Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones REVIEW

Summary:

Times have been tough for twelve-year-old Junior, his mom, and especially for his younger brother, Dino. When his dad makes a surprise visit late one night, Junior is desperate to make him part of their family again. The only problem is, Dad drowned eight years ago.

And bringing back the dead always comes at a cost . . .

My Thoughts:

Books by this author are either hit or miss for me, and this one happens to be a miss. Junior lives with his mom and brother off the reservation, and misses his dad a lot. One night, while Junior is sleepwalking, he awakes to see his father. Fueled by the need to see him again, Junior checks every night - only to find that in order for his father to stay, he has to take some of his brother's life force. Horrified, Junior decides to get rid of the shadow that looks like his dad to save his family.

This novella goes back and forth between past and present to tell the story, and we only really get to know Junior out of all the characters. However, even the character of Junior seems flat, and this shows in the time-jump epilogue to when he is an adult. And the decision he makes at the end seems contrary to the character we got to know - he's willing to sacrifice his brother to bring his son back. It makes no sense to get all that character development only to throw it away at the end.

My Rating: 1 star 

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones REVIEW

 My Thoughts:

I loved this book. It was a wild ride.

As a fan of the slasher genre myself, it was really cool to see Jade as the main character. Usually, a slasher only has one main character - the killer - and a final girl who is more developed than the other characters (but not by much). Jade is very much similar (and Jones recognizes this) to "Crazy Ralph" and other characters like him that warn everyone about the area but get labelled as crazy and mentally ill. Although, Jade is a teenager, not an old man. She's a bit relatable to myself - loves slasher films (and also references them a lot), a bit of an outcast, wants to die, and wishes her life was more interesting. 

Jade has had a lot of awful things in her life though. Her parents are divorced and she's living with her alcoholic father, and she hates it. Despite her initial insisting that her father never touched her, Jade admits that it happened toward the end of the book. She loves history, but she missed so much class that she is only partially graduating. There's a new girl named Letha who transferred into the school because her family moved there.

There is an eerie place on the other side of the lake that has resemblance to the history of the camp in Friday the 13th. 

Jade is never taken seriously, and when bodies do start dropping, she is accused of doing it since she is obsessed with horror.

The ending is pure chaos. I can't even describe what actually happened. Sure, in certain parts it makes sense, but a lot does not. When everyone out by the lake is dying, the killer isn't even known. It confuses me because originally, it was suspected to be Letha's father, but then it was revealed to be a ghost haunting the area from a local legend?  It's impossible to figure out if the killer is the dad, the ghost, or both of them.

Despite the ending, I did really enjoy this book.

My Rating: 4 stars

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones REVIEW

 Summary:

One last laugh for the summer as it winds down. One last prank just to scare a friend. Bringing a mannequin into a theater is just some harmless fun, right? Until it wakes up. Until it starts killing.

Luckily, Sawyer has a plan. He'll be a hero. He'll save everyone to the best of his ability. He'll kill as many people as he needs to so he can save the day. That's the thing about heroes - sometimes you have to become a monster first.

My Thoughts:

The title is misleading. There is only one mannequin, and that was disappointing. Other than that, the book was a fun short ride.

Sawyer and his friends bring an old friend (Manny) out of the garage to prank their friend who works at a movie theater. But Manny just walks out and leaves, and no one notices except Sawyer. Soon after, one of his friends and her family ends up dead, in an accident. Sawyer doesn't think that it's an accident though. He thinks that Manny is killing them out of revenge for being left alone for all those years in the garage.

(Spoilers) it's not true. Sawyer is imagining this, thinking of the worst. And because of this, he kills all of his remaining friends in an attempt to "save" their families from dying.

I think that the twist at the end was done really well. Normally, I wouldn't like it, but it's done very well here.  If you're looking for a short horror read for fun, I would recommend it!

My Rating: 4 stars