The Critic - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

The Critic is a short story about love, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and murder as seen from the perspective of a privileged outsider called Corporal Zimmermann. A man who is so arrogant, he will not even allow his own obituary to be written by anyone but himself. However it is whilst he is composing his almost monumental epitaph that he decides to record for posterity that ‘other’ far less well known, yet in his mind, just as important achievement of his life. And so in a thin volume written to accompany his obituary, he describes how he first came to discover and then have stolen away from him, the only chance he ever felt he really had of finding true love and happiness. Not that he was ever that naive not to think that to some extent he too may be partially to blame for what occurred. As even he has to admit that there were plenty of times during the relationship when he would stupidly managed to over complicate things by either reading far too much into far too little, or thoughtlessly saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Not to mention all the stress and anxiety he had to struggle with whilst attempting to keep his almost irrational jealousy in check. Then again was his jealously really that irrational? As it really didn’t take Corporal very long to realise that those who were most to blame for him being denied the happiness he so desired. Was of course the woman that he fell in love with called Wrey, and the man that she was more than happy to sacrifice all that Corporal thought they had together; and for really very little more than the pleasure of a quick fling. Not that Corporal had been ignorant to the possibility of that occurring from the very first time that they had been introduced to one another. Basically because he knew better than anyone, how attractive and charming his best friend Matine could be. But somehow Wrey had managed to convince him that unlike any of the women he had seen go before, she would be impervious to his amazing good looks and slim athletic build. And ridiculous as it sounds, Corporal had been naive enough to believe her. So no wonder he found it even harder to accept the situation than he normally would. Especially as he had already managed to convince himself that the one thing they both enjoyed most about having an affair behind his back, was the humiliation they each felt certain he was bound to eventually suffer at the hands of the one the person whose opinion he valued the most, -his own. Which may have well been true, who could say. But if it was and that had actually been their ultimate aim, to spitefully humiliate him. Then that had also been their biggest mistake also. Mainly because they had stupidly failed to fully take into account Corporal’s own exceptionally high opinion of himself in regards to everybody else around him and in particular them. Because if they had, they would have very quickly realised how very little he then thought of them and that he practically had no qualms at all about what he is intending to do. Not that it really mattered by then anyway. As by the time they might have realised that for themselves he had already started attacking the one thing that he believed they both valued the most.

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