Drummond and Danicat

The main point of Drummond's story, alive, I think, is the human condition of worrying and the issue of whether one is being too paranoid or just being safe. The story is about a woman who hears about a cereal killer on the prowl, then while shopping sees a man and starts to think that he is following her because he keeps on popping up everywhere she goes. At first she vacillates between wondering if it coincidence or not but as the story builds so does her anxiety. She starts thinking that this is definitely the real thing as she is going to her car and he is outside. Then she gets in her car and he follows her and just as she is about to call the police he exits off the highway and she breathes a sigh of relief. Until she takes an exit and realizes that it is for the town where some of the victim's bodies were found, which is when she comes to the conclusion that she is just vulnerable simply because she is "alive" which I think is a bit dramatic but I can really relate because I am often paranoid that someone is following me and I frequently suffer from extreme anxiety in situations that may not necessarily call for it, so I think that the emotions in this story are pretty universal. The structure of the story really is one that builds up a lot, starting of slow and then getting more and more intense as she gets tenser until finally at the climax there is relief... but not entirely. It leaves you feeling like this is something she probably will go through again and goes through often because it is all in her head... or is it?
As for "Westbury Place", I could not find it. I looked in the book, and on your blog and even searched for it online but could not find it anywhere so I apologize that I did not get a chance to read it and therefor cannot comment on it in this blog but I hope my feed back on Drummond is sufficient and I am not penalized to harshly for this which is really beyond my control because I honestly did try.