Braunbeck's Mr Hands

Oh my god, I finished this short novel in one long sitting a couple days ago. I was floored. Braunbeck has this quality that is, for me, right where horror needs to be. If I wrote that story, [SPOILER ALERT!!] then Ronnie would show up in time to save Sarah. [END SPOILER!!] It'd be sappy, sweet, unthreatening. If most other horror authors wrote the story, then Mr Hands would go on a killing spree that would kill the entire population of the world. Grim, tasteless, pointless. But Braunbeck strikes this balance where there's real sacrifice and pain, but things work out in some affirming way. I am in awe. And the story is so darned learned: this story could easily be seen as the one of the most effective, beautiful adaptations of the exchange between Ivan and Alyosha in the Brothers Karamazov that has ever been penned. My highest recommendation and admiration for this work.