Dark Water

I thought 'Dark Water' was the novel from which the recent film was based on. Nope. 'Dark Water' is actually a collection of short stories with one of them, 'Dark Water', being the basis of the film. So at first I was disappointed but upon finishing the book I thought it held up reasonably well. As with most short story collections, there are a few diamonds mixed in with the zirconium. I thought his most creative story was 'Watercolors'. Without giving spoilers, it's about a theater troupe giving an initial performance when a leak from the roof drips on to the stage. From there the author takes the reader in one direction but in the end we realize we were cleverly scammed. Bottom line: paranormal stories which are soaking wet and, generally, comfortably creepy. Recommended.

All of the stories in this collection except perhaps one ("Solitary Isle") are firmly submerged in watery locales and metaphors. While not all are cleanly molded by the horror genre, they each ooze with a masterful concoction of dread and psychological malaise. I've not read any of Suzuki's books, nor have I seen the movie adapted from the lead story, "Floating Water," but Suzuki proves in these stories alone that he is an exceptional writer of the macabre. That said, I would have given the collection five stars except that some of the stories were seriously truncated: a few of the endings are abrupt and unsatisfying, like "Dream Cruise" and "Adrift." The former story had some truly incredible suspense and imagery, yet the sudden ending left too many questions. The latter ended like a campfire horror story, with bad things lurking and nothing resolved. The ending of "Watercolors" made absolutely no sense at all -- an extraordinarily creepy tale concluding with a jarring shift of perspective that seemed to come from nothing that had gone before. My rating, therefore, is four stars, with some tales like "Floating Water" and "The Hold" getting five stars, while others such as "Dream Cruise," "Watercolors" and "Adrift" getting three. "Solitary Isle," which is not particularly horrific, had some absorbing characterizations and enough mystery to hold me until the end. And "Forest Under the Sea," which didn't have an especially satisfying ending, offered some of the most tense, claustrophobic moments I've ever encountered in print. Four stars for those last two, for sure. (I should note that, in "Dream Cruise" in particular, there are what appear to be translation problems with the nautical terms. While a novice like myself didn't have any problems, I read the story outloud to my boyfriend, who is an avid sailor, and he reported some inaccuracies. They weren't too serious, but enough to detract from the tale and confuse a more savvy reader.)

Water, it has a stong effect on our subconscious, whether it be a stream, lake, pond, or ocean. It bring us back to our primordial past, back to the womb, therefore it is full of mystery and sometimes unsettling feelings. All the tales in Dark Water relate to water in one manner or another. The first story is chilling enough to make one never want to drink tap water ever again. I can see why this was made into a movie, an everyday thing in our lives has been transformed into something completely vile. Although Koji Suzuki is more known for his stories that relate to horror/supernatural, not every story in this book has a supernatural slant, some are just plain though provoking and strange. Solitary Isle and Forest Under the Sea aren't as supernatural and rely more on those primal, subconcious feelings. For fans of the supernatural there are chilling stories like The Hold, and Dream Cruise, one speaks of a man's descent into madness after the disappearance of his wife, and the other tells of a man's wish to sail in a yacht when the crew on his fishing boat find an abandoned one on the ocean. I can see why some people see Koji Suzuki as the Japanese Stephen King, his writings are able to capture the imagination in fantastic ways that can leave one feeling unsettled for hours after reading.

This book was very interesting. It was subtle in it's "scariness" and din't come right out there with everything like the movies do. I enjoyed it very much.