Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Amulet by Michael McDowell


4 stars out of 5  ****

A terrible rifle range accident leaves a married young soldier, Dean, in a vegetative state who is sent home to his mother and wife in Pine Cone, Alabama. The two women have an estranged relationship. The mother, Jo Jo, blames Sarah, Dean's wife, as well as the other workers at the gun manufacturing plant, for her son's gruesome existence. The man she blames most is her son's older friend, Larry, who could have hired Dean to work in his factory and avoid the fateful draft that leads to his accident. Larry feels guilty and hires Sarah for an assembly line job that helps the two women care for the total wreck of humanity Dean is.

Stage set, enter the amulet. Jo Jo gives Larry the strange piece of jewelry for his wife. She says that Dean wants her to have it. Sarah does not believe Jo and feels odd when the amulet passes from Jo to Larry.

Death, not simple passing but an horrendous, demonic demise occurs to whomever possesses the strange amulet. Sarah figures this out by following the inordinate number of deaths associated with the presence of the amulet. She plans to stop it before more die. She convinces her friend, Becca, to help her on this fatal quest, one that open ends a macabre finale.

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