I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones Published by Tor.com on September 1 2020
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 144
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A dark and demented coming-of-age story, perfect for lovers of slasher horror.
So Shanna got a new job at the movie theater, we thought we’d play a fun prank on her, and now most of us are dead, and I’m really starting to feel kind of guilty about it all.
This is one of those reviews where I can’t tell you much about the plot, because the whole thing is a twist that I consider to be a big spoiler. After I read the book, I happened to see the Publishers Weekly review which totally gave away that surprise twist, so please do yourself a favor and don’t read that review if you plan on grabbing Night of the Mannequins.
Now that’s out of the way, I can tell you that this short novella is a surprising, twisted coming-of-age story that messed with my head in the best possible way. Here’s the set-up: The story is narrated by Sawyer, a high school senior who decides it would be fun to play a prank on his friend Shanna, who has a summer job at the local movie theater. The prank involves an old mannequin that Sawyer and his friends Tim, JR and Danielle found down by the creek when they were twelve. Dubbed “Manny,” the mannequin figured in all sorts of games that summer, including scaring the neighbors and playing tricks on friends and family. But when summer came to an end, Manny was abandoned in Sawyer’s garage and has been there ever since. Now, with a weird sense of nostalgia and longing for those easy, carefree days, Sawyer wants to give Manny one last hurrah and scare the pants off Shanna in the process.
Sawyer, Danielle, JR and Tim decide to sneak Manny into the theater in pieces (an arm stuffed into a jacket, etc) and reassemble him once they get inside. At first, the plan goes off without a hitch, and somehow they manage to stuff the mannequin into a center seat, hoping to scare Shanna when she comes in to check tickets. But things backfire when—at the end of the movie—Sawyer sees Manny stand up and walk out of the theater. Days later, Shanna and three members of her family are killed in a freak accident when a semi truck barrels off the highway into their house.
Sawyer is convinced that Manny has come to life and had something to do with the accident. Even worse, he thinks Manny is out for revenge after being abandoned for so many years, and that Sawyer and his friends might be next…
Night of the Mannequins is a hallucinogenic, nightmarish tale with an extremely unreliable narrator. Sawyer’s voice is part of what makes this story work so well, and I loved the way he becomes more and more delusional as the story progresses. Sawyer fancies himself to be a modern day Frankenstein, with Manny acting as his monster: raging and out of control, hellbent on vengeance, and oblivious to any collateral damage he might cause along the way. But there’s also a lot of humor. Jones seems to have a knack for balance in his stories, and he’s added plenty of funny moments that make you forget the horrific parts for a moment. But only a moment, since on the next page you’ll choke on that laugh when something bad happens.
Amidst all the horror, Jones inserts quite a few heartfelt moments, and this is one reason I love his fiction so much. Night of the Mannequins perfectly captures the nostalgia of high school, teens trying to cling to childhood as long as possible before inevitably being shoved out of the nest. Despite Sawyer’s frenetic narrative, he manages to stop and reflect on the good times: that fishing story his Grandpa told over and over; the childlike way he echoes his Dad’s familiar phrases (“I had to toughen up, like my dad was always telling me”); and of course, that endless summer when he was twelve, doing goofy things with his friends and Manny. Sawyer loves his family, and much of what happens in the story is because of that love. There’s an odd, bittersweet quality to this story, buried just beneath the horror.
Events spin out of control quite quickly—and granted, Jones doesn’t have a lot of time to get there—and I have to admit the ending confused the hell out of me. But when you take Sawyer’s wild imagination into consideration, his growing paranoia and desire to save the day, I guess the ending sort of makes sense. Night of the Mannequins is more about the journey and not the destination anyway, and I had a hell of time reading it. If that quote in the beginning of my review grabs your attention, then chances are you will too.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy. Above quote is taken from an uncorrected proof and may differ in the final version of the book. (But I hope not ‘cause it’s a perfect first sentence!)
Sounds like a great read! I don’t usually enjoy an unreliable narrator but maybe I can give it a go!
It’s short, you should try it:-)
I’ve re-read that quote at the beginning a couple of times, and I’m beyond intrigued – not to mention that the scene you described of the mannequin getting to its feet and walking away is so delightfully *creepy*!! 😀
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…CHAOS VECTOR (The Protectorate #2), by Megan O’Keefe
Yes, creepy, funny, horrific and touching. Not sure how he combines all those so well, but he does!
I love the quote at the beginning. I love unreliable narrators, too, if they’re done well. Good review!
