Mesmerizing…
Sahade provides riveting, convincing glimpses into a mysterious corporation’s ruthless quest of money and power through his characters’ kaleidoscopic lives and creates a manipulative, dark world shimmering with uncanny swerves in this engrossing debut collection of short stories. He offers stories of different characters arranged in a chronological order, providing a demonstration of a pharmaceutical company DrugTech’s sinister involvement in their lives over many decades. The reader is transported immediately into realms where cunning, treachery, and shifting loyalties abound. The central theme of the prevailing darkness rules characters’ lives, but the stories are varied and refined; “The Barrister,” whose protagonist William Hunter, the Barrister-at-Law, is central to the theme of the book is a sinister tale of darkness that reveals its true impact only in the conclusion; “The Cure” and the title story “DrugTech” explores the sinister ways of DrugTech; “The Atlantis,” is a tragic tale of a young woman who falls prey to the dirty politics at work; “The Deceived” explores the consequences of blind rage whereas in “The Market Trader,” it’s the deceiver who gets deceived in the end; “The rescue,” is about an extensive scheme gone awry. Darkness permeates these tales, shaping the interconnected lives of different characters and exploring their link to DrugTech, with a recurring focus on the inherent manipulative workings of the company as it alters lives of many people in its quest for power and profit. Because of the interconnected theme, each story requires a careful reading, but the intriguing worldbuilding and swift, gripping narrative means that shouldn’t be a problem for the reader: “The Lost Treasure of Count De Jager,” a haunting tale of greed and treachery, the wickedly humorous “The Last resort,” and the dark and sinister “Piratical Contract” come together and connect the lives of various characters, forming a single thread; “The Statement,” “The Gaolbird,” “The Medusa Curse,” “the Science Ball,” “the Inducer,” and “Project X23,” among others also link various subplots. Sahade’s words are intelligent as he builds entire inner lives through trivial and sparse details. The prose’s spontaneous exposition and thoroughly tight plotting support the book’s wide ambitions. While the world Sahade builds is evocative, readers will be blown apart by the culmination as the several subplots come together to form a clear, single picture. The impressive voice in this ambitious collection is unmistakably that of a storyteller of considerable talent. Lovers of literary fiction will be rewarded.
Wow, what a review!