Night of the Mannequins
Ratings81
Average rating3.5
Award-winning author 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? Praise for Night of the Mannequins “Reading Stephen Graham Jones is like sitting in the corner of a bar with an old friend, and everyone quiets down the moment they start telling a story. Night of the Mannequins is dark and twisted, funny, a little crazy, and unsettling as hell. The opening setup gets way under your skin, and then Jones takes the story somewhere much darker than you imagined. If there’s an heir apparent to the kind of no-rules, wild imagination, down home storytelling perfected by Joe R. Lansdale, it’s this guy right here. Read him.”—Christopher Golden "Sly, surprising psychic sleight-of-hand, in a tale of teenage madness where the next plastic face might be your own."—John Skipp "Wicked and wry, this is a terrific story by one of my favorite writers, Stephen Graham Jones. Tip-top with a twist of dead. The narrator's first person delivery is the most notable aspect of this surprising and creepy tale that nods to popular stalker-killer films of the past, but is so much better than the bulk of those films, and what an ending. You definitely need this."—Joe R. Lansdale "Stephen Graham Jones' has one of the most gripping, stream-of-consciousness voices in horror fiction. Night of the Mannequins is propulsive and poignant, capturing the mundane terror of adolescence, and adding that ever-so-essential dab of killer mannequin. You won't put it down." —Sarah Langan "That, my friends, is talent." —Blu Gilliand, Cemetery Dance At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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I think the most effective parts of this story are the times it comes closest to capturing the feeling of losing connection with childhood friends. It???s not particularly scary or tense and I was never really surprised by where it goes.
Okay so I have a few things to say about this novella. The story was interesting and definitely unique but I realized I just wanted it to be over. I expected something different. With the title Night of the Mannequins I expected creepy mannequins popping up around town or something more spooky.
This is my first time reading Stephen Graham Jones and I don't know if I'm a fan. His writing is too wordy and kind of veers off often with descriptions and tidbits I feel are unnecessary for the story. To be honest, I feel like there are too many run-on sentences that make the story confusing and overwhelming at points. It's like an information overload. I want to read his other works specifically The Only Good Indians, but I'm reluctant to because I could barely get through a novella of only 131 pages. I can't imagine trying to read an entire novel of run on sentences and extra descriptive words. It sounds tedious and boring. I gave the novella 1 star. I did enjoy some parts of the story but his writing style is not for me.
Off and on, while I was reading this, I couldn't decide if I was liking it or not. It's a quick read, 130 sparsely populated pages, so I never considered quitting. Since the story is narrated by a character, what was happening was pretty transparent and consequently, there wasn't a lot of surprise/tension. Once it got to the last 20 pages, things got more interesting.
I think it's hard to talk about without giving it away. I can say that it's about one mannequin, a few teenagers, and lots of death. Like the cover marketing says, it is indeed “twisted.” It's super weird and ambiguous, which are things I like. It was also funny at times, in that dark way.
I finished the book with a feeling of “huh...” but it was an entertaining kind of “huh...”