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…3 Non Sequiturs
Thanks Priscilla, you might enjoy this too:-)
Absolutely loved this one
Yay! It was such a surprise, right?
Absolutely!
Wow, this sounds like a wild ride! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the head’s up about the review that spoils the ending. Will be sure to avoid that one.
It’s not a review that most people would stumble upon, but I was so surprised when I read that spoiler.
Mannequins are already creepy to me so this sounds like it would give me nightmares. Also, I like unreliable narrators (for some unknown reason lol).
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Review: The Devil’s Highway by Gregory Norminton
I love them too! I find stories with unreliable narrators much more interesting:-)
Hmm, I’m kind of torn about this one. It sounds fantastic, but extremely unreliable narrator kind of turns me off. Great review, though!
Yeah, you might struggle with it in that case. But it was fun anyway, I think.
I’ve been wanting to read this! Great review. And I’m thinking that the length might make this a good choice as a break from some longer reads.
Yes, that’s exactly why I picked it up. I’ve been struggling with a long book and I needed a break:-)
Great review and I can’t wait to read this one!
I hope you love it too!
This sounds really interesting and I love an unreliable narrator… I’m just not sure the horror genre is right for me! I can’t say I’ve tried very much though!
Proxyfish @ Books by Proxy recently posted…This Week by Proxy: 03 – 09 August
It’s definitely horror so know going in it’s sort of like a slasher movie:-)
That quote had me laughing. I’ve yet to try Jones’ work, and this being a short one, maybe it’s a good place to start.
This is definitely a good place. The next book of his I’m going to read is Mongrels, can’t wait!
Ohmygosh!! This sounds perfect! Have to read it asap!
Poulami @ Daydreaming Books recently posted…Review: Nimona and The Gods Lie // The only Manga Edition I possess (kind of!)
I hope you get the chance, it’s so good! Thanks for stopping by and commenting:-)
You know- I was excited about this because SGJ is brilliant- the plot itself I was kind of meh in, reminded me of the RLStine Goosebumps book I read when I was a kid- but your review has me amped. This has got to be a day one buy. I’m love just stuff. Great review!
I will read anything he writes after I loved The Only Good Indians, and I thought this was a lot of fun, and much more layered than I expected:-)
I’ll definitely be giving this one a try. I didn’t love The Only Good Indians but this appears to go in a very different direction and I’m hoping that will mean I might end up enjoying it more 😀
It’s very different. Although do beware of some WTF stuff, lol!
Amazing review!! Yours is the first review I’ve seen where I feel like the reviewer loved this book as much as I did and it makes me so happy because I sadly don’t feel like everyone is going to appreciate this novella as much as *I* feel like it should be. I’m sure you know what I mean when you’re reading a book and you’re thinking “not everyone will love this but holy shit, I sure do”. And I hadn’t seen the PW review but that infuriates me that they spoiled it, especially since I literally have only passed on writing my review so far just because I’m trying to figure out how to gush about it without spoiling it! (which you did a phenomenal job of here)
Aww thanks Destiny! I know, I really didn’t know what to expect, especially since I loved The Only Good Indians so much. But it just shows that SGJ can probably write anything, this was very different from Indians. I’m glad you loved it too!! And I’m hoping his success with Indians will make more people take a chance on this. It was CRAZY but so good!
Okay WOWWW!! The book sounds amazing, yes, but your review, Tammy! SOO PERFECTLY WRITTEN! I am in loveee!! I LOVE THIS POST SO SO MUCHHH AND I AM DEFINITELY GOING TO ADD Night of the Mannequin to my tbr!!
Thank you Rain!! I hope you get to read it:-)
Between your review and that very short blurb, I need this in my life. NEED. And I hate horror LMAO!
Ha ha I’m glad I convinced you!!
This sounds kind of fun for a horror story! 🙂
It was really fun, but also very dark, and also very weird. Hard to describe, actually!
Great review! This is going on my tbr right now!
I hope you get to read it:-)
I do love the sound of this one. The idea of the mannequin and the fact it seems to come to life is just my thing tbh.
Lynn 😀
It was such a crazy story:-)
omg, the premise is SO FREAKY, I love it. I’d die of fright if a mannequin walked away! and that opening line is perfect
I would too, such a creepy image!
Love this review so much, Tammy. I still need to read The Only Good Indians and I’m really looking forward to trying this author.
Great review! I’m definitely checking this out when it’s released, I really enjoy his writing.