Title: Best of Luck
Author(s) Name(s): Jason Mott
Published in: September, 2023
Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy
- paranormal horror,
- interesting plot twists, and
- if you are looking for a quick read.
Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike
- betrayal, or
- cancer, or
- torture, or
- death and loss.
Barry and Will are best friends. Correction: they were best friends for nearly twenty years. They have been with each other all this time, through the ups and downs, drinking together, sharing laughter and happiness over drinks, being beside each other when they found love and got married, and even during sad times. Barry grew up to become a man who is wealthy and can afford luxuries Will can’t even imagine, as Will struggles to to make enough money even for the simple, basic needs of his family. Both of them are married, and Barry seems to be the man who has it all, but Will on the other hand seems to be at the worst stage in his life, sick, poor, and full of anger, spite, and hate.
In the present, the story begins with Will getting into Barry’s house, waking him up without disturbing his family, and getting him into the kitchen of Barry’s big bungalow in Boston, pointing a loaded gun at him, threatening to shoot him. Understandably, Barry is shocked.
Barry tries to calm Will down and to talk and sort things out, but Will does not seem to be in the mood for that. As Will begins talking, the reader realizes how much anger and disappointment he has been harbouring within his mind for all these years. Barry is willing to lend money or to help his friend get some money, but Will is way past that – in his mind, he is at a point where money can no longer help him. We see the painful differences between people of the working class and the lives of the rich through Will’s eyes. Imagine being a aprent who can’t afford to buy shoes for your son or blankets for your sick daughter! And your friend, your supposedly best friend is swimming in wealth, wasting money on things that make no sense to buy, yet the rich buy and show off, like paintings!
Spoilers ahead: From the beginning, the story is conversational. Will and Barry start talking. Will appears to be all sick and lamenting, when he says taht someone called Henry makes him think about Barry. But who is “Henry”? This is where the story turns from ordinary to paranormal.
There was something purple, flesh and tendrils, pulling in and around, breathing and sucking the air, appearing and disappearing in the place of Will’s stomach when he introduced “Henry” to him. Earlier, Barry would have thought that Will had just gone mad, but now, it seems that there is something more or worse, driving his best friend to act this way.
Will had lost his daughter Hayden to cancer. Will had also lost his 11-year-old son to a heart attack. His wife had left him because there was nothing but negativity, grief, and loss in their relationship. While Barry felt bad, genuinely, he couldn’t see how all that could connect to him. That’s when Will starts explaining that “Henry”, the disease he was diagnosed with, what originally started off as hives and rashes but has grown into this today had been talking to him, telling him that Barry had siphoned off all the luck from Will.
While any reader would be made to think that Will is totally nuts, there is some plot twist you might not have seen coming. It’s time for Will to stop listening and for Barry to stop talking. Will starts to slowly lose control over his body. His body won’t listen to him any longer as he feels immense pain in his stomach. Barry does not even try to pretend to be naive anymore, as he opens up and tells him things Will had no clue about. Unbelievable, paranormal powers in action, that’s what has been destroying Will’s life little by little, just like “Henry” said. Towards the end, Will is self-destructing, killing himself, as Barry reveals the truth, tells his best friend that he is not crazy, and that the bad luck theory was indeed right, that Barry was actively stealing his good luck from him, through Henry! The conversational narrative instead of a descriptive one is enjoyable and more engaging. This one is a twisted story, a short story with barely a few chapters, but with unbelievable twists, and worth a read. I’d give it a 3.8-star rating.
