Stephen Graham Jones

This one has grown on me since finishing it - a good sign for an intelligent horror book. [[Stephen Graham Jones]] is his typically brief self here with this one, describing one young person's terrifying descent into madness. A group of ne'er-do-wells play a practical joke on their friend who works at a movie theater. They've been tossed from he establishment by their friend's milquetoast boss for acting up during movies. So, they dress up a mannequin, smuggle him into the theater through a back door, put him in a seat, and start shenanigans anew. As practical jokes go, it's somewhat anti-climactic. Soon after, though, each one of the friends gets picked off in some horrible way. Our hero, anti-hero is more accurate, believes that the mannequin has achieved homicidal sentience, and decides he must kill his friends before the mannequin gets to them. Why, you ask? Well, let's not get bogged down in rational thought, as our anti-hero is all out of that kind of thinking.

What's grown on me since finishing the book, is Jones' recount of the main character's distorted perspectives and fall into madness. It's quite provocative. Most might just toss recycle the book for its pulp content, but there's more going on here than a sentient and homicidal mannequin - how does one go mad? What does that look like?

Recommended!!!!
4 bones!!!!… (mer)