I’ve been clowning around on Twitter with a great group of authors from all over the world. The other day I read a review of the novella Call Drops by John F. Leonard on Leonard Tillerman’s blog (http://leonardtillerman.com/) and was intrigued. I trundled over to Amazon and downloaded it (it’s free!). Of course, I was in the middle of twenty-five things, so I couldn’t read it until last night.

I read it straight through. It’s very, very good–old school horror of the guilt-laden variety. If you liked Needful Things or Duma Key by Stephen King, you will like this story by John F. Leonard. It’s masterfully written with a perfect pace for the dark, grim tale. The protagonist’s voice is clipped, but that only adds to the tale.

The story is told from the perspective of a retired telecom shark, a man alone in a ten-bedroom mansion. He reveals that his wife left him and took their daughter with her. He finds an interesting old cell phone at a junk sale, one that intrigues him and captures his imagination. It has no internals, and he believes it must have been a prototype or a toy.

Then he receives a call on it…and is given a tip that turns out to be true, which only deepens his obsession.

My rating 10/5!

Reading this novella will only deepen your obsession with Mr. Leonard’s work! Grab a copy from Amazon and enjoy!