A review by jeffhall
Fugue State by Brian Evenson

4.0

I've been a fan of Brian Evenson's fiction for several years now, and as much as I thoroughly enjoyed his earlier collections of short stories, Fugue State strikes me as being the single best assembly of his output to date. Evenson has always trafficked in themes dark, morbid, and surreal, and all of those elements are present in these new stories. But there is a softening in the contents of Fugue State that allows these stories to rely less on shock value and more on character development, albeit within the constraints of the short story form. There is a strong sense of isolation and self-reliance shared by these various narrators that allows the protagonists to take the spotlight away from the extreme, and sometimes a bit cliched, circumstances that they find themselves in. Being along for the ride as a writer as talented as Evenson breaks new ground in this way makes for a thrilling reading experience.