the story to be longer!

Great storyline and theme.:
Again, another great book from the TRUE master of horror! Masterton takes you on a journey where people who clean up gruesome crime scenes go psycho themselves. Reason I gave it a four, was because I thought it could have been longer, but hey, cannot win them all. Great book, buy it!