In bed next to her husband, who is fast asleep, a woman suddenly begins to have visions, visions that begin to terrify her. From consoling him all day due to the loss of his mother, the visions show her what kind of man is really laying beside her. The cultured face and personality are stripped away to reveal something darker, something evil as she begins to realise she can see his inner thoughts and memories. Memories showing him killing multiple women, showing him killing his mother and being faced with the knowledge that ultimately, he will kill her.

A Sensitive Time is the short story prequel to Touch Sensitive and sets the scene very neatly in just a few thousand words. The writing is crisp and descriptive, there are no names just people described by the situation and it makes it all the more chilling as you read it. Given it’s short length, it is simply the one scene played out from start to natural conclusion that leads well into the main novel.

As a taster for the main novel, it is certainly written well enough to make me look at the full book and see what happens next.