Cousin Calls - Book Review

Cousin Calls
by Zeb Haradon

Blood is thicker than water. So, the saying goes. Perhaps, this is the reason we are easily drawn to news from or about our blood relatives. No matter how distant our relationship is, we are inclined to readily forge affinity with them. That’s exactly what Zeb Haradon features in his book, Cousin Calls.

On Christmas Eve, Harold goes to meet up with his cousin Ninkilita at a certain bar. Although he finds the name of the bar weird, he enters anyway. He soon realizes that Ninkilita is not there yet. While waiting for her, Harold strikes up conversations with a handful of the people in the bar.

Each One Has a Story to Tell

Their conversation is centered on the phone calls they received from their respective cousins. Strangely, each caller begins his line with,

“You don’t know me, but we’re cousins.”

To start the ball rolling, Annie Jarrow shares her experience first. She narrates that a cousin from Texas invited her to a chili cookout. Although a bit skeptical at first, Annie agreed to accept Gruston Jarrow’s invitation after the latter promised her a scholarship.

When Annie finished her story, the bartender asks Ward to tell his story, too.

Ward starts by saying he received only one call from a cousin named Otis Penn. The latter recommended a job that pertains to “lifetime earnings potential assessments (LEPA).” Although he’s not familiar with the term, Ward pretends otherwise and agreed to apply for the job. He did this because he was having a rough time, especially on financial matters.

To equip himself with the knowledge required on the job, he decided to get a hippocampal prosthetic implant. And, it did him good. Ward got the job. But, there’s a side effect to it. He fell in love not with the typical subject of affection.

After hearing Annie’s and Ward’s stories, Harold seems perplexed. He wants to ask questions, but is reluctant to do so. Until another man speaks up.

More Cousin Calls

“Two is a coincidence, three is a pattern!” says another bar patron. It comes from Gordon Steele, a private detective. He says he, too, is not exempt from getting bizarre calls.

And so he begins to tell his story.

Gordon received a call from Chad Kreb, a convenience store owner. Kreb wanted Gordon to investigate the bizarre incidents in his stores. He said that all the toilets in the stores are covered with some awful objects from floor to ceiling. But, Kreb could not pinpoint the culprit.

After some negotiations and a promise of high pay, Gordon agreed to do the job. But, the findings he gathered puzzled him, too. He eventually found himself in a hospital bed with two representatives from the Centers for Disease Control talking to him.

Gordon’s story is not the last Harold hears, though. Another being volunteers to tell his experience. And still another one!

All in all, Harold hears five different stories from different individuals.

Read Cousin Calls and be amazed at how those “cousins” convinced Annie, Ward, Gordon, Alex, and Jane. Find out for yourself how these individuals face the challenges they encounter due to the phone calls. Likewise, learn about the meeting between Harold and his cousin Ninkilita.

Cousin Calls: The Book and the Author

Cousin Calls is a set of five different stories. Plus, Harold’s own experience with Ninkilita. In all of the strange tales, there’s a common element that the author subtly implies. Zeb Haradon shows humanity’s vulnerable side.

When someone introduces himself as a relative, we don’t normally hesitate to accommodate them. We try to trust them. Perhaps, this is because we are naturally compassionate beings. In many cases, our compassion does us good. But, at other times, it puts us in a challenging situation. And, Zeb Haradon shows exactly how compassion can lead us to unpleasant surprises. In Cousin Calls, he demonstrates the vulnerability of man.

Moreover, Haradon is, no doubt, an excellent storyteller. He flawlessly puts together humor, science, fantasy, and action in one book. I admire the author’s rich imagination. He takes his readers to a wild ride through a creepy cookout, perverse situation, forest adventure, and more strange situations.

I found Annie’s story hilarious. It’s one of the greatest pranks I’ve ever heard (in this case, read)! I think only Zeb Haradon can pull this kind of story.

On the technical side, all the stories in Cousin Calls are fast-paced and well-written. I also commend the author’s effort of adding a glossary of some of the words he uses in the book. It helps a lot for readers to understand their meaning. Admittedly, at first, I wondered why he consistently writes ‘eachother’ instead of the usual two-word ‘each other’. I thought it’s a typographical error.

Overall, I give Cousin Calls a rating of 5 out of 5 stars, and I recommend it to readers 14 years old and above.