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Reviewed by Stefan Vucak for Readers' Favorite
With 13 After Midnight, Jaime Martínez Tolentino introduces readers to an anthology of quirky stories that explore the fantastic. In ‘The Ring’, Dr. Stevens is celebrating his pending retirement and his wife’s birthday by giving her a $6,000 diamond ring. During the party, an elderly lady and a bespectacled young man walk in, and Stevens assumes one of his guests invited them. Later, his wife cannot find the ring and no one knew the two strangers.
‘The Amulet’ gives readers a real twist. In a storm, a hobo takes refuge in an old abandoned wooden mansion. There, he finds a metal amulet. Over time, he settles down, marries, has a nice house, and becomes vice president of a bank. When his young daughter becomes ill, he wishes for her to get well, only to find that the amulet had deteriorated as she got better. He realized that all this time the amulet had been granting him his wishes, but with every wish, it was breaking down. This story had me thinking.
In ‘The Magic Harmonica’, a young homeless boy, scrounging for food in rubbish bins, sleeping wherever was convenient, finds a harmonica. When he played it, time stood still. Using the harmonica’s magic, he helps several people avoid accidents. One day, hungry, he decides to steal food from a restaurant by making time stop, and places the harmonica into his pocket. This story had enchantment and a soul.
Jaime Martínez Tolentino definitely delivered an unusual collection of mostly well written stories, venturing into scenarios many people wouldn’t consider worthy of exploration. Some of the stories left me thoughtful, bemused, scratching my head, appreciating the doorway Mr. Tolentino had opened for me. Several stories lacked the necessary characterization and plot to keep the fantastic suspense, but we all have individual tastes, and this in no way detracts from making this compilation something that will entertain readers.
