Changes

Of the collection, "The Hitch-Hiker" was originally published in "The Atlantic Monthly" and is a conversation between two men that ends with a brilliant and rather funny twist, and two of the "Claude's Dog" series in "Rummins" - a foreboding tale that ends in a grim discovery, and "Mr Hoddy" - a tale that takes the awkward "meet the parents" encounter to new and disturbing levels. What's clear in all of these tales is that Dahl was a master of the short story - a man who could build characters and circumstances in a remarkably short time before ending his tales with sharp twists or lingering moments. Penguin have done a wonderful job in theming these tales together - and "Trickery" is a really rather wonderful volume. Many thanks to the publishers for the copy, and for further reading I recommend [[Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl]]. One of my all time favourite books, it's obviously a read far lighter than some of the tales in "Trickery", but it also becomes increasingly clear that Dahl's dark sense of humour was with him from an early age - and depicted fantastically in wonderfully charming and evocative scenes from the life of one of our greatest authors. If you've enjoyed ''Trickery'' you might also enjoy [[Innocence by Roald Dahl]].