Rating: 9.5/10
I wonder why it seems like the books I've liked the most this year have been novellas? This book was wild. I went in expecting one thing, and I came out with something totally different. But you know what? I loved it. I read an eARC, but I think I might just buy a physical copy of the book. This was one of the best things I've read this year. In fact, there is only one thing that I didn't really like about the book, and I'll get into that later. First, let's start with the summary!
Summary from Amazon:
"Stephen Graham Jones returns with Night of the Mannequins, a contemporary horror story where a teen prank goes very wrong and all hell breaks loose: is there a supernatural cause, a psychopath on the loose, or both?"
I went into this expecting a creepy tale that had something to do with mannequins. You know, uncanny valley and all that. What I got, was the ultimate morally grey character who may potentially be having some kind of psychotic break and taking those closest down with him. The way that Jones was able to describe these horrifying murders in such detail was incredible. I thought the characters felt very realistic as well. They felt like the perfect encapsulation of troublesome teenagers, from their actions all the way down to their speech patterns. Jones did an amazing job with them. I was seriously impressed with the writing the whole way through. The "twist" wasn't just slapped on at the end. It was present throughout the narrative. It made for a really intelligent horror/thriller. The whole time you know that something isn't right, but given the circumstances, you aren't sure what to believe. You want to believe in what the protagonist is telling you, but there's this nagging feeling that maybe you shouldn't. This is for sure the best thriller I've read all year (Misery is still in my top horror spot). I can't even really begin to explain how well-crafted I found this story to be.
Once this story starts, it holds you. I didn't want to put the book down. Partially because Jones is great at making you question if you're really sure what's going on. Of course I was pretty sure that it was an overactive imagination, but I wasn't sure. This is how you portray a mentally-ill character in a way that really does them justice. We didn't just see a normal person that just suddenly snapped, or that was acting nefariously the entire time. What we got, was an inside peek at the mind of a person who is at his center, just morally grey. We get little suggestions now and then that he may be mentally ill, but not enough that it's obvious. You still have to connect some dots along the way. I can see how he could be seen as just a villain, but he read morally grey to me. Of course he's doing awful things, but he thinks that he's doing it to save the lives of many other people. Even though his actions are wholly bad, it's for a completely justified cause (well, its justified if he's correct; I won't go into more detail than that, spoilers and all). I thought it was very cleverly written.
My only complaint isn't a very big thing, and I think it's more personal than anything. It turns out that I'm not very fond of stream-of-consciousness narration. If you don't like it, be warned that this is how the whole story is written. This means that the story would ramble off in weird directions constantly. I mean, I think it is a good way to capture the wandering mind of a teenage boy. It is also fitting given the true nature of the story. But, it was super difficult to follow sometimes. I would have to go back and reread sentences constantly because I didn't quite understand what was going on. Turns out, the narrator had just skipped a tangent and it didn't really matter what he was talking about. But I can't even be too mad at it. Given the context of the story and the portrayal of the main character. I think that stream-of-consciousnes narration was the most fitting for the plot. But I can't reasonably give it a solid 10/10 if I didn't love every aspect.
This is the only book I've ever read by Stephen Graham Jones, but I'm certainly interested in reading more. If his other books are anywhere as clever as this one, then I think I'll love them as well. I've seen good reviews for The Only Good Indians, so maybe I'll look into reading it sometime soon. I'm serious about how great I thought this novella was though. Please read it if you have the chance. If you like the idea of a perfectly portrayed mentally ill character who thinks he's a hero, when he may in fact be the villain, this story depicts that perfectly. I'm so glad that I was able to read this ARC through NetGalley. It is currently available if you want to look into it! The book is only around 136 pages, so it's a light read. Light read might be the correct descriptor, perhaps a quick, dark read.
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