Empty Smiles

These novels are all short, coming in around two hundred pages. Empty Smiles, though, has more plot and questions than the previous three combined. First is the train that has been serving as Ollie's home since the lake. It seems to be akin to the Infinity Train or a Hell Train but there isn't time to for Ollie to explore. Nor is it ever really established how the train relates to the carnival beyond expecting the reader to know that carnivals often travel by train. A cursed carnival probably comes by a cursed train. Next there are the children already imprisoned by the carnival clowns. How do they relate to the Smiling Man? Are they part of something bigger or is the Smiling Man now somehow their prisoner too? Finally the book ends with Ollie realizing that the Smiling Man is as much a victim of his games as the children are. Did their first encounter the previous October somehow entwine their fates? What makes Ollie et al different from the other victims? As this book is the end, I suspect none of these questions will be explored further. I think instead a deeper re-read of the four is in order. http://pussreboots.com/blog/2022/comm... Marginalized Home Cornfield 6666FF