Review: The Reunion by M.D. Neu

It’s been twenty years since the quiet Midwestern town of Lakeview was struck by tragedy. But every year on the anniversary of the event Teddy returns home for ‘The Reunion’. Lakeview, like Teddy, has secrets and not all mysteries should come to light.

***As a note: This story hits on a few topics of abuse, gender transitioning, absent parents and homophobia that should be mentioned. ***

Meet one Teddy Granger. Lone survivor of some horrific incident or accident, who is taking a trip down amnesia lane for a reunion. What kind of reunion? Well, we don’t really know but we do know that when Teddy arrives back in the town of Lakeview some twenty years later, he has some gruesome memories that aren’t quite real. Or are they?

Told from Teddy’s POV we start with him in the present to step into the creepy WTAF happened IN this town, TO this town and to Teddy that was horrible, but not enough to keep him away. It’s a good thing that the beginning of chapter two takes us twenty years into the past to get just that.

I read the excerpt on the publisher’s site of this short Halloween themed story and was intrigued to know what happened. I wasn’t expecting any of what the author gave me when I learned who Lane and Nicky were.

As we get into the past, we begin with Teddy arriving back in Lakeview after the death of his mother. He’s left his jerk of a partner and decided to move back home and start a new life with a new salon. Though the townsfolk aren’t the friendliest to a drag queen hairdresser driving a hot pink classic Mustang, a few classmates from high school befriend Teddy and help him make a life. Slowly over the next five years, Teddy solidifies himself into the community with a small circle of friends when a hoodie wearing figure comes back into his life and changes everything.

This story had a huge The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street feeling to it as the group of friends and town prepare to attend a Meteor shower viewing. The weather changes during the shower and bad things happen but these bad things are starting to change people in town and no one is listening to the truth… least of all Teddy.

This has such a melancholy feeling to it that I can’t shake. I thought we would get a clear answer to what happened when we returned with Teddy to the present with the reunion but either we didn’t or it went straight over my head. I mean, I think what happened is all the blood and death that Teddy doesn’t want to believe but if that’s the case, I wish the author would have explained why the reunion was possible and why the time each year was shorter for the visit.

At the end, it’s not a bad story, I just have answers I don’t feel I got and things feel unfinished. I guess that could be what the author was going for but being dragged through the depth of feelings we get through Teddy of regret, I wanted just a bit more.

Trivia Question: What do Christopher and Jeremy think makes having sex together less gay? 10 pts