Unknown Caller - Lisa Unger - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: Lisa Unger

GENRE: Short Story, Drama

SERIES: We Could be Heroes, #2

PUBLICATION DATE:

RATING: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: An interesting short story about a suicide hotline employee battling past demons in myriad ways. Interesting, though somewhat predictable. The setting and the message are the highlight of this tale.

Plot Preview:

Charlie Kroft is one of the best call handlers at a suicide hotline, where callers hope to find a reason not to give up on life. One night though, just as her shift is about to end, there is a call from an ‘Unknown Caller.’ His words leave Charlie with a sinking feeling, as her mind recollects the painful memory from her past, gong to the events that motivated her towards this job.

The story comes to us in two timelines, both in first person, with the past timeline written entirely in italics.

This is the second standalone story in the 'We Could be Heroes’ series, described on Amazon as “a darkly inquisitive collection of short stories that examines heroic intentions versus their real-life consequences.”

Woohoos:

🤩 The setting of the crisis centre. Loved the look at how suicide helplines work.

🤩 The employees of the centre, especially Charlie’s boss Espo, whose “Esposisms” are simple and deep at the same time.

🤩 The themes of moving on from grief and how guilt, especially survivor guilt, can impede your present if you don’t actively do something about it. And the focus on the most important question: What makes a hero?

🤩 The powerful message about not being influenced by social media influencers as what is shown isn’t the truth. Every YA (and many adults) need to understand this!

🤩 The revelation about a part of the dark web that encourages people to kill themselves. I never knew this existed, and I still wish I didn’t. It’s upsetting to see people being people in all the bad ways, and the ostrich in me wants to bury its head in the sand once again.

Hmmms:

😕 The predictability is a bit of a downer. It's not difficult to guess the hidden link between the two timelines, but as this isn't a thriller or mystery, I would still have been okay with that. However, the story itself goes through a path taken many times before. I wish it had been braver in its plotline because it certainly had the potential to.

😕 The ending is too rushed.

Basically, I liked the plot and loved the message. It’s a nice story, and though you can guess the direction of the events, it still offers enough to ponder upon, which is good enough for a 66-page work.

Don’t pick it up if you want a happy story. Though it is about heroes, the plotline is quite dark and sad. The ending is positive though, if that helps.

This is my first Lisa Unger work, and I liked it enough, but not enough to motivate me to more of her books. At least, not yet.

This standalone story is a part of the “We Could Be Heroes” collection, and is currently available free to Amazon Prime subscribers.