'Primal' by D.P. Watt - Running Review of Uncertainties IV

Gothic horror - what are its vital components? Mystery, fear, death, but above all - arguably - the inability to ever truly know another's essential self. And self-discovery, that too should be in there somehow. The penultimate story in Uncertainties IV fits these criteria.

A British student meets and falls in love with a beautiful, intelligent Irish student called (among other things) Jo. There is drinking and dancing and discussion of Kafka, and lovemaking. It gradually emerges that Jo has had a hard life, not least because her parents joined a bizarre cult dedicated to primate screaming. The Screamers collapsed when there shared house burned down - and the reason why is revealed as the story unfolds with effortless realism.

This is one of those tales that offers twists without gimmicks, and I enjoyed it tremendously. The moment when the narrator hears something strange emanating from the sleeping Jo's throat has a whiff of Aickman and Poe. The story offers a denouement that is all the more disturbing because it shuns flamboyant violence in favour of something far more menacing.

So, nearly finished this remarkable anthology, It's taken me a while - reading seems harder, not easier, during this lockdown. No idea why. But stay tuned, and we'll meet the last story very soon.