Night of the Mannequins

This wasn't the book I was expecting, but it was still a decent read. In comparison to SGJ's other books, especially his recent novel The Only Good Indians, I felt like this novella fell flat- but taken objectively by itself it was still kind of fun. The book is set in a town near to where I grew up, so it was fun to see North Texas represented in horror fiction! SGJ also did a great job of expressing character in his quick paced and sometimes rambling writing style in the voice of a teenage narrator, in someways this book reminded me of his earlier work, Mongrels, but with more of an edge. I also appreciated seeing anxiety and saviorism taken to an extreme in this psychological horror, albeit I felt like the book really stretched my suspension of disbelief to the breaking point several times. I think my expectations for this book were perhaps too high, but I still mostly enjoyed this tale.