“Walter died today. Found out this morning over breakfast. Suicide. Walter. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it. Walter wasn’t suicidal. I know that for a fact.” This begins the nightmare of a young man trying not to be pulled down towards the depths of insanity. In The Beach Scene, by Albert Berg, piece by piece, a man tries to unravel this mystery of the weird painting sent by his friend, Walter, to his house just days after he received the news of his death. Yes, that’s right. Walter. A dead man, sent a painting to his house? Why? How?
After an unexpected death of his co-worker, Walter, a man records his troubles of copping with this in a journal. One day a package comes in the mail, from Walter, just days after his death. How could this be possible? After having regrets, the man decides to open the package, and it turned out to be a painting of two beach chairs facing the ocean. It seems completely innocent, but he soon realizes he should not have opened it in the first place. Wondering why Walter sent this to him right before he died, the man begins to have strange feelings about this painting, and it even goes as far as affecting him physically. Every time he takes the picture down or hides it, he sees it show up in the most unexpected places all around his house, and begins to suspect his wife of playing tricks with him, but she denies it every time. Is he going insane? The man gets so fed up and exhausted with the emotional stress this painting is giving off, he tries to kill it. But, is this painting actually trying to kill him?






This man, does not state his name throughout this book, because it is a journal, but he does state that he is a high school teacher that seems to be in his mid-thirties. He has a wife, Laura, and she tries to help him with his problems, occasionally. After receiving this painting, he is so ‘off- balance’ that he has massive headaches, and is lacking hours at work. Towards the middle of this book, you are defiantly seeing that he is battling his own mind, and because the actions are so well described, it makes you feel like you are feeling what he is feeling. Will he get help, or will he end up like Walter?
This exciting short-story, with shades of Steven King, has a twisting ending, and stays with you for a long time! When I read this book for the first time, I could not put it down, I really couldn’t! (And trust me that rarely happens!) Every word written, gave me goose bumps. Using his point of view to describe these experiences, this story will wind you through the pages just begging for more! Believe me, this book may be hard to find, but it is really worth it once you get your hands on the pages!